Step
1
First, determine the type of SD card you have. If it is 2Gbytes or less then it is a standard SD card. If it is 4Gb or greater, then it is a high capacity or SDHC card. (There are some 4Gb standard SD cards but most are SDHC). An SDHC reader is required to read the high capacity cards since the memory allocation formatting is different. If your data is on an SDHC card, it may be intact but you’ll need the SDHC device to read it. Some devices (readers, cameras etc) may have software downloads available to upgrade the device to read the SDHC cards. Go to the device manufacturer’s website to see if such an upgrade is available.
Step
2
An SD card is treated by your computer as another disk drive. It should be assigned a drive letter. For example your primary hard drive may be C:, your DVD drive may be D: and your card may be E:. This can be viewed with “My Computer” or “Windows Explorer.” If you insert the card and no drive letter is assigned to it, then the computer is not reading it. In other cases, the reader may be assigned a drive letter but when you click on it you get the message “Please insert disk into drive E:” indicating that it is not reading the card.
I have found that some devices may not read an SD card while other devices will. My laptop computer fails to read some SD cards, but an external card reader plugged into a USB port seems to work fine. External card readers can be found for $15 or even less. If you don’t have another device you can ask a friend to try your card.
Step
3
Now you may find that your computer sees the card, but won’t read the files on it. Try several different files on the card. If some of them read and some don’t then one or more files may be corrupt. There are numerous file recovery programs available, some of them free. I would recommend the trying the free ones first since there is no guarantee your file can be saved. If certain vital parts of the file are corrupted it won’t be recoverable. Sometimes doing a scandisk will fix things. It usually won’t correct a bad file but it may be worth a try. First find the card in “My Computer” or Windows Explorer” and right click on it. This will bring up a menu. At the bottom of the menu, click on “Properties.” This brings up a new window with a pie chart showing the used and free space on the disk. Click on the “Tools” tab at the top, then click on the “Error-checking” button. Click the check box for fixing file system errors and click the start button. For a memory card this should only take a few seconds.
Step
4
In some cases none of the files can be read. Sometimes the directory will list the file names but the files can’t be accesses. In other cases the file names are garbage characters or they may not show up at all. Right click on the drive letter and select “Properties.” The pie chart will show the used space on the card. If it shows all or almost all free space then either the files have been deleted or the directory has been erased. In this case, a file recovery or undelete program may help (but don’t count on it).
Step
5
If you card reads okay but you can save a file, the card may be write protected. On the edge of the card is a small slide switch usually labeled “lock.” If this switch is slid away from the connector end of the card, then it is “locked” or write protected. To save or modify files on the card, the switch must be in the unlocked position or toward the connector end of the card.
Step
6
If you still can’t read or write to the card, your files are probably lost. There are some disk diagnostic tools available, but some of them won’t work on memory cards. If you have resigned yourself to the loss of your files, you may still use the card by reformatting it. Again, right click on the drive letter and select format. This will erase everything on the card so be sure you have copied everything you can to another drive. When the card is reformatted the directory structure is recreated so you should now have full access to the card. If the card still won’t work it’s time to discard it
1
First, determine the type of SD card you have. If it is 2Gbytes or less then it is a standard SD card. If it is 4Gb or greater, then it is a high capacity or SDHC card. (There are some 4Gb standard SD cards but most are SDHC). An SDHC reader is required to read the high capacity cards since the memory allocation formatting is different. If your data is on an SDHC card, it may be intact but you’ll need the SDHC device to read it. Some devices (readers, cameras etc) may have software downloads available to upgrade the device to read the SDHC cards. Go to the device manufacturer’s website to see if such an upgrade is available.
Step
2
An SD card is treated by your computer as another disk drive. It should be assigned a drive letter. For example your primary hard drive may be C:, your DVD drive may be D: and your card may be E:. This can be viewed with “My Computer” or “Windows Explorer.” If you insert the card and no drive letter is assigned to it, then the computer is not reading it. In other cases, the reader may be assigned a drive letter but when you click on it you get the message “Please insert disk into drive E:” indicating that it is not reading the card.
I have found that some devices may not read an SD card while other devices will. My laptop computer fails to read some SD cards, but an external card reader plugged into a USB port seems to work fine. External card readers can be found for $15 or even less. If you don’t have another device you can ask a friend to try your card.
Step
3
Now you may find that your computer sees the card, but won’t read the files on it. Try several different files on the card. If some of them read and some don’t then one or more files may be corrupt. There are numerous file recovery programs available, some of them free. I would recommend the trying the free ones first since there is no guarantee your file can be saved. If certain vital parts of the file are corrupted it won’t be recoverable. Sometimes doing a scandisk will fix things. It usually won’t correct a bad file but it may be worth a try. First find the card in “My Computer” or Windows Explorer” and right click on it. This will bring up a menu. At the bottom of the menu, click on “Properties.” This brings up a new window with a pie chart showing the used and free space on the disk. Click on the “Tools” tab at the top, then click on the “Error-checking” button. Click the check box for fixing file system errors and click the start button. For a memory card this should only take a few seconds.
Step
4
In some cases none of the files can be read. Sometimes the directory will list the file names but the files can’t be accesses. In other cases the file names are garbage characters or they may not show up at all. Right click on the drive letter and select “Properties.” The pie chart will show the used space on the card. If it shows all or almost all free space then either the files have been deleted or the directory has been erased. In this case, a file recovery or undelete program may help (but don’t count on it).
Step
5
If you card reads okay but you can save a file, the card may be write protected. On the edge of the card is a small slide switch usually labeled “lock.” If this switch is slid away from the connector end of the card, then it is “locked” or write protected. To save or modify files on the card, the switch must be in the unlocked position or toward the connector end of the card.
Step
6
If you still can’t read or write to the card, your files are probably lost. There are some disk diagnostic tools available, but some of them won’t work on memory cards. If you have resigned yourself to the loss of your files, you may still use the card by reformatting it. Again, right click on the drive letter and select format. This will erase everything on the card so be sure you have copied everything you can to another drive. When the card is reformatted the directory structure is recreated so you should now have full access to the card. If the card still won’t work it’s time to discard it
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