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How to fix unreadable SD card and recover files from it?

So a couple weeks ago after trying to import some pictures from my camera only about 7 pictures uploaded and a warning came up on my computer. It said the files were unreadable and could not be read. So I bought a new sd card and took some quick shots and the same thing happened. Is this an issue with the camera or the sd cards? A friend told me their is a program to fix this issue with the sd card?

Best Answered by

Ciki Liu

Answered on Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Before moving further to fix your unreadable SD card, you should first recover data from unreadable SD card using iBoysoft Data Recovery in case of any data loss in the future. After recovering data from the SD card, you can proceed with possible fixes to repair the unreadable SD card.  

iBoysoft Data Recovery is one of the best SD card recovery software that's able to restore files from any type of SD card, including SD, SDHC, SDXC, and microSD cards on your Windows PC and Mac devices. Within limited steps, you can successfully recover your pictures and other media files from the unreadable SD card.

Download iBoysoft Data Recovery to start SD card recovery with an intuitive user interface.

Once your images are safe and sound, you can try the following methods to fix the unreadable SD card.

Method 1. Check and repair the file system error.

The file system of your SD card might be corrupted and causing your SD card to be unreadable. To check and fix the corrupted file system, you can run CHKDSK command on your Windows PC.

Step 1. Use an SD card reader to connect the SD card to the PC.

Step 2: To open the Command Prompt panel, right-click the Windows icon, type cmd in the search box, then press Enter. If necessary, enter your administrator account and password

Step 3: Enter the following command:

chkdsk /f sd card letter: 

or

chkdsk sd card letter: /f

The SD card letter refers to the letter of the volume you want to check and repair. 

Wait for the checking and repairing process to be done. If unfortunately, this method fails to fix your corrupted SD card, you can move to the following one.

Method 2. Format your SD card into FAT32.

Formatting the SD card will erase your images for good. Therefore, make sure you've run iBoysoft Data Recovery to recover all your files before formatting.

Step 1. Connect the SD card to your PC.

Step 2. Right-click on This PC/My Computer and Choose Manage.

Step 3: Locate the SD card, right-click it, and then select Format from Disk Management.

Step 4: Choose FAT32 as the SD card's file system, then click OK to confirm.

Now your SD card should be good to go. Simply copy-paste your files into it and you can use it as usual.