An unreadable SD card is a common issue with SD cards nowadays because it has become more popular with users. If you are facing an unreadable SD card issue this can be because the card is corrupted or damaged. SD cards become unreadable for various reasons, like;
- Physical damage in SD card.
- File system errors in the SD card.
- Corrupted data in the SD card.
- Devices are not compatible with SD cards.
- Virus or malware infection.
- SD card drivers are out of date.
- SD cards are having wear and tear from using for a long time.
Regardless of the reason why your SD card has become unreadable. This article will help you fix the issue and as well as recover data from it.
Content Table:
How to Fix Unreadable SD Card?
- Check the card reader or change the connection port
- Update SD card drivers
- Assign a new drive letter
- Run CHKDSK command
- Use error-checking feature
- Format unreadable SD card
You can try solutions like checking the connection or the card reader. Updating the drivers, and assigning a different drive letter. Apart from that you can also run in-built tools like CHKDSK and Error Checking tool. If none of these solutions are helpful, users are left with no other choice but to format their SD card.
1. Check the Card Reader or Change the Connection Port
Most of the time the card is not able to read because the card reader or the connection port having issues. You can check the reader to begin your troubleshooting. A card reader is either not connected properly or it is damaged. If you find an issue with the reader, you can change the reader, and this solves the situation.
The next thing to focus on is if the reader is working correctly then there may be issues with the port. You can try and connect the reader to other ports in the system. You can also try and connect to a different system as well if none of your ports are reading the card.
2. Update SD Card Drivers
If your system is not reading your SD card from any of the ports, this may be because the SD card drivers are out of date. A driver is a software component used to communicate between an SD card and your system. So, if you want to check the driver is up to date, please follow the steps below,
- Type Device Manager in the search bar on your system and select Device Manager.
- In the Device Manager window, find the SD driver.
- Right-click on the driver and select Update driver.
- Select Search automatically for updated driver software in the pop-up window.
- Wait for the process to complete and restart the system.
3. Assign a New Drive Letter to Make the Unreadable SD Card Readable
A drive letter is a letter assigned to a drive by the operating system of the computer. This helps to identify the drive and access files and folders in it. So, when your SD card is assigned with a drive letter that is conflicting, then this will cause issues. Follow the steps to repair an unreadable SD card,
- Press the Windows + X keys and select Disk Management.
- In the Disk Management window, select the drive.
- Right-click on it and select the Change Drive Letter and Paths option.
- In the window click on the Change button.
- Select a new drive letter and click Ok.
- Restart the system and verify the issue is solved.
4. Run CHKDSK Command
CHKDSK is a utility provided by Microsoft in the Windows operating system to fix file system issues. If the file system of the SD card gets corrupted may have made the SD card unreadable, then with the below steps to repair the issues,
- In the Windows search bar, type CMD and select Run as administrator.
- In the Command Prompt, type chkdsk [drive letter]: /r /f.
- Wait for the process to complete and restart the system.
5. Use Error Checking Feature to Fix Unreadable SD Card
Error checking is a Windows repair tool, used to check for errors such as file system errors, and bad sectors in drives and repair the errors. You can follow the steps and use the tool,
- Open the File browser and select the drive.
- Right-click on the drive and select Properties.
- Go to Tools and click on Check under Error checking.
- Click on Scan and Repair Drive on the pop-up window.
- Once the process is complete restart the system.
6. Format Unreadable SD Card
If any of the above methods help you repair an unreadable SD card, the last method you can follow is to format the SD card. Below are the steps to format the SD card,
- Open the File browser and select the drive.
- Right-click on the drive and select the Format option.
- In the Format window, check the Quick format option.
Note: You can change the File format if possible.
- Now click on Start and wait for the process completed.
I am sure, after using the solutions mentioned above, you were able to make the unreadable SD card readable. But if you have lost data while fixing the issue. Then, worry not. The next section talks about recovering data from unreadable SD card.
Recover Data from Unreadable SD Card
Unlike recovering deleted files or lost data, recovering files from an unreadable SD card or any other storage device is a different struggle.
Fortunately, Windows or Mac users can rely on specialized tools like SFWare Data Recovery software to recover any files, folders, or data from any SD card easily.
The tool is designed to make the data recovery process as intuitive and easy as possible.
Recover Unreadable SD Card Using SFWare Data Recovery Software
Download and install SFWare Data Recovery software on your computer and insert the SD card into your computer.
1: Launch the tool, select the drive, and click on the Start Scan button.
2: Once the scanning process is complete, the result will display in a window with a Data view and File type view. You can preview the recovered files by clicking on them.
3: Select the files you want to recover and click on the Save button.
4: Select a different location on your computer to save the data.
Wait for the software to complete the recovery process. This may take some time depending on the size and number of files recovered.
Conclusion
An unreadable SD card is the by-product of corruption in the SD card. With this write-up, first, we have learned about why SD cards become unreadable. Once we discussed the reasons for the corruption, we moved on to solutions to deal with the issues. We have also looked at the steps to use a professional data recovery tool if you exhausted all the repair methods. Let us know how useful you find the methods in the comment box below.
