Format SD card without data loss – The ultimate guide
14 March 2024 Senior Product Manager
Summary
Discover the step-by-step process for formatting SD cards on both Windows and Mac systems. Additionally, gain valuable insights into retrieving files from SD cards that are no longer accessible. Overcome typical issues effortlessly with our straightforward guide.
SD memory cards, utilizing semiconductor flash memory, provide a compact form factor, rapid data transfer rates, and hot-swap capability. The evolution of SD technology has led to various iterations, offering diverse capacities and form factors that establish SD cards as the storage solution of choice for portable electronics like digital cameras, tablets, Android smartphones, and multimedia players.
common file system
Before formatting the SD card, we can first understand what a file system is. Choosing the correct file system is also very important as it affects how files are stored on the SD card.
● FAT32
FAT32, a file system that uses a 32-bit allocation table, eclipses the FAT16′s 2GB single file limit, maintaining its popularity due to its compatibility with a wide array of devices such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, digital cameras, game consoles, and surveillance cameras.
● NTFS
NTFS, standing for New Technology File System, was introduced with Windows NT and eliminates the capacity constraints of files and partitions found in FAT32. It offers enhanced security, superior disk compression, and quicker performance, and is compatible with all versions of Windows.
● exFAT
The exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) file system is tailored for flash drives, such as USB sticks and SD cards, enabling support for files that exceed the 4GB limit of FAT32. For SD cards with a capacity greater than 64GB, exFAT is the preferred format, offering broad compatibility with a range of devices and operating systems, including Windows and Mac.
Formatting an SD card is a straightforward procedure that erases all its contents, including photos, videos, and documents, and establishes a new file system. This process can fix many SD card issues, restoring normal function. There are two types of formatting: low-level and high-level.
● low level formatting
Low-level formatting, known in China as “mass production,” clears a disk’s contents and restores its factory state by re-partitioning sectors. This process, also termed initialization by some SD card manufacturers, is compatible with DOS, Windows NT, and Linux systems, and can be executed using custom assembly instructions. However, low-level formatting is a destructive process that rewrites the entire storage area, fully erases data, and attempts to return the SD card to its original hardware state, potentially affecting the card’s lifespan and making data recovery more challenging post-format.
● advanced formatting
High-level formatting, unlike low-level formatting, is the standard process we typically use. This method writes data to specific areas of the SD card based on the user-selected file system (e.g., FAT32, NTFS), initializing the disk or partition and erasing all existing files. However, it doesn’t permanently delete the data; it simply refreshes the boot sector information, allowing for data overwriting. The original data can still be restored using data recovery software. If your SD card is unrecognizable, has bad sectors, or suffers from file system damage, high-level formatting can often resolve these issues.
If you encounter the following situations, you can try to format the SD card to solve the problem:
● Smartphones, computers, digital cameras and other devices cannot detect the SD card.
● SD card is infected by virus.
● The file system of the SD card is damaged.
● SD card storage space is full.
● There are a lot of bad sectors on the SD card.
Formatting the SD card will erase all files and data. Ensure you back up any important information before proceeding. If the card is inaccessible or has been hastily formatted, Renee Undeleter can assist in recovering and restoring data to your computer.
If your SD card is damaged or you’ve accidentally formatted it,
Renee Undeleter can recover important files to another disk. For SD cards that are accessible, use Renee Becca to back up your data, ensuring your important files are protected. Renee Undeleter is a comprehensive data recovery software designed to restore various types of files. Whether you’ve accidentally deleted essential files, emptied the recycle bin, or formatted your disk/storage, this tool can help you retrieve your lost data. It’s even effective for inaccessible SD cards. The software features four key functions: file recovery, format recovery, partition recovery, and image creation, providing a versatile solution to all data loss scenarios.
Applicable system:
Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000 and Mac OS X10.6, 10.7, 10.8, etc.Hot Topic - ADsRenee Undeleter – Simple & Powerful Software for Data Recovery 
Easy to use Recover data by 3 steps;
Multiple scan modes Fast partition scan, whole partition scan and whole disk scan;
Supported file types Image, video, audio, text, email and so on;
Image creation Create a partition image to read and back up data;
Supported devices SD card, SDHC, SDXC, USB flash drive, hard disk and computer.
Easy to use Recover data by 3 steps;
Multiple scan modes Fast partition/whole partition/whole disk scan;
Supported devices SD card/USB/hard disk.
Free TrialFree TrialFree Trial 800 people have downloaded!The specific operation steps are as follows:
① After downloading and installing Renee Undeleter, click Run. Then connect the SD card to the computer (via a card reader or the SD card slot of the computer).
② Select the desired recovery mode (Fast Partition Scan, Whole Partition Scan, Whole Disk Scan) according to the actual situation, here we take (Whole Partition Scan) as an example.
Data Recovery Functions:
- Fast Partition Scan: This feature allows for the recovery of files after accidental deletions or clearing the Recycle Bin.
- Whole Partition Scan: Capable of restoring files from partitions that have become inaccessible or have been formatted.
- Whole Disk Scan: Conducts a thorough analysis of partition information to ensure a comprehensive recovery process.
- Image Creation: Creates a mirror image of a partition to safeguard its current state for future restoration.
③ Please select the partition where the SD card is located, and then click (Next).
④ Wait for the scan to complete, then select the desired file for restoration and click "Recover". Ensure you save the retrieved files to a different disk to prevent overwriting data on the original storage medium (SD card).
Renee Becca is a professional backup and restoration software that provides three key functions: backup, restoration, and cloning. It supports a wide range of storage devices and file types, enabling users to efficiently perform system, partition, and file backup, restore, and clone operations with minimal effort. Learn More
Hot Topic - ADsProfessional Data Backup & Restore Software - Renee Becca
Provides multiple functions like backup, restore, clone, system migration.
Clone all data (including system) in HDD to smaller SSD or larger HDD. Disk could boot PC after clone finished.
Supports to migrate Windows to SSD with a few clicks.
4K alignment will be processed when clone disk, migrate system, restore disk or system.
Backup & restore system/disk/folder. Auto backup plans are available.
Provides functions like backup, restore, clone, system migration.
Clone all data (including system) in HDD to smaller SSD or larger HDD.
Backup & restore system/disk/folder. Auto backup plans are available.
Compatible with: Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7 / Vista / XP / 2008 / 2012(32bit/64bit) / Server 2008
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Download and open Renee Becca, then insert the SD card into the computer through the card reader.
② Click the (Backup) option, and then select the (Hard Disk/Partition Backup) option. If you want to backup some files, please use (file backup).
③ Select the SD card to back up data, the backup location, and click the (Backup Now) button to start the backup.
After backing up and saving the SD card data, you can start to format the SD card. The following first introduces the method of formatting the SD card on Windows.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Insert the SD card into the computer using the card reader. Next, open This PC on the desktop, locate the SD card, right-click on it, and select Format from the context menu to open the format window.
② Then, you can click the drop-down box of (File System) to select the appropriate file system.
● NTFS: It is the default Windows operating system format.
● FAT32: Suitable for SD cards with small capacity.
● exFAT: suitable for memory cards of 64 GB and above, and can be read and written on Windows and Mac OS computers. Canclick here See more introductions to these three file systems.
You can choose FAT32 or exFAT file system according to the actual situation. If it is not the first time to format the SD card, you can check (quick format), After quick formatting, disk data may be recovered .
③ Finally, click the (Start) button to execute the formatting operation.
In all Windows versions, we can initialize the SD card through the disk management tool.
① Connect the SD card to be formatted to the computer through a card reader.
② Press and hold the (Win+R) keys on the keyboard at the same time to open the Run dialog box, enter the (diskmgmt.msc) command and click (OK).
③ Open the Disk Management window, find the SD card, right click and select (Format).
④ Select the desired file system in the opened formatting dialog box, click (OK), and wait for the formatting to complete according to the prompts.
If you are using a Mac computer, you can follow the method described below to format the SD card.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Connect the SD card to be initialized to the computer through a card reader.
② Open the Launchpad, click (Disk Utility) (you can also click (Finder) > (Applications) > (Utilities), find and open (Disk Utility)). Select the SD card to be formatted on the left side of the Disk Utility window, and click the (Erase) option above.
③ In the pop-up erase window, you can set the SD card name, select the file system format (in order to be compatible with various operating systems, MS-DOS (FAT) or exFAT is recommended), and then click (Erase).
If Disk Utility can’t format the SD card, you can use the Mac command line to format it, but the steps are relatively complicated. This method is more suitable for experienced users who like to operate on Mac terminals.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Click the (Launchpad) icon in the dock, type (terminal) in the search bar, and then click (terminal).
② To view a list of all drives connected to the Mac, please enter the command (diskutil list) on the terminal and press the (return) key, and then you can view all disk information on the Mac computer, including identifiers, capacity, file systems, etc. Also, you’ll need to remember the specific identifier of the SD card you’re formatting. For example, in the image below you can see that the SD card identifier is “/dev/disk2″.
③ Next, please enter the following command in the terminal: (sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 MBRFormat /dev/disk2). In addition, you can modify the command according to the actual situation.
Command details:
- Sudo: Provide user permissions.
- Diskutil: A command-line version of the Disk Utility program.
- eraseDisk: Command formatting.
- FAT32: Set the file system.
- MBR Format: Tell Disk Utility to use the Master Boot Record for formatting.
- /dev/disk2: for the location of the SD card.
④ After the formatting is completed, you can enter (diskutil list) in the command again to check whether the formatting is successful.
When formatting the SD card, you may also encounter the situation that the SD card cannot be formatted because the SD card has read and write protection. In this case, you can choose to unprotect the SD card before formatting it. But if you still can’t format, then you can use the low-level format method to format.
1 , Turn off the write protection switch of SD card or card reader
Most SD cards and some card readers have a write protection switch. When you find that the SD card cannot be modified or stored new data, you can try to turn off the write protection switch of the SD card or card reader.
If the write protection switch is turned off, but the SD card is still in the write protection state, you can try the following methods.
2 , Use the diskpart command to clear the read-only attribute of the SD card
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Connect the SD card to the computer through a card reader, enter (cmd) in the search box, right-click (command prompt), and select (run as administrator).
② Please enter the following commands one by one, and press the (Enter) key once for each command line:
● diskpart
● list disk (will list all disks in the computer)
● select disk 1 (1 indicates the number of the SD card disk, which can be judged according to the capacity)
● attributes disk clear readonly (clears the read-only attribute of the disk)
● exit
3 , Unlock write protection in the registry
There are write-protected settings in the registry, which can prevent all mobile devices from writing any data. Here are the steps to remove write protection in the registry:
① Press (Windows key + R) at the same time, enter (regedit) and click (OK).
② Find the WriteProtect value in the registry according to the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
③ Double-click WriteProtect and change its value from 1 to 0 to release the write protection. After the modification is complete, please restart the computer.
After removing the write-protected state, you can use the SD card formatting method described above to operate. However, if you still cannot format or remove the write protection normally, you can try the forced formatting method described below.
If the SD card cannot be formatted normally, you can use the forced format (or low-level format) method to operate, and you can also quickly reset the file data in the SD card.
To format an SD card irreversibly, use the SD Card Formatter software. Ensure all important data is backed up before formatting, as recovery will be impossible. The software, compatible with both Windows and Mac OS, identifies the connected SD card, assesses its capacity, and chooses a suitable file system automatically.
SD Card Formatter software download link: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Connect the SD card to the computer with a card reader, and run the SD Card Formatter application.
② Select the disk number of the SD card to be formatted, and then select the format scheme, you can choose (Quick format (quick format)) or (Overwrite format (overwrite format)).
③ Finally, click (Format) to start formatting. After that wait for the SD card to be formatted.
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