Have you accidentally formatted the wrong SD card or deleted an important file that was stored on it? Here’s how to recover missing files from SD card in time.
I have a 32GB WD SD card with important files stored on it, but when I try to import the files into my computer, the SD card says “This folder is empty” and all the files seem to disappear mysteriously. Where did these files go? How can I recover missing files from SD card?
If you are using SD cards to store and transfer files to computers, then you more or less would have experienced file loss from SD cards.
SD memory card data loss is always disturbing. Many users need approaches to recover missing files from SD cards. Luckily, this post will show how to find lost files on SD cards. But before that, it is necessary to discuss the causes.
There can be many reasons for SD card files to disappear. Your SD memory card may be infected with a virus, or you may have deleted or formatted the SD card accidentally. Even, if you continue to store data on a full SD card, the data will not be saved on that card. Here are some common reasons:
✦ SD card corruption or errors. SD cards can become unreadable or lose files due to physical damage or file system errors. Such damage may be caused by quality problems of the card itself, mechanical failure of the device, or accidental physical shock.
✦ Accidental deletion or formatting of the SD card. Users may accidentally delete files on the SD card or accidentally format the SD card during operation, resulting in file loss.
✦ Virus Infection. Computer viruses may attack the SD card, resulting in data loss or tampering. The virus may encrypt the data maliciously, display the files with garbled codes delete the files maliciously, etc.
✦ Incorrectly pulling out the SD card. If the SD card is forcibly pulled out during data transfer or when the file system is writing data, it may result in file system corruption or data loss.
✦ Insufficient storage space. If the storage space of the SD card is insufficient, it may result in partial data loss or inability to write new data.
Before the solutions and instructions to recover data from SD cards, some notable things are offered for you.
Simply put, to recover missing files from SD cards, you could rely on your backups, commands, or, more conveniently, SD card recovery software.
Firstly, check if you have made backups of the essential data on the memory card. If not, then check out the dos and don’ts below and start SD card data recovery.
✘ Don’ts
For the sake of efficiency, convenience, and safety, we choose MyRecover as the recommended SD card data recovery app. It is professional, effective, comprehensive, and easy to get started. With it, you can scan and recover missing files from SD cards within seconds to minutes.
Run Myreocver > connect your SD card to the PC > hover the mouse over the SD card > click Scan.
It scans the SD card with Quick Scan & Deep Scan to respectively locate lost and deleted files.
Select a new location to store your recovered data. After that, click on the Recover X files button to begin the recovery task for SD card.
Within just 3 steps, you could quickly and effortlessly fix the SD card files missing issue. And it covers a wide range of data loss situations, including deletion, formatting, virus infection, and system crash.
What’s more, this excellent software could impress you in more aspects.
Except for deletion, you may also find SD card files missing for many reasons. For example, if the SD card is infected by viruses, your files might get invisible because they were hidden.
In this case, you need to unhide the files from the SD card. Follow the steps to do so.
Step 1. Please open This PC by pressing Win+E > head over to the specific folder > View > Options > View > Advanced settings.
Step 2. Check the option Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
Then check if your wanted files are visible now.
If the method above fails to unhide your wanted files, they might be moved to other places by viruses or due to human error.
Try searching for them in File Explorer will be a good option. Here we will take searching for pictures on SD cards as an example.
>> Launch File Explorer/This PC > open the SD card > input the image file extension .png or the file name (if you can recall) in the search box > press Enter > click Kind under the Search Tools > Pictures.
All corresponding files will be shown. Thus you can find If you have saved Excel file but can’t find it, this method will be helpful.
Also, you could use commands to get files back from SD cards if you are familiar with commands/parameters. Using the Recover command in CMD is one feasible method, but it can only restore one file at a time, which is pretty inconvenient.
So here, we would better use Windows File Recovery, which uses commands to scan the hard disk for lost files. It is a command-line utility with no graphical user interface, making it somewhat hard to use for ordinary people.
Info about syntax, recovery modes, and switches are detailed in the “How to use Windows File Recovery” guide; refer to it to get help.
Step 1. Connect the SD card properly if you have unplugged it > go to This PC > right-click the SD card > click Properties.
Step 2. To decide which recovery mode to use, refer to the chart below. If you are using non-NTFS SD cards, please choose Extensive mode.
| File system | Scenarios | mode |
| NTFS | Deleted recently | Regular |
| NTFS | Deleted for a while | Extensive |
| NTFS | Formatted disk | Extensive |
| NTFS | corrupted disk | Extensive |
| FAT and exFAT | Any | Extensive |
Step 3. Use switches to target the files you need faster.
| Switches | Meaning | Supported mode(s) |
| /n | Filter the scan range: scans for a specific file with its file name/path/type, etc. | All |
| /y: | Recovers specific extension groups. | Signature |
| /k | Recovers system files. | NTFS Segment |
| /segment | Segment mode; recovers files under NTFS drives using file record segments. | Segment |
| /signature | Signature mode; recovers files under all file system types using file headers. | Signature |
| /u | Recovers undeleted files, for example, from the Recycle Bin. | NTFS Segment |
Step 4. Go to Microsoft Store > click Get to install Windows File Recovery.
Step 5. Enter the command to scan the hard disk.
Command format: winfr source-drive: destination-drive: [/mode] [/switches]
Source drive: the SD card.
Destination drive: please select another place to store the recovered files to avoid overwriting.
E.g., input winfr F: D: /extensive /n *.jpg
This command could help you recover lost pictures from SD card free. All recovered photos will be stored in the D: drive. Filename and paths will be lost.
Meet any errors, check the Windows File Recovery troubleshooting tutorial to fix them.
Above are the methods to recover missing files from SD cards. Besides, there is some more related info that is helpful.
✦ Possible causes of file loss on SD cards
Multiple factors can lead to files disappearing from SD cards.
◆ Deletion. You might have accidentally deleted or intentionally deleted files but later regretted it. In general, windows official tools and professional data recovery tools can help users recover accidentally deleted files.
◆ System crash. System crashes can interrupt the data reading and writing to the SD card, thus leading to file corruption/loss. If so, a corrupted SD card recovery process is necessary.
◆ Virus attack. Malware and viruses will maliciously modify/hide/delete the files on your SD card.
◆ Physical damage. Scratches on the SD cards will cause bad sectors and data on it will be corrupted or lost.
◆ Disk formatting. After formatting, all items on the storage devices will be removed. SD cards that are quickly formatted could be recovered. The process is similar to recovering data from pen drive after format.
Simple process: download MyRecover > connect the SD card to your PC > start MyRecover > choose the SD card drive > start scan > use filters to target your files quickly > choose files to restore.
Yes, it’s possible to recover a deleted video from a memory card using MyRecover as long as the video hasn’t been overwritten, and the memory card isn’t physically damaged.
For a normal SD card working in good condition, it doesn’t. But if your SD card has been infected by a virus, or physically damaged, you may find SD card deleting files by itself.
Try the convenient tool AOMEI Backupper, which is equipped with many data backup features. It can protect your essential files firmly.