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I’m having an issue with my SD card. When I try to access it, I get an error message saying “SD card is damaged” or “Unable to read SD card.” I’ve tried using it on different devices, but the issue persists. Has anyone experienced this before? What troubleshooting steps should I try first to fix this? Also, is there any way to recover the files on the card, or am I out of luck?
Also, if your video was on internal storage and not an SD card, recovery is trickier but not impossible. Best case, a recovery tool that can do a deep scan of the device memory is what you need.
I’ve had luck with a program that lets you preview recoverable videos before restoring. That way you know if the file is actually there without wasting money. Can’t remember the exact name off the top of my head, but look for something Android focused and supports offline recovery.
Thanks, Jace! I basically haven’t done anything since then, so hopefully that helps. Do you have any software recommendations that actually work?
If the phone hasn’t been used much, there’s still a chance the data is recoverable. Make sure not to power it on too much as it will result in overwriting.
I really hope someone here can guide me. About 7 months ago, I accidentally deleted a video from my Android phone. I haven’t used the phone much since then..basically turned it off and left it untouched. I tried a bunch of recovery programs, free and paid, but none seemed to actually restore it.
This video is really important to me, and I’m getting a bit desperate. Does anyone know a reliable way to recover a video that old? I’d really appreciate any tips or advice.
Makes sense. I’ll test a few of the worst files and see. will update once I try the trial — really appreciate all the advice here. Feeling a little less doomed already.
Yep, that’s the way to do it. preview mode = biggest sanity saver. if the thumbnails come up in the trial, you know the repair is worth trying. if nothing shows, don’t waste money. I always test the 2–3 worst files first, then borderline ones.
Ahhh got it — they’re all .jpg, nothing weird. i guess the bad eject just messed with the file structure. I’ll try a trial first on the cloned image, see what previews show before spending anything. thanks for the tip about thumbnails — that could save a lot of headache.
I’d also check the file extensions — sometimes cameras write temp files or slightly different extensions. I once recovered 10 files by renaming .jpg to .jpeg after previewing them in a repair trial. weird but it worked.
For Windows, something like Win32DiskImager works. it’ll make a full image of the SD card. then you can run recovery on the copy. just make sure the destination drive has enough space — the image will be the full card size.
Thanks all. I’ll clone the card later today. didn’t know previews could show thumbnails — that sounds super useful. anyone know a reliable free tool for making an exact image of a card on Windows? i’m not great with command line.
Also, keep in mind some cards just start failing over time. 16GB Sandisk isn’t huge, but if it’s a few years old and had a bad eject, those grey bands could be unrecoverable. Always work on a clone first. Even a free trial that lets you preview recoverable images can tell you fast if anything is salvageable.
I had the exact grey band issue once after a bad copy. Cloned the card and ran a recovery tool that had a preview mode — the preview showed thumbnails for some images even though the full file wouldn’t open. That made it obvious which files were salvageable. Saved me from buying a full license for a tool that wouldn’t have worked. Worth trying a trial before paying.
Ah, it was on internal memory. So deep scan is probably the way to go. Any free options to test before paying?