author avatar
14 August 2023  Ashley S. Miller  Specialist of Customer Service Dept.
 

Summary
Learn how to solve common SD card problems, such as recognition failure and data loss. Discover effective repair methods and data recovery techniques in this comprehensive article.



Table of contents

table iconI. Common signs of SD card corruption
table iconII. How to repair damaged SD card
table iconIII. How to Recover Data from Corrupted SD Card
table iconIV. Precautions for daily use of SD card

I. Common signs of SD card corruption

how to fix a corrupted sd card
SD card, also known as memory card, is a compact and portable functional device, widely used in digital cameras, Android phones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. During use, if the SD card is often directly inserted or unplugged or ejected without safety, it will easily damage the SD card.
Common signs that an SD card is failing and is on the verge of data loss are:
● The SD card cannot be formatted or the prompt “SD card is damaged, please try to reformat”.
● A black screen with an error saying “The SD card cannot be accessed, the file or directory is corrupt and unreadable”.
● You can view files on the SD card on your camera and computer, but you cannot add, delete, save, or copy them, and you may get an error saying “The disk is write-protected.” (If you want to remove the write protection, you can click here to learn about it).
● Sudden loss of all or part of the photos on the SD card.
● There is a read/write error in the SD card or the SD card cannot be read. (Click to view Android cannot read SD card /The computer cannot access the SD card solution)
● Seeing a “memory card error” error on devices such as cameras or dash cams.
● After the SD card is inserted into the computer, it prompts “The disk is not formatted, do you need to format it now?”.
● Prompt “SD card removed accidentally” when using SD card. (Click here to learn why and how to fix this issue.)
● During use, the prompt “SD card is empty or the file system is not supported” appears. (Canclick here Learn why and how to fix this problem. )
If one or more of the above situations have occurred on your SD card, you can try the following methods one by one.

II. How to repair damaged SD card

If your SD card is not physically damaged, but logically damaged, then you can try the four solutions described below.

1. Run CHKDSK to repair the damaged SD card file system

Applicable to: Repair SD card file system damage or bad sectors.
For mobile storage devices such as SD card, mobile hard disk or USB drive, if the file system is damaged and cannot be read, you can use the CHKDSK tool to directly repair it. The full name of CHKDSK is Microsoft Check Disk, which is an instruction program for disk checking. The basic function of CHKDSK is to scan the integrity of the file system on the disk and repair the errors of the file system; CHKDSK also supports scanning the sectors on the disk and trying to repair bad sectors. Users can manually invoke the command line to detect disk partitions. If you do not enter any parameters, CHKDSK generally only displays the status report of the detected disk. With the specified parameters, CHKDSK will repair the error.

Note: If you want to learn more about the CHKDSK tool, please click here to view.

The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Connect the damaged SD card to your computer, find and write down the drive letter of the SD card in “This PC”. Then press the (Windows+R) keys on the keyboard at the same time to open the run box, type (cmd), and press Enter.
command prompt
② In the opened command prompt window, enter the command line (chkdsk H: /r), and press Enter. After the repair is complete, you can see the “Windows has corrected the file system” prompt.
Note: Here H: refers to the drive letter of the removable device, please enter the drive letter of your SD card or U disk according to the actual situation.
After the repair is complete, please reinsert the SD card into the phone or other devices to check whether the problem of SD card corruption has been resolved.

2. Change or assign a new drive letter to the SD card

Applies to: SD card unreadable or not showing errors.
Connect your SD card to the computer, if you do not see the drive letter of your SD card in Disk Management, it is because its drive letter conflicts with other drive letters. In this case, the computer will not detect the SD card, and the SD card will appear corrupt or unreadable. Changing or assigning a new drive letter to the SD card in Disk Management will resolve this error.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Use a card reader to connect the SD card to the Windows computer, right-click the (Start) menu, and select (Disk Management).
disk management
② Right-click the disk corresponding to the SD card and select (Change drive letter and path).
Change drive letter and path
③ Click (Add) or (Change) to add or change the drive letter for the SD card, and then click (OK). Then open the file explorer, select (this computer), and check whether the SD card can be accessed.
change disk number

3. Repair Corrupted SD Card Using Error Checking

Applicable to: Fix SD card cannot be opened or cannot be accessed due to device errors.
When encountering the situation that SD card cannot be accessed normally, you can try to use Windows built-in tools to check and repair SD card errors.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Connect the SD card to the computer, press the (Windows+ R) key on the keyboard at the same time, please enter (diskmgmt.msc) in the pop-up input box, and then click (OK) to enter the disk management.
disk management
② In Disk Management, right-click the failed SD card and select (Properties) on the menu.
click properties
③ In the (Tools) column, select (Inspect).
check SD card
④ If your system is Windows 7 or Windows 8, please check (Automatically repair file system errors) and (Scan and try to recover bad sectors), and Windows 10 automatically repairs all errors by default. Then wait for the inspection and repair to complete.
disk check
The function of hard disk error scanning is mainly to mark the space where bad sectors appear as unusable at the file system level, so as to prevent file data from being written into these unstable data storage spaces. If you want to completely solve the problem of bad sectors, you may need tolow level formatting .

4. Repair damaged SD card with formatting

Applicable to: various SD card logic damage problems.
Formatting can repair various SD card corruption issues, including issues related to the file system, and its biggest role is to make the SD card work normally again. Although SD card formatting is good, it cannot be operated blindly, because formatting will clear all the data in the SD card.
The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Insert the SD card into the computer through the card reader, open (this computer), and find the SD card to be formatted. Then right-click it and select (Format) from the pop-up menu.
format SD card
② In the format SD card window that opens, you can click (file system) to select the appropriate file system.
  • NTFS 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
According to the actual situation, please select the “FAT32″ or “exFAT” file system. If it is not the first time to format the SD card, you can directly check (quick format). Finally, click the (Start) button to perform formatting operations.
quick format
tipsIf the SD card cannot be formatted, then you can use the “SD Memory Card Formatter” formatting software provided by the SD Association. With the SD Memory Card Formatter, the SD card can be formatted at a low level. Formatting software can repair a damaged SD card and make it continue to work normally, but the data after low-level formatting cannot be recovered.

III. How to Recover Data from Corrupted SD Card

If the data in the SD card is lost due to various corruption issues, then you can try to use Renee Undeleter to restore it.
Renee Undeleter The software is a software specially used to restore various data files. When you accidentally delete important files, empty the recycle bin, or format the disk/storage, you can use this tool to retrieve the lost data . The software covers four functional modules, including file recovery, format recovery, partition recovery and image creation, which can help you solve all data loss problems in an all-round way.
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 (file recovery, format recovery, partition recovery) according to the actual situation, here we take (format recovery) as an example.
Data recovery function introduction:
File recovery: Quickly retrieve files lost due to accidental deletion or emptying the recycle bin.
Format recovery: Quickly recover files lost due to inaccessible or formatted partitions.
Partition recovery: Partition information can be analyzed and obtained, and the entire partition can be fully scanned.
Create a mirror: A mirror can be created for a partition to back up the current partition state, after which data can be restored from the mirror file.
format recovery
③ Please select the partition where the SD card is located, and then click (Next).
select SD card
④ After the scan is over, you can double-click the file to preview it, then select the file you want to restore, and click the (Recover) button. Please save the recovered files on other disks, and avoid saving files to the original storage location (SD card) which may cause data overwriting.
Recover SD card data

IV. Precautions for daily use of SD card

In order to avoid SD card damage again, you need to pay attention to the following points in daily use:
1 , Do not pull out the SD card in use suddenly
Whether it is a mobile phone, camera or card reader, if the SD card is reading data, it must not be taken out directly! Because such an operation would destroy the unique file format and structure established by different devices, storage errors could easily occur.
2 , be careful of high temperature, wet water and oil
The SD card is a semiconductor-based flash memory, which is an electronic product, so it should be kept away from high temperature, oil stains, and water immersion as much as possible. If left in this environment for a long time, the SD card will be prone to damage and file loss. When not in daily use, the SD card can be placed in the matching card box purchased.
3 , multi-use card reader
Compared with directly connecting the mobile phone or camera to the computer to transfer the SD card data in the device, using a card reader to connect the SD card to the computer can improve the reading efficiency, and it can also prevent the SD card from being damaged or data loss due to sudden power failure of the device. risk of loss.
4 , avoid editing files directly in the SD card
If you want to view/edit the files stored in the SD card on the computer, it is best to copy the files to the computer before operating. Especially when editing a large number of photos or video files, directly operating on the SD card will easily cause the SD card to “paralyze”.