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SDCard Damaged...Any Way To Repair?

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persistentone

Well-Known Member
While taking a photo, my Samsung S4 froze. I powered off the phone, but unfortunately it looks like it was trying to write data to the SDCard, and powering off corrupted the SDCard file system. Now when I reboot I get a message from the phone that the SDCard is damaged. The only option I am being given is to reformat the card. That can't be right? There must be some procedure to do the equivalent of a DOS CHKDSK on the card and try to repair it?

What is the file system type used by Android on the SDCard? I thought it was EXFAT? I took the SDCard over to a Windows 8.1 PC, but Disk Manager under Windows sees the file system as "RAW", so apparently this means an unrecognized file system?

Is there a practical way for me to get this repaired, given that I have as my available platforms:

* Android (not rooted)
* Windows
* Mac
* iPad

I have a lot of data on that SDCard that I do not want to lose.
 
I was able to use CHKDSK to repair the SDCard, unfortunately the S4 still wants to say that the card is "damaged" on startup. I don't think it is damaged. I think the phone is in a mode where it believes the card is damaged. Is there any way for me to clear the error? Is the only way to recover to reformat the SDCard and recover data from a backup?
 
I doubt it is the phone, and I do feel the SD card is "damaged" in that the file system is corrupt as far as Android is concerned.

let the phone format the card, and move on with your life.

hope you had everything backed up.
 
AZgl1500 said:
I doubt it is the phone, and I do feel the SD card is "damaged" in that the file system is corrupt as far as Android is concerned.

let the phone format the card, and move on with your life.

hope you had everything backed up.
Click to expand...

I am able to read and write to the SDCard from a Windows system.

Assuming I have everything backed up under Windows, what is the procedure to recover?

1) Format the card under Android

2) Remove SDCard and mount on Windows

3) Recover lost files from the backup, but should I avoid overwriting any files with the same name that Android format created?

4) Remount on Android and hope it takes....

Assuming I get the recovery to work, will the applications that were set up to use the SDCard continue to use the card, or do I need to move applications over to the card from scratch? It's not clear to me how failsafe all of this is from the standpoint of individual applications that were migrated over to the SDCard.
 
the only safe way to use that card now, is to totally format so that it is totally wiped out and clean.
then if you want to put pictures back on it then, you can... but it is not safe the way it is.

personally? i would get a new card
 
AZgl1500 said:
personally? i would get a new card
Click to expand...

I agree, it's pretty clear that card has some questionable issues. While there's a chance by reformatting it will allow you to continue using it, at this point everything that gets written and/or saved to it is a gamble. For the most part microSD cards are not the most reliable when it comes to long-term storage media, they're primary feature is convenience. If you like to play the odds, keep using it. But price-wise it's relatively inexpensive to replace, even if you ignore all the cheap, bargain specials (with a higher chance of failure rate) and get a quality, brand-name one.
 
Okay, so I bought a new SDCard and Android put the minimum file footprint onto it in order to use it. Now what is the procedure to recover from backup? Do I overwrite all files from the backup?

Update: I took the brand new SDCard, moved it to Windows, recovered the saved SDCard data, and now Android is saying the card is corrupt again. So it looks like this is a problem with overwriting some file that was on the new SDCard. If anyone has insights on which files should not be overwritten when recovering data on an SDCard that would be life saving....
 
Last edited:
Have you visited the SD card manufacturers site to see if they can offer help in recovery?
I purchased a MicroSD card which offered recovery data and help on the website. Does the Recuva program work with SD cards?
 
persistentone said:
Okay, so I bought a new SDCard and Android put the minimum file footprint onto it in order to use it. Now what is the procedure to recover from backup? Do I overwrite all files from the backup?

Update: I took the brand new SDCard, moved it to Windows, recovered the saved SDCard data, and now Android is saying the card is corrupt again. So it looks like this is a problem with overwriting some file that was on the new SDCard. If anyone has insights on which files should not be overwritten when recovering data on an SDCard that would be life saving....
Click to expand...
When referring to, "...put the minimum file footprint onto it in order to use it" are you saying that you did use your S4 to format your new microSD card? (Settings >> Storage and the 'Format SD card' option towards the bottom). If you instead left the card as is (never formatted it) or used your PC to format it, do the format on your phone, and don't let Windows do anything like reformat it if prompted whenever you're using it to transfer files.
 
Hello,

In such cases, the first thing people are often suggested is to extract this phone SD card and plunge it to a PC with a card reader.

And then, check it with CHKDSK to see whether it is still healthy there.

If it is really completely physically corrupted, go contact the seller to see whether they can do something or just go purchase a new one instead.
 
By the way, have you get any important data left on that SD card? If you do, before doing any overwriting there, you’d better do a deep data recovery scan there and see whether your data is still able to be retrieved back. And, many free data recovery software online could be your chances, like

Recuva-100% free and able to scan memory card within seconds

iCare Data Recovery Free-100% freeware and able to scan and recover data from phone memory card

PhotoRe- free, but, a little bit tricky to operate

PC Inspector Recovery- free

And hope these words could help you
 
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