Fix issues with storage cards not showing or being detected on mobile/PC (UTF-8)

"Hey, have you ever encountered an issue where your phone's memory card suddenly disappears? It becomes invisible and can't be detected by either the phone or computer. I'm currently facing this problem on my phone - my memory card is not showing up, and it's undetectable by my computer as well. That's why I'm posting here. If you know how to solve my issue, please lend a hand. Thanks!"

Has your phone's memory card suddenly disappeared from your phone? Is your phone unable to read the card, and your computer can't detect it either? Don't let all your precious data get lost from a damaged memory card. Now, you can easily fix and repair a corrupted memory card that doesn't show up or gets undetected on your phone/computer without losing any data. How? Follow the solutions outlined below.

How to Fix SD Card Not Showing Up/Not Detected Error

When your memory card, like an SD card, fails to show up or gets undetected by your mobile device/PC, avoid formatting it right away. The first thing you should do is stop using the device immediately. Next, you need to find ways to fix or resolve the undetected or failed memory card or other storage devices. How? Right here, you'll find several methods to repair corrupted, undetected/ unrecognized, or failed memory cards, sourced from professional administrators and reliable websites.

Method 1: Update the Memory Card Driver to Show the Memory Card

When a memory card driver is out of date, it may not function or work properly. Your phone or computer might not detect or recognize it. You can update the memory card driver with these steps to fix the "memory card not showing" error on your phone or computer.

Step 1: Insert your memory card into the reader and connect it to your computer.

Step 2: Open "My Computer" and choose "System Properties".

Step 3: In the left pane, click Device Manager, then click the plus sign (+) next to "Universal Serial Bus controllers." You should see a yellow exclamation point.

Step 4: Right-click on it and select “Update driver software”.

Step 5: Click on "Search for driver software online" ...

Wait for the installation to complete, then restart your computer. You should now be able to reconnect your memory card and have it recognized by your computer.

Method 2: Fix Memory Card Errors with CHKDSK

When the memory card cannot be displayed or is undetectable by phones or computers, you can check in Disk Management to see if it's detected. If it's shown but cannot be opened, run the CHKDSK command to fix internal errors and make the memory card readable again.

Note that this command will cause a "data lost" error if there are any errors on the memory card, so make sure you've alreadyrecovered data from the inaccessible card before proceeding.

Let's go through the steps in detail:

Step 1: Click “Start” and then open “Control Panel.”

Step 2: Click “Administrative Tools,” and then click “Computer Management.”

Step 3: Click “Disk Management,” and then find your device in the Drive Viewer.

Step 4: Press Win+R, type cmd, and press Enter.

Step 5: Type chkdsk D: / f (D is the letter of your memory card's drive) and press Enter.

If you're not fond of using the Command Prompt, you can try out this command-line alternative – CleanGenius. With a single click, this tool can 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 on "Optimize" on the left, then choose "File Display."

Select the file with the encoding options you want to display

Step 3: Click on "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 process. Then, click here to view the results.

This should allow you to access the memory card and read the data again. If not, try the alternate command: chkdsk D:/f /offline, and press ↵ Enter.

A damaged or corrupted memory card is the usual suspect for most undetected issues, and you might need more methods to fix a corrupted SD card.

How to Recover Data from Unreadable SD Card Before Formatting? Free Ways

After you've located this invisible memory card on your computer, don't rush to put it back into your phone. To ensure that the memory card is in good condition, we highly recommend formatting it first. However, before doing so, we advise you to use a tool like the Data Recovery Wizard Pro to recover all valuable data from the memory card beforehand.

If you find some important data lost on an undetected memory card, or you are still unable to access the important data on the memory card, don't worry. Your best choice is to seek help from professional data recovery software – Easy Recovery Wizard.

Step 1: Connect your SD card, memory card, or CF card to the computer and launch the Memory Card Recovery software on the PC. The SD card will be listed under “Devices.” Select it and click “Scan” to start searching for lost data.

Step 2: The software will automatically start scanning. The scan is powerful enough to find all your lost files, even those that have lost their file names. Once the scan is complete, you can find your deleted items in the tree-view panel on the left. Then, if you want to look for a specific type of file such as photos, documents, videos, or emails, click on the "Filter" button.

Step 3. You can preview the content by double-clicking the files. After that, select the ones you need and hit “Recover” to restore them to a secure location on your computer or another external storage device.

How to Format a Damaged SD Card

After following the above two steps, if your memory card still doesn't work properly, don't worry. You can format the memory card to the NTFS or FAT32 file system so that you can use it again.

Step 1: Click on "My Computer"/"This PC" > Manage > Disk Management.

Step 2: Right-click on the problematic memory card and choose “Format”.

Step 3: Select a file system and perform a quick format.

Now you can move the data you've found to the memory card for continued use and insert the card into your phone for extra storage.