Is it possible to recover data from an SD card? Recovering data from a damaged or non-working memory card

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Secure Digital Memory Cards(SD, SDHC) are intended for use with digital photo and video cameras. Small dimensions, relatively high capacity and operating speed; as well as the low price and absolute compatibility with almost any device, made memory cards of this type a leader in use in both household and professional devices.

Problems with SD memory cards

• Formatting, deleting files. The solution to the problem is a few hours in the laboratory.
• Asks to format. It can indicate both a logical and hardware malfunction. The solution to the problem takes from several hours to several days. Most often - a day.
• Size 0 bytes. Hardware failure. Most often caused by damaged block translation due to poor condition of memory chips. Solved by reading the memory on the programmer and assembling the image. 90% of memory cards are restored the next day after access.
• Not determined. Hardware failure of the memory card (controller failure). It may be caused either by damage to the memory card controller itself (or its “piping” - voltage formers, matching devices) or to the memory chips. In the vast majority of cases, data can be recovered completely.

Equipment our laboratory allows you to recover data from any SD memory cards with any faults. On the official website of our laboratory we only post real photos and examples successfully completed works: we have nothing to hide, we do not keep secrets from our customers. Fast, inexpensive and high quality: You will receive this entire set from us!

All orders in our laboratory they go to work straightaway after placing an order: we do not increase the price for urgency and do not create an artificial queue. Payment work is carried out only after checking the completeness of the recovered data.

Recovering data from an SD memory card using an example
SDHC Transcend 16 Gb class 10

Condition upon admission to the laboratory: is not detected by either the camera or the computer.

Inspecting the memory card: The memory card case has been opened, there are two stickers with service numbers.

Diagnosis: hardware failure of the memory card (controller failure).

expert opinion: data can be restored within 24 hours

Before entering the laboratory Diagnostic procedures were carried out with the memory card, however, it was returned to the customer with the wording “It won’t be possible to do this due to lack of equipment”. The INTER laboratory has all the necessary equipment for data recovery from memory cards of any configuration, including monolithic ones. This is one of the many reasons why you should go to a lab for data recovery rather than a basement service that repairs “all computers, laptops and phones.”

Controller malfunction– the general name for all hardware faults in flash drives, the history of which begins with short-lived controllers and inexperienced specialists who made the “first diagnosis”. In fact, almost all malfunctions of modern flash memory (both “controller malfunctions” and “translation violations” and other fruits of the fantasies of specialists) are caused by damage to the memory cells of NAND flash chips.

During diagnostics It was found that the faulty SD card contains two memory chips in a TSOP-48 package 29F62G08CBABA production Micron 8 GB each and controller SM2687BAA from Silicon Motion. To recover data from the memory card, a decision was made to solder the chips and then read them. After soldering the microcircuits, their terminals were cleaned of oxides: in the normal position, soldering of SMD components is carried out from below, and when installed in the programmer, the socket contacts the NAND flash above, therefore, to prevent reading errors, all 48 pins are cleaned to a shine. To read the contents (dump files), the microcircuits were installed in a data recovery complex from flash media PC-3000flash.

Memory chip identifier

The difference between memory chips of this type from the point of view of data recovery is that they use a slightly different power supply circuit than in older models, in which it is necessary to supply additional 3.3 V power to pins 24, 34 and 38 (providing power to the buffers ). PAK PC-3000flash allows you not only to quickly change the pin configuration, but also to change the value of the supply voltage. Reading memory chips was produced with a page size of 8944 bytes (this is the maximum size of the samples of flash drives that were used for data recovery with such memory chips) - if necessary, the page size can be reduced to actually used by the firmware of this controller. The remaining parameters for reading memory chips are taken from the reference book for NAND memory chips with id=0x2C64444B A9: SDR type, block size 4096 sectors. During the first reading, we leave the timings with a multiplier of 1, since there is no reason to believe that it is necessary to increase the duration of the pulses in this case.

After reading the memory chips for this type of SD card controller, you must immediately do ECC correction, since restoring data from uncorrected memory dumps is pointless: all recovered photos will be “broken.” Additionally on the ECC status map you can judge the serviceability of memory chips and try to subtract information that best matches the content. In this case, the ECC code corrects the page as follows: An ECC code of 70 bytes in size protects 1024 bytes (two sectors) of user data and itself, and there are 8 such ranges, and after them another 26 bytes of service information with ECC. After performing the ECC correction, we received information about the areas that cannot be adjusted due to the ECC code – sections containing damaged(worn out) memory cells, and for the first microcircuit the size of these sections is slightly more than 1 GB, for the second - almost half. It is pointless to restore data from dumps with such severe damage, since bit errors that occur when reading faulty cells modify the information in such a way that instead of useful data, garbage appears in the results, and this garbage can also be found in the area of ​​service information.

Areas of service information– ranges of NAND memory pages that do not contain user data, but contain service data: ECC codes, translation tables, block markers, etc.

Uncorrected pages.

To reduce the amount unadjusted pages, a method is used to read uncorrected pages with ECC control and using various algorithms (Read Retry algorithm, increasing pulse repetition periods - timings, increasing/decreasing temperatures and supply voltages). In this case, the algorithm was applied Read Retry, which consists of changing the internal parameters of the memory array using external commands, developed specifically for data recovery, stored precisely in such memory chips. Reread process with ECC control- one of the longest processes when recovering data from flash cards running on heavily worn TLC memory, sometimes lasting several days. As a result, we have memory chip dump files corrected by more than 99%, which will allow us to collect a reliable image and restore all data with virtually no loss. The result of re-reading can be seen on the map of uncorrected pages: in this case, each dump contains no more than 10 KB of uncorrected sections.

Some data recovery systems (and specialists working on them) are not capable of rereading with ECC control with the Read Retry mechanism. In such complexes, these microcircuits are called Problem chips and cannot be restored.

Considering the fact that almost all controllers S.M. They use the XOR transformation in their work to recover data from a memory card before eliminating the so-called "mix"(mixing data between parts of the memory chip and individual microcircuits), it is necessary to select a mask with which addition modulo 2 (XOR) is performed. The mask applies to this memory chipset and controller XOR 247(from the XOR complex library) with dimensions (1024+70)*8+26, which in total gives a page size of 8778 bytes. So the page size with which we read the chip is larger than the XOR mask, we will not lose the data, but the page will have to be “trimmed” a little, however, this will be absolutely “painless”, because the unused areas in the pages are filled with the number 0xff. For the convenience of the complex, we will choose a slightly larger one than required page size, multiple of 0x10(or 16 in decimal): 8832 bytes, of which we use 8778 for XOR conversion, and we’ll just leave the rest as a “stub”. After applying an XOR mask, you can find in the dumps headers files and pieces of the file system, but the size of these fragments will not be more than 1024 bytes due to the fact that useful data is still mixed with service data. For department custom data from ECC codes and service information Let’s use the “page designer” method, with the help of which we will cut out the spent ECC codes, divide the ranges into sectors and indicate service information for each sector.

Pre-conversions

Sector– the minimum unit of addressing disk space. Flash drives, like most media, have a sector size of 512 bytes. However, for data recovery, the sector size used in the complex is 512+SA (service area size). For ease of calculation, an SA size of 16 bytes is often used, even if the actual size is smaller.

In our case, the size of the service area corresponding to each sector is 26 bytes (this value is determined by the manufacturer at the production stage of the memory card), so we “discard” the part of the page that contains error correction codes and assign 26 bytes of service information to each sector of the page . As a result, we get a page “cut” as follows: ((1024 bytes of user data, consecutive))-70 bytes of ECC code)*8, and after them follow 26 bytes of service information (which in the editor will be “glued” to each sector ) and “stub” (purpose – see above). One of the reasons why to recover data from a memory card it is forbidden simply subtracting the contents of the chips with a programmer (even if there is no XOR conversion, which is very rare in modern media) and scanning with a program like R-Studio and the like is precisely the fact that there is useful information inside the memory chips mixed up with the service one, and in this example, it would not have been possible to obtain a file fragment larger than 1024 bytes.

Small file fragments

At recovering data from memory cards(and any devices with NAND-flash memory) it should be remembered that all transformations can be divided into two stages: eliminating mixing in blocks and assembling blocks in order of priority. Primary transformations(the so-called “mix”) depend not only on the controller firmware, but also on the design of the memory chips themselves. So, looking at the directory of memory chips, we see that chips with id=0x2C64444B A9 can have more than one plane within a physical part. In practice data recovery this feature manifests itself in the form of fragmented data the size of an interleaving block (the size of a block written in a row in one plane). By analogy with, this feature represents blocks that were originally located on different drives, displayed one after another. The presence of such mixing can be checked using the method "rough restoration" in PC-3000flash: running the method on any dump, we will see that the maximum checked file size is too small to assemble blocks, which tells us that there are some kind of transformations (in our case - Interleave). The characteristic interflow is eliminated using the method block pair: we divide the dumps into blocks of the same size (the size of the interflow block) and combine them in pairs, thus “gluing” blocks that followed each other, but were recorded in different planes.

Considering the presence in the SD memory card two microcircuits(and, accordingly, two dump files), you need to define relationship between them: in any case, there is one more similarity RAID, either RAID0 or JBOD (depending on the controller firmware settings). To check the type of relationship between memory chips, we will use the view official information for a pair of sectors located in different dumps at the same address. Keeping in mind that for SM controllers typical position in bytes 514 and 515 of the marker with block number, we conclude that information from one block is located in different memory chips - just like in RAID0. To eliminate this transformation, we will combine the “semi-blocks” located in the dumps in pairs, and on the resulting combined dump we will launch a “draft” recovery. The appearance of “draft” files with a verified size of more than 1 MB in the results indicates that all transformations within the blocks have been completed correctly and you can begin arranging the blocks in the following order (assembling the image).

Comparison of memory dump service information

The final stage when restoring data from a memory card there will be image assembly(translator), which involves arranging blocks in order and distributing them among banks (blocks with the same numbers must go into different banks and follow with a period that is a multiple of the bank size). Considering the presence of pairs of bytes with the block number in the service area, you can try using broadcast algorithm"Block number 0000."

Build an image by block number

Master Boot Record

Image Builder Settings

Analyzing official information recoverable memory card, we determine that during assembly it would be logical to highlight the sequence 514 And 515 bytes for numbering block, however, the service information of the first (in computer numbering - zero) of the block will contain a pair 00 08 , second ( first in a computer way) – 01 08 etc., what not quite right: firstly, the senior part of the number comes before the junior one, and secondly, the senior part starts with 08, not 00. Is being decided this problem is quite simple: in the settings of the collector algorithm "unfold" marker (marker type 3412) and "we move" him (mask 70FF). Block size for the assembler, we calculate according to the advanced methods of the second grade of high school: the size of the block of the memory chip (reference value, equal to 4096 sectors) is multiplied by 4 (this number is determined by the transformations made) and we get 16384 . We launch the collector, look at the log and expect to see the root directory, data, etc. But that was not the case: root directory is empty, no data visible. We launch the “draft”, we see the following picture: a lot whole files (which means the conversions are correct), the MBR is installed in place, which means the collector parameters are also determined correctly.

Whole files

There is probably a problem with the assembly. It is worth noting that markers for the assembler, these are by no means reference points for the operation of the controller, but pieces of debugging information, they may not be contained in all blocks or not at all. Therefore, let's try to use a different assembly algorithm (specialized translator).

EN2683B BA assembler

Algorithm selection

Complex for data recovery from memory cards PC-3000flash is able to determine the type of block translator (assembler) by indirect signs(structure of service information). Often assembly based on translation tables (using a translator) gives a much more complete result, since almost completely models the controller operation algorithm. Automatic selection (auto-detection of algorithm) proposed a translator for our memory card EN2683B, therefore we can use this translator with auto detection parameters of its operation. As a result, we have the result, similar to the first collector: there is no file system, but there are whole files. That is the problem is not in the parameters and hardly in the translator type. Of course, it would be possible on this stay, tell the customer “the microcircuits are badly damaged, they did everything they could, but they can’t restore it anymore,” but this not in our rules– we will understand the reasons.

Filling missing blocks

Analyzing service information the resulting image and we see that in the image don't hit some blocks (filled with a characteristic pattern DEAD). Cause lies, as is often the case in the data recovery industry, in the device and principles of operation of a memory card. Many modern controllers for speed up work(and for multimedia storage media, speed is one of the most important characteristics) blocks are used various sizes(almost like ZFS), for rarely changing data (directly user files) – big blocks, For often changing data (file system elements) – small blocks (or additions), which cannot be processed by some collectors (such as those discussed above) and it is impossible to obtain a complete file system. Absence working file system will cause not only the lack of names files (which, in general, is not particularly critical for photos from the folder DCIM), but also by the absence in the image large and fragmented files(for example, video recordings).

EN2685 assembler

From libraries of additional methods choose a specialized algorithm designed for data recovery from memory cards for cameras with controllers that use additions. The operating parameters of this translator are calculated at the stage of eliminating transformations: block size 16384 sectors, the size of the additions is determined at the last step of transformation by changing markers in pages containing elements of the file system ( 32 sectors). Having collected an image of the memory card using a translator with the necessary parameters, we get access to user data: in the root directory of the DCIM folder (with a green mark, which indicates that the folder title is correct) and the files inside.

Root directory

Recovered data

Data from memory card restored the next day after contact. Take care of your nerves and money: contact professionals who will take care of everything. Avoid contacting those who see the difference between NAND and BGA chips, offer data recovery with a price per megabyte, as well as mobile technicians and DIYers.

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Why you should contact us

Fixed prices. We do not lure you into the laboratory with a low price of “from 1500 rubles” and then say that in your case the cost is higher. The exact price is known in advance, as is the upper price limit. The cost of any work is listed on the website in the “prices” section. We do not deceive clients!

Work without prepayment. We do not charge upfront fees for parts, consumables, or “additional advanced diagnostics,” regardless of what work has already been done. The only exception is the unqualified intervention of others (but such cases are extremely rare). We value our reputation!

Free shipping. Our courier will pick up and deliver your drive free of charge. When sending a courier, we immediately inform you of the cost of the work “from” and “to”, but if the pre-agreed price does not suit the customer after delivery to the laboratory, then return delivery will be paid. We deliver all completed and paid orders free within Moscow.

Almost every such device has a place to store information. But, as a rule, internal memory, which directly acts as internal storage, is not enough. When the device does not have enough memory, external storage media or removable memory cards are used to store information.

Let's take the modern mobile phone, digital camera and other portable devices as an example. Almost all such devices use a memory card format called Secure Digital Memory Card. To put it simply, memory cards with this format are familiar to us as SD cards.

But no type and format of memory cards, or any other storage media, today is immune from data loss. Losing data from a memory card can happen due to a variety of circumstances. You could accidentally delete data from the memory card, cause involuntary memory loss, incorrectly remove the card from the computer, or cause mechanical damage to the card. All this can cause data to disappear from the memory card.

If something similar happened to your SD card, then don’t despair. There is a high chance that you will be able to recover your lost data. A special utility for recovering data from an SD memory card will help you with this.

Portable devices that use SD cards most often store multimedia files, namely photos, videos, and music. Therefore, in order to recover such data from an SD card, it is not necessary to use powerful data recovery tools.

CardRecovery will perfectly recover data from an SD card. This program is very easy to use. Its pleasant and simple interface will not cause you any difficulties. This program is able to recover deleted photos, videos and other multimedia files. It is also worth noting that the CardRecovery program has a fairly high data recovery speed.

Why should you choose this program to recover data from SD memory cards? The fact is that memory cards of this format store mainly multimedia files. And the CardRecovery program perfectly recovers just these types of files.

CardRecovery is a great tool that will help you recover data from SD cards. If this program is not suitable for you, then use other data recovery utilities. You can find them on our website.

Now almost every mobile device has information storage in the form of memory cards of various formats. And the most popular are SD cards. They are widely used in photographic equipment, mobile phones, MP3 players and electronic books. And it often happens that when downloading or uploading a file to the device, a failure occurs, and all the data on the card disappears somewhere. But this is not scary if you know how to recover data from an SD card. This is exactly what this article will talk about.

Why do you need to restore?

Lost data can be very valuable. For example, a family photo archive or video, and perhaps also important documents or music. And losing such information is quite unpleasant, especially when there is no backup copy. This is where data recovery from an SD flash drive is required.

For this procedure you need:

• universal card reader, in order to read the media;
• memory card with missing data;
• Internet access;
• computer or laptop.

Reasons for data loss

There are many reasons for the loss of information, here are some of them:

• unscheduled memory formatting;
• accidental deletion of files;
• violation of the file system structure;
• malfunctions leading to damaged areas of the storage medium.

Understanding the main cause of the problem, it will be possible to select the optimal recovery option and return all the information back.

When a computer or mobile gadget formats a drive, the file system layout table is cleared and repartitioned. The same thing happens with the boot area. This process causes the SD card to appear as blank media on the device. But this does not mean that the files are destroyed. Knowing this, we can come to the conclusion that it is still possible to recover information on a formatted flash drive.

However many gadgets are capable of overwriting data when formatting, in which case returning files will be more difficult. This happens because the device, after re-partitioning the card, begins to replace zeros in all areas of its memory with OxFF. Which, of course, completely destroys all traces of previous data.

After accidentally formatting the media, you should immediately stop using it and try not to write any more data there. If new files are written, they will be superimposed in place of the old ones, overwriting them. This deprives you of the chance to restore everything back.

Then, of course, you can contact a service center to recover data from the SD card. The price for such a service in some workshops can be quite high, so it is better to familiarize yourself with this procedure and try to restore the information at home.

As soon as it becomes clear that the drive has problems, that is, it is not detected by the device or shows the wrong volume, then you should immediately try to copy all the available information from it. Next, you need to format the flash drive and check for viruses and bad sectors.

If the data on the SD card is unavailable, then you need to recover the missing files. To do this you need use the software intended for this purpose or carry out hardware repair of the media, if the first does not help, and the flash drive is not detected at all.

The first option, using programs, is more accessible and uncomplicated. And knowing how to do it, anyone can handle it. Thanks to this method, it is possible to recover data after accidental failures and formatting.

The sequence of actions to restore information will be as follows:

1. You need to download and install the application for resuscitation. Such programs are paid and freely distributed.
2. Turn off the gadget and remove the memory card from it.
3. Insert the flash drive into the card reader and connect to the PC.
4. Launch the program and search for lost files.
5. Save the found information to your computer’s hard drive.
6. Format the drive and check for errors.

Hardware repair occurs due to mechanical damage to the storage medium. In this case, the final outcome of the repair will directly depend on what exactly is broken and how badly damaged the flash drive is. This procedure is not easy, and requires the intervention of a specialist and special equipment for repair.

Applications to recover lost files

The successful resuscitation of deleted data is influenced by what software is used. There are many solutions to the problem on the Internet. But not all are convenient and give good results. Here are the ones that perform their functions best:

• PhotoRec for photo recovery.
• Recovery-studio.
• R. Saver.

PhotoRec

This program makes it possible to return graphic files after accidental deletion or formatting. Application allows you to recover more than 150 digital data formats. This is a multi-platform program. For each operating system, you can download its own installation package and use it in almost any OS.

This application is well suited to the additional TestDisk utility, which can return a deleted partition on a memory card.

R-studio

This is a very popular application among both specialists and ordinary users. The program allows you to work on any file system. In some cases she can return information even if hardware damage occurs.

The process of resuscitating files using R-studio goes like this:

1. You need to install the application on your computer.
2. Launch the application. All connected drives will be visible in the open window.
3. Next, you need to select the desired flash drive, right-click its context menu and begin the process of scanning deleted information.
4. A new window will immediately open in which you need to mark the area to search.
5. You also need to tell the program where to save the recovered data and select the type of files that need to be found and returned.
6. At the end of the process, the data will appear where you specified when setting up the scan; now you can save it to a more reliable medium.

R. Saver

This application has a Russian interface and is a very reliable and effective product from R. Lab. R. Saver also differs in that the application does not require installation and is launched immediately from the downloaded file.

The resuscitation procedure using the program goes like this:

Repairing an SD card with damaged firmware is more complicated than simply restoring files. But this method of resuscitating a host is also possible. If the flash drive was suddenly disconnected during the copying process, this could damage the firmware embedded in the SD card controller. This naturally leads to device failure.

To restore the firmware you need:

1. Find out the microcontroller model, on which the memory card circuit is based. This information can be found on the chip itself.
2. To do this you need to carefully open the case flash drive and find the markings on the chip.
3. Then you need to go to the address and find the line there, which indicates the controller model.
4. In the same line there is a link to download the flash driver program. It needs to be downloaded.
5. Using this application, you need to load the firmware into the SD card controller.

This is a brief description of the process of restoring the functionality of a damaged flash drive. And it is written only to familiarize yourself with the procedure for repairing a storage device. More detailed instructions should be found separately for each flasher.

Restoring a file system using Chkdsk

The most accessible method to bring a memory card with a corrupted file system back to life is to use the Chkdsk utility built into Windows. It is launched from the command line and allows you to put the drive structure in order without losing data. This procedure is carried out as follows:

1. The flash drive is connected to the computer.
2. After appearing in Explorer, you need to find out what letter the system assigned to this medium (let’s imagine that it is the letter “F”).
3. Next, you need to launch the command line.
4. In it, enter the command “chkdsk F: (letter assigned to the flash drive) /f”, which will scan the memory card for errors and, having detected them, make corrections.
5. Once the process is complete, you need to recheck the SD card and test how it writes files.

Map re-partitioning or low-level formatting

Any flash drive, like a hard drive, can also have two or three partitions. Most often, after purchase, it is marked up for one volume, but this can be changed if necessary. In addition, it is possible to completely clean the media and remove all traces of information on it, as well as erase all sections, making it absolutely clean. This process is called low-level formatting.

Attention! Just like simple formatting, low-level formatting deletes files, but after such a procedure it will no longer be possible to restore them. Therefore, before using this method, it is better to copy all data to another medium in advance.

After this, you can create a new volume on an empty area of ​​the SD card. This procedure often helps out when a flash drive connected to a computer is detected as RAW. Or when it shows that the device is connected, but the partitions are not visible. The best option for low-level formatting is application "Low Level Format Tool". Next, let's look at how to use it:

1. First you need to launch the program and connect the USB flash drive to your personal computer. After the application opens, all disks installed on the computer will be visible in the window. You need to allocate an SD card. Before proceeding, make sure you select the correct media, otherwise you may lose important information located on another drive.
2. If you are not sure, then look at the Capacity column, it indicates the exact size of the selected drive. Once you are sure you can continue, click the “Continue” button. In the new window you need to switch to the “Low Level Format” tab. Next, click the “FORMAT THIS DEVICE” button. The long process of formatting and completely wiping the SD card will begin. The time of this operation depends on the speed and capacity of the memory card.
3. At the end of the program, there will be empty unallocated space on the media that needs to be reinitialized and partitioned. To do this, call the context menu on “My Computer” and select “Management”. A new window will open, in the left section of which, go to the “Disk Management” line. This is a built-in disk utility that allows you to partition and format disks connected to a personal computer. Mark the processed card in it and right-click on the leftmost part of it. Select "Initialize disk" from the drop-down list.
4. After completing the procedure, you need to call up the menu on the black area of ​​​​the flash drive and click on the “Create a new volume” item. Following the wizard's prompts, you will need to specify the size (if the flash drive consists of one partition, then you do not need to change anything here) and the file system type (NTFS or FAT32). After confirming the specified parameters, marking and formatting will begin, as a result of which a fully working SD card will appear. That’s it, now you can download the saved information back onto it and insert it into your smartphone or camera.

When an important file is lost, a document you spent a week on is erased, or photos disappear from a suddenly formatted memory card, there is no need to worry ahead of time. When you delete a file from the disk, its description in the system is erased. The set of bytes that made up the file remains in place until something else is written on top of them. So you can try to recover your data using any of these applications.

Be careful if you install applications on a drive where deleted files were located. There is a risk that application files will be overwritten during installation. It is better to select another partition or physical disk for installation.

Platform: Windows.
Price: free, $19.95 for premium version.

Recuva can recover data lost by mistake, for example from an accidentally emptied Recycle Bin. The program can return photos from an accidentally formatted memory card in the camera or music from an empty MP3 player. Any media is supported, even iPod memory.

Platform: Windows, Mac.
Price: free, $89 for premium version.

Disk Drill is a data recovery application for Mac, but there is also a version for Windows. This program supports most types of disks, files and file systems. With its help, you can restore erased files using the Recovery Protection function, as well as find and clean up the disk. However, the free version does not allow you to recover files lost before installing Disk Drill.

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, SunOS, DOS.
Price: for free.

A very functional and versatile open source application. It has a text interface, but it is not difficult to understand.

TestDisk supports a huge number of file formats. In addition, the program can be burned to a LiveCD to recover data from a disk on which the system does not boot. The utility can recover a damaged boot sector or lost data.

TestDisk comes with the PhotoRec program, which recovers erased files, photos, music and videos.

4. R-Undelete

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux.
Price: the free version recovers files up to 256 KB in size; $79.99 for full version.

R-Undelete is part of R-Studio. This is a whole family of powerful data recovery programs. Supported file systems are FAT12/16/32/exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5, HFS/HFS+, UFS1/UFS2 and Ext2/Ext3/Ext4.

R-Studio applications can recover deleted data both on local drives and over the network. In addition to data recovery, the utilities provide tools for advanced partition copying and searching for bad blocks on disks.

Platform: Windows.
Price: free in trial mode with recovery of up to 1 GB of data; $69.95 for full version.

Eassos Recovery recovers deleted files, photos, text documents and more than 550 file formats. The application has a very simple and intuitive interface.

Platform: Windows.
Price: the free version does not save found files; $37.95 for full version.

The Hetman developer provides a set of utilities for recovering various types of data: entire sections or individual photos and documents. The program supports all hard drives, flash cards, SD and microSD.

Platform: Windows.
Price: free, $19.97 included with Glary Utilities.

Glary Undelete can recover any deleted files, including compressed, fragmented or encrypted ones. Filtering of recovered data is supported.

Do you know more convenient and functional data recovery applications? Tell us about them in the comments.

How to recover an SD card or USB flash drive if the computer does not see it, does not read or write data? Problems with flash drives are rarely caused by natural wear and tear. More often, problems with them are caused by users ignoring the rules for safely removing the device, experiments with various software in which these flash drives are involved, as well as their initially lousy quality. Below we will consider a list of possible actions carried out in the Windows environment that can solve the problem, unless, of course, the cause lies in a mechanical failure. And we, friends, will go from simple to complex.

• Note: below we will only talk about restoring the functionality of flash drives, but not about saving the data stored on them. This is a separate topic, and there is information about this on the website. Most of the methods proposed below for recovering SD cards and flash drives will lead to the loss of their data.

1. Hardware lock

SD cards, MicroSD adapters and flash drives can be hardware protected from writing data or completely blocked even for reading. On such devices there is a lock switch, which must, accordingly, be set to the “Unlocked” position.

2. Problems not related to the drives themselves

The cause of problems with SD cards and flash drives may be Windows security policy. You need to find out whether access to removable drives is blocked (in whole or in part of writing data to them) by the computer administrator. You also need to check the card reader or USB ports of your computer. If everything is fine with the latter - the card reader reads other SD cards, but problems still arise with the flash drive, no matter how you connect it to other USB ports, move on.

3. Windows Explorer

Standard formatting using Windows Explorer can help in simple cases such as unsuccessful writing of data to a flash drive. Or when for some reason a smartphone, tablet, camera or other device cannot cope with this operation regarding SD cards. In any current version of Windows, in the Explorer window on the drive, call up the context menu and click “Format”.

We leave the original file system and first try a quick format.

If it fails, we repeat the operation, but with full formatting (uncheck the fast box).

4. Windows Disk Management

You can try to perform the formatting procedure in disk management. To launch this tool, enter in the system search field:

diskmgmt.msc

In the disk management window, focusing on the size of the drive, we look for it among the disks connected to the computer. And in the context menu called on it, we launch formatting.

You can immediately select full formatting.

If the flash drive has a partition structure like a hard drive, you must delete each of those partitions. This is done using the “Delete volume” option in the context menu.

And then, in place of the resulting unallocated space, you need to create a single partition. To do this, in the context menu on this very unallocated space, launch the “Create a new volume” operation and follow the instructions of the step-by-step wizard.

5. Programs for low-level formatting

Standard formatting tools may not help in complex cases, for example, when flash drives are displayed (in the same Explorer or Disk Management) as unrecognized devices with the RAW file system. The latter means that either the Windows environment does not understand the file system of the drive, or there is no file system as such in principle. Actually, this is what causes problems with a flash drive or SD card when it works on other devices, with other operating systems. In such cases, third-party Windows programs designed for so-called low-level formatting will help restore the flash drive.

In fact, low-level formatting is a procedure that is carried out either in the production conditions of flash device manufacturers, or in serious specialized services. Various types of Windows software that claim to perform this kind of operation actually perform a regular full format, but using mechanisms that differ from those used by the operating system. Such programs cope well with flash drive problems if these problems arise at the file system level. Let's look at two of these programs.

HDD Low Level Format Tool

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

The shareware portable program HDD Low Level Format Tool can format various types of storage media, in particular SD cards and USB flash drives. After unpacking the archive with the program, run it and agree to the license terms.

We choose free use.

Directly in the program window we indicate the problematic drive and click “Continue”.

We confirm the decision.

We wait for the operation to complete and check the operation of the media.

SDFormatter

http://flashboot.ru/files/file/355

A completely free small program called SDFormatter is another tool for so-called low-level formatting. Works with both SD cards and USB flash drives. Install SDFormatter into the system, launch it, and indicate the problematic flash drive in the “Drive” column. Click “Format”.

The program wants to make sure that our intentions are serious, click “Ok.

He asks not to touch the drive while the operation is being performed.

Upon completion, test the flash drive or SD card. If this does not help, repeat the operation with the settings for complete overwriting of sectors (nothing more than full formatting). Press “Option”, select “Full (OverWrite)”. And also click “Format” at the bottom.

If using the above methods it was not possible to revive the flash drive, and it is still under warranty, you need to stop at this stage. And do not take any further action except contact the seller with a request to replace the device. All the actions described below should be resorted to only when, in fact, there is nothing to lose. The instructions below apply to USB flash drives, SD and MicroSD cards. However, in the case of the latter, the likelihood of recovery is extremely low.

6. D-Soft Flash Doctor

D-Soft Flash Doctor performs so-called low-level formatting, and at the same time also detects damaged sectors (cells). Well, and, accordingly, knows how to block them and replace them with backup ones. The program can help when flash drives or SD cards have difficulty reading individual files located on damaged sectors. The program is free and portable. I did not find the official website, but it can be freely downloaded on the Internet.

In the D-Soft Flash Doctor window, the first thing you need to do is run a scan to detect errors.

In my case, there were no damaged (broken) sectors.

But if in your case, friends, the scan results are different and bad sectors are detected, we start the recovery process.

The window for performing this operation promises that the process will not last longer than 10 minutes, but in fact, reassigning bad sectors on a drive with a capacity larger than 4 GB can take quite a long time. So it is better to run the recovery operation at night.

7. Flashing the memory controller

Programs for so-called low-level formatting or their analogues, which in any other form claim to be able to resuscitate all types of SD cards and/or USB flash drives, turn out to be powerless in the event of a software failure of the controller, when it requires flashing. This problem can have different symptoms, but more often it is either the computer does not see the drive completely, or it sees it and can even read the data, but cannot format it by any means. In particular, due to write protection even though the drive is not locked by hardware.