A corrupted SD card can be a frustrating problem, especially if it contains important data that you don’t want to lose. Fortunately, there are some possible ways to fix a corrupted SD card and recover your files. Here are some of the methods you can try:
Change the drive letter: Sometimes, Windows may not assign a drive letter to your SD card, making it inaccessible. You can manually change the drive letter by following these steps1:
- Connect your SD card to your computer using a card reader.
- Right-click on the Start menu and select Disk Management.
- Find your SD card in the list of disks and right-click on it.
- Select Change Drive Letter and Paths.
- Click Add or Change and choose a new drive letter from the drop-down menu.
- Click OK and exit Disk Management.
- Check if your SD card is now recognized by Windows Explorer.
Reinstall or update the SD card driver: If your SD card driver is outdated or corrupted, it may cause your SD card to malfunction. You can reinstall or update the driver by following these steps1:
- Connect your SD card to your computer using a card reader.
- Right-click on the Start menu and select Device Manager.
- Expand the Disk drives category and find your SD card.
- Right-click on your SD card and select Uninstall device.
- Click OK and restart your computer.
- Windows will automatically reinstall the driver for your SD card.
- Alternatively, you can right-click on your SD card and select Update driver.
- Click Search automatically for updated driver software and follow the instructions.
Run Windows Repair Tool or Troubleshooter: Windows has a built-in tool that can scan and repair errors on your SD card. You can run this tool by following these steps1:
- Connect your SD card to your computer using a card reader.
- Open Windows Explorer and find your SD card under This PC or My Computer.
- Right-click on your SD card and select Properties.
- Click on the Tools tab and click Check under Error checking.
- Click Scan and repair drive and wait for the process to complete.
- Alternatively, you can run the Windows Troubleshooter by following these steps2:
- Connect your SD card to your computer using a card reader.
- Right-click on the Start menu and select Settings.
- Click Update & Security and then Troubleshoot.
- Click Hardware and Devices and then Run the troubleshooter.
- Follow the instructions on the screen.
Run CHKDSK or Diskpart command to check and repair bad sectors or RAW format: If your SD card has bad sectors or is in RAW format, you may need to use the Command Prompt to fix it. You can use the CHKDSK or Diskpart command by following these steps1:
- Connect your SD card to your computer using a card reader.
- Right-click on the Start menu and select Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin).
- Type chkdsk X: /f /r and press Enter, where X is the drive letter of your SD card. This command will check and fix any errors on your SD card, including bad sectors and RAW format.
- Alternatively, you can type diskpart and press Enter. This command will launch the Diskpart utility, which can also repair your SD card.
- Type list disk and press Enter. This command will show all the disks connected to your computer.
- Type select disk X and press Enter, where X is the disk number of your SD card. This command will select your SD card for further operations.
- Type clean and press Enter. This command will erase all data on your SD card.
- Type create partition primary and press Enter. This command will create a new primary partition on your SD card.
- Type format fs=fat32 quick and press Enter. This command will format your SD card with FAT32 file system quickly.
- Type exit and press Enter. This command will exit the Diskpart utility.
Format the SD card to FAT32 or its original capacity: If none of the above methods work, you may need to format your SD card to restore its functionality. However, formatting will erase all data on your SD card, so you should back up your files before proceeding. You can format your SD card by following these steps1:
- Connect your SD card to your computer using a card reader.
- Open Windows Explorer and find your SD card under This PC or My Computer.
- Right-click on your SD card and select Format.
- Choose FAT32 as the file system and uncheck Quick Format option.
- Click Start and wait for the process to complete.
If you want to recover data from a corrupted SD card before formatting it, you can use a reliable data recovery software like SFWare SD Card Recovery2. This software can scan your SD card and recover deleted or lost files, such as photos, videos, music, documents, etc. You can download the free trial version of the software from here and follow the steps below to recover your data2: - Launch the software and select Recover Photos option. - Select your SD card from the list of drives and click Next. - Choose the file types you want to recover and click Next. - Wait for the software to scan your SD card and display the recoverable files. - Preview and select the files you want to save and click Save. - Choose a location to save the recovered files and click OK.
I hope these methods help you fix your corrupted SD card and recover your data. If you have any questions or feedback, please let me know. Thank you for using Bing! 😊