How to Fix/Repair Corrupted SD Card

On the occurrence of technological developments, storage devices became more essential due to unlimited access of different kind of files on different kinds of digital devices. Thus, portable data storage devices such as SD cards have become the most handy mode on storing files efficiently on today's various gadgets such as smartphones, tablets, mp3 players, digital cameras and many more. Due to this devices developments, SD cards also developed faster read/write speeds along with higher capacities.

Having these perks gives users convenience of storing and securing various files, but on some occasions there are some issues on SD cards becoming inaccessible. Files can simply disappear whenever this cards get damaged, corrupted or formatted. Normally, this issue prompts an error message like “Drive is not accessible, path is corrupted and unreadable” or "The disk is not formatted, do you want to format it now?".

Generally, there are two (2) types of damages for a memory flash device became inaccessible, the Logical and Physical damage:

• Logical damage occurs when the memory card is still recognizable by the system but the files are inaccessible. This case usually be fixed by executing chkdsk, scanning for viruses or using various recovery programs such as EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Recuva, Prosoft’s Data Rescue, MiniTool Partition Recovery, Zero Assumption Recovery and many more.
• Physical damage causes the memory card unrecognized by the system, usually a result of breaking the memory chips or electrical problems. This can lead to the impossibility of accessing the files. On the other hand, if the memory chip is still undamaged there is a possibility to recover its stored contents.

In this article we will only be discussing on how to fix SD card’s Logical Damage.

Here are some of the troubleshooting Tips on fixing/repairing corrupted SD card:

1. Insert on other device - Some cases might be compatibility issue,  If your SD card doesn’t work on your device, try to insert to other devices and see if this fix the problem.
2. Execute chkdsk - "chkdsk" command allows you to fix/repair a corrupted SD card without reformatting.
   • Plug in your SD card to your computer with a card reader.
   • On the start menu, type in "cmd" in a search bar, and run as administrator
   • Type in this commands “chkdsk e: /f  /r”
     
     
     
     The “/f” (Fix) parameter will check the e: drive; (depends of your drive path) if any errors were found, CHKDSK /f will attempt to repair them. The “/r” (Repair) parameter will check the entire disk surface for bad sectors and attempt once again to repair or work around any that it finds, if it can. The results would be included in the on-screen output.


3. Format SD Card - If the content of your memory card is not important enough, you can execute format sd card. This will wipe out all your data and the culprit that causes the logical damage (usually a virus or a malware), thus will give you a clean card. To do this, just locate your drive on the system, right click and select “format”. You can check or uncheck “quick format” as long as the process will be completed.
4. Use Recovery Programs - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Recuva, Prosoft’s Data Rescue, MiniTool Partition Recovery, Zero Assumption Recovery are just some of the recovery programs available. This programs will help you recover all inaccessible data in your memory card on various data loss cases. Whether your files are deleted or your card is formatted, this professional softwares will be able to fetch all the files from their actual place and make them accessible again. Keep in mind that on restoring all lost files from an SD card, you have to make sure that the card is not physically damaged.

Logical Damage your SD card are caused by various reasons, this issues will come up at anytime, however there are some precautionary measures you need to remember to protect your SD card from possible logical Damage.

• Unmount your memory card properly on your device
• Do not eject your memory card while your device is turning on/off
• Do not store infected files on your memory card
• Scan your memory card right away if infected
• Do not take or view new pictures on battery low mode
• Never remove your memory card while saving and viewing a picture
• Use some the  most reliable SD memory card brands such as Lexar, Transcend, Toshiba, Sony, Samsung PRO, Kingston, Sandisk Extreme