Micro SD card is not recognized: How to solve the problem

Sometimes a micro SD card may not be recognized by your cell phone from one day to the next. In this practical tip, we will show you a few tricks to get the micro SD card working again.

Micro SD card is not recognized: Check compatibility

Not every micro SD card is supported by every cell phone.

• Usually only cards up to a certain size work.
• Newer models support cards up to 128 gigabytes. Older models, however, only up to 16 or 32 gigabytes.
• You can find out which size is supported from the manufacturer or from the manual for the mobile phone.

Micro SD card: dirty contacts

Dirty contacts on the micro SD card or the card slot may also have occurred. This also means that the card is no longer recognized.

• Check the contacts for dirt.
• Clean them with a cotton swab and some alcohol.
• Caution: Never use water or other liquids for cleaning.

Connection of the micro SD card to the cell phone

Make sure that the micro SD card is correctly connected to the card slot or the mobile phone.

• Push the card back in properly to check that it is properly seated.
• But: Do not press too hard to avoid damaging the contacts.
• Check that you have inserted the card the right way round.
• You will often find a small symbol on the slot. This shows you how to use the card correctly.

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With Photorec, the search time can be minimized by reducing the number of formats to be searched.

Testdisk optionally creates a log file during the backup.

Select SD card or hard drive.

Testdisk finds out the partition table type.

Start the search for deleted partitions with QuickSearch.

Testdisk goes through each cylinder while searching for partitions.

The search was successful: Testdisk lists deleted partitions.

PCs have better compatibility with external storage media than is the case with cell phones. They are therefore well suited for reading and writing to the micro SD card.

• First connect the micro SD card to the PC. Several laptops and computers already have an integrated SD card reader. For others, the user is dependent on an external device that can be connected to the PC via USB.
• Then open the file explorer under Windows to access the data with a mouse click.
• Because of obsolescence, it is not uncommon for card readers to break. If the card reader of the PC does not recognize the card, you can use a new card reader to check whether the data can be displayed.
• On the other hand, it can happen that a partition on the micro SD card was deleted due to carelessness. The free Testdisk tool, which is operated via the command line, is suitable for this.
• Deleted files can also be recovered using Photorec. It recognizes over 180 file extensions.

What to do if the SD card is new or can no longer be saved?

You have to format completely new micro SD cards first. Even if a card is no longer recognized, this is often the last resort. However, all data will be deleted. Here's how to do it:

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• Connect the micro SD card to the PC. For this you need an SD adapter or a USB card reader. The card appears as a drive in Explorer.
• To erase all data now, download the Eraser. This means that deleting works better than with simple formatting.
• Install the program.
• Create a new task in the "Erase Schedule". This works via the right click menu.
• Click on "Add Data".
• Change the "Target Type" to "Disk / Partition". Click on your micro SD card in the dropdown menu.
• The task then appears in the schedule. Right click on it and then click "Run Now". How to start the task.
• The data is then deleted reliably and securely.