SD card won’t format or unable to format the SD card is one of the common errors that every SD card user might have come across. You might be wondering why I can’t format the SD card? Or how to fix this SD card won’t format error on Windows PC and format SD card successfully?
Well, it is easy to fix this SD won’t format error. All you have to do is just stick till the end of the article by following below-mentioned methods.
Quick Navigation :
Method 1. Remove Write Protection on SD Card
Method 2. Format SD Card with CMD
Method 3. Format SD Card with Disk Management
You might come across a scenario where you run out of space on your SD card and will be left out with no choice other than formatting your SD card.
However, when you try to format the SD card you encounter this error message stating Windows cannot format the SD card. This is a common SD card error and can be fixed easily by you.
Why Can’t Format SD Card?
There are several reasons that lead to the error SD card won’t format. Few of the common errors are presence of bad sectors on SD card, virus infection, and corruption in the SD card due to any file system errors. Sometimes if your SD card is write-protected, you might encounter the error.
How To Fix The Error SD Card Won’t Format In Windows?
To fix the error SD card won’t format in Windows, follow all the methods cited here. You should be able to fix SD card won’t format errors with any of the below methods, so make sure you follow all of them to be successful in fixing this SD card error.
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Remove Write Protection from SD Card
If your SD card is set to read-only mode, you can’t format the SD card. To overcome this, all you need to do is to remove the write protection on the SD card on a Windows PC.
Step 1. Press Windows +R key à open the Run box. Type diskpart hit Enter.
Step 2. In the diskpart window, Type the following commands and hit Enter after each one.
- list disk
- select disk A (A represents the disk which has the write-protected partition)
- attributes disk clear read-only
The process might take a few minutes. After the completion of the process you will be able to see Diskpart attributes cleared successfully, you can close the window and check if the issue SD card won’t format has been resolved.
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Format SD Card with CMD
CMD is also called cmd.exe or Command Prompt. It is used to check and fix drive logical errors. Various system issues on your PC can easily be resolved using CMD command.
Follow the steps to use CMD and format SD card-
Step 1. Input cmd in the Windows search box à select command prompt
Step 2. Type Diskpart a hit Enter to open Diskpart.
Step 3. Now, input the following commands and hit Enter after typing each one. The following commands are used to perform a quick format on your SD card.
- list disk
- select disk * (* represents disk number)
- list partition
- select partition * (* represents partition number)
- format fs=ntfs quick
Note: Formatting will permanently erase all the data from the drive but there is no need to get troubled; you can easily recover lost data from the quick format.
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Format SD Card with Disk Management
Disk Management is a Windows built-in logical disk manager, which can help users manage disks and partitions in a simple way.
Disk Management helps you in formatting partition, creating partition, deleting partition, changing the drive letter and so on. Follow the below mentioned steps to clear the error cannot format the SD card.
Step 1. Right-click the Windows Start menu and select Disk Management to get the main interface Or hit Windows + R keys together and run diskmgmt.msc to open Disk Management.
Step 2. Choose the partition on the SD card that you want to format. Then, right-click on Format.
Step 3. Verify the volume label, file system and allocation unit size and click OK.
Step 4. A Message screen appears; click OK to confirm that you want to format the SD card partition.
However, if you still cannot format the card, you can run any trusted anti-virus software to check whether your SD card is infected by a virus.
What if you have formatted your SD card without taking the backup of data? No worries! With the help of an efficient and trusted SD card recovery tool you can easily recover the formatted data from the SD card.
Here is the most recommended tool to recover data from a formatted SD card. SFWare SD Card Recovery software is designed with a user friendly GUI that makes the recovery process easier for all kinds of users. It has a quick scanning engine for the fast recovery of data. The tool has the feature to preview the recovered files before saving it. You can make use of this software on both Windows and Mac OS.
Recover data if you formatted SD card without prior backup:
Download and install the SFWare SD Card Recovery Software and Launch the application, main screen displays Recover Files and Recover Formatted/Corrupt. In the list of drives/partitions, select the appropriate drive to recover files from formatted SD card and click on Next option
Scanning process initializes. After the completion of the scanning process, files are displayed in Data View and File Type View. If you are satisfied with the results, you can save the recovered files by giving preferred location.
Conclusion:
Not being able to format an SD card can be really irritating. You may start thinking it is a huge problem but every problem comes with a solution as they are mentioned above to fix SD won’t format errors.
If you are successful in fixing the error can’t format the SD card with the help of above-mentioned methods, please do share your thoughts in the comment section below and share a word with others.