Other data recovery scenarios are covered in our Data Recovery Guide.
Important note: this article describes how to recover files from a memory card connected to an Android phone as external storage. If it is formatted and connected as internal storage (Android Marshmallow and newer systems), the data on it is encrypted and cannot be accessed outside the phone. Most cards are connected as external storage.
One of the advantages of the Android platform over its competitors is its ability to use memory cards to expand data storage space. These cards can be used to store music, photos, videos, and user data for many programs. They can also be used to exchange data between your phone and other computer systems.
As usual, such a good feature also has some drawbacks. One of them is that data can be lost when the card is handled incorrectly. This most often happens when the card is removed from the phone without properly unmounting it. In this case, the file system can be damaged so severely that neither the phone nor the computer can recognize the card, and the files on it become inaccessible.
However, the good news is that files on such a damaged card remain intact in most cases and can be recovered. We will show you how to do this using the R-Undelete file recovery program.
Another important note: cards in phones are formatted as FAT/exFAT devices, and R-Undelete recovers files from them for free without registration, i.e., you don’t need to purchase the program.
Usually, Android phones store not only the user’s music, videos, photos, files, etc. on memory cards, but also some service data and files from various programs. Therefore, we will try to recover the entire folder structure and all files, including service data, and not just regular user files.
So, we have an SD card that was removed incorrectly, and its file system is so damaged that neither the phone nor the computer can recognize it. The card contained the user’s photos, videos, music, and other audio files, as well as some service programs for the phone and some other programs. Let’s start recovering the files using our file recovery program, R-Undelete.
- Download and install R-Undelete. For details, please refer to the Download Instructions and Info webpage.
- Connect the memory card to your computer. Almost all laptops have a special slot for SD memory cards, but a regular computer may require a special USB card reader.
- Launch R-Undelete and locate the memory card in the Disks panel.
- Hover the cursor over Unrecognized Space and click Scan.
- Wait for the scan to complete.
- Move the cursor over the found disk and click Show Files. R-Undelete will display the files found on the disk.
- Find the files you want to recover. To do this, you can use the program’s powerful file search and sorting capabilities.
- Once you have found all the files you want to recover, mark them for recovery.
- Once all files are marked, click the Recovery button. R-Undelete will start recovering the files, showing the progress of the process.
- After the recovery is complete, R-Undelete will display a brief report and open the folder with the recovered files.
As shown in the article, we have recovered the entire file system on the damaged memory card. Now we can reformat the card to create a new file system and copy the files back to it. The card can now be inserted back into the phone and will work as if it had never been damaged.
Conclusion:
The results of our file recovery show that it is often possible to recover the entire file system of an Android phone memory card that has been damaged as a result of improper removal.