How to restore a microsd card if the computer does not see it. MicroSD is not detected How to recover micro SD if the computer does not see it

28.10.2023 -

Good afternoon friends. Many owners of phones that have the Android operating system installed often wonder why the phone does not see the MicroSD memory card? I wouldn’t say that such cases happen often, but what should you do if your phone still doesn’t see the card?

This process can occur due to a number of reasons. Let's look at them in this article and, most importantly, try to get rid of them. The material that I have prepared will help you fix a similar problem not only in smartphones, but also in cameras, video cameras and other gadgets that have such a memory card.

Why might this be dangerous?

Modern smartphones have their own internal memory, and a plug-in MicroSD is necessary to increase this memory. Imagine an unpleasant situation. You specified an external card as the main storage medium, and it suddenly stopped functioning correctly. Android simply stopped seeing it. In this regard, information began to be sent to the built-in memory. Of course, the internal memory space quickly fills up and the phone starts to malfunction.

Let's imagine that you came to the conclusion that the external card was simply damaged and replaced it with another one. But the problems with the phone did not decrease. In such situations, people usually become nervous. The conclusion suggests itself, the problem in the phone is not with the card. And with what then? Let's start deciding.

Basic troubleshooting steps

So, your smartphone has stopped seeing the map, what needs to be done:

The most common way out is a regular reboot. Or, just turn Android on and off. About half the time, this helps. If not, then move on to the next solution;
You need to remove the battery. Before doing this, be sure to turn off your smartphone first. Next, wait two minutes, then put the battery in place. Next, we check the operation of the external card;

If the second step does not help, turn off the smartphone again, remove the memory card with battery, and inspect all contacts. If we notice oxidation somewhere (blue coating), wipe it carefully with a cotton swab and alcohol (carefully wrap the cotton swab around a match). After this, we return the memory card and battery back to the smartphone slots.

If the basic methods for eliminating the error did not help you, let's move on to other measures.

Unknown SD format

When a smartphone does not notice a memory card, it may very well be that the card has an incorrect format from the file table. It may also have mechanical damage.

Causes of malfunction:

The owner of the card formatted it incorrectly and made incorrect settings;
Memory markup is wrong;
Before this, the card operated in a file system that was incomprehensible to the phone. The map has special markings that your Android simply does not recognize.

How to fix?

Most flash drives with a capacity exceeding 32 GB have the exFAT format. This format is not recognized by all smartphones (mostly older models). From here, if your flash drive has this format, you need to copy the information from it to your computer, return the card to your phone, go to the Recovery setting, and select the “Wipe cache partition” command to format the card in FAT32 format (the most common format for flash drives). This format is seen by almost all gadgets.

It is better to entrust format changes to a specialist, especially if you do not understand anything about these settings. Because if you accidentally select the wrong command, there is a possibility of losing information on your smartphone.

You can also use another method, namely, the SD Formatter program, which can be installed on your computer. We insert the USB flash drive into the computer and use this application to change the format. If your computer does not have a special section for connecting a telephone adapter, the flash drive can be connected via a card reader, which itself is connected via a regular USB slot.

Download SD Formatter.

Video on how to use the SD Formatter application?

How to format a phone flash drive using the system utility?

In addition to this application, it is possible to change the format of the telephone flash card using Windows.

We connect the smartphone to the computer using a connection cable. But, as I mentioned above, it is better to insert a flash drive into the computer using a card reader, or directly, through the slot for a telephone flash drive (For example, my card reader burned out, but there is a slot for a flash drive on the printer. Turn on the printer and insert the flash drive into it . A card reader is not needed in this case).

Based on the structure of your card reader, we will insert the flash drive into it directly, or use an adapter;

After connecting the memory card to the computer, go to “Explorer”, then “My Computer” and see the connection of the new disk. For me it’s F. Right-click on it and select “Quick Format”;

Some experts advise producing a lower format flash drive, but you need to be more careful with this matter, because... Some telephone flash cards are poorly compatible with such programs.

How to change the card format without a computer?

In this case, you need to use Android system tools. But such tools are not present in every version. We enter “Tinctures”, then “Memory”. We are trying to find the “Format SD” command. This command is sometimes called "Clear SD".

Let me remind you: - after formatting, the information from the disk is erased. If you forgot to copy it, you can try to restore it. Also, remember, to remove the flash drive, you need to use safe removal. This will increase the life of microSD and prevent possible failures. Although, some programmers claim that in new Windows systems there is no need to safely remove flash memory.

The memory card is broken

A memory card can break either mechanically or thermally (overheating of the flash drive). Because of this, it stops functioning normally on all devices, including the computer.

What to do in this case?

In this case, nothing can be done. The solution suggests itself - buying a new drive. Most likely, the information recorded on a damaged card cannot be saved. Therefore, you must remember to record important information on several media at once. Including on the cloud.

If your memory card still has a warranty period remaining, you can try to replace it with a similar one. Of course, you can’t do this without a sales receipt. Also, visually it should look decent.

MicroSD incompatibility with phone

Perhaps you purchased a new generation flash drive, but your phone is an old model. It is also possible that the card's capacity is greater than what is allowed for your smartphone. For example, the capacity of many Samsung devices is no more than 64 GB, but you may have a 128 GB card. This is a common problem; in this case, you can only replace the microSD with a similar one with a smaller capacity. It is recommended that you read the instructions for your smartphone before purchasing a flash drive.

The laptop also does not notice the flash drive

For example, you connected your smartphone to a computer via a cord, a choice of connection paths appeared on the smartphone display, and installed “Mass Storage”. But the computer does not notice the new disk. What to do? You need to disconnect the cord, reconnect it, but now select the “Media Device” (MTP) setting. The computer should see the map.

No contact

It may happen that someone accidentally inserted a flash drive into the slot with the wrong side, and at the same time, did it persistently. The connector may be damaged. The contacts could have come loose. In addition, the tracks on the map may oxidize and be erased.

In this case, you need to carefully examine the card, its tracks, slot contacts, and insert the flash drive correctly. If the flash drive does not play due to contacts, then you need to contact the service center with the experts.

The smartphone does not see microSD due to a software glitch

Some Android programs do not notice the flash drive, but other applications detect the card without difficulty and can write to and play information from this disk.

What can be wrong? It is possible that the program is configured incorrectly. More precisely, it indicated the wrong location for storing information. In this case, you can go to “Settings” and change the data. Such measures often help remove the problem from the Gallery and Camera. I hope these tips together will help you fix this problem! Good luck!

Recently, more and more often, users are having problems with the operation of SD cards on various devices. The card is inserted into the appropriate port, but the computer is not able to see it, and it is also not shown in the settings. We are talking about an extremely common and quite serious problem, which, as practice shows, is almost always easily solved. In this case, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the causes of the malfunction and how to solve them.

Most users often do not distinguish between types of memory cards. It is worth knowing that they come in the following varieties:

Important nuances in using a memory card

Before purchasing and starting to use these cards, you should familiarize yourself with the important nuances of their use.

In addition to memory capacity, they indicate speed. You need to know which speed class of card is suitable for a particular device;
Using special adapters, microSD can turn into regular SD cards. True, it is not recommended to do this often, since the speed of information exchange drops;
Older generation laptops have built-in card readers that are unable to interface with newer models such as SDHC, but there is a simple solution to this problem - buy a card reader that connects to standard USB ports - it looks more like a standard flash drive and is quite cheap.

Why doesn't the computer see the memory card?

Since the drives described above have an extremely fragile structure, they often become unusable due to defects or improper completion of the work.

Reference! Sometimes it happens that after a short time of using a card, it simply cannot be read or is not detected by devices, so it is not recommended to count on long-term operation of such drives.

There are a number of common reasons why a laptop or PC cannot display an SD card. We are talking about:

If the media is no longer detected by a phone, camera or other device, it must be disinfected and installed in the PC in order to diagnose, identify and eliminate the problem.

What actions should I take if the device refuses to recognize the memory card?

Eliminating the problem requires searching for the cause, which, in turn, can be very different. You should read the step-by-step instructions that will tell you what actions to take when your computer is unable to detect an SD or microSD card.

How to properly check for a faulty memory card and card reader

First, identification of media problems is required. To do this, you will need to connect it to any other working device. Also, if you have a second card of an identical model, you can determine whether it can be recognized by a computer. If everything is fine, then there are no problems with the card reader and most likely the reason lies in the card. They often become faulty after they are improperly removed during working hours or wear out on their own.

In such a situation, the only solution is to try to restore the functionality of the product. A specialized utility called HDD Low Level Format Tool helps with this very well. To use it correctly you will need:

Step 1. Download and install the software on your computer from an official source.

Step 2. After launch, select the memory card and proceed to the next step.

Step 3. A new menu will appear, in it you need to click on “LOW-LEVEL FORMAT”.

Step 4. A warning menu will appear indicating that all information will be formatted. We agree to click on the format button.

No less popular and effective is the SDFormatter utility, which is also capable of coping with the formatting task. To use it you will need:

Step 1. Install and run the SDFormatter software.

Step 2. During startup, the utility will automatically detect connected flash cards displayed in the main window. Click on "Option" to set formatting options.

Step 3. In this case, “Qick” implies formatting in quick mode, “Full” will erase all data, and “Full (Overwrite)” will additionally overwrite.

Step 4. After returning to the main menu, you need to click “Format”, after which the utility will format the memory card. The file settings will be automatically set to FAT32.

Reference! Sometimes the card reader itself refuses to display the memory card. The way out of this situation is to contact a specialized company, whose specialists will carry out the repairs. Do you need to use your card urgently? There is a temporary solution: we are talking about a portable card reader that can be connected to a laptop via a USB port.

How to check for failures in Windows OS

In more rare cases, the PC refuses to detect and recognize the memory card due to operating system malfunctions; for example, Windows OS may incorrectly assign the letter of the attached media. To resolve this conflict, follow these steps:

Step 1. Open Control Panel through the Start menu.

Step 2. Select the “System and Security” section.

Step 3. Then go to “Administration”.

Step 5. By clicking on the last item, the “Disk Management” tab will appear on the left.

Step 6. You need to select the desired card in the list of installed disks and right-click to open a new menu. Next, click “Change drive letter...”.

Step 7 A letter is selected that has not yet been used in the system, after which the settings are saved.

Video - Why doesn’t the computer read Micro SD and how to fix it?

Driver Update

If after some kind of reboot of the adapter nothing happened, there is another way to fix the problem - update or reinstall the card reader drivers. In this case, you need to visit the manufacturer’s resource and see if a new version of the driver has appeared. If it really exists, you can download and install it. Before doing this, it is better to remove outdated drivers in .

Specifics of virus checking

Even the most modern device is recommended to be supplemented with anti-virus protection. To fix the problem, you will need to scan your memory card and clean out malicious files.

Step 1. You need to go to “This PC” through the desktop shortcut or through the “Start” menu.

Step 2. Right-click on the memory card icon to open a new menu, then select the “Scan…” option.

Right-click on the memory card icon and select the “Scan…” option.

On a note! In the menu, the item will correspond to the installed antivirus program on your device.

Step 2. In the Control Panel, set the View mode to Large Icons. Select "Folder Options".

Step 3. Open the “View” section.

Thus, there are a sufficient number of reasons why a PC may not see an SD card. To accurately solve the problem and use the media again, it is recommended to follow all the steps described above.

Video - The card reader does not see the SD card, what should I do?

Do you want to use your MicroSD card as a real storage expansion and install apps on it? To do this, you need to format it as internal memory. This is quite easy to do on most phones, but unfortunately some manufacturers, such as Sony, LG or Samsung, do not have this feature by default. But if your smartphone is equipped with Android Marshmallow or newer, then you can use the command line. However, after this, avoid Android updates. We will tell you how to combine memory correctly in this article.

Go to:

Easy way

If you're lucky, your smartphone will allow you to do this without connecting it to your PC. This method will most likely be your only hope if you are using a newer version of Android (7.0 Nougat or 8.0 Oreo). Here's how to check:

Insert the SD card into your Android phone and wait for it to be recognized
Open Settings > Storage
Tap your SD card's name.
Tap the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the screen.
Click "Settings" .
Select Format as internal memory.
Click "Clean and Format"
Android will then prompt you to transfer your data

If your smartphone doesn't allow you to do this, the process becomes more difficult. We'll get to it below.

What to do if your phone doesn't allow you to format microSD as internal storage

Some smartphone manufacturers disable the normal Android feature for formatting microSD as internal storage, hiding the ability to do so from your phone. But you can still activate this process using a PC without requiring any root privileges.

The exact steps vary depending on the Android version of your phone. This method worked well on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Android 8.0 Oreo, but we encountered difficulties on Android Nougat.

For phones using Android 6.0 Marshmallow

When the MicroSD card is formatted as internal memory, applications can be stored entirely on it. This means that if you download an application with a total size of 2 GB, then there should be 2 GB of space on the SD card. If, however, the MicroSD card is formatted only as a backup, there will not be enough memory, as it writes PLATYPUS_DIARRHEA on Reddit.

Just because a menu option is invisible doesn't mean it doesn't work. A few days after the publication on Reddit, it became known that the command line can also format a MicroSD card as internal memory in the Galaxy S7. We successfully tested the instructions with a Samsung Galaxy S7, Sony Xperia Z5 and LG G4 running Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

All three smartphones run Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box or after an update and have a MicroSD card slot. Additionally, there is no menu option to format the MicroSD card as internal memory. The feature is only available on HTC One A9 and Motorola on all Moto smartphones.

Why did Samsung, LG and Sony hide this item? I connected each of the three smartphones to the computer, and each of them had one MicroSD card.

Then I entered in the commands described in my blog. Once you open a command prompt window and connect your smartphone, you can enter the first command:

adb shell

Now the command prompt is ready to run system commands on your smartphone. In this case, we want to format the SD card or part of it as internal memory. Even if Sony, Samsung and LG deny us this option in the GUI, we can still execute this command through the console. First, however, we need the SD card ID. You can find it out with the following command:

sm list-disks

In my case the disk is called 179.64 . Perhaps yours is different. Please note the exact ID. In the next command we will format and partition the MicroSD card. Your content will be deleted. If there are important files on the card, copy them to another drive or computer. If you want to keep a MicroSD card in your smartphone all the time, you can now partition all your memory. To do this, enter:

sm partition disk:179.64 private

The operation takes a few seconds or minutes, depending on the capacity of the memory card. If you only want to use a certain percentage so that other devices can read it, you must exclude it from the private section. The 50:50 split command looks like this:

sm partition disk:179.64 mixed 50

This is the end of Paul O'Brien's leadership, but not the end of the job. If you now want to use the re-allocated memory, you must migrate your applications and data as well. This can be done through the "Storage" section in the Android settings menu. Select your MicroSD card, then go to the top right side of the menu and click "Move Data". You cannot select this menu item before splitting.

Now all downloaded applications will be completely written to the MicroSD card. Only system applications and updates use internal memory. This means you will never receive an error message due to out of space.

Smartphones with Android Oreo

Recent Android updates have changed the rules a bit, but you can still use this method with ADB. Just start working with ADB using the method above, but after entering shell adb you will be prompted to set certain values.

Enter the following lines to unlock the ability to format microSD cards as internal storage on your phone:

G8141:/ $ sm set-force-adoptable true
G8141:/ $ sm list-disks
- disk:179.0
G8141:/ $ sm partition disk:179.0 private
G8141:/ $ sm set-force-adoptable false
G8141:/ $ exit

We tested this method on a Sony Xperia XZ Premium running Android 8.0 Oreo and it worked. In the screenshots below you can see a 16GB microSD card installed as internal memory:

Problems with system updates and Nougat

Some readers have reported difficulties installing system updates on Android 6.0 after using the above methods. Updating to Android 7.0 Nougat is not possible after installing MicroSD as internal storage. Our test devices running Android 7.0 Nougat don't even respond to the console commands shown above.

Due to the lack of documentation online, we can only recommend performing a number of operations before updating the system. Back up your photos or music to your computer or the cloud and free up as much memory on your SD card and smartphone as you can.

Remove unnecessary applications and return data to internal memory. Then format the MicroSD card as removable storage. Only then will you be able to install the Android update safely.

What's the catch?

MicroSD cards are not as fast as the built-in memory of a smartphone. So don't waste your money on cheaper ones and instead buy yourself memory cards with reasonable read throughput. Extreme Pro and MicroSD from Sandisk turned out to be, in our opinion, the best in terms of price/quality ratio. With 74MB/s write throughput, you shouldn't experience any lag. Such cards are best suited for installation as internal memory

Interestingly, only the LG G4 was able to read the extended memory correctly. Samsung showed an unnaturally large amount of occupied memory, and Sony's memory was even negative. However, we didn't have any complications, and even when we were connected to the computer, we were able to access all of our data properly, although we could only see a general part of the memory and not a specific part. Difficulties arose only when the system was updated (see above).

Memory expansion: complete success

We subjected all the smartphones described above to the same endurance test. We have installed Final Fantasy IX on all devices. The game size is 1.8 GB. After installation, it is easy to see which of the two types of memory, internal or SD card, was used. In all cases, there is 1.8 GB less space once installed on the SD card. This degree of success cannot be achieved with SD cards formatted as external memory, as complete data migration is not possible.

Compare the internal memory and SD card memory values in the screenshot to confirm.

What happens if you remove the microSD card?

Of course, the question is what happens if the MicroSD card disappears from the system. In fact, this creates a serious problem for your applications. Eventually, they can no longer access their data. Since your operating system partitions and factory reset information are still stored in the internal memory, a removed or broken SD card cannot cause much harm. When we removed the MicroSD card, the application icons simply disappeared, and when we reinstalled them they came back.

If you lose your SD card or break it, your data will be lost. Since they are encrypted as internal memory, you may have no hope of recovering the data. Instead, use regular backups. So go ahead and enjoy cheap memory expansion for your Marshmallow smartphone.

Safely Removing Internal Broken SD Card

To safely remove the SD card from your smartphone, you must reverse the process above. Since your internal storage space is likely insufficient, you'll first need to transfer photos and other data to another storage location, such as your PC's hard drive.

Then go back to settings "Storage and USB Drives" and press "Move data to internal memory" on the menu. Then format the SD card like external memory. Do both steps (backup and format) so that your data cannot be lost and you can use the SD card with other devices.

The available memory size of modern Android smartphones allows you to store a huge amount of data.

But when the initial volume for everyday needs is not enough, microSD cards come to the rescue. Unfortunately, embedded equipment does not always work as expected for various reasons. Let's try to figure out why the memory card refuses to work on the phone and how it can be fixed.

Problem with contact

If the removable drive recently worked properly, first of all you need to check that it is connected correctly to the smartphone. Even a slight misalignment of the SD card can lead to a data reading error. In addition, during operation, the contacts of a mobile device may become clogged, which becomes a common cause of failures and errors.

To solve this problem, you need to remove the memory card from the device and carefully clean the slot paths, removing any dust particles that have gotten inside. When reconnecting the microSD to the phone, you need to make sure that the memory card is inserted the correct way and is securely fastened.

Device incompatibility

Before purchasing a new memory card, you need to check its compatibility with your mobile phone. Modern smartphones use the microSD media type. This format, in turn, has four generations (SD 1.0, SD 1.1, SDHC and SDXC), the main difference between which is the amount of available memory and data reading speed. For example, SD 1.0 can hold from 8 MB to 2 GB, while SDXC can hold up to 2 TB.

As for support from mobile devices, it is backward compatible. Smartphones that work with a certain microSD format will also function with older versions.

Smartphone malfunction

In some cases, errors in displaying SD card data may be caused by the Android system. Incorrect operation of applications and the action of virus files can block reading information from external media. This may cause the memory card to appear to be faulty.

The simplest and most obvious way out of this situation is to remove the malware and then reboot the device. To do this, you need to download a good antivirus program. If the SD card is in working condition, but the smartphone refuses to recognize it, you can try doing a factory reset. You need to understand that all data from the phone will be deleted.

Incorrect formatting

Software glitches that occur during the microSD cleaning procedure may cause it to not work. In this case, you will need to re-format via a computer.

First, you need to insert the removable storage medium into the card reader and wait until the system recognizes it automatically. After that, you need to right-click on the microSD in Explorer and select “Format”. In the “File system” section, you must specify “FAT32”, since Android does not support other formats.

Memory card failure

When none of the above methods help, the cause may be an internal problem with the memory card. This happens when, after prolonged use, the contacts wear out and the signal does not reach the board. Sometimes a breakdown occurs due to mechanical damage to the SD card or a manufacturing defect.

You can check the performance of the media using another smartphone or computer. If none of the devices sees it, you just need to buy a new memory card. If the data stored on it is important, you can contact the service center for help. There is a chance that the data can be recovered.

We talked about the main types of SD card faults and how to fix them. Most problems can be solved on your own, but if the equipment fails, you will have to replace it.

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