How to Fix the SD Card Displaying ‘The Card Not Initialised’ Error?

Updated on December 08, 2022

Card not initialized is the most common error found on SD cards. When the SD card displays not initialized error, this stops you from accessing the data present on it. Can’t afford data loss? If your important data is at stake, all you need to do is, download the SFWare SD Card Recovery Software and get access back to your data on SD card in few minutes.

Quick navigation:

What does initializing a SD card mean? Is it necessary to initialize memory cards?

Initializing a SD card means, its either your SD card needs to formatted (NTFS/ FAT) or it already has been formatted. Although initialising and formatting the SD card means similar to each other, without initializing the SD card, you will not be able to use it. Also, after initializing(formatting) the SD card, the existing data will be erased from the drive.

Why SD Card Displays SD Card Not Initialised Error?

Quick Navigation

1. How to Fix the SD card/Memory card Error Card Not Initialised?

2. How to Recover Data from SD card displaying the error card not initialised?

If you are trying to fix the error first, make sure you have a backup of your data. Because, the steps to initialize the SD card involves formatting. You can also try recovering your important data using professional SD card recovery tool and go ahead with fixing steps.

How to Recover Data from the not initialized SD card?

SFWare SD card Recovery Software is the most reliable tool to recover data from the SD card displaying errors. Be it undetected or not initialized, the tool with its advanced search algorithm, scans each sector of the drive and recovers data from the SD card in few minutes without taking much of your time.

Steps to Restore SD Card Data from not initialized card:

Download and Install SFWare SD Card Recovery software on your computer. Connect the corrupted SD card via USB and launch the tool

  • Select any one of the following options, depending on the data loss scenarios- Recover Files, Recover Photos or Recover Drive /Partition
  • Recover Drive not initialised sd card
  • Next follow the instruction, choose the drive on which you want to perform SD Card Recovery
  • Select the SD card showing not initialised
  • Select the drive from the shown list and hit Next button
  • All types of recoverable files are displayed on the screen, use Data view or File Type View to navigate through the files of SD Card
  • Preview the files recovered from SD card
  • You will get a list of recovered files, Preview them and Save on system drive
  • Preview the files recovered from SD card

    How to Fix the SD card Error: Card not initialized?

    To fix the Card initialized error on SD card, all you have to do is, FORMAT the SD card into new file format. Before performing formatting on the card try some basic checks to verify the performance of the card.

    Method #1: Reinsert SD card and verify if it is initialised

    Remove the SD card from the camera, computer, and smart phones, insert the SD card in its slot. Now, try to access the card. If the same error displays, try the second method. Most of the SD card errors can be solved by re-inserting the card back.

    Method #2: Clean the SD card and recheck

    Make use a soft cloth to clean SD card and the electrical contact and verify if the SD card is working fine. Sometimes, problem may lie in card reader or the USB port. Therefore, try inserting card reader to different USB port or different card reader.

    If you are unable to make use of the SD card from the above basic checks, formatting the card would be the best solution. You no need to worry about the data, you can recover data from corrupt SD card without any hassle.

    Method #3: Re-Format the card to fix card not initialised error

    To reformat or to initialize the drive, all you have to is right click on the device (SD card) -> Select Format -> Click Yes, when the pop-up message says data will be erased -> Select the appropriate format, Quick Format or Full Format from the list and reformat the drive.

    Method #4: Format SD card or CF card using Diskpart commands

    Connect your memory card to a Windows computer with a card reader.

    If you still not taken backup of the data from the SD card before the format process, do not worry! You can recover your data with the help of SFWare data recovery software even recovers formatted data from the card.

    If you still encounter the errors on the SD card, you need to fix the SD card using different methods of repairing a corrupt SD card.

    Conclusion

    As SD cards are used on multiple devices, they are prone to corruption often. It is important to keep them safe to keep the data secure. Here are a few quick workarounds to fix the SD card not initialised error and recover data from the not initialised SD card. Make sure of SFWare SD card recovery software for the safety and integrity of the data, if you ever encounter any data loss on SD card.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What does SD card not initialized mean in camera?

    Card not initialized mean that the SD card is not formatted or it has been formatted in computer or another device. Therefore, it will not be compatible with Camera. To fix the problem, format the SD card/ memory card using the FORMAT option in the camera setup menu.

    How do I initialize my SD card?

    You can initialise your memory card/ SD card by formatting. However, if you are initializing by formatting this will erase all the data from the SD card. Therefore, make sure you have backup of the data or recover SD card using any professional SD card recovery tool.

    How do you fix a card that is not initialized?

    The best way to initialize the SD card is using Diskpart in command prompt. Using this command, you can change the format of the card. You can format the SD card to NTFS or FAT32 and verify if the error is resolved after reformatting the card.


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