How To Recover a Damaged SD card

Recovering a damaged SD card could be a tedious task, you could waste hours without fixing the problem. In this article, I will tell you about the various methods to recover the damaged SD card. We will try to solve using some CMD commands if the command prompt is not your thing we can try with Windows Explorer.

The SD card will need to be inserted into the appropriate slot on your computer or using an external card reader. It is possible to use an adapter if you have a microSD card. Recovery of a damaged Micro SD will not work if you try to insert it into a tablet or smartphone. we have also make a guide if your Android Phone Does Not Detect The SD Card.

How to recover a damaged SD card

Sometimes the computer is unable to assign drive letters (such as C, D, E) to the storage media. For this reason, files on it cannot be accessed. To fix this, you can manually assign the drive letter to the storage device.

Here are the simple steps to repair damaged SD card by assigning a correct drive letter:

1. Recover damaged SD by changing the drive letter

2. Select the drive letter from the drop-down list. Click  OK.

2. Try another USB port

While it sounds strange, you are wasting time if you repeatedly try to connect your SD card to the same USB port on your computer. It could be that the port is damaged or that it has software problems. So, try other USB ports if your PC doesn’t read SD.

3. Try using it on another PC

Maybe the problem is specific to your PC which is why you are having trouble running the USB flash drive. Try connecting the SD card to another computer.

4. Repair damaged SD card by reinstalling the drivers

There are times when the drivers are corrupted and your PC cannot detect the storage media. You can reinstall the drivers and repair a damaged SD card by following these steps:

1. Right-click on My Computer / This PC. Click  Manage.
2. Click  Device Manager on the left side.
3. Double-click the Disk Drives option on the list. Right-click on the pen drive / SD card name.
4. Click  Uninstall. Click  OK.
5. Disconnect the storage media and restart your PC.
6. Plugin your SD card again. Your PC detects it and will reinstall the drivers.

5. Repair the broken SD card without formatting

One of the tried and tested ways to fix a broken storage media is to use the CHKDSK tool which is preloaded in Windows 10 (and earlier versions). This way you won’t need to format the damaged SD card to be repaired.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Connect the storage media to your computer.
2. Write down the drive letter.
3. Open CMD in Administrator mode.
4. Type the following command: chkdsk E: / f (Here, E is the drive letter)
5. Press Enter. CHKDSK will scan your USB drive or SD card and fix the problem. It works in most cases.

6. How to repair SD card using Windows Explorer

Windows 10 (and earlier) comes with a built-in SD card repair tool that can be accessed through Windows Explorer. So, in the following steps, I will tell you how to format a corrupt SD card or pen drive:

1. Open My Computer or This PC.
2. Right-click on the corrupted SD card or USB drive.
3. Click  Format in the drop-down menu.
4. Click Reset Device Defaults in the pop-up window.
5. Click  Start to begin the formatting process. You can deselect the Quick Format option if you want your computer to deep scan the drive/card for errors, but this will take time. So only uncheck it if you fail on the first try.
6. Click  OK  on the next dialog which will warn you that your data will be lost. The formatting process will be completed in a few moments and you will have your SD card or pen drive error-free.

7. Repair the damaged SD using CMD

This process involves the Windows Command Prompt, commonly known as the CMD. You can try this repair method if the one mentioned above doesn’t work.

Here, you need to enter some CMD commands and Windows will forcefully format the corrupted flash drive or SD card that it won’t read:

1. Connect the damaged SD card to the computer.
2. Hover over the Start button and right-click.
3. Click  Command Prompt (Admin). A CMD window will open.
4. Type diskpart and press Enter.
5. Type list disk and press Enter. A list of all storage devices connected to the computer will be displayed.
6. Type select disk <your disk number>  and press Enter. (Example: select disc 1). Important: Make sure you enter the number correctly. Otherwise, you can format the internal hard drive. You can retype the disk in the list to see if you have selected the correct one. There will be a star (asterisk symbol) before the selected disc name.
7. Type clean and press Enter.
8. Type create partition and press Enter.
9. Type active.
10. Type select partition 1.
11. Type  format fs = fat32  and press Enter. The formatting process will finish in a few minutes. Do not close CMD until the job is done.