RPI Imager breaks my first SD card, then states the 2nd can't be verified

[mstarr]

I bought two 32 GB micro-SD cards + adapter and am using the SD card port in my laptop (Dell Inspiron as far as I know) with Ubuntu Bionic Badger (18.04) kernel 5.3.0. Each SD card, before doing anything, just opening the package and plugging it into the lappy, successfully shows up in Nautilus (Ubunut's file GUI file browser) and there are no errors displayed. Seems to be the SD cards aren't broken. Didn't try saving anything to them. My impression is they come formatted but I could be wrong. Later (will discuss again/more in post), before doing anything, I checked the 2nd fresh micro SD card in GParted (Ubuntu's GUI disk partitioning software) and it appeared formatted, with a few MB of buffer space at the beginning of the partition and about 29 GB thereon forth. The cards are Sansa SanDisks from Amazon.com.

All I am trying to do is install Raspbian on one of the cards. I bought 2 because I previously had a 128 GB SD card (also a Sansa SanDisk) and somehow that one broke. I used NOOBS that time. It didn't work, for reasons I can explain and reasons I can't explain.

So, this time (with the 32 GB cards) I downloaded the RPI Imager onto my laptop and tried to install Raspbian onto the 1st 32 GB card. At the end (not sure at what point--during install, after install, during verification, or after verification) RPI Imager stated that the SD card was broken. I tried again and it went through installation a bit and I left the computer to its bidding and it said it was broken again. So the install failed 2 times due to a broken card.

The 2nd card installed successfully and then reached the end of verification, but after verification it stated that the verification failed (the contents of the card did not match what RPI Imager installed onto it). I have no idea how this is possible unless there is a bug in the imager, I am being hacked, there is corrupt software on my OS, some hardware component of my lappy is broken (possibly the card reader), or something else. Maybe this card is bad, too.

Do I?: Return both cards? Return the 1st card? Wait for the new cards and use RPI Imager again? What do I do in the meantime (kind of in a rush to get Raspbian installed (Raspberry Pi 3 B+))? Are there other ways to install Raspbian onto an SD card? I tried 32 bit Raspbian (the recommended OS) btw.

Thanks for your time and let me know what seems to be a suitable course of action.

[jamesh]

It's perhaps a problem with the SD card port on the laptop. Built in ones are notorious.

I was having very similar problems recently but with a USB->SD card adaptor. Worked in the laptop, not in the laptop dock - verification failures. So they can be weird. Changed the SD card, the micro SD adaptor. Most odd.

[HawaiianPi]

I would also suggest the card reader as the culprit. Most USB SD card readers should work, but look for an SDXC reader for best compatibility.

Also, what's a Sansa SanDisk? I thougth Sansa was a series of flash based media players? I've never seen that branding on SD cards. Do you have a link to the cards you purchased?

I've had good luck with the SanDisk Ultra A1 micro SD cards (great performance at reasonable prices).