Summary SD card is a cost-effective, portable storage device. But it is also easily corrupted, causing data loss. How to fix a corrupted SD card and recover the data inside?
The digital era witnesses the growth of digital storage devices. SD card, a portable storage device, has highly cost performance and convenience, widely used in data storage and data transfer for phones, cameras and tablet computers.
But it is also easily corrupted. For example, you are required to format the SD card or it shows as raw drive after connected to computer, risking at data loss. When the SD card is corrupted, how to recover the data inside?
SD Card Shows is Required to Format Before Using
Why?
There are two reasons for a SD card not formatted. One is that the SD card is improperly ejected when it is used to transfer data. Another is that the file system is not recognized by Windows.
Solution:
The command CHKDSK in Windows can fix the corrupted SD card. But this command will directly delete or over write the data which are severely damaged. Then these files cannot be retrieved anymore. When you are going to run this command, please firstly recover important data from the SD card.
Recover Lost SD Card Data
Renee Undeleter can scan all partitions, preview the lost files, recover formatted or deleted files and retrieve data from the emptied Recycle Bin and the inaccessible partitions.
Renee Undeleter-Powerful Data Recovery Software
Easy to useOnly simple steps.
Multiple scan modesFast partition scan, whole partition scan and whole disk scan.
① Download and install the software. Then launch the software and select [Whole Partition Scan].
② Select the target SD card and click [Next].
③ Wait for the scan. The SD card in larger storage takes longer time to be scanned.
④ As the scan is finished, check the target files and click [Recover] to retrieve the lost files.
TipsNote: Don’t save the files on the SD card again in case of second data loss.
Fix SD Card via CHKDSK Command
The command CHKDSK can fix the corrupted SD card in Windows. Only two file systems, FAT and NTFS are supported. If your SD card are not one of these file systems, such as HFS or Ext (for Linux), you have no choice but to format it.
① Press the group keys [Win+S]. In the search box, type [cmd].
② Right-click at [Command Prompt] to select [Run as administrator].
③ Type [chkdsk n:/f]. Replace “n” with the target drive letter of the partition, and /f is the order telling the command to fix any errors.
④ Then, press the key Enter to run. It will start to fix the corrupted SD card. Just follow the tips when prompted.
After these above steps, the SD card can be used. Yet, it cannot be fixed well when there are too many errors. You have to format the SD card.
Format SD Card
① Right-click at the SD card to select [Format].
② Select the file system and click [Start] to begin formatting.
SD Card Shows as RAW Drive
Why?
When the SD card shows as RAW drive, the available storage will be zero, unable to be formatted. It means the volume of the SD card has gotten corrupted. To fix this corrupted SD card, you need to build a new volume.
Solution:
① Press the group keys [Win+R] to open Run. Type [diskmgmt.msc].
② In Disk Manager, locate at the SD card and right-click at it to add a new volume.
③ Click [Next] to go to the new simple volume wizard. Then, specify a volume size for this new volume.
④ Then, set a new drive letter for the SD card and click [Next].
⑤ Select a suitable file system, such as FAT32 or exFAT and go on.
⑥ Click [Finish].
TipsOnce the SD card is formatted, all data will be cleared. If you want to retrieve them, click here to learn about the method.
