Is It Possible to Recover Files from a Corrupted SD Card?

Is All Data Lost When SD Card Is Corrupted?

SD card corrupted means that the SD cards stops working properly due to some reasons. For example, if an SD card has been used for several years or even much longer, it might be corrupted and become unrecognizable. Besides, if you often take out your SD card from a camera or a cell phone without switching off the device, or if you often remove the SD card from your computer improperly, or if the SD card is infected with virus, or if the SD card has bad sectors, the SD card might be corrupted.

It doesn’t matter how your SD card got corrupted, it only matters whether all data is lost when the SD card is corrupted. There is no absolute answer, and I can only say it depends.

Situations That Data Can Be Recovered from a Corrupted SD Card

Usually, as long as the SD card can still be detected as an external drive when connecting to your computer, or it can still be shown as a storage media on your digital camera cell phone, the data on the SD card is recoverable.

Sometimes, you may find the SD card is not recognized in "My Computer" when connecting to your computer, but you can find it shown as a removable device under "Disk Management". In such a case, data is also recoverable from the SD card.

When the SD card cannot be detected on both "My Computer" and "Disk Management", the card might be physically damaged. For example, the chip of the SD card is corrupted. Under such circumstance, data is unrecoverable.

How to Restore Data from Corrupted SD Card?

Firstly, you should connect the SD card to a PC via a card reader. If you don’t have card reader, you can also use USB cable. But the card reader is the most highly recommended.

Then, have a try with SD card recovery software, which can be used for any lost data recovery.

First SD Card Recovery Freeware (Recommend)

Free Download Second SD Card Recovery Software

No matter what is the cause for SD card corrupted, when data has been restored, you can formatthe SD card with help of the Windows built-in format tool or the professional SD card format tool. Formatting is the easiest way to repair the corrupted SD card. If it doesn’t work, you may need to go to a professional SD card repair services or buy a new SD card.

Select Either of the Software Based on Your Needs

If you want to use the first partition recovery freeware to get back files, you can refer to best data recovery software for step by step guide.	If you want to use the second partition recovery freeware to retrieve data, you can visit second recommended data recovery to learn detailed steps.

Why Is It Possible for Corrupted SD Card Recovery?

When the SD card is corrupted, the data inside is still intact. So you can get all files off the SD memory card by using the SD card recovery software. Here, you should pay attention not to format the SD card before data is recovered, otherwise you will lose the chance to get back lost data.

References

Kingston sd card file recovery

Panasonic memory card photo recovery

Undelete photos from digital camera memory card

Retrieve deleted photos from 2gb sd card

TF card photo recovery