How to Recover Photos from a Damaged SD Card

How to Recover Photos from a Damaged SD Card:

1. Step 1. Connect the SD card to your computer. 2. Step 2. Download and install the Data Recovery Wizard tool. 3. Step 3. Launch the data recovery software and select the SD card to scan for lost data. 4. Step 4. Locate the photos you wish to recover. 5. Step 5. Preview and recover pictures from the damaged SD card. 6. Read more...

Why do SD cards become damaged?

Expandable storage mediums like SD cards are great. They allow your phone or digital camera to hold more and make it easy to transfer files between devices. But when one gets corrupted, you risk losing a lot of valuable files – usually photos – without a reliable solution to recover a corrupted SD card. A corrupted SD card is a problem many people have had to deal with. An SD card can become damaged due to:

• The memory card is physically or electronically damaged
• The file system of the SD card is corrupted
• The MBR is corrupted
• I/O device error

There could be more reasons than these, depending on the condition of your SD card. Solutions will vary accordingly. Also, the feasibility of recovering photos from a damaged SD card will differ based on the situation.

How can I recover photos from a damaged SD card?

To answer whether you can recover photos from a damaged SD card, you first need to check the status of the SD card in Disk Management. Connect the SD card to your computer via a card reader, and then navigate to This PC > Manage > Disk Management. You'll find the SD card in one of the following states:

• The SD card shows up in Disk Management, but you can't access the drive (you might see its file system as RAW)
• The SD card shows up in Disk Management, but the partition is missing
• The SD card shows up in Disk Management, but its status says "No Media"
• The SD card shows in File Explorer, but not in Disk Management
• The SD card isn't showing up in either File Explorer or Disk Management

If you're facing the first or second issue, you have a good chance of retrieving your photos from a corrupted SD card. In the third and fourth cases, you might be able to recover data from the SD card after fixing the device. If the SD card doesn't show up at all, try switching out the card reader or connecting the SD card to another computer. If that doesn't work, it's best to send it to a professional for manual repair.

If not, read on for the solutions.

How to Recover Photos from a Damaged SD Card and Fix It

Unlike recovering damaged photos from an SD card, you need the assistance of data recovery software to retrieve pictures from a corrupted SD card. As long as your SD card is not physically damaged or completely failed, you can follow the methods below to recover photos from the corrupted SD card and fix the damaged device with the provided solutions.

Scenario 1 and 2: SD Card Shows Up in Disk Management But Partitions Are Inaccessible/Lost

An SD card usually becomes inaccessible due to file system errors. The solution is to run CHKDSK to check and fix disk errors first, then perform SD card recovery, followed by formatting it. If the partition is missing from the SD card, recover photos from the corrupted SD card first and then format the device directly.

Method 1: Recover from a corrupted SD card, then format the device

To recover data from an inaccessible SD card, you can use a hard drive data recovery software – tools Data Recovery Wizard. It will help you retrieve inaccessible photos and other files from the corrupted SD card.

To use a SD Card Recovery Software to retrieve photos from a damaged SD card, you first need to download and install it on your computer. Then, you can follow this guide to perform the recovery. It doesn't require any technical skills or专业知识, just a few simple clicks.

Step 1: Choose a location and start scanning

Hover the mouse over the SD card, camera, or hard drive partition from where you deleted/lost your pictures and click on “Scan”.

Step 2: Select the photos you want to recover

When the scan is finished, select “Pictures” on the left. If you're looking for lost photos, click “Lost” at the top of the list. Then, you can filter your photos by device, type, and date.

Step 3: Recover Lost Photos

After the preview, click “Recover” and choose another location to save the photos you want.

Video Tutorial: How to Recover Lost Photos from SD Card

After successful recovery from corrupted SD card, you can format the device without any issues.

The simplest way to format an SD card:

Insert your SD card into your computer's card reader slot.

Step 2: Open File Explorer and right-click your SD card. Select “Format.”

Step 3: In the new window, set up a file system and click “Start.”

Click “OK” to begin formatting your SD card.

Method 2: Run CHKDSK

Warning: Since CHKDSK can cause permanent data loss due to file system corruption, make sure you recover data from the damaged SD card with a reliable Data Recovery Wizard tool first.

Step 1: Click on "Start" and type in cmd.

Step 2: Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Step 3: Type the following command: chkdsk H: /f /r. Replace "H" with the letter assigned to your corrupted SD card.

Scenario 3: Damaged SD Card Shows as No Media

The "No media" status indicates that your SD card is not working properly. To fix a damaged SD card that shows "No media," you can refer to the article on how to repair "There is no media in the specified device."

Scenario 4: SD card shows in File Explorer but not in Disk Management

In such cases, the solutions to a corrupted SD card are to update the driver and change the card reader. If both options fail, you should seek assistance from manual data recovery services.

Update drivers:

Step 1. Right-click on “This PC,” and select “Manage” > “Device Manager.”

Step 2: Expand the “Disk Drives” folder, right-click on the damaged SD card, and select “Update Driver.”

Step 3: In the new window, select “Search automatically for updated driver software.”

Bottom line

The possibility of performing damaged SD card recovery depends on the condition of the card. If it's physically damaged, you should send it for repair. If not, there's a high chance of retrieving data from a corrupted SD card using data recovery software like Data Recovery Wizard. Apart from methods to recover photos, solutions to fix a damaged memory card are also provided. Hopefully, they will be of assistance to you.

How to Recover Photos from a Damaged SD Card? – FAQ

If you still have questions, please read the Frequently Asked Questions below for further assistance.

< strong > 1. How to recover files from a damaged SD card?

Follow the steps below to perform a corrupted SD card recovery:

Connect the SD card to your computer. Use a memory card recovery software. Select the SD card and click Scan. Repair and recover lost data from the corrupted SD card.

2. Where did my photo go?

Where does a deleted photo go? When you delete a file on a Windows computer by right-clicking and selecting Delete or pressing the Delete key, it goes to the Recycle Bin, Trash, or a similar area depending on your operating system.

3. What Can Cause SD Card Damage?

If any of these issues occur, your SD card might become damaged:

• File system corruption
• Increasing number of bad sectors
• Virus or malware infection
• Physical damage

4. Can I recover my SD card?

Of course, you can. Whenever your SD card is inaccessible or formatted, you can always rely on a trustworthy SD Card Data Recovery Software to get your data back.