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14 August 2023  Jennifer Thatcher  Technology Manager of Test Dept.
 

Summary
Discover why your computer doesn't recognize your SD card and learn how to fix it without data loss. Explore the multitude of solutions in this article.



Table of contents

table iconI. The reason why Windows cannot recognize the SD card
table iconII. How to recover SD card data before repairing
table iconIII. Methods to fix SD card not recognized or displayed

I. The reason why Windows cannot recognize the SD card

sd card not showing up
SD card is a common memory card that can provide large-capacity data storage and is widely used in various digital devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, and tablet computers. In order to avoid data loss in the SD card, we need to make regular backups of the SD card. The most common method is to back up to the computer. Therefore, we need to connect the SD card to the computer through a card reader. Of course, there are many other ways to transfer data between devices, but passing through a card reader is the most common and the fastest.
Sometimes when connecting the SD card to the computer, there is a confusing situation that the SD card cannot be found in “This PC”, and the SD card cannot be accessed. This issue can occur for a number of reasons, either physical or logical corruption.
The common reasons why the SD card cannot be displayed/recognized are:
● Bad connection – The SD card may not be properly connected to the computer due to a bad card reader, adapter, or USB port.
● Driver Issues – If the SD card does not show up in the system but can be seen in Device Manager, the drivers may be outdated or corrupt.
● Missing drive letter – If the drive letter of the SD card is missing, it will not be detected by the computer.
● Partition loss – it may be that the partition on the SD card has been deleted, and the storage space of the SD card has not been allocated.
● Virus infection – The SD card is infected with a virus, which may make it unrecognizable.
● Unsupported file system – If the SD card uses a file system not supported by Windows, the computer will not recognize/display it. However, formatting can be used to reselect any file system you want, just make sure your device and OS support it.
● Physical damage – SD card physical damage refers to chip damage, damage to the plastic case, dropping into water, or even deformation or burning of the SD card.
For the above possible reasons, there are many solutions, and some solutions will delete the data in the SD card. In order to protect the data in the SD card, before starting the repair, it is recommended that you use professional tools to restore the data in the SD card to a safe location.

II. How to recover SD card data before repairing

Renee Undeleter The software is a software specially used to restore various data files. When you accidentally delete important files by mistake, empty the recycle bin, or format the disk/storage, you can use this tool to retrieve the lost data. Even if the SD card cannot be accessed normally, you can use it for data recovery, and the operation is very simple. This 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.
Applicable systems: Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000 and Mac OS X10.6, 10.7, 10.8, etc.
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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

III. Methods to fix SD card not recognized or displayed

After recovering the SD card data, you can fix the problem that the SD card cannot be recognized according to the six methods described below.

Solution 1: Test the SD card on another computer or new card reader

When you encounter the SD card not being recognized or displayed in the computer, the first thing you need to do is to check whether there is a connection problem with the SD card. You can check whether the SD card is successfully connected to the computer or SD card reader by the following two methods:
● Insert the SD card into another computer.
● Replace with a new SD card reader or a new SD card adapter.
After replacing the computer or SD card adapter, if the SD card can be displayed normally, it proves that there is a problem with the computer/SD card adapter. However, if the SD card cannot be displayed/recognized in the computer through the above two methods, then the problem lies in the SD card itself, and you can continue to try the various solutions described below.

Solution 2: Clean the interface of SD card and SD card adapter

Usually, if the SD card or SD card adapter is not used for a long time or not kept properly, their metal contact points will be contaminated to varying degrees, such as dust or stains on the chip of the SD card.
So the second method is to try to clean the SD card and adapter, carefully wiping the metal contacts. You can wipe it with a dry cloth or alcohol first. If the stain still cannot be wiped off, you can prepare a piece of eraser, and use the eraser to wipe the metal contact point of the SD card until the stain on the metal piece is wiped off. After that, reinsert the SD card into the adapter and the computer to check whether the problem can be solved. If the SD card is still not recognized, please continue to try other solutions.

Solution 3: Update or reinstall SD card drivers

Another common reason for an SD card not being recognized/shown is an outdated driver, so you can go to Device Manager to update or reinstall the driver. The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Connect the SD card to the computer, press and hold the (Windows+X) key on the keyboard, and select (Device Manager).
device manager
② In the list of hardware categories, find and expand (Universal Serial Bus controllers).
Universal Serial Bus Controller
③ In the list, right-click each device, click (Update Driver) or (Uninstall Device).
update driver
④ Finally, restart the computer. If the driver is uninstalled, the system will automatically reinstall the driver after the computer restarts. After restarting the computer, the SD card should be recognized by the computer. If this method does not help, proceed to the next method.

Solution 4: Assign a new drive letter to the SD card

Without assigning a unique drive letter to the SD card, you will not be able to access the SD card on your Windows computer. In most cases, the Windows system will automatically assign a drive letter to the storage device, but sometimes there will be no assignment. Therefore, you can make the SD card recognized by Windows by simply adding or changing the drive letter manually. 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) to assign a drive letter to the hard disk, and then click (OK). Then open the file explorer, select (this computer), and check whether the SD card can be accessed.
change disk number

Solution 5: Use CHKDSK to Repair SD Card Corruption

Using the CHKDSK command, it can help you repair the corrupted file system due to bad sectors in the drive, making the damaged SD card usable again. The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Connect the SD card to the computer, then directly search for (cmd) in the search box in the lower left corner of the screen, and right-click (Command Prompt) to select (Run as administrator) to open the command prompt tool.
command prompt
② In the opened command prompt window, enter the command (chkdsk X: /r /f) (X refers to the hard drive letter; /r and /f are chkdsk repair parameters), and press (Enter) to repair SD card errors.
chdsk repair

Solution 6: Format the SD card

If your SD card’s file system is corrupted or unrecognized, even though it has been assigned a drive letter, it won’t show up correctly in File Explorer, and you won’t be able to open the SD card. In this case, you can reset the file system to be compatible with Windows by formatting it. The specific operation steps are as follows:
① Connect the SD card to the computer, and then press the (Windows+X) keys on the keyboard at the same time. Then in the pop-up list, select the (Disk Management) option.
disk management
② Next, find the SD card that needs to be formatted, right-click it and select the (Format) option.
format SD card
③ Select the required file system: FAT32, NTFS or exFAT, check (Execute Quick Format), click (OK) and follow the instructions to complete the formatting process. Restart the computer after the formatting operation is complete, and then reconnect the SD card to the computer to see if the problem is resolved.
select file system
tips Description of each file system:
●FAT32

FAT32 is a file system partition format, which uses a 32-bit file allocation table to enhance the ability to manage disks, thus breaking through the limitation that FAT16 only supports a single file of 2GB. FAT32 is still one of the most popular file systems in the world today, and it is compatible with a variety of devices such as smartphones, tablets, computers, digital cameras, game consoles, surveillance cameras, and more.

● exFAT

exFAT (short for Extended File Allocation Table) is a file system created specifically for use on flash drives like USB sticks and SD cards. It can store very large files, well above the 4GB limit imposed by FAT32. If your SD card is larger than 64GB, please choose this file system. exFAT is compatible with many different devices and operating systems.

● NTFS

NTFS is an advanced file system based on protecting file and directory data while saving storage resources and reducing disk usage. Compared with FAT, NTFS has higher security, better disk compression function, and faster operating speed. In addition, it also supports sparse files (Sparse File) and disk quotas.