How to Recover Data from SD Card [Free Software]

How can I recover data from my SD card for free?

Usually, many scenarios may cause the SD card data loss, like virus attack, physical damage, unintentional deletion, etc. So, people wonder if there are ways to recover files from SD card for free. The answer is absolutely yes. Following the post below, you can recover SD card data with and without software.

How to recover data SD card with 3 free software

When your files are lost and you haven't backed them up in advance, you need to use recovery software to get them back. This part introduces how to recover data from SD card with free software.

Using Windows File Recovery to retrieve data

CMD tool Windows File Recovery is available for Windows 10 2004 and above. It can restore various types of files, containing jpg/png/pdf/docx/xlsx/mov/zip, etc. It’s reliable but complex, the people without a computer background can’t use it at ease, because it does not give users an intuitive interface.

Before using it, you should learn some parameters. By the way,  The command line format is like winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches].
▪ Source drive: the place where files are lost/deleted.
▪ Target drive: the place where you choose to store the recovered files.
▪ Recovery mode: general: Regular & Extensive; advanced: Segment & Signature.
▪ Switches: parameters to target the folders and file types.
▪ Mode: Mode is related to the file system. Check out the following screenshot.

Check file system: Click This PC > Right-click the source drive > Tap the Properties.

Switch:

Then, you can begin to write the command line.

Step 1. Download and install this tool in Microsoft Store.

Open Start menu > Find and click Microsoft Store > Input Windows File Recovery on the search bar > click Get button.

Step 2. Open Windows File Recovery and click Run as administrator.

Step 3. Input your command line, and click Enter.

Restore SD card data using WinfrGUI

Actually, Window File Recovery is not user-friendly. Now, I will show you a convenient tool, WinfrGUI. It is simpler and more efficient in file recovery due to its graphical interface. Computer novice can use it smoothly by following the pictures.

Step 1. Select the range to scan, and then choose a place to restore files.

Step 2. Choose the scan mode, and determine the file type in Advanced Settings.

Step 3. Click the Start Recovery to complete the process.

Retrieve SD card utilizing MyRecover

It's highly recommended to use MyRecover, a free SD card recovery software. It provides a graphical user interface, and supports Windows 7 or later. Its biggest merit is that it can restore the file name, format, and path of the original file.

★Highlights:

 Combine 2 scanning modes: Quick Scan & Deep Scan can scan out all the lost data.

 High-speed: It can retrieve 200＋ deleted or lost data in a short time.

 Widely use: It can restore data from SSD/HDD, and also supports FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, and ReFS in Windows.

 Various files recovery: It can recover various files, like PPT, Word, Excel, Photos, Videos, Audios, Zip files and so forth.

Intuitive comparison chart of the three software.

Step 1. Launch MyRecover on your PC. Hover the mouse over the drive and click Scan to scan.

Step 2. The lost files will be detected.

Step 3. Select a path to store the files, and then click Recover x files to retrieve your target data. 

Recover SD card data without software

If you don't want to use data recovery software, you can use the following 2 ways to recover files from SD card free.

Restore SD card data via CHKDSK command

If the data on your SD card is lost, you can check if there is a problem with your disk. CHKDSK is a good tool to scan through your entire hard drive to find and fix problems.

Step 1. Connect your SD card to your device. Start Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Step 2. Input chkdsk F: /f. > Type Y press Enter > Input F > Press Enter.

Recover SD card data by unhiding files

Sometimes the missing files are not lost, but hidden, you can use the attrib command to retrieve your hidden files easily.

Step 1. Open Start, type Command Prompt in the search bar, and click Enter.

Step 2. Open it, and choose Run as administrator.

Step 2. Type attrib -h -r -s /s /d D:\*.* (D refers to the drive where your file is located) and click Enter to retrieve hidden files.

Conclusion

How to recover data from SD card with free software is shown in the post. Among the three software, I think MyRecover is better to use because it is easy to operate, has strong compatibility, and the file format path can be recovered as well. The passage also introduces recovering SD card data by the attrib command and CHKDSK. I believe these methods can help you a lot.