How to restore a microsd card if the computer does not see it. How to recover data from a MicroSD card Recovering a microSD memory card

SD card (Secure Digital Memory Card) is one of the most popular devices for storing information. It is compact and can hold tens of gigabytes of information. Most mobile devices store data on MiniSD and MicroSD.

Unfortunately, SD cards are not protected against loss of photos, videos and documents. Scenarios for deleting files on an SD card are varied. This includes erroneous formatting, damage as a result of unsafe removal from a card reader or phone, and accidental deletion of files and folders. Basically, users of Android mobile devices lose videos and photos from the Gallery, and less often, documents (text notes). This review presents the best tools for data recovery from SD cards.

Review participants:

7-Data Card Recovery - a program for recovering information on sd and microsd

7-Data Card Recovery is included in the 7-Data Recovery Suite. It will help those users who have lost files on the SD card as a result of formatting or unintentional deletion. All standard Android file formats for audio, video, images are supported. Considering the features of Android, the list is not so wide, but this is more than enough for an SD card recovery program.

7-Data Card Recovery recovers data only from the external memory of the mobile device. The most popular types of cards are SD Card, SDHC, Compact Flash, xD Picture Card, MicroSD, Memory Stick.

The 7-Data Card Recovery application is installed on a computer running Windows XP >. To search and restore a microsd, you need to connect it to your computer via a card reader. After connecting, a list of removable storage devices will be displayed; you need to select an SD card from the list. By the way, the program also works with local disks, so the scope of this tool is much wider than it seems at first glance.

The cost of a 7-Data Card Recovery license is $49.95 (home edition), a yearly subscription is $39.95. The trial version can be downloaded for free.

Note. In addition to Card Recovery, an Android Data Recovery edition is available. It works with the internal memory of tablets and smartphones. The program is compatible with popular mobile brands like Google, Samsung, Lenovo, Fly and others.

Card Recovery is a highly specialized program for recovering photos and videos on an SD memory card

Although there are dozens of programs for recovery from memory cards and flash drives, not many can boast of a good track record and real, not marketing, recovery functions. The CardRecovery program is considered a “veteran” in the recovery application market. If you study the list of deletion scenarios, user cases, supported cards, digital camera manufacturers and file types - in general, it becomes clear that we have a professional tool for resuscitating sd.

The latest version of CardRecovery is v6.10. The product has not been updated for quite a long time, yet it works without problems under Windows 10 and reads all known types of SD memory and connected removable devices. Generally speaking, Card Recovery specializes in data recovery from SD cards of digital cameras, phones, tablets. The main types of data are video and photo. If you need to recover files from your hard drive or specify specific file formats to search for, it's best to turn to other products.

The key feature of CardRecovery is the SmartScan function, thanks to which you can find photos and videos by signatures. This can be especially useful if the SD card's file table has been destroyed after formatting or corruption. The deep search function is available in the Recuva program, but CardRecovery performs a quick analysis of multimedia formats.

Disk Drill is a recovery program with a simple interface and wide support for storage devices

DMDE – professional recovery from memory cards, flash drives and HDDs

We included this program in the review, despite the fact that the free version is limited. DMDE is used in professional circles as a convenient and effective recovery tool. The program is cross-platform - you can use it under Windows, Linux, Mac OS and DOS - via the command line.

Let's talk about the restrictions right away. The free version of DMDE allows you to recover up to 4000 items.

Other versions of the DMDE program (Express, Standard, Professional) remove the restriction on the file limit, the license cost starts from €16.

In addition, basic tools are available in the free edition:

Disk editor - allows you to manually change the disk structure, file tables, deep search for deleted files,
Creating a disk image for subsequent recovery from a complete copy of the original.

The list of compatible storage devices includes HDDs, RAID arrays, USB flash drives, SD and microSD cards. File system – almost any of the known ones. As a rule, for memory cards we are talking about NTFS, exFat or FAT. Linux and Mac OS FS are also supported.

Which SD card recovery program should I choose?

Recuva is a free recovery application that works fully without paying (we hope it will always be this way). Therefore, this program is the most popular on the market.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard in the free version is limited to 2 GB of recoverable information - which is quite enough at first. The program is convenient and contains a step-by-step wizard.
7-Data Recovery and DiskDrill are now the same program. It has some nice additions like pausing scanning and searching by signatures.
Glary Undelete is a fairly simple program. It is quite suitable for restoring files on a memory card, but it lags behind all those listed in terms of functionality.
DMDE is perhaps the best professional tool, the price is low for such a list of features. It fully searches for files on a memory card, although for the most part it is used to recover data on a hard drive.
Photorec is best for finding lost photos and recovering them on any desktop platform. Memory cards, as stated, are supported; you can work with them through a card reader.

Having problems with your SD memory card? Can't read all the data from it? Or does the phone not see them at all? You can try to recover a damaged SD card using a computer - check it for errors and completely format it.

Problems with SD memory cards are not uncommon. If a lot of data is recorded on it and you actively use it, for example, on your phone, then there is a possibility that after some time problems may arise with reading the contents. However, this does not mean that it can be immediately thrown into the trash.

There is always a chance to restore it. It doesn’t always come down to problems with the memory card controller - sometimes the solution may be, for example, checking for errors in the saved files, restoring damaged sectors, formatting, or completely clearing the partitions (structure) and creating them again. Let's consider the listed solutions.

What will you need to recover an SD memory card?

To recover data from a memory card, you need to connect it to your computer. Therefore we should have accordingly:

computer or laptop with Windows system;
An affordable option for connecting an SD card to a PC.

There are several ways to connect it to your computer. This can be done via the card reader built into the laptop. If this is not the case, then you can purchase a USB card reader. In appearance, it is no different from a regular flash drive, with the only difference being that there is an additional input into which we first insert a memory card, and only then connect it via USB to the computer.

Method No. 1: Recovering a damaged file system using Chkdsk

The first and easiest way is to use the system hard drive recovery tool Chkdsk. This is a utility from Microsoft, which means it is only available on PCs with the Windows operating system. Of course, this program is not always enough to recover data from SD cards, but you can check for damage in the file structure without losing data. In this method we will restore the SD card via the command line.

To begin, insert the memory card directly into your laptop or PC and click on the “My Computer” or “This Computer” icon (Windows 8 and above). In the list of drives, find the connected SD card and remember which letter was assigned to it. For example, let's assume that it is assigned the letter "E:".

Press the Windows + R key combination to open the Run window. Type the following command to open Command Prompt:

In the Command Prompt window, you need to enter the appropriate command, which will scan the drive and fix errors on it. The command looks like this:

chkdsk E: /f

Of course, instead of E: we enter the drive letter that your system assigned (not forgetting the colon). After pressing Enter, the scanning process will begin. Please note that the /f parameter is added at the end of the command, that is, Chkdsk not only finds problems, but will also try to repair them.

After scanning, we check the memory card again and see if it works properly.

Method No2: Formatting the SD memory card

In this method, we will try to restore the drive using formatting, during which all data will be deleted. This operation may solve the problem if restoring the memory card using Chkdsk did not bring a positive result and problems still occur (for example, errors in reading individual files). Of course, we will lose all the data, but there is a chance that restoring this method will prevent damage to new data, which we will later copy to the SD drive.

Let's look at simple formatting that doesn't break the partition structure. Connect the memory card to your PC, and then open My Computer on your desktop. In the list of drives, find the SD card and right-click on it.
From the drop-down menu, select "Format". Click on the “Standard Cluster Size” button and make sure that the file system is set to “FAT32”.

The operation can be performed with the Quick Format option. But for a better effect, we recommend unchecking this checkbox - it will take more time, but it will be done more thoroughly and may solve the problem.

Once completed, reinsert the SD memory card into your phone, tablet, digital camera or other device and check if it now works correctly.

Method No3: Deleting partitions or low-level formatting

An SD memory card is not much different from a regular disk - it can have one or more partitions. By default, one section is always allocated. You can format the device in such a way that the partition is completely deleted and there is unallocated space left. This is the so-called low-level formatting.

Important! Like regular formatting, low-level formatting will delete all data from the SD card and there will be no way to recover files. Therefore, before restoring, copy the data or part of it that is still readable by the system to the PC.

You can create a new partition again on the unallocated space that appears after formatting. It very often helps in a situation where, when connecting an SD card, it is displayed as “RAW” and the sections that can be entered are not shown. One of the best is the HDD Low Level Format Tool.

Connect the recoverable SD drive to your computer and run the HDD Low Level Format Tool program. A list of installed hard drives will be displayed. Find the SD drive in it and mark it.

Make sure to select the memory card and not, for example, the second or third hard drive on the computer. If in doubt, pay attention to the Capacity column, which displays the full capacity of this disk/flash drive or micro SD card.

Once selected, click on Continue and go to the “FORMAT THIS DEVICE” tab. The drive will be completely formatted, and the partitions will be deleted - only the unallocated area will remain. Exit the HDD Low Level Format Tool SD card recovery program.

But that is not all. The SD card is not yet usable. Open the Start menu and look for Disk Management. Or type “Creating and formatting hard drive partitions” in the search bar.

A window will appear in which all drives will be displayed - both installed on the PC and connected via USB. Find the connected SD memory card here, the strip of which will be highlighted in black.

Right-click on the black unallocated area and select Create New Volume." A partitioning wizard will appear on your screen and will guide you step-by-step through the partitioning process. Pay attention to the File System field and make sure FAT32 is selected and not NTFS.

Confirm the creation of the new partition. This completes the SD recovery and will now appear in the “My Computer” window with an automatically assigned drive letter. Then insert it into your phone or tablet.

Flash cards of the Micro SD format have become very popular with the growing popularity of tablets and smartphones, which “eat” this format. Later, car recorders were also added. But with the growth of popularity, the number of problems with these flash drives has also increased - this is reflected in the percentage of defects and various influences due to which micro SD cards are subject to damage - magnetic, mechanical or electrical. Sometimes the controller chip may malfunction, resulting in loss of information and even accidental formatting of the media. In this case, you can try to recover data from the flash drive yourself.

What we need for this:
- computer or laptop;
- card reader;
— Micro SD memory card;
— Internet access.

How to recover data on a removable Micro SD disk:

The most optimal and convenient way to recover photos, videos or other data from a flash drive is to use a specialized utility. I will tell you about the two, in my opinion, the best of them. Unfortunately, both are paid. But by digging around on torrent trackers you can find repacks cured of greed.

The first program that allows you to read “raw” RAW data from a MicroSD flash drive - Ontrack EasyRecovery. This excellent utility can recover files on almost any media from FAT and NTFS file system partitions. At the same time, EasyRecovery can restore documents created in Microsoft Outlook, Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Word.

After starting the program, select “Memory Device” in the list of media types:

Click on the “Continue” button and go to step 2. Here you will need to select your flash MicroSD card:

In the third step, select “Deleted File Recovery” to recover deleted files:

Please note that at the bottom of the window you must select the file system used on the removable media - FAT or NTFS. Also be sure to check the “Enable File Signature Scan (RAW Scan)” checkbox. Well, then the scanning procedure will be launched, which can take a very long time. Upon completion of its work, the EasyRecovery program will display all the audio, photo and video files found that it was able to recover from the memory card:

The second, no less convenient and also very, very popular program for recovering data from Micro SD and SDHC memory cards is R-studio.

In order to get back files deleted from a flash drive, you need to select a removable disk in the main program window and right-click on it:

In the menu that appears, select “Scan”. In response, we get this window:

Check that the drive file system is selected correctly and click the “Scan” button.
Now we need to be patient. The R-Studio program will scan the entire flash drive inside and out, but this may take a lot of time.
Once the scan is complete, you will receive the following notification:

After this, there will be a Recognized folder on the right side of the window. Let's expand it. Inside there will be many folders, inside of which there will be recovered files:

Another good utility for working with data on Micro SD memory cards (and not only;)) - Easy Drive Data Recovery. This program is from Russian developers. A full license costs 795 rubles, which is relatively inexpensive. Plus, there is also a trial version and if you need to restore a formatted microSD flash drive once, then this is quite enough. After launching the utility, it is best to use the File Search Wizard:

After this, a disk scan and file search will be launched, upon completion of which you will receive a list of files that the program was able to return back.

As practice has shown, if none of the above programs succeeded in recovering deleted data from a Micro SD or SDHC memory card, then most likely you will not be able to do this in any other way. Most often, this fact indicates that the removable disk itself is damaged and it will not be possible to read information from it.

After a virus attack, power outage or formatting, the operating system stopped detecting the flash drive... Is this a familiar situation? What to do? Throw the device in the trash and run to the store for a new one? There's no need to rush. There are software solutions for restoring non-working flash drives. Most of these programs do a good job of this task. This list contains those that most effectively help solve the problem.

A small utility with a set of functions for restoring inoperative flash drives. It has a simple and intuitive interface, which even without Russian language support makes it one of the best tools for working with flash drives. HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool scans flash drives, corrects errors and formats them in different file systems.

HDD Low Level Format Tool

Another small but powerful program for flash drive repair. Using low-level formatting, it can bring inoperative drives back to life. Provides complete information about the drive and S.M.A.R.T data for the HDD. Formats both quickly, with overwriting only the MBR, and deeply, with the deletion of all data. Unlike the previous representative, it can work not only with flash drives, but also with hard drives.

SD Formatter

Sd Formatter is a memory card recovery program that can recover SDHC, microSD and SDXC drives. In addition, it can treat memory cards after unsuccessful formatting, as well as completely erase information by repeatedly overwriting random data.

Flash Doctor

Flash Doctor is a program for recovering a transcendent flash drive. Scans disks for errors and restores them using low-level formatting. Works not only with flash drives, but also with hard drives. A distinctive feature of Flash Doctor is the function of creating disk images. The resulting images, in turn, can be written to flash drives.

EzRecover

The easiest program to recover a Kingston flash drive on our list. But its simplicity is only external. In fact, EzRecover is able to look at flash drives that are not detected in the system and recover them. EzRecover brings back to life flash drives with the “Security Device” label and (or) zero capacity. Despite all its apparent inconspicuousness, it copes with its tasks perfectly.

Here is a list of programs for flash drive recovery. Each has its own characteristics, but they all do their job perfectly. It's difficult to recommend any specific one. Flash Doctor will not always cope where EzRecover cannot, so you need to have a set of similar programs in your arsenal.

MicroSD cards can expand your smartphone's internal memory and provide more storage space for your photos, videos, music and important files. But what happens if your MicroSD card suddenly stops working? Or what if you accidentally delete a file? Here we will show you how to repair MicroSD card or recover data.

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Data backup

Have you accidentally deleted some files? Then under no circumstances should you continue to save anything to your MicroSD card. This may result in overwriting areas with accidentally deleted images and will reduce your chances of successful recovery.

If your MicroSD card is damaged or does not display correctly, you should not format it if you still want to recover your data. Even if the card is ready for use once it is formatted, it will be much more difficult to recover existing data.

Recover your MicroSD card using Windows

First, turn off your smartphone, remove the MicroSD card and insert it into any Windows computer. If your computer recognizes the card, right-click it in conductor and select " Properties". After that, go to the “ Tools" and press " Check" in area " Checking for errors".

If your MicroSD is not immediately recognized by Windows, this trick will help

If Windows doesn't recognize your MicroSD card, open System Manager and then click " Disk Management" in the list on the left. If you see the MicroSD card in the right window, right-click it and then change the drive letter and path.

This will open a new window where you will need to click on " Add", and then assign a drive letter to the MicroSD card. When you're done, it should be visible in Windows Explorer and the MicroSD card can be checked for errors as described above.

Comparison of data saving software

Recovering Files Using DiskDigger

If none of these tips work, don't despair, as there are many other tools and programs available that can help you recover your MicroSD card. One of them - DiskDigger. This program is free to use during the trial period, and a single user license for PC will cost you $14.99 (Free for Linux).

Once you have downloaded and installed DiskDigger, launch the program and select your MicroSD card. Click the Next tab three times and DiskDigger will scan your MicroSD card. This may take some time, but this is quite normal. After this, all files that were received during the scan will be displayed.

Recover your Micro SD card using Root in Android

If your smartphone is rooted and you want to recover the MicroSD card directly from your phone, Google Play Store There is also an Android version of DiskDigger. The free version allows you to recover images (JPG and PNG) and videos (MP4 and 3GP). The Pro version offers you the option to recover other files on the MicroSD card.

You can also download DiskDigger Pro for Android which works without root access. However, it does not restore the original files, but instead temporarily restores the cached originals. As a result, without the root version you can only save lower resolution images.

The process in Android works almost the same as described above. However, you should keep in mind that the Android version of DiskDigger is not as effective as the Windows or Linux version for recovering your MicroSD cards. In addition, your smartphone must be rooted because without advanced system access, the application cannot function effectively.

Recovering Deleted Files Using Mac OS X

You can also use Mac to recover data on MicroSD cards. Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is a free program that can perform this task and is available for download from manufacturer's website.

Once you've finished downloading, insert your memory card into your Mac and launch the program. You don't need to worry about any options or settings in this software as the data recovery wizard will help you set everything up step by step. Then select the memory card as well as the types of data you want to recover.

After a short scan, the application will show you which files can be recovered. Most likely, any files that you accidentally deleted will appear here. Another additional solution is to deep scan the memory card. In the window that opens, you can select files that were lost.

The last step is to choose a new location for your file. Restoring the file to its original location is not recommended, especially if the SD card has defects.

The Data Recovery Wizard is also available in a Windows version. The free version only recovers 2GB of data. If you need more, you'll have to go for the more expensive option and buy the $89.95 version.

R-Studio

Similar to DiskDigger, R-Tools software uses a graphical wizard that is a step-by-step recovery assistant. The free version is limited to Windows, and only the expensive, paid version recognizes ext3, which is used in Android.

PhotoRec

PhotoRec is an add-on to the free file system recovery tool TestDisk. The software is free and open source (FOSS), but it is only available as a command line tool. Here .

Decrypt encrypted MicroSD cards

If your MicroSD card was encrypted as internal memory and suddenly became unreadable, do not reset your smartphone, otherwise the key to your MicroSD card will be lost and the data on it cannot be recovered in a reasonable time.

A guide to decrypting MicroSD cards formatted as internal storage in Android can be found in.

Conclusion

Ideally, you always have a backup that you can access in case of an emergency, so you don't really have to restore your data. Otherwise, you should first try to recover your MicroSD card using Windows tools.

As a second step, we recommend finding deleted files using PhotoRec since the software is completely free. Step-by-step instructions will help you quickly. If that doesn't help, use a program like DiskDigger or Data Recovery Wizard.