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Is it possible to uncorrupt an SD card?
When it comes to memory cards, most of us will mention SD cards, as they are widely used on many digital products, such as cell phones, digital cameras, car dash camera, surveillance cameras, etc. It provides storage space for photos, videos, documents and other files. One of the distressing problems of using an SD card is that it may get corrupted without any signs. A corrupted SD card is similar to a corrupted hard drive, the consequence is that all files stored in the SD card cannot be accessed anymore. Is it possible to uncorrupt an SD card? How can I uncorrupt an SD card without losing data? If you want to keep files on the SD card, it is highly suggested to retrieve files stored on the SD card prior to repairing it. Below, we'll show you how to retrieve files from corrupted SD card and provide 8 fixes to uncorrupt SD card.
How to recover corrupted SD card? The best way to recover data from corrupted SD card
Data loss is the major threat of a corrupted SD card, and we should fix it perfectly when the SD card contains important photos, videos and files. We still have chance to recover data from corrupted SD card as long as there are no changes made on the SD card since it got corrupted. DiskGenius is brilliant data recovery software, and it works efficiently on recovering corrupted memory cards, including SD card, CF card, TF card, XD card, etc. The scanning engine digs deeply to find out as many recoverable files as possible. You just need to free download and install DiskGenius on your computer and start the recovery following steps below.
Step 1. Launch DiskGenius on your Windows PC and connect the corrupted SD card to this computer as well. Then you can find the SD card listed in DiskGenius.
Tip: If there are hidden files on the SD card, you can view them in DiskGenius by clicking Files tab.
Step 2. Right-click the corrupted memory card which will be marked as Unformatted or Damaged and choose Recover Lost Files from the appeared menu.
Step 3. Click Start button to initiate the scanning. By default, DiskGenius performs a quick and deep scanning for the selected drive, and found files will be listed in the software during scanning.
Step 4. Now you can view scanning result to check if files are correct. Double-click each file to preview content and make sure whether lost files get corrupted.
Step 5. Choose files you want to rescue and copy them to a location which does not need recovering data.
How to uncorrupt an SD card in Windows 10? 8 solutions to fix SD card
How do I fix a corrupted SD card for free? The following part includes eight solutions to fix corrupted memory card, and all of them are free of charge. It should be noted that all these solutions are of no help in SD card recovery, moreover, they are likely to damage lost data. So, always back up or recover important files in advance.
Solution #1: Check SD card connection
To make sure if there is something wrong with the connection, you need to try the following:
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Check if the SD card is connected correctly to your computer, cellphone, digital camera or other devices. Make sure it is properly installed on the device.
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Connect the SD card to a Windows computer and try different card reader. It is reasonable that the SD card cannot be recognized by Windows if the card reader fails to work. So you can try different card readers and USB ports.
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Check if the SD card is write-protected: some SD cards have a physical lock switch on the upper-left side of the SD card. Slide the lock switch to remove the write protection.
Solution #2: Assign a new drive letter
In some situations, the corrupted SD card is caused by conflicting drive letters, and the issue can be fixed by assigning a new drive letter. To assign a new drive letter to SD card in Disk Management, follow these steps.
Step 1. Right-click Start button and choose Disk Management option to launch Windows Disk Management.
Step 2. Locate the SD card you want to repair, right-click it and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths".
Step 3. Click "Change" button. Then select a drive letter for the SD card and click "OK".
Solution #3: Reinstall SD card drivers
With corrupted or outdated drivers, the SD card may become unreadable or even not showing up in Windows. So, reinstalling drivers is also a way to fix corrupted memory cards.
Step 1. Right-click Windows Start menu and choose Device Manager.
Step 2. Navigate listed devices and locate Disk Drives. Expand it and you will see the name of the connected SD card.
Step 3. Right-click it and click "Uninstall Device".
Step 4. Safely eject the SD card and restart computer. Then reconnect the SD card and Windows will reinstall drivers for it automatically.
Solution #4: Run hardware and device troubleshooter
Step 1. Press Windows + R keys to open the Run box. Type msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic and hit Enter key to open Hardware and Devices.
Step 2. Click "Next" button and follow the onscreen wizard to check if hardware has problem.
Solution #5: Use the repair tool provided by SD card manufacturer
Major SD card manufacturer such as Kingston, SanDisk, Samsung, etc. provide their own repair tools to deal with corrupted SD card. With these tools, you can fix corrupted memory cards, restore them to full capacity, force format memory card, etc. You can easily find these tools on the official website or just contact the support team.
Solution #6: Try chkdsk to repair SD card
The purpose of running chkdsk on SD card is to fix possible errors in file system instead of recovering files. The chkdsk process is likely to damage files on the SD card, thus, do not try these steps unless you've successfully recovered SD card data to a safe location.
Step 1. Double click "This PC" icon to open File Explorer. Then right-click on the SD card you want to repair and select Properties.
Step 2. Click Tools tab and select Check button.
Step 3. Click Scan and repair drive.
Solution #7: Format the corrupted SD card to FAT32
If none of the above works on your corrupted SD card, you will have to try formatting it. Here are two ways of formatting SD card to FAT32 file system. To avoid further data damage, please backup important files on the SD card before formatting.
Method 1: Format SD card to FAT32 in Disk Management
This methos applies to SD cards whose capacity is less than 32GB. To format larger SD card such 64GB, 128GB to FAT32, then try method 2.
Step 1. In Disk Management, right-click the corrupted memory card and choose Format option.
Step 2. Select a file system and click OK to prepare the formatting.
Step 3. Click OK button to start the formatting.
Method 2: Format corrupted SD card to FAT32/EXT4 using DiskGenius Free Edition.
With DiskGenius, you can format 64GB, 128GB or even larger SD cards to FAT32 or EXT4 file system in Windows 10/8/7. Just make sure you've backed up data for the SD card beforehand.
Step 1. Launch DiskGenius Free Edition, right-click the corrupted drive you want to format and choose "Format Current Partition".
Step 2. Click a file system type you need and click "Format" button.
Step 3. Click "Yes" to confirm the formatting, and the software starts to format SD card at once.
Solution #8: Check and repair bad sectors
An SD card contains a great number of sectors, and some of them may becomes unusable. As a result, the SD card turns to be unreadable and corrupted. By using DiskGenius Free Edition, you can check if there are bad sectors easily.
Step 1. Launch DiskGenius Free Edition and connect the corrupted SD card to be repaired.
Step 2. Right-click the SD card and choose "Verify Or Repair Bad Sectors" item.
Step 3. Click "Start Verify" button and the software starts to scan the SD card and verify if any bad sectors exist.
What does it mean when an SD card is corrupted?
Signs of corrupted SD card
How to tell if an SD card is corrupted? Here are come clues for your reference.
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The SD card cannot be opened in Windows File Explorer. Whenever you double click it, you receive an error message such as "You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it. Do you want to format it now?" "Please insert a disk into USB drive" "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable"
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Right-click the SD card and choose "Property", the file system type becomes RAW. Moreover, the Used Space and Free Space are all 0 Bytes.
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Files stored on the SD card cannot be accessed.
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The SD card says full, but no files can be seen on the SD card.
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Windows cannot complete the format of SD card.
What causes a corrupted SD card?
Here are the common reasons behind a corrupted SD card.
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Improper use: some people remove SD card from computer while it is transferring data or take the SD card out of digital camera or cellphone without turning off the device.
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Virus and malware: Virus and malware can damage file system corruption, making the SD card not readable.
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Hardware damage: The flash chips in the SD card may get physical damage easily, for example, static electricity occurred while connecting the SD card may destroy the flash chips.
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Fake SD cards: The fake SD card means the actual capacity of the SD card is not in line with what you were sold. For example, an 8GB SD card may have only 4GB actual capacity. When the data written to the SD card exceeds the actual capacity, the SD card will be corrupted.
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The lifespan comes to an end: Old SD cards tend to get various issues, and you need to replace very old SD card with new ones in case of SD card damage.
Corrupted SD card FAQs
1. How can I repair my SD card without formatting in Windows 10?
In fact, formatting is the easiest way of repairing a damaged or RAW SD card in Windows 10. If you are not willing to format SD card, then try chkdsk SD card. However, chkdsk is not totally safe to files on the SD card, and it may also damage data sometime. Do back up files in advance.
2. How do I unlock a corrupted SD card?
There are two methods to unlock a corrupted SD card that reports write-protected.
Method 1: Manually turn off the write protection by moving the lock switch to the unlock side.
Method 2: Turn off digital write protection via command attributes disk clear readonly in Command Prompt.
3. How to fix unreadable SD card?
When your SD card becomes unreadable and corrupted, you can try following methods to fix it and make it readable again.
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Recover files from unreadable SD card with DiskGenius.
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Run chkdsk to correct errors in file system.
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Assign a new drive letter.
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Install and update drivers for the unreadable SD card.
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Format SD card to FAT32 or exFAT file system.
4. How to format corrupted SD card?
Regarding the ways of formatting a corrupted SD card, you need to connect it to a Windows computer first. Then try one of the following methods to get the corrupted SD card formatted:
Method 1: Format corrupted SD card in Windows File Explorer.
Method 2: Format corrupted drive in Disk Management.
Method 3: Use DiskGenius Free to format SD card to FAT32/exFAT/NTFS/EXT4.
For step-by-step guides, please refer to this page: How to Format Corrupted / RAW SD card to FAT32/exFAT/NTFS?
5. How to recover photos from corrupted SD card free?
Using SD card data recovery software is the reliable way to recover deleted or lost photos from corrupted SD cards and other storage devices. Moreover, the corrupted SD card recovery should be done before trying repairing methods. Refer to this guide to learn how to carry out the recovery: Memory Card Corrupted? How to Recover the Data without Formatting?
6. Can you uncorrupt a micro-SD card?
Yes, you can uncorrupt a micro SD card via a few solutions, such as, chkdsk SD card, format corrupted micro SD card to FAT32 file system, check and repair bad sectors, etc.
Conclusion
In this article, we focus on corrupted SD card, explaining how to recover data from corrupted SD card as well as 8 solutions to repair corrupted SD card. Neither recovering nor fixing corrupted SD card requires you should have a good command of computer skills, and we hope you can uncorrupt SD card without losing data on your own after reading above-given tutorials. To wrap up the writing, we would like to say that it is important to create backups regularly, as you can skip the SD card recovery phase while fixing it.
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