How to Format a Damaged SD Card [Format SD Card Hard]

Updated By

Linda 

Authored By

Tracy King 

Last Updated on April 22, 2024

How to Format a Damaged SD Card in Windows 11/10/8/7 (7 Ways)

An SD card is a popular storage device used in mobile phones, digital cameras, and other devices to expand the internal memory. However, at times, it may become unreadable, corrupted, or encounter some error. When this happens, you cannot access the card or the files on it. Before trying the solutions below, to format a damaged SD card without losing data, first attempt to recover data from the inaccessible SD card using a memory card data recovery software.

A damaged SD card usually fails when issues arise, so you need to apply the fixes as soon as possible. In our view, most SD card damage issues result from virus attacks, corrupted file systems, outdated drivers, or bad sectors. Therefore, we'll provide you with seven general solutions to repair a damaged, corrupted, or unreadable SD card.

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If you find these methods helpful in formatting or repairing your corrupted SD card, don't forget to share it with others who are also looking for solutions for their unreadable SD card.

Solution 1: Try using the SD card on another computer

When your SD card starts having issues, it's not necessarily the card that's damaged. There might be something wrong with your computer. Try connecting your SD card or another removable drive to a different computer. As long as the SD card reads and accesses files properly on another machine, you should look into what's going on with your computer.

Solution 2: How to Format Damaged SD Card with Formatter Tool

There are some limitations in Windows built-in tools when it comes to formatting a corrupted SD card. To quickly and easily solve the problem, we highly recommend a professional tool – MiniTool Partition Wizard.

The popular disk partition manager – AOMEI Partition Assistant can solve almost 99% of SD card corruption issues. It can format the SD card, change drive letter, perform surface tests for logical and physical errors, scan bad sectors, and erase the SD card to start over.

To format a damaged SD card, follow this step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Right-click on the SD card's partition that you want to format and select “Format…”

Step 2: Specify a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT) and cluster size for the selected partition, then click “OK”.

Click “Yes” on the pop-up window to proceed.

Step 4. Click “Run 1 Task” from the toolbar and then click “Apply” to begin formatting your SD card.

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Fix "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable"

When you encounter a corrupted and unreadable file or directory, you can quickly solve the problem with three feasible methods.

Solution 3: Change the drive letter

When there's a drive letter conflict between your local drive and a removable disk like an SD card, USB flash drive, portable drive, or external HDD, your removable storage device may become unreadable. In such a case, your computer might fail to assign the appropriate drive letter to your storage medium, without which your SD card will be completely invisible. Thus, you might confuse it with a damaged device.

To resolve this issue, you can manually assign a drive letter to the device. You can simply change the current drive letter or assign a new one with the help of a reliable partition manager tool – Partition Master (you'll find it in Solution 4).

Here are the steps to change a drive letter using the Partition Master tool:

Step 1. Run Partition Master, right click the target partition and choose “Change Drive Letter”.

Step 2: In the new window, click the drop-down arrow and select the drive letter for the partition from the drop-down menu, then click OK.

Step 3. Click the “Perform 1 Task” button in the upper left corner to check the change, and then click “Apply” to change the drive letter of the selected partition.

How do I change a drive letter in Windows Disk Management?

Step 1: Go to This PC/My Computer > Manage > Disk Management.

Step 2: Right-click on the SD card and select "Change drive letter and paths."

Step 3: To assign a drive letter to the SD card, click Change. Select the letter you want to use, then click OK.

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Solution 4: How to Format a Damaged SD Card in Windows Explorer

This is a generally accepted method to fix storage media that won't work, shows up as RAW, or is currently inaccessible. Be careful when you start the formatting process, since it will erase your data. If you can't access your SD card, copy the data to create a backup, or run a data recovery tool to scan and export your files.

1. Type something in the search bar, and open "This PC".

2. Right-click the damaged SD card and select "Format."

< strong > 3. < /strong > Choose the desired file system: FAT32, exFAT, or NTFS, and then set the allocation unit size.

4. Make sure the “Quick format” option is unchecked.

5. Click “Start” to begin the formatting process.

Windows Explorer is the default program in Windows, so you don't need to spend time downloading and installing it. However, as one of the most important built-in Windows formatting tools, it can only handle slight damage issues. For example, if you want to format a 64GB SD card to FAT32, Windows Explorer will be helpless. A third-party SD card formatting tool will be more powerful when formatting corrupted, damaged, or unreadable removable disks, HDD, or SSD, and it always offers customers more assisting disk and partition management features.

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Solution 5: How to Format a Damaged SD Card using CMD

For advanced computer users who are comfortable with the command prompt, the last resort is to format the damaged SD card through the diskpart cmd.

How to Format a Damaged SD Card Using Diskpart

Step 1: Type cmd in the Start search box, right-click on cmd, and select Run as administrator.

Step 2: Open the Command Prompt and type diskpart.

Step 3: Type list disk next.

Step 4: Type select disk x, where x is the number of your SD card.

Step 5: Type clean.

Step 6: Type create partition primary.

Step 7: Type format fs=fat32 quick.

Step 8. Type exit.

Note that if you have two or more partitions on your SD card, you should type list volume and then select the disk with volume x.

Solution 6: Uninstall and reinstall the SD card driver

The SD card might not be recognized by Windows at all, so it's invisible both in Windows and third-party management software. You can try reinstalling the driver to bring it back to the Device Manager.

Step 1: Press Win + X and click Device Manager.

Step 2: Expand the "Disk Drives" section, right-click on the name of your USB drive, and select "Uninstall."

Step 3. Click “OK.” Eject the SD card from your computer.

Step 4. Restart your computer. Plug the SD card back in after a short while. Windows should install the latest drivers so that your computer can detect the SD card.

Solution 7: Repair Damaged SD Card

When your Micro SD card gets corrupted or damaged, you might opt to check disk errors on it via the MS Windows command prompt chkdsk. It can help you fix a corrupted SD card file system and make the card accessible. All your files will remain intact in the process.

How to Use CHKDSK to Repair a Damaged/Damaged SD Card

Step 1: Insert your SD card into your computer using a card reader.

Step 2: Click the Start menu, type cmd in the search bar, then hit Enter. You should see "cmd.exe" under Programs.

Step 3: Right-click on “cmd.exe” and use the following command lines to fix your damaged SD card without formatting:

Step 4. Type in chkdsk /X /f sd card letter: or chkdsk sd card letter: /f, for example, "chkdsk /X /f G:" or "chkdsk G: /f".

If you're not comfortable with the command line, try the free CleanGenius utility. It provides a graphical interface to run these commands with a single click to fix file system errors on your hard drive.

Step 1. Download the CleanGenius tool on your computer for free.

Step 2: Run the software. Click “Optimize” in the left panel, then select “File Display.”

Select the file with encoding issues

Step 3. Go to "Select Drive" and choose the drive with the file system error. Check the option for "Check and fix file system errors," then click "Execute."

Step 4: Wait for CleanGenius to finish the repair, then click “Here” to view the results.

When it's done, Windows will have checked and repaired the corrupted file system on your SD card. This usually takes a few minutes. When you see “The file system was corrected” in the Command Prompt, congratulations!

The corrupted SD card has been successfully fixed, and you should be able to access your data easily. If you still can't see the data on the SD card, refer to this guide for help: Recover Damaged SD Card.

"Frequently Asked Questions About SD Card Hard Format"

1. Can a damaged SD card be fixed?

Yes, formatting can fix a damaged SD card and make it usable again.

How do I fix a corrupted SD card?

• Basis checks: Try the USB on another computer or change its drive letter.
• Formatting tools: File Explorer, Partition Master, and Command Prompt.
• Other approaches: Uninstall and reinstall the SD card driver.

How to format a corrupted SanDisk SD card?

To quickly format a corrupted SanDisk SD card, we recommend using the Windows File Explorer.

Click the File Explorer icon. Right-click the corrupted SanDisk SD card, then select Format. Choose the file system you want (FAT32/exFAT/NTFS), then click Start to format the drive.

How can I fix a corrupted micro SD card without formatting it?

You can change the drive letter to see if there's a conflict with another drive letter.