Fix unreadable SD cards and flash drives

We've all got unreadable sd cards and flash drives left over from creating install disks for our SBC operating systems. Usually the DOS app DISKPART lets you recover the file system, but sometimes even that ca;n't get them back.

In this video I'll show you a simple trick to take the card back to a recoverable state.

Make sure you check out my main website at

0:00 Introduction
1:58 Unreadable in Windows
4:18 Overwrite sd card file system
4:54 Recover SD card

[terrydaktyllus]

I don't use Windows these days (Linux only) but when I did, the "SD Memory Card Formatter" from the SD Association always seemed to get USB drives and SD cards back to a readable format - I won't post a link here but you will find it in an Internet search.

As someone said, dd, mkfs and a few other tools are very useful for this in Linux.

[robertlefeuvre]

Thank you for another great video. Your knowledge is greatly appreciated.

[galaxycraft]

Would you have anything on trying to fix scratches on a MicroSD card (apologies for the long comment by the way)? I have game data on a MicroSD for a flash cartridge for my Gameboy Advance that I stupidly used to test to see if an adapter that my friend was going to borrow would work okay. It turns out that it didn't work and I put the MicroSD back into the cartridge. A few days ago I decided I would play my Gameboy Advance, but when I booted the device up, the menu for the flash cartridge popped up saying "Failed to initialize MicroSD card". When I looked at the MicroSD, I noticed that there were scratches on the metal parts; larger than ones you get when just regularly using it. I want to keep the data as I've spent quite a while completing the games on it. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[kevindotexe]

Thank you! I had the same exact problem trying to reuse an SD card previously used on Linux and I was starting to lose hope. Thank you once again.

[YourFavoriteStickmen]

So when I insert the sd card, the computer says its unrecognizable. So I tried using diskpart to see if it at least detects it, and I found out that it doesn't. What could have happened to the card?

[zptid]

it says there is no disk available but it showed the 29gb microsd... what do I do there to repair it or is it just screwed?

[FayazKhan-bmdm]

Hello sir,
I also have a similar problem.
I got a 2 month old samsung sdxc 32 GB SD card. My laptop is not detecting it at all and I have got some crucial data in there... I will be enlightened to know if there's way to retrieve the data from inside it...

[JeremydePrisco]

This got me very close, but still having issues with a card. Pi OS app worked fine initially, but verify step failed.

[hungpham]

Followed ur step.. but my micro sd shown 0 B.. is this beyond save?

[flyingjoed]

Perfect sir! Thanks! This repaired my 1tb sd card where others couldn't!

[FranciscaRodriguez-odop]

my SD card shows 2 partitions, where do I go from there?

[WorkingModelsSchoolProjects]

hello frnd do you know how to fix master boot record or how to fix FAT or exFAT of any micro sd card ? i will be very thankful if you please answer me ASAP ?

[joelgrebinsilvestri]

desk E is not working for me, is not showing up. i cant even see my sd card, please can u help me

[shubhamjhanwar]

As I use raspberry, I am getting "Error writing file to disk"!!

By the way, in case of an sd card, what "Raspberry Pi Device" and what "Operating System" to select? I am not getting the option shown in video. I have downlaoded Raspberry v 1.8.5

Please help!

[Ozkar]

What could have done this to my card where it won't read recognize or show the disc letter ...it was working for about a year and never use or read it on an internet connected laptop or used any apps on it ..I always eject the card before taking it out only few times I turn off the laptop first and take the card out after maybe that was the case the sleeping laptop wasn't off and static messed the card?

[abhijithr]

Mine just showing there is no media in the device

[PsychoRaze]

for me instead of saying disk 2 128 gb it says no media as if it cant recognize anything on the drive i have important client videos on this and i neeed a fix please help someone if possible

[DuckRotation]

lol thank you for this. I literally just threw a linux distro on a usb drive the other day because someone was trying to retrieve files from a very messed up laptop, but by the time I finished flashing it they had magically gotten them off the laptop anyway. I thought for a second I'd be stuck with a USB linux distro I'll never use. Thanks

[toxotis]

i have the same problem... but your method didnt worked. My windows pc cant even see the sd card. There is no info in diskpart... sd card is working fine on my camera though!

[chipstephens]

How do I fix a Kingston ssd drive that is not detected at all by windows or my computer in General? Any advice and step by step Instructions will be greatly appreciated.