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Program for data recovery from SD card. The procedure for recovering data from a memory card. Is it possible to recover data yourself?

Micro SD memory cards are quite popular due to their portability: you can use it in your phone, and if you insert it into an adapter, you can easily put it in your computer, digital camera and any other devices. Such memory cards are inexpensive, but they often break down. Micro SD suddenly stops responding and shows no data. In this case, do not rush to throw away the flash drive and buy another one, as you can restore it with the basic using Windows or third party programs. Bring your Micro SD flash drive back to life with the help of this article.

How to recover a Micro SD flash drive without third-party programs

The surest way and the first one that you should immediately take is to format the flash drive in Windows using an external USB adapter. The thing is that built-in adapters for Micro SD do not always cope with their task; it is best to buy USB adapter for memory cards and use it or ask friends for a while.

Insert the USB flash drive into the adapter and then connect it to the computer. Wait until the device is detected by the system. It's okay if the type of flash drive is displayed incorrectly, because it is broken.

Right-click on it and select “Format”.

Select formatting options:

File system Fat32 should be selected.
The cluster size is 32 KB.
Check the box next to “Quick Format”.

Click “Ok” and wait until the procedure is completed. Remove the device when finished and insert again.
Of course, after formatting, all files from the flash drive will be deleted, but, nevertheless, its performance may return to normal.

How to recover a Micro SD flash drive using the program

This option is suitable not only for restoring the functionality of a flash drive, but also for recovering files from it. Try this procedure after formatting to recover all photos and files.

Download the Card Recovery program on the official website at https://www.cardrecovery.com. Several options for one recovery program are available here different files and memory cards.

Please note that the program is distributed only in a trial version. You will have to pay for the full one.
Installation is quite simple and straightforward: agree to the license agreement and select the program installation directory.

Immediately open the program via Start or a desktop shortcut. First of all, insert your memory card into your computer.

Click “Next” and you will see the next step. Here you need to select the drive letter on which the flash drive is currently located. Expand the first list and select it.

Once you set the device letter, in the bottom line set the path to save the recovered files. It is in this folder that all photographs and other documents will appear.

Click “Next” again to begin. If the program itself was unable to indicate the amount of memory on the device, write it down manually.

Confirm the restoration and click “Yes”.

Wait while the scan completes. During the process, all lost files will be found, as well as problems with the flash drive. As soon as the line is completely filled with green, the scanning was successful. In the lower window you will see everything that was recovered.

The program will tell you how many files were found.

Click “Next” to view them.

Check the boxes next to those that need to be restored. Click “Next” again. The recovery will take several minutes, depending on the capabilities of your computer.
Now you can again use the Micro SD flash drive and files recovered from it.

How to recover an SD card or USB flash drive if the computer does not see it, does not read or write data? Problems with flash drives are rarely caused by natural wear and tear. More often, problems with them are caused by users ignoring the rules for safely removing the device, experiments with various software in which these flash drives are involved, as well as their initially lousy quality. Below we look at the list possible actions, carried out in a Windows environment, which can solve the problem, unless, of course, the cause lies in a mechanical failure. And we, friends, will go from simple to complex.

Note: below we will only talk about restoring the functionality of flash drives, but not about saving the data stored on them. This is a separate topic, and there is information about this on the website. Most of the methods proposed below for recovering SD cards and flash drives will lead to the loss of their data.

1. Hardware lock

SD cards, MicroSD adapters and flash drives can be hardware protected from writing data or completely blocked even for reading. On such devices there is a lock switch, which must, accordingly, be set to the “Unlocked” position.

2. Problems not related to the drives themselves

The cause of problems with SD cards and flash drives may be Windows security policy. You need to find out whether access to removable drives is blocked (in whole or in part of writing data to them) by the computer administrator. You also need to check the card reader or ports Computer USB. If everything is fine with the latter, the card reader reads other SD cards, but problems still arise with the flash drive, no matter how you connect it to others USB ports, go ahead.

3. Windows Explorer

Standard formatting tools Windows Explorer can help in simple cases such as unsuccessful writing of data to a flash drive. Or when for some reason a smartphone, tablet, camera or other device cannot cope with this operation regarding SD cards. In any of current versions In Windows, in the Explorer window on the drive, call up the context menu and click “Format”.

We leave the original file system and first try a quick format.

If it fails, repeat the operation, but with full formatting (uncheck the fast box).

4. Windows Disk Management

You can try to perform the formatting procedure in disk management. To launch this tool, enter in the system search field:

diskmgmt.msc

In the disk management window, focusing on the size of the drive, we look for it among the disks connected to the computer. And in context menu, called on it, we start formatting.

You can immediately select full formatting.

If the flash drive has a partition structure like a hard drive, you must delete each of those partitions. This is done using the “Delete Volume” option in the context menu.

And then, in place of the resulting unallocated space, you need to create a single partition. To do this, in the context menu on this very unallocated space, launch the “Create a new volume” operation and follow the instructions of the step-by-step wizard.

5. Programs for low-level formatting

Standard formatting tools may not help in complex cases, for example, when flash drives are displayed (in the same Explorer or Disk Management) as unrecognized devices with the RAW file system. The latter means that either Windows environment does not understand the file system of the drive, or there is no file system as such in principle. Actually, this is what causes problems with a flash drive or SD card when it works on other devices, with other operating systems. In such cases, third-party Windows programs designed for so-called low-level formatting will help restore the flash drive.

In fact low level formatting- This is a procedure that is carried out either in the production conditions of flash device manufacturers, or in serious specialized services. Various types of Windows software that claim to perform this kind of operation actually perform a regular full format, but using mechanisms that differ from those used by the operating system. Such programs cope well with flash drive problems if these problems arise at the file system level. Let's look at two of these programs.

HDD Low Level Format Tool

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

Shareware portable program HDD Low Level Format Tool can format different types storage media, in particular SD cards and USB flash drives. After unpacking the archive with the program, run it and agree to the license terms.

We choose free use.

Directly in the program window we indicate the problematic drive and click “Continue”.

We confirm the decision.

We wait for the operation to complete and check the operation of the media.

SDFormatter

http://flashboot.ru/files/file/355

A completely free small program called SDFormatter is another tool for so-called low-level formatting. Works with both SD cards and USB flash drives. Install SDFormatter into the system, launch it, and indicate the problematic flash drive in the “Drive” column. Click “Format”.

The program wants to make sure that our intentions are serious, click “Ok.

He asks not to touch the drive while the operation is being performed.

Upon completion, test the flash drive or SD card. If this does not help, repeat the operation with the settings for complete overwriting of sectors (nothing more than full formatting). Press “Option”, select “Full (OverWrite)”. And also click “Format” at the bottom.

If using the above methods it was not possible to revive the flash drive, and it is still under warranty, you need to stop at this stage. And do not take any further action except contact the seller with a request to replace the device. All the actions described below should be resorted to only when, in fact, there is nothing to lose. The instructions below apply to USB flash drives, SD and MicroSD cards. However, in the case of the latter, the likelihood of recovery is extremely low.

6. D-Soft Flash Doctor

D-Soft Flash Doctor performs so-called low-level formatting, and at the same time also detects damaged sectors (cells). Well, and, accordingly, knows how to block them and replace them with backup ones. The program can help when flash drives or SD cards have difficulty reading individual files located on damaged sectors. The program is free and portable. I did not find the official website, but it can be freely downloaded on the Internet.

In the D-Soft Flash Doctor window, the first thing you need to do is run a scan to detect errors.

In my case, there were no damaged (broken) sectors.

But if in your case, friends, the scan results are different and bad sectors are detected, we start the recovery process.

The window for performing this operation promises that the process will not last longer than 10 minutes, but in fact, reassigning bad sectors on a drive with a capacity larger than 4 GB can take quite a long time. So it is better to run the recovery operation at night.

7. Flashing the memory controller

Programs for so-called low-level formatting or their analogues, which in any other form claim to be able to resuscitate all types of SD cards and/or USB flash drives, turn out to be powerless in the event of a software failure of the controller, when it requires flashing. This problem can have different symptoms, but more often it is either the computer does not see the drive completely, or it sees it and can even read the data, but cannot format it by any means. In particular, due to write protection even though the drive is not locked by hardware.

An SD card is a removable storage disk that stores data recorded on it, allowing you to transfer information from one reading device to another. Such flash cards are located in digital devices and store photographs, music, videos, documents, and so on.

SD cards are used in mobile phones, tablets, GPS navigators and in other similar devices. Their memory capacity can be up to 2 terabytes. They are available in several types and sizes. The microSD, miniSD and SDHC formats are especially popular.

These devices are designed for long and reliable operation, but the loss of information from these cards is often a problem for their owners.

What causes data loss from the card?

Problems with loss of information materials happen with any storage media, and an SD card is no exception to this rule. Before you begin recovering files from an SD card, you should determine the cause of the data loss. It can be:

1. A common option is to accidentally delete information from a flash drive.

2. The process of formatting a digital device while the SD card is in it.

3. Incorrect disconnection of the card, i.e. when data is transferred from a flash drive to this or that equipment, the user pulls it out of the connector, thereby damaging the logical structure of the drive. Therefore, the card should be removed when no operations are performed on it.

4. Also, the SD card is restored after the last shot was taken on the camera with a full flash drive. This often results in the computer not being able to “see” the card.

5. Due to an electrical short circuit or a failure in the firmware of the reading equipment, the controller located inside the card fails.

6. Mechanical defect of the drive.

How to check the functionality of a flash drive?

Recovering a damaged SD card begins with checking its functions. When a flash drive stops working normally, it is accompanied by some symptoms. For example, there are cards that, when damaged, show an incorrect structure of file archives, or digital device cannot detect the flash drive or its memory capacity.

If this happens to your memory card, then you should not rashly throw it away, but try to restore its functionality, because it happens that the information stored on it is very valuable and rare and it is not so easy to find it and download it again (and sometimes it is impossible) .

SD card recovery program

So the saying “measure twice, cut once” is relevant to the problem we are describing.

Recovering files from an SD card

Next we will describe step-by-step recommendations on reconstruction of damaged data. Looking ahead, users should be warned that these recovery steps help “breathe life” into the SD card in 80% of all such situations. In other cases, mechanical intervention by specialists in the structure of the card is required, which cannot be done at home. Such operations are carried out in special workshops and laboratories.

Now we will look at ways to return data from a flash drive on your own:

1. Recovering deleted files from an SD card begins with the fact that you need to look into the recycle bin of the damaged flash drive. If information from the card was accidentally deleted on a computer or laptop, they do not appear in the device trash. But if the data was erased on the tablet, then you should go to the menu of such a device, find the SD card icon and look in it for a file called Recycle bin, which may contain deleted objects.

2. As soon as you discover that the information from the flash drive has been deleted, you need to put the memory card aside and temporarily not use it, since when saving new data, the old files will be completely overwritten, and it will be impossible to return them.

3. A special program is downloaded to recover SD cards from the Internet if the information was not found in the recycle bin. In this case, you should carefully choose an application for working with a memory card, taking into account not only the cost of the program, but also user reviews about it. It happens that the cost of lost data exceeds the cost of the application itself. In this case, it is better not to experiment, but to pay for the program and return your files to the card.

4. After installing the application on the computer, connect the flash drive or equipment on which it is located to it.

5. The program for recovering the SD memory card is launched, the application asks where to look deleted files, the flash drive is indicated. Next, the program begins scanning the card’s file system.

6. After the application finishes, it will highlight the files found. A good program displays a list of data by date of creation or modification, name, and so on.

7. In this list, you can select which files need to be restored by checking the box next to them.

8. After all the procedures described above, information can be saved on any medium, both on SD and on a computer or on floppy disks.

When the micro SD card is restored via special programs, then the location data of the files, their names are often lost, they are in a “chaotic” state. In this case, it will not be easy to recognize them. Therefore, experts recommend choosing a recovery application so that it has the function of previewing information data before it is restored and saved. Also, the more viewing formats the program supports, the better.

When working with flash drive recovery, you should take into account the fact that each application works according to its own algorithms. They do some things better, and some things worse. Therefore, it is impossible to predict which program works best for SD card recovery than others. It often happens that in case of serious damage, the maximum recovery of files is not at all the same application that showed excellent results in other cases. Therefore, if one program could not completely find and return all the data, then you should use other information products.

The most popular programs that recover lost data

The most used applications for SD memory card recovery are free Recuva, PC Inspector File Recovery, R.saver 1.0 and Pandora Recovery. All of them support popular Windows file systems - FAT16/32 and NTFS. These applications have proven themselves well in restoring information from a flash drive.

Recuva

This application became famous due to the fact that it was the very first free program whose specification was not only SD card recovery, but also work with hard drives computer, as well as deleting unnecessary files.

This program today is considered primitive, as more modern applications have appeared. But if you just need to return a file, then it is perfect for this procedure due to its simplicity and practicality.

PC Inspector File Recovery

SD card recovery with this German utility is better than Recuva. This application can also work with lost disk partitions that are not recognized operating system. However, the downside of the program is the poorly understandable menu.

R.saver

This application, unlike others free programs, it is often possible to cope with difficult cases of data loss, for example, when the computer does not find the memory card. In most situations involving data loss on a flash drive, this utility shows the best results, comparable to popular commercial products.

The program menu and even pop-up tips are completely in Russian, so it’s quite easy to use. R.saver is recognized as one of best programs, problem solvers for restoring memory cards, so it’s best to keep it on hand at all times.

Pandora Recovery

This is also a good free utility that recovers lost data, especially images and photos. It searches for accidentally erased files, and also resuscitates information after formatting.

Bottom line

Losing data on memory cards due to various user actions is not yet a disaster. You should not immediately change the flash drive or send it to computer specialists for repair. There is a high probability that you can recover lost data at home, using a set of certain programs.

And only if you cannot revive the SD card on your own, then you should turn to professionals for help. But you should keep in mind that the price of such services will not be less than the cost new card memory. Therefore, it is necessary to contact specialists only when the lost information is really very valuable and it is impossible or difficult to find it again.

If the data on the card is not so important and it is easy to write it down again, then you should try to restore the card yourself, using all the recommendations described in the article, and if it doesn’t work out, buy a new flash drive. Only this time you have to handle it carefully.

Even such well-known card manufacturers as Transcend, Kingston or Silicon Power do not guarantee the indefinite performance of your flash drive and the safety of your data. But don’t rush to think that everything is lost - you can try to recover lost files from an SD card.

Recovering files using CardRecovery

On the Internet you can find many utilities for returning erased or lost images from Kingston or Silicon Power cards. The most effective program for recovering data from a damaged SD card is Card Recovery. It supports work not only with SD memory cards, but also microSD cards or regular USB flash drives. The utility works with the most common multimedia formats:

MOV, etc.

Working with this program is quite simple; it has proven itself to be highly efficient, functional and user-friendly interface.

Step 1: Preparing to Scan

After launching the program and the welcome screen, you will be prompted to proceed to scan for lost data on the memory card. To do this, you need to select which disk you are going to scan (select the letter label of the memory card), as well as the location on the disk of the folder where the files recovered from the flash drive will be saved.

Optionally, you can check the types of damaged files that need to be recovered, as well as the model of the device in which the SD card was installed (digital camera or Android smartphone).

Once you're done, click the NEXT button.

Step 2: Scan

All data detected on the SD card as a result of scanning is displayed in the program window in a single list.

A complete card scan usually takes no more than 10 minutes.

If you find the files you need in the list, you can interrupt the scan and move on to the next step. However, due to the lack of a preview, it makes more sense to wait until all the data is found on the SD card.

Step 3: Preview and Select Data to Save

You can view the files that were detected by the program as a result of scanning the card. Previews are only possible for 6 files at a time, which makes searching difficult. It is much easier to mark all the files and then select the ones you need from those already saved in the folder.

Step 4: Save

At this stage, the files selected for recovery will be saved to the folder specified in step 1. After the procedure is completed, the utility will offer to open this folder, for further work with the data.

PhotoRec 7: utility for recovering any type of data

Despite the fact that the name of this utility hints at the ability to work only with multimedia data, the utility can recover files of any type from any media: Silicon flash drives Power, transcend and kingston SD cards. Another advantage of 7 is that it can work with damaged SD cards that are not detected when connected to a PC and do not have a drive letter.

Step 1: Select recovery options

After launching the utility, a window appears on the screen where the user is asked to select a flash drive or memory card from which to restore, as well as the file system in which the drive is formatted. The most common is the second item: FAT/NTFS/HFS+. You also need to specify the path where the data recovered from SD cards will be saved.

If you need to recover a specific file format from a damaged flash drive, you can select it by clicking on the File Format button and checking the corresponding extensions.

Step 2: Data Recovery

After all the preliminary settings have been completed, click on the Search button to start scanning and recovering SD cards (Silicon Power or another manufacturer). At the end of the process, the program will tell you how many files and what format were detected on the damaged memory card. To exit PhotoRec 7, click Quit. Files recovered from memory cards can be found in the folder you specified when initial setup utilities.

Having problems on your Android phone or any other with a memory card? Can't read data from it or your Android phone/tablet doesn't detect it?

You can repair a damaged micro SD card if it is damaged using a computer, check it for errors, or completely reformat it.

In general, the fact that the SD card is not readable is not something unusual. If you have a lot of data stored on it and you use it extensively on your phone, there is always a chance that you might have a problem reading the content.

But this does not mean that the card should be thrown away immediately. There is always a chance to restore the SD card.

Sometimes the solution may be to check the file system for errors in saved files, repair bad sectors, format the card, or complete removal section (map structure) and its re-creation. Below we will look at all these solutions.

How can I restore the functionality of an external SD card?

To fix a damaged SD card you will need:

computer or laptop running Windows;
any way to connect an SD card directly to a computer.

You can connect it to your computer using an adapter - if not, you can buy a USB card reader.

Method one - repairing a damaged file system CHKDSK

If your device says sd card is damaged, here's what you can do. The first and easiest way is to use the Windows system disk recovery tool, that is, CHDSK.

This tool is from Microsoft and is only available on Windows computers. CHKDSK does this without deleting any files, so you won't lose any card data.

First, connect the SD card directly to your computer or laptop and launch “My Computer” or “This PC” (Windows 8 and later).

In the list of drives, find the included SD card and note which drive letter it was assigned to. For the purposes of this guide, let's assume the card was assigned the letter "D".

Press the Windows + R key combination to bring up the window Windows startup. In the run window enter the following command to enable command line: CMD.

A new command prompt window will appear. Now you must enter the appropriate command that will scan the memory card and fix the errors on it. The command looks like this: chkdsk D: /f

Of course, instead of "D:", write your drive letter (don't forget the colon). Press the "Enter" button to start scanning.

After scanning, you can check your memory drive and see if everything is working.

Method two - formatting a damaged SD card

The second way to fix a damaged SD card is to format it by deleting all data. This option can help if CHKDSK failed to check and you are still having problems (for example, errors reading individual files).

Of course, you will lose all your data, but chances are that formatting will fix the card.

To do this, connect the drive to your computer, and then call up “My Computer” or “This Computer.” In the list of drives, find the connected SD card and right-click it.

Select Format from the context menu. A new format window will appear for the specified drive (SD card in this case).

Click the "Default Allocation Size" button and make sure "FAT32" is selected as the file system.

You can format with the “Quick Format” option selected, but to get more accurate results I recommend that you uncheck this box - formatting will take much longer, but is done more carefully, which can help solve problems with the card.

After formatting, reinsert the card into your smartphone, tablet, digital camera, or whatever device you are using and make sure the card is working properly.

Method three - completely delete all partitions and re-create them again

An SD card is no different from a regular disk - it can have one or more partitions. By default there is always only one section.

You can format the card in such a way as to completely remove the partition and leave it unallocated.

This is called low-level formatting. Please note that this will also permanently delete all data on the memory card.

After formatting, you can create a new partition. This often helps when the memory card appears as "RAW" after connecting and does not show any partitions that can be accessed.

For this formatting, you can use a program called “HDD Low Level Format Tool”. You can download it below.

Connect the drive to your computer, and then run the Hard Drive Low Level Tool.

You'll see a list of all your drives on your computer, including your connected external drive. Find your SD card in the list and select it.

Make sure you choose correctly. Once selected, click Continue and go to the Format this device tab.

The card will be completely formatted and all partitions will be deleted. This will now be a clean, undistributed surface.

That's not all - the card is in such a state that it will be useless. Now go to the Start menu and find the Windows Administrative Tools folder and select Computer Management.

A new window will appear. In it, select “Disk Management”. A new window will appear displaying all drives, both internal and external, connected via USB.

Find your drive, the surface of which is displayed in black. Right-click on the black unallocated area and select New Simple Volume.

You will see a wizard that will guide you step by step through the process of creating a partition. You don't need to change anything, just click Next. Pay attention to the File System field and make sure that FAT32 is selected instead of NTFS.

Confirm the creation of the new partition. Your micro SD card will now appear in the My Computer window with a drive letter automatically assigned. You can disconnect it from your computer and connect it to your phone or tablet. Good luck.

Developer:
http://hddguru.com/

OS:
Windows

Interface:
English

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