How to Recover Photos from a Corrupt SD card?

Ever wondered what if your SD card gets corrupted all of a sudden and its stored content, including your precious photos, gets deleted? Such data loss issues can be frustrating, but the good news is that there are several photo recovery methods available online that you can try to recover photos from corrupt SD cards. This guide will explore how to recover photos from a corrupt SD card, covering everything from understanding what causes SD card corruption to step-by-step SD card recovery methods, and tips for preventing future data loss.

What Causes SD Card Corruption?

Before diving into SD card recovery methods to restore lost photos from corrupt SD cards, it is important to understand what SD card corruption is and why it is generally caused. SD card corruption occurs when there’s damage or issues with the data storage structure of the card, which makes the stored files unreadable or inaccessible. Common causes of SD card corruption include:

• Physical damage: Exposure to moisture, heat, or improper handling of any storage device, including SD cards can physically damage it.
• File system corruption: Improper ejection, abrupt removal during file transfer, or unexpected power loss can cause file system corruption.
• Virus or malware: Malicious software like viruses or malware can infect your SD cards when connected to infected devices, causing corruption or deletion of the data stored on them.
• Formatting errors: Incorrect formatting of the card without proper backup can make files unreadable.
• Bad sectors: Like hard drives, SD cards can develop bad sectors, preventing data from being written or read properly.

Preliminary Steps for Quick SD Card Recovery

Whatever among the above is the cause for the deletion of photos from your corrupt SD cards, there are several preliminary steps that you must consider before applying SD card recovery methods. These steps include:

• Stop Using the Card: When you notice data is deleted from your SD card, stop using it immediately. Continued use could overwrite or further corrupt your photos, making recovery more difficult or impossible.
• Check the Card on Different Devices: Sometimes, the issue might be related to the device reading the card rather than the card itself. In such cases, you should try connecting the SD card to different devices, such as a different camera, phone, or computer.
• Avoid Formatting the Card: If your device prompts you to format the SD card, ignore it immediately. Formatting erases all the stored files and folders on the card and may make recovery more difficult.

Quick Methods to Recover Photos from Corrupt SD Cards

Here are some quick and easy workarounds that you can try for photo recovery from your corrupt SD cards:

Method 01: Recover Photos using Command Prompt (Windows)

Windows built-in Command Prompt (CMD) utility can easily fix SD card file system errors and restore access to your photos. You can use the CHKDSK command to repair your minorly corrupted or damaged SD card. All you have to do is:

• Firstly, connect the SD card to your computer via a card reader.
• Type Command Prompt in your device’s search box, right-click on Command Prompt and select the Run as administrator
• Type chkdsk X: /r command in the Command Prompt window and press the Enter key (replace X with the letter assigned to your SD card).

Wait until the process is completed. Once it’s done, your photos may become accessible again. If not, proceed to the next method.

Method 02: Try Updating the Latest Version of the Driver

A driver is built-in software that lets the computer interact with externally connected devices. Sometimes, these drivers get corrupted, making your external drive, such as an SD card inaccessible. Here is how to fix it:

• Right-click on the Start icon located on the bottom-left corner of the screen, and then select Device Manager.
• Double-click on the Disk drivers option to expand it.
• Now, right-click on the corrupted SD card that appears on your screen and select the “Update Driver” option.
• Lastly, click the “Search automatically for updated driver software” option from the pop-up window. Ensure the computer is connected to the internet with a stable connection during the update process.

Method 03: Use Third-Party Photo Recovery Software

Sometimes, the above-mentioned manual SD card recovery methods might fail to recover deleted photos from your corrupt SD card. In such cases, you can use a professional photo recovery tool to restore your lost or deleted pictures. Specialized recovery software like Stellar Photo Recovery is an all-in-one recovery option for easy recovery of photos, videos, and audio files. It allows you to restore multimedia files deleted due to accidental deletion, formatting, virus attacks, or any other reason.

The Stellar Photo Recovery Software is known for several amazing features, including:

• It supports recovery of photos deleted from any internal or external storage drive, such as SD cards, hard drives, pen drives, etc.
• Recover permanently deleted photos and video files of numerous file formats.
• Compatible with both Windows and Mac devices.
• 100% safe and secure photo recovery tool. Recover deleted files by thoroughly scanning your storage device.
• Allows you to preview the recoverable files before saving them on your device.

Here’s how to recover photos from a corrupt SD card using Stellar Photo Recovery software:

Step 1: Download and install the Stellar Photo Recovery Software on your Windows or Mac device. Launch the software and from the homepage, select the storage drive where your photo was stored earlier and click Scan.

Step 2: Wait till the scanning process is completed. Once done, preview the recoverable files and choose the ones you need to restore.

Step 3: Click the Recover button to save selected photos at the desired location on your device.