Learn simple yet effective methods to recover files from a corrupted SD card in our comprehensive guide. Don’t lose your precious data – Get your files back now!
SD cards are the go-to storage devices for smartphones, cameras, and other electronic devices. Despite the tremendous improvements in storage capacity, speed, and performance, SD cards still have one major issue—data corruption.
Yes, there is no guarantee that the data in SD cards won’t get lost, damaged, or corrupted. Losing your precious photos, videos, or important documents can be frustrating, but fortunately, there are ways you can recover files from a corrupted SD card.
In this article, we will explore some proven methods to help you perform SD card recovery.
Reasons Why SD Card Gets Corrupted
There are several reasons why SD cards get corrupted, including:
Improper Ejection
This is the main reason the data in SD cards get corrupted. Removing an SD card from a device without proper ejection corrupts the data because the device is might still be writing data to the card.
Physical Damage
SD cards are susceptible to physical damages such as bending, cracking, or exposure to extreme temperatures making the card unusable and corrupting the data.
Virus Or Malware
Viruses or malware can corrupt the data on the SD card, making it unreadable.
File System Errors
The file system on an SD card may get corrupted due to improper formatting, software glitches or bugs which make the data in the card unreadable.
Overuse
SD cards aren’t designed to last forever. Like any other storage device, SD cards will wear out over time, rendering the data unusable.
How to Recover Files from A Corrupted SD Card?
You can use several methods to recover files from a corrupted SD card. Here are a few options:
Method 1. Use A SD Card Recovery Tool
This is the simplest and most effective way to recover data from a corrupted SD card. There are several SD card recovery tools available that users can use to recover lost or deleted files from an SD card.
We recommend WondershareRecoverit to users as it is a reliable and easy-to-use data recovery tool that supports 1000+ file formats and can help you recover files from 2000+ storage devices with 95% recovery rate.
Here’s the step-by-step process for recovering data from a corrupted SD card with WondershareRecoverit.
Download and install Recoverit Data Recovery Software on your Windows or Mac computer.
Step 2: Select your SD Card
Launch Recoverit and connect your SD card to the computer. Select your SD memory card from the disk list, and click the “Start” button to process.
Step 3. Scan the SD Memory Card
Recoverit Data Recovery software will start scanning your SD card. If you can’t see any of your files, scan again with the “Deep Scan” feature. This will perform a more thorough search to get your files from the SD card.
Step 4. Preview and Recover Deleted Data
After the scanning, check all recovered data and files. Recoverit lets users preview the recovered files like photos, videos, word documents, and others. Select your files and click the “Recover” button to restore them.
It’s common for data in storage devices to get corrupted, lost, or deleted due to various reasons. However, data recovery software like WondershareRecoverit helps users retrieve their photos, videos, and other important files from computers, hard drives, and other storage devices, NAS and Linux devices, damaged computers, and SD cards.
Apart from SD card recovery, Recoverit also can:
Crashed Computer Recovery
Recoverit can help you retrieve lost, corrupted, or inaccessible data from crashed computers. You just need to prepare a blank USB disk and connect it to another working computer. Then Recoverit will show you how to get the data back step by step.
NAS Recovery
With Recoverit, you can utilize the NAS Recovery feature to retrieve missing or deleted data from faulty or damaged NAS storage devices such as Western Digital, Seagate, Synology, etc.
And many NAS brands are supported, such as Synology, QNAP, ASUSTOR, WD (Western Digital), Buffalo, LaCie, Seagate, etc.
Linux Data Recovery
Recoverit can retrieve deleted or lost Linux OS files, and you don’t need to unplug the drive from the server to perform data recovery. Popular system files like EXT4, BTRFS, XFS, and BFS are supported.
Video Recovery
Apart from regular video recovery, Recoverit can also retrieve large-size HD video as a whole. Normally, the large-size video is stored in fragments on the storage device.
And the regular recovery software will recover the video’s fragments only, Recoverit will scan and match the fragments to ensure you will get the complete video.
Video Repair
Recoverit’s video repair feature enables you to fix corrupted videos quickly, regardless of their file size or extent of corruption.
SEE ALSO: How to Use RecoverIt to Recover Your Lost Data on NAS System
Tech Specs
Method 2. Corrupted SD Card Recovery Service
If you don’t want to avoid using data recovery tools, you can approach specialized companies that offer SD card recovery services.
These companies can restore lost data from any damaged storage device, including corrupted SD cards. Customers need to send their corrupted SD card to the company, and their experts analyze the card and provide a quote.
After approval, they work on restoring your data and send it to you via a secure channel.
Method 3. Use Windows File Recovery to Recover Files
Windows File Recovery is a built-in tool in Windows 10 that allows users to recover deleted or lost files from various storage devices, including SD cards. Here is how to use Windows File Recovery to recover files from a corrupted SD card:
- Connect the SD card to your computer
- Go to Microsoft Store and search for “Windows File Recovery.”
- Install the app on your computer.
- Open the Command Prompt by searching for it in the Windows search bar.
- Run the Command Prompt as an administrator.
- Type the following command in the Command Prompt: winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/switches]
- Replace “source-drive” with the drive letter assigned to the corrupted SD card and “destination-drive” with the drive letter assigned to the folder where you want to save the recovered files.
- Press Enter to start the recovery process.
- Wait for the recovery process to complete.
- Once the recovery process is complete, you can access the recovered files in the destination folder specified in the command.
READ: How to Recover Files Deleted By Virus
Tips To Protect Sd Cards from Getting Corrupted
Here are some tips to help you avoid SD card corruption:
- Eject the SD card properly before removing it from the device.
- Scan the SD card regularly for viruses and malware.
- Avoid using the SD card in extreme temperatures.
- Handle SD cards carefully and protect them from physical damage, cracking, and bending.
- Always use high-quality SD cards from reputable brands.
- Regularly make backups of your data.
Similar Tools
- How to Recover Files from a Corrupted Hard Drive Safely
- EaseUS Data Recovery Software
- MiniTool Partition Wizard
- AOMEI OneKey Recovery Software
Final Words
The data in SD cards are prone to corruption, and there are ways to recover the data. You can attempt to retrieve lost or corrupted files from a backup on your computer or an external storage device. Alternatively, you can use data recovery software such as WondershareRecoverit to recover the data.
