Cannot format MicroSD card

[BeardWix]

Hey guys! I'm having a big problem trying to format my MicroSD card, it's ridiculous how hard it is to do such a simple task.

So yesterday, my dashcam stopped working. Support said to format the MicroSD card inside.

So I took it out (it was 99% full, which is why I guess it didn't work) and tried to format it using the tool they told me to use, SD Card Formatter. It didn't work. I tried both Quick Format and Overwrite Format, it both said "format successful" but upon inspecting the folder, every single file was still inside.
(By the way, please do NOT say: "check if the SD card's protection switch is on". It is not.)

So, since this problem was probably because of storage, I manually deleted every video file inside the card. They immediately restored themselves. When I delete them, they actually do not appear in the recycle bin at all! They just seem as if they're gone, then after a while, they restore themselves. I even tried immediately taking out the card after deleting the videos, but guess what? They're all still there. Memory is still 99% full.

So I tried several methods of formatting the card, NONE OF WHICH WORKED. I listed them all below:

I tried:
-Going to Disk Management and going to "Change Drive Letter and Paths for" then removing and re-adding a letter.
-Checking the Dick (CHKDSK). It turns off without outputting a result. It just turns off. Sometimes it takes a couple seconds, sometimes it's almost immediate.
-Formatting manually by right-clicking the drive then pressing 'Format'. Both Quick Format and Quick Format unchecked.
-Using CMD and formatting (using something like "format F: /fs:ntfs". I correctly changed the drive name and such. It loaded to 100%. Still didn't format.)

I'm guessing it's protected somehow, but that's dumb, seeing as to how the Support team tells us to format the card.
This is driving me nuts. I've tried all morning to fix this. How can I format this MicroSD card??

 

[file3456]

Try here: How to Repair/Format SD Card That Wont Format - EaseUS

 

[BeardWix]

I tried both methods above, the program does not format the card, and the command prompt doesn't work either. All the data recovers itself immediately, as soon as it is deleted. I think this is intentional, but I can't use the card unless there's actually any space on it! D:<

 

[Megahertz07]

All cameras has a built in format option.
Did you try to format it on the camera?

 

[BeardWix]

All cameras has a built in format option.
Did you try to format it on the camera?

My dashcam, for some reason, does not. I don't have a camera that will accept an SD card either, but I do have one that takes MicroSD.. I guess I'll try that out when I have time. (And please don't suggest using a phone to format it. If it doesn't work via CMD, it's not going to work with a phone.)

 

[Megahertz07]

Under Disk manager, did you try to delete the partition and then, from RAW, create a new one?

 

[mrjimphelps]

Reboot the computer to Linux Live. Run GPARTED. Delete the partition on the SD Card, then recreate it. Then format it to FAT32.

Be careful that you delete the partition on the SD Card and not on your hard drive.

 

[BeardWix]

Under Disk manager, did you try to delete the partition and then, from RAW, create a new one?

I have, does not work. I think the card is purposely made so that it's essentially impossible to delete any data from it.

Reboot the computer to Linux Live. Run GPARTED. Delete the partition on the SD Card, then recreate it. Then format it to FAT32.

Be careful that you delete the partition on the SD Card and not on your hard drive.

I will try that when I have the time, but for some reason I doubt it will work, seeing as how programs designed specifically to format and change the contents of a card won't work. Sigh.

 

[Barman58]

Micro SD cards are basically consumable items, with items such as Dashcams and other security based devices which are continuously looping the content [continuously overwriting previous content], to retain the latest data this can stress the card itself [continuous deleting and re-writing], plus the inevitable bad environment, [Vibration and heat] the usable life of a card can be seriously reduced compared to the general usage that most cards are designed for.

Your issues could be merely down to the card being worn out

Another thing to check is if you have suffered "An Incident" with some cameras the card contents will be locked against overwriting, [this can vary as to cause, and need not be an actual accident just a more enthusiastic braking or full stop than usual can be seen as an incident] this is usually just the current recorded segment, but can cause issues enough to block a format, this is a good feature when it works as it can prevent the accidental, [or malicious], removal of evidence. If your system has this functionality you should find a procedure to unlock the protected content and allow reformat.

I will add that I find it unusual that a camera for this purpose would not have a built in format option as the nature means that general formats are not ideal for the usage, and an internal format will be the preferred option to align the format for functionality

 

[BeardWix]

Micro SD cards are basically consumable items, with items such as Dashcams and other security based devices which are continuously looping the content [continuously overwriting previous content], to retain the latest data this can stress the card itself [continuous deleting and re-writing], plus the inevitable bad environment, [Vibration and heat] the usable life of a card can be seriously reduced compared to the general usage that most cards are designed for.

Your issues could be merely down to the card being worn out

Another thing to check is if you have suffered "An Incident" with some cameras the card contents will be locked against overwriting, [this can vary as to cause, and need not be an actual accident just a more enthusiastic braking or full stop than usual can be seen as an incident] this is usually just the current recorded segment, but can cause issues enough to block a format, this is a good feature when it works as it can prevent the accidental, [or malicious], removal of evidence. If your system has this functionality you should find a procedure to unlock the protected content and allow reformat.

I will add that I find it unusual that a camera for this purpose would not have a built in format option as the nature means that general formats are not ideal for the usage, and an internal format will be the preferred option to align the format for functionality

Thanks for the thorough and effortful answer!
I doubt that damage has caused the memory chip to gain the ability to instantaneously restore its details once it's deleted, but maybe it's corrupted; Perhaps it's not capable of erasing anything from itself..

As for the second bit about certain videos being protected against deletion, I doubt, because every single bit of data in the entire chip restores itself as soon as it is deleted, not just a couple videos or videos in its entirety.

From what I saw, the dashcam does not have a built-in formatting feature, and since I cannot access the dashcam (since it spits out the error message on startup and re-boots in an endless cycle), I can't see if there's a format feature in the settings. I will check thoroughly for any manual "format" or "reset" buttons.

I have currently shipped my card out for a replacement (which I believe is free because I had only used it for ~3 months).

In any case, thank you! Your reply is close to the answer, I presume.
And thanks to everyone else as well for your nice replies!