Restoring a damaged microSD card. Programs for SD card recovery (for Android and PC). Formatting Transcend flash drives

Having problems on your Android phone or any other with a memory card? Can't read data from it or your Android phone/tablet doesn't detect it?

You can repair a damaged micro SD card if it is damaged using a computer, check it for errors, or completely reformat it.

In general, the fact that the SD card is not readable is not something unusual. If you have a lot of data stored on it and you use it extensively on your phone, there is always a chance that you might have a problem reading the content.

But this does not mean that the card should be thrown away immediately. There is always a chance to restore the SD card.

If you fail to fix the memory card, you can restore the files on the damaged memory card -

Sometimes the solution may be to check the file system for errors in saved files, repair bad sectors, format the card, or completely delete the partition (card structure) and re-create it. Below we will look at all these solutions.

How can I restore the functionality of an external SD card?

To fix a damaged SD card you will need:

  • computer or laptop running Windows;
  • any way to connect an SD card directly to a computer.

You can connect it to your computer using an adapter - if not, you can buy a USB card reader.

Method one - repairing a damaged file system CHKDSK

If your device says sd card is damaged, here's what you can do. The first and easiest way is to use the Windows system disk recovery tool, that is, CHDSK.

This tool is from Microsoft and is only available on Windows computers. CHKDSK does this without deleting any files, so you won't lose any card data.

First, connect the SD card directly to your computer or laptop and launch “My Computer” or “This PC” (Windows 8 and later).

In the list of drives, find the included SD card and note which drive letter it was assigned to. For the purposes of this guide, let's assume the card was assigned the letter "D".

Press the Windows + R key combination to bring up the Windows Startup window. In the Run window, enter the following command to enable the command prompt: CMD.

A new command prompt window will appear. Now you must enter the appropriate command that will scan the memory card and fix the errors on it. The command looks like this:

Chkdsk D: /f

Of course, instead of "D:", write your drive letter (don't forget the colon). Press the "Enter" button to start scanning.

After scanning, you can check your memory drive and see if everything is working.

Method two - formatting a damaged SD card

The second way to fix a damaged SD card is to format it by deleting all data. This option can help if CHKDSK failed to check and you are still having problems (for example, errors reading individual files).

Of course, you will lose all your data, but chances are that formatting will fix the card.

To do this, connect the drive to your computer, and then call up “My Computer” or “This Computer.” In the list of drives, find the connected SD card and right-click it.

Select Format from the context menu. A new format window will appear for the specified drive (SD card in this case).

Click the "Default Allocation Size" button and make sure "FAT32" is selected as the file system.

You can format with the “Quick Format” option selected, but to get more accurate results I recommend that you uncheck this box - formatting will take much longer, but is done more carefully, which can help solve problems with the card.

After formatting, reinsert the card into your smartphone, tablet, digital camera, or whatever device you are using and make sure the card is working properly.

Method three - completely delete all partitions and re-create them again

An SD card is no different from a regular disk - it can have one or more partitions. By default there is always only one section.

You can format the card in such a way as to completely remove the partition and leave it unallocated.

This is called low-level formatting. Please note that this will also permanently delete all data on the memory card.

After formatting, you can create a new partition. This often helps when the memory card appears as "RAW" after connecting and does not show any partitions that can be accessed.

For this formatting, you can use a program called “HDD Low Level Format Tool”. You can download it below.

Connect the drive to your computer, and then run the Hard Drive Low Level Tool.

You'll see a list of all your drives on your computer, including your connected external drive. Find your SD card in the list and select it.

Make sure you choose correctly. Once selected, click Continue and go to the Format this device tab.

The card will be completely formatted and all partitions will be deleted. This will now be a clean, undistributed surface.

That's not all - the card is in such a state that it will be useless. Now go to the Start menu and find the Windows Administrative Tools folder and select Computer Management.

A new window will appear. In it, select “Disk Management”. A new window will appear displaying all drives, both internal and external, connected via USB.

Find your drive, the surface of which is displayed in black. Right-click on the black unallocated area and select New Simple Volume.

You will see a wizard that will guide you step by step through the process of creating a partition. You don't need to change anything, just click Next. Pay attention to the File System field and make sure that FAT32 is selected instead of NTFS.

Confirm the creation of the new partition. Your micro SD card will now appear in the My Computer window with a drive letter automatically assigned. You can disconnect it from your computer and connect it to your phone or tablet. Good luck.

Developer:
http://hddguru.com/

OS:
Windows

Interface:
English

Many people have encountered the disappearance of files from microSD memory cards installed in cameras, tablets and other gadgets. This can happen due to physical damage to the storage medium, software problems, a virus attack, or accidental deletion of information by the user. Knowing the cause of the failure, you can recover lost data with maximum efficiency.

Attention! If you detect even the slightest malfunction of the flash drive, it is recommended to immediately back up your important data and only then deal with the problem that has arisen.

If you did not have time to save the information in a safe place, you need to remove the micro SD media from the gadget and under no circumstances write new information onto it. This is due to the fact that when recording (resaving), new files can completely overwrite the remains of old ones. In this case, the chances of their successful recovery are sharply reduced..

Methods for resuscitating microsd memory cards

Depending on the reason for deleting data from the microSD memory card, the following can be used for resuscitation purposes:

  • special programs (R.Saver, R-Studio, Recuva, etc.);
  • hardware interference;
  • mechanical recovery of the memory card itself.

Programs for resuscitating lost information

The success of recovering a micro SD flash drive largely depends on the recovery program used. There are a lot of such programs on the Internet. Most of them work on the same principle. Therefore, having figured out one utility, you can easily master others. As an example, let's look at how to recover data lost from a microSD using the popular R.Saver program.

This utility is considered one of the best of its kind, due to its versatility, efficiency and ease of use. R.Saver allows you to restore access not only to accidentally deleted or infected files, but also to a fully formatted micro SD card.

To resuscitate data lost from a flash drive, you must:

Hardware data recovery

The R.Saver program and similar utilities are suitable for resuscitating data from working microSD media. What to do with damaged cards? Recovering missing files and folders from a faulty micro SD memory card will be much more difficult, but if you strictly follow the instructions, there is a way out of even this situation.

All micro SD flash drives are equipped with microcontrollers, the operation of which is controlled by special programs. Over time, they begin to malfunction and may even fly off. This causes the card to fail.

In this case, to reanimate the storage medium (rewrite the control program) you will need:


To correct mechanical damage to a micro SD memory card, it is better to take it to a workshop, since at home without the presence of specific equipment (a soldering iron with a thin tip for microcircuits, a magnifying glass, etc.) it will be very difficult to carry out repairs. However, the services of a specialist are paid, so think about whether the information located on the flash drive is really worth paying for it.

Do you have an inoperative USB flash drive or other storage device and are you wondering what program to choose for recovery?

We reviewed the most popular utilities. Which of the above programs is suitable for you and will restore a flash drive with a 100% guarantee?

A one-of-a-kind program will help you extract all the data. Hetman Partition Recovery. It is loved by both beginners and professionals for its convenience, speed and advanced information recovery algorithm. Your files will be found and copied even when the media’s FS is no longer accessible or is damaged.

JetFlash Recovery Tool is a proprietary utility that has the simplest possible interface and supports working with Transcend, JetFlash and A-DATA drives. Controlled by just two buttons, you will definitely like it. Do not forget that cleared data cannot be restored, so pre-saving information from a flash drive will not be superfluous.

If you have a need to always have a universal program with you that is convenient to use both on your home computer and outside it, we recommend D-Soft Flash Doctor; its platform does not require pre-installation; it launches instantly on any PC. The software is suitable for repairing, unlocking,
restoring the volume of the flash drive and its performance.

If you need to recover SD cards, we recommend downloading F-Recovery SD, which has an effective set of simple options for working with damaged flash drives from digital cameras and other portable devices. From the point of view of a professional approach to Flash drives, it will be interesting to use the Flash Memory Toolkit; the application contains a whole range of additional functionality that can test flash drives; in addition, the program works with any version of the Microsoft OS.

The formatting and recovery utility USB Disk Storage Format Tool, which has a very clear and user-friendly interface, can recognize the maximum number of different types of Flash Drives among the above utilities, as well as quickly restore the drives’ functionality. The USB Disk Storage flash drive repair program will be able to quickly recover data from damaged hard drive partitions, even if problems with the flash drive firmware are detected.

If no flash drive recovery program has helped, we recommend checking the status of the memory controller using the ChipGenius utility. The program works with USB, micro SD, SD, SDHC and USB-MP players from Kingston, Silicon Power, Transcend, Adata, PQI. Further actions to correct errors and recover lost data are only advisable if
The flash drive is detected in Chip Genius.

It is no secret that quite often many users of mobile devices are faced with the problem of failures when the memory card in the device is not detected or the data on it is either damaged or destroyed for some reason. This is where the search for a solution to how to restore the memory of a memory card begins. At the same time, naturally, everyone wants not only the card to work, but also the files to remain on it. Doing this is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.

Why does the memory card malfunction?

Unfortunately, there can be many reasons for failures in the operation of removable memory cards of any type. Not to mention some incorrect actions of the user himself, such as accidentally deleting data, there may also be physical damage to the card, normal wear and tear after the end of its service life, and even problems in the operation of the control microcontroller.

And how to restore the memory of a memory card? For any variant of the problem, you can find universal solutions using either hardware or software methods.

Is it possible to recover a memory card?

In general, you should clearly distinguish between situations when you only need to restore files or when you need to restore the functionality of the card. These are two different things. Accordingly, the solution to the question of how to restore a memory card on a phone will be different in each case.

The software method, which involves the use of special programs, is simpler than the hardware method when malfunctions occur in the microcontroller. Nevertheless, we will begin to consider the problem with the second method, since without identifying the card on a computer or laptop, there is no need to talk about any data recovery.

The memory card is damaged: how to restore its functionality?

So, we assume that the microcontroller has “flyed”. In this case, you can forget about data recovery, since the card will have to be formatted.

Please note that special firmware from the card manufacturer must be used for this. There is no other way to do this. When a card is connected to a computer or laptop via an adapter (card reader), in the best case, the system writes that there is no space on the removable disk, or the disk space is defined as zero. In the worst case, the memory card is not recognized at all.

The easiest option when solving the question “how to restore” is to use regedit called by the command through the “Run” menu, where in the HKLM section go to the SYSTEM subsection, and then through the key tree find the StorageDevicePolicies directory. On the right in the window you need to set the zero parameter (usually 0x00000000( 0)). But this does not provide a 100% guarantee that the card will work.

How can I restore the memory of a memory card? You need to use the hardware identifier (PID) value and the vendor identifier (VID) value, and also take into account the Chip Vendor value (although in most cases you can do without it).

These values ​​can be found on the chip itself, but the card will have to be opened. In principle, if the card is detected by the system, you can use utilities like CheckUDisk or USBIDCheck.

Now, using this information, you should find the controller’s personal firmware on the Internet and download it. If the search is difficult, you can use online services like iFlash, where you can use the data you enter to find the program you are interested in. Next, using the downloaded software, we simply format the card. Please note that each such memory card recovery program is universal and is intended exclusively for one model or one device manufacturer.

The simplest data recovery program Recuva

Now let’s assume that the card is detected by the computer and works without problems, but the required data on it is damaged or missing. You can recover data from a memory card in the easiest way using the well-known Recuva utility.

After launching the application, select recovery either by file type, or check the “Other” option (to search for all content), and then specify the source (memory card). Next, we enable the in-depth analysis option and begin the scanning process.

At the end of the process, the result will be displayed. Red indicates data that cannot be restored, yellow indicates data that you can try to recover, and green indicates data that can be restored without problems. It’s probably already clear that you can only restore files on a memory card that are marked in yellow and green. However, for questionable data, a positive result is not guaranteed.

R-Studio package

The R-Studio package is a more powerful utility. It allows you to recover data from a memory card even if the files themselves, the file system, or even the device’s memory sectors are quite damaged.

After starting the program, select the media you are looking for and press the start scanning button. In the pop-up window that appears, you can set the data type, the size of the scanning area, etc. The results will show all the physical and virtual partitions of this device with the files and boot records present on it. If the partition has been formatted, it will be highlighted in yellow. Now all that remains is to select the desired directories or files, and then save them in any other location on the computer. As is already clear, in the future the information can be transferred to removable media without problems.

Auslogic File Recovery Application

Another quite interesting program for recovering a memory card (meaning the information part) is the Auslogic File Recovery utility.

Its main difference from R-Studio is that it has, so to speak, a simpler and friendlier interface, although it is paid. However, the application has a convenient search system and preview of scan results. And this, in turn, helps to restore only what is really necessary.

Hetman Uneraser program

A fairly simple, but no less interesting utility can be called the Hetman UnEraser package, which few people know about.

The application interface is very similar to the appearance of standard Windows Explorer. Deep scanning even with damaged file systems or partitions is carried out automatically. At the same time, removable cards of any type are supported, including those used in photo or video cameras.

SoftPerfect File Recovery utility

The small SoftPerfect File Recovery program is most suitable for inexperienced users in cases of minor non-critical failures. If formatting has been done, unfortunately, the utility turns out to be useless.

On the other hand, it is not without a number of advantages. First of all, this is the ability to work with compressed volumes and partitions. In addition, it is distributed completely free of charge and has no restrictions on the period of use. But this, as they say, is a last resort - to quickly eliminate minor troubles.

Magic Uneraser program

But the Magic Uneraser application, unfortunately also little known to users, has quite interesting capabilities. The search and recovery algorithms are almost the same as those of the programs described above, but the advantages are obvious.

First of all, it is worth noting that the program is able to find even those files that other utilities miss, it allows you to restore files and folders while preserving names and metadata, but most importantly, the application can immediately package the recovered information into ISO images, which can then be used when recording to any removable media.

Conclusion

Here we briefly looked at the problem of how to restore the memory of a memory card. Naturally, it is simply impossible to describe all programs designed for these purposes, so the main attention was paid to the most powerful and popular utilities.

But here it is worth paying attention to the fact that they should be used only if the cards themselves are working. If the problem with removable media is that it is not detected or has zero capacity, you will have to first restore its memory. But then you can use some of the utilities described above (in particular, R-Studio), which allow you to restore any type of data even after formatting, because the information you are looking for does not go anywhere, it is simply overwritten in memory sectors, and the name of the initial file with the assignment changes to him at the beginning of the name of specific unreadable characters.

There are several solutions for creating data backups:

  1. Applications built into the operating system. Microsoft Windows provides data backup methods that involve saving files and data on external or built-in storage media. All modern versions of Windows already include the ability to create a backup copy of necessary files or the entire hard drive, if necessary. The functions provided by Windows are complete and independent, and are aimed at ensuring that you do not need to use third-party services or programs.
  2. Copying data manually. You can always use the old proven method of creating a data backup - manually copying the data to an external storage medium. This is a long process, but if you work with a small amount of data, this solution may be quite acceptable for you.
  3. Online services. Recently, the most modern method of data backup has become increasingly popular - these are numerous online services. Companies that provide backup of your files directly on the Internet. A small background application installed on the computer creates copies of the necessary data and stores them on a remote server. However, the volumes provided by such companies for storing your files in the free version do not allow them to be used as a comprehensive solution. Often the space offered for data backup does not exceed 10 GB, so there is no need to talk about creating a backup copy of the entire hard drive. Such services are rather aimed at reserving a separate number of files.
  4. Creating a disk image. This is the most complete data backup solution used by advanced users. This method involves using a third-party program to create an image of the entire disk, which can be deployed, if necessary, on another storage medium. Using this solution, you can in a short period of time gain access to all the data that was on the disk at the time of its backup: documents, programs and media files.

Kingston Memory Card Models:

  • Industrial;
  • MicroSd;
  • SDHC;
  • MicroSDHC;
  • SDXC ;
  • MicroSDXC;
  • CompactFlash (CF);
  • Class 10;