How To Fix A Corrupted SD Card?

There are different reasons why SD cards are still widely in use. Mostly as a storage extension, SD cards are useful to people who have several data types to store. These data could be photos, videos, audios and all other media data that you can think of. However, your SD card also faces the risk of being unstable and ending up with corrupted data that affect the card itself.

 

This could lead to your SD card not being readable thereby rendering it almost useless. Not to worry, there are ways to salvage the data and fix your SD card from the corrupted state it might be.

 

In this article, it outlines how to fix unreadable SD card and perform full SD card repair. In a dire situation where the SD card is not repairable, this article also points out steps to carry out SD card data recovery using data recovery software.

 

Causes Of SD Card Corruption

Is your SD card corrupted? There are several reasons why this incident occurs to many SD cards. Some of the instances that corrupt SD cards include:

  1. Corruption of the SD card’s file system
  2. SD Card removal while file transfer was ongoing
  3. Improper SD card ejection
  4. Physical SD card damage
  5. Malicious data installation

 

Steps To Fix Corrupted SD Card

If you find yourself in a case where you are getting an error saying your SD card is corrupted, the first thing to do is stop using the SD card immediately. This will help to preserve the data and give you a chance to recover the data on it later on.

 

There are steps you can take to carry out SD card repair. These stepwise methods also work well if there is a backup for your data that is on the corrupted SD card. In cases where these steps do not work, carrying out data recovery on your SD card is the next available option.

  1. Connect The SD Card To A Different Computer

Some SD cards might be choosing which computer they function. This is common for SD cards that are just about to start working. This could also be due to the SD card familiarity with that different computer. Either way, you should be able to view a functioning SD card from your device manager.

 

You can also check different slot on your computer to make sure that the actual problem is not with the port. You should also try other SD cards on your own laptop just to rule out the issue being from your own laptop.

 

  1. Use CHKDSK Command For SD Card Repair

This is an in-built feature for Windows users. It checks the integrity of the SD card and fixes the error in the file system. Using the CHKDSK command, you can attempt to fix the error due to your SD card corruption. Fixing your SD card via this step gives you  full access to the data on your SD card.

 

To proceed with this option, insert your SD card into a card reader of your choice. From the ‘Start’ menu of your computer, enter ‘CMD’ to access the command line prompt. Run the ‘CMD’ option as administrator. The option is available once you right-click on the CMD option. On the CMD program, type ‘chkdsk volume: /f’. Volume is the letter for your SD card directory. After some minutes, you should get the prompt that ‘windows has made a correction to the file system’ .

 

  1. Change Drive Letter

This option changes the drive letter and paths of the SD card. This is achievable using the Disk Management feature on your computer. Firstly, open Disk Management. Next look for your SD card and right-click on it.  Reassign an appropriate drive letter and other necessary changes. Then, restart your computer and reconnect your SD card again.

 

  1. Disable The SD Card From The Device Manager

This option aims to correct any issue that may be coming from the connection port of the computer. On connecting your SD card to your computer, navigate to ‘Device Manager’. Under the universal serial bus controller option, right-click on the USB mass storage driver and select disable. After some minutes, right-click on the same driver and select enable. For this change to reflect, restart your computer.

 

  1. Use Data Recovery Software

iBoysoft Data Recovery can’t help you to fix corrupted SD card problem, but it is useful to recover data from your corrupted SD card. This is quite useful for situations where your SD card has some corrupted files or it becomes unreadable, inaccessible or corrupted. To begin the data recovery process, you need to connect the corrupted SD card to your computer and then download iBoysoft data recovery software on your computer. After the installation and launch, you need to choose the appropriate SD card from the listed drives on the software interface and scan it to search for the missing data by clicking the Next button. Click on the files that the software can recover after the scan and proceed to click the Recover button.