How To Recover Corrupted or Damaged SD Card?

If you've encountered these issues:

• SD card not recognized by digital cameras or compatible devices.
• The card appears as a folder with missing or distorted files.
• SD card corrupted pictures likely to look pixelated or unable to access them.

Then, Your SD card is likely corrupted.

There are numerous reasons why an SD card can become corrupted, whether it's a Standard SD or Micro SD. A few common and major reasons for SD card corruption are:

• File system corruption.
• Mishandling SD cards by abruptly removing them from devices like cameras or phones.
• Virus or malware infections.

Now that we understand some of the common causes of SD card corruption, the obvious question would be…

How to Recover Photos From Corrupted SD Card for Free?

It purely depends on the level of corruption on SD cards. If it's a minor corruption, you may be able to repair it using built-in tools like Command Prompt and Disk Utilities on Windows and Mac systems.

However, if the corruption is severe and you want to ensure the safety of your photos, it is highly recommended to use specialized recovery software like Remo Recover capable of handling such a difficult task.

Table of contents

1. Repair Corrupt SD card using Command Prompt(Windows).
2. Fix SD Card Damage Using Disk Utilities(Mac).
3. Recover Files From a Corrupted SD Card Using Remo Recover(Windows and Mac).

Repair Corrupt SD card using Command Prompt(Windows)

Command prompt can repair your minorly Corrupted or Damaged SD card with a single command CHKDSK, connect the SD card to the system, and read the steps to know more.

1. Open Command Prompt and Run as Administrator from Windows search.



2. Type chkdsk X: /r command and press Enter (replace X with the letter assigned to your SD card).



3. Wait till the process finishes.

This method can fix SD card corruption to some extent, allowing you to access your files and folders.

Fix SD Card Damage Using Disk Utilities(Mac).

Disk Utility is a built-in utility on macOS that provides various disk management functions, including the ability to repair and format storage devices.

1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.



2. Select your corrupted SD Card from the Left sidebar.



3. Click on the First Aid button at the top of the Disk Utility window.
4. Click on Run to start the repair process.

Please note that while Disk Utility can fix minor file system errors, it may not be able to repair severe corruption or physical damage to the SD card

Recover Files From a Corrupted SD Card Using Remo Recover(Windows and Mac)

Remo Recover is the best memory card recovery software out there to recover photos from corrupted SD cards. Using the software doesn't require any technical expertise. It can help you retrieve deleted photos, including RAW images, from the SD card with just a few clicks.

Damaged camera means there are photos getting disappeared or losing valuable videos etc.

Remo recover can understand and recover 500+ file types from basic loss of dir files or txt files to almost all the files that your SD card previously had.

Here is what Vintage Steel Garage from the United Kingdom has to say about their experience of using Remo Recover.

"This just saved my life! Excellent software. Very easy and simple to download and activate. Recovered all my photos and videos off a micro SD card I thought I had lost. I had photos going back 10 years of kids and holidays, so very happy to get them all back. "

Source: Trustpilot

Download and install it for free, and read on for the steps below to learn more:

Step 1:Select the Corrupted SD card from Home Window and Click Scan to start the recovery process.

Note: If you are unable to locate your SD card then click on Can’t find the drive? You’ll be able to locate the corrupted SD card if it wasn’t recognized by the system.

Step 2: After Quick Scan completes, you can click on the Dynamic Recovery View to view and recover files from the corrupt SD card while the Deep Scan is still in progress.

Step 3: You can double-click on any recovered file to preview it for free. Once satisfied with the picture quality, click on the Recover button to save them in any location of your choice.

Make sure you save the file in a different location than the previous one, and format your corrupted SD card, to prevent loss of SD card data again.

Knowing how to avoid corruption issues on SD cards is important if you are concerned about your SD card and the data in it.

Bonus info: If you are looking to recover photos from cameras like Sony, Nikon, Canon or Fujifilm.You can use Remo Recover for a flawless recovery of RAW images and videos.

Conclusion:

Though SD card is way better than previous generations of storage devices, it does have their fair share of limitations, SD card corruptions are always a terrible surprise to a user, luckily you can fix and recover them using Remo Recover for the best results and other tools like Command Prompt and Disk Utitlies to fix minor SD card corruptions.