SD card is a portable storage device used to store and backup thousands of files such as photos, raw-pictures, videos, PDFs, audio files, Microsoft Office files, etc. based on its storage capacity.
No matter how safely you handle your SD card, there can be multiple ways your SD card is prone to corruption and damage. Some of the common form factors of SD card are micro SD card, SDXC card, SDHC card, memory stick, etc. used on your digital camera, camcorder, Windows PC, Mac system, and Android devices.
In case, if your SD card is corrupt or unreadable you need not worry! The files saved on the SD card are still safe. But it is recommended to stop fixing and recovering data from your SD corruption using unreliable methods. Since this can further damage your SD card and lead to a permanent data loss.
Note: Before you fix a corrupt memory card, it is advised to first get back files from it to avoid any data loss from corrupt SD card.
How to Fix and Retrieve data from corrupt SD card? | Proven
Here is a complete guide on how to recover files from corrupt SD card using reliable data recovery software. And also find 4 proven methods to fix your corrupt SD card effortlessly.
Utilize Remo Recover which is a specially designed software to retrieve files from corrupt, unreadable, formatted micro/ SD card, SDHC/ SDXC card, USB drive, external HDD, SSD, etc. This SD card recovery tool has a Deep Scan option, which thoroughly scans the corrupt SD card sector by sector to recover more than 300 file formats such as photos, videos, raw-images, audio files, PPTs, excel sheets, Word documents, and many more. This tool is compatible with all the latest versions of Windows and Mac including Windows 10 and macOS Big Sur.
How to Retrieve files from corrupted SD card?
- Download and install Remo Recover software on your Windows or Mac and connect your corrupt SD card to the system.
- Launch the Remo Recover tool to start retrieving files from your corrupt SD card.
- Click on the Recover Partition option and select the corrupt SD card drive from which you want to restore files.
- Hit the Scan button to start the data recovering process from corrupt SD or memory card.
- After the scanning process completes, you can preview the recovered files such as photos or videos from corrupt SD card for free.
- Select the files that you want to recover and click Save to get back files from corrupt memory card/ SD card to your desired location.
How to fix corrupt SD card?
1) Change corrupt SD card drive letter
Most users assume the SD card is corrupt even though it is not. Sometimes, the SD card seems to be corrupt if its drive letter is the same as any of your existing storage drive letters on Windows. In such cases, assigning a new letter to your SD card without conflicting with the available drive letters resolves the memory card not recognizing or corruption issue.
- Connect your corrupt SD card and press Windows key + R at once.
- Type diskmgmt.msc in the Open box of the Run window and click OK.
- This will open Disk Management Window, now right-click on the corrupt SD card and select Change Drive Letter and Paths option.
- Assign a new letter to your corrupt SD card without conflicting with the existing drive letters and click OK.
In case, if your SD card is still corrupt and unrecognized then, move on to the next method.
2) Update SD card drivers
If your SD card drivers are not updated on Windows, then your SD card will be inaccessible. Below are the steps to update the SD card drivers to fix corruption.
- Connect the corrupt memory card to your PC and press Windows key + R at once.
- Type devmgmt.msc in the Run window open box and hit Enter.
- In the Device Manager, navigate and right-click on your corrupt SD card.
- Click on the Update driver option.
- Now, select Search automatically for updated driver software option and wait till the SD card driver is updated.
- Now, restart the Windows computer which will automatically update the SD card driver and helps you fix SD card corruption.
3) Run command prompt
Follow the below steps to run the command prompt to fix SD card corruption.
- Type cmd in the Windows search box.
- Right-click on the command prompt and open it as Run as administrator.
- Type chkdsk E: /f /r /x and press Enter.
Note: Replace E with your corrupt SD card letter.
Now, wait till the CMD process ends. This will fix minor SD card corruption and errors and makes your SD card files accessible. In case, if this method doesn’t fix your SD card corruption, then it is due to the severity of memory card corruption, which can be only fixed by formatting the corrupt SD card.
4) Format corrupt SD card
Before you format your corrupt SD card, it is always suggested to backup important files. In case, if you have not taken a backup of your data from corrupt SD card, then you can make use of Remo Recover software to easily restore files from corrupt and unrecognized SD card with simple clicks.
- Connect your corrupt micro/ SD card to your Windows.
- Open Disk Management and right-click on the corrupt SD card drive from the list of available storage drives.
- Now, select the Format option.
- Select either of the available file system (FAT32/NTFS/exFAT) and click OK.
Note: NTFS file system is preferable if you use your SD card only on Windows. And the exFAT file system supports both Windows and Mac systems.