Micro SD Card Is Not Formatted
Micro SD card, formerly known as Trans-flash Card (TF card), is invented by SanDisk Inc. and primarily used for portable data storage devices like mobile phones. While enjoying the convenience of the micro SD card, you also need to bear the consequences of its damage. For instance, there’s a hot topic – micro SD card not formatted, which indicates that the memory card is recognized by the computer as not formatted.
What Causes Memory Card Not Formatted Error
Your SD card or other types of memory card will show the not formatting error due to mainly 4 reasons. One: the card is write-protected. Two: you have removed the memory card improperly the last time you use it. Three: the card is damaged or formatted frequently. Four: the card is attacked by virus or malware.
The problem is: most of the micro SD cards running into SD card not formatting error are actually formatted and worked well before. The error occurs suddenly and people need a practical method for recovering files from micro SD card not formatting urgently. Can’t find the right way to perform micro SD card data recovery? Many people are stuck in the awkward situation and need others to pull them out.
After noticing this, I begin to search for useful ways to work things out. And now, I have found one – turning to professional data recovery software like MiniTool Power Data Recovery. This is really a piece of easy but effective SD card recovery software for Windows 10 and other systems.
After the presentation of the data recovery method, I’ll show you how to deal with the memory card format error – Windows was unable to complete the format. Please read the solutions to memory card not formatted problem carefully for it will come in handy sooner or later.
Rescue Data from Micro SD Card Not Formatted
MiniTool Power Data Recovery has the following sparkling points, so I advise you to choose it for recovering data from memory card not formatted error.
- It is totally clean; does not include any virus or spyware.
- It adopts wizard-style interfaces, so you can get back files easily under guidance.
- It has excellent compatibility, supporting various file systems, OS, file types and storage devices.
If you doubt about its performance or anything else, you may as well use the trial edition to have a try first to see whether it can help you find the data you want to recover from the damaged SD card.
This post tells exactly how to get back deleted files from an SD card:
My SD Card Is Asking Me to Format
HELP! I put card back in camera to hook up the entire camera to computer and the camera said “card not formatted – format card?” I DID NOT format the card. The pictures are or were there. I was able to view the pictures with my camera just a few days ago. I don’t know what happened. I hooked it to my pc via a card reader and it says E:\ is not accessible. I am a photographer. I’ve never had this problem. I absolutely cannot loose these pictures. I am desperate and need the pics today. Please help!– posted by Awanderer on Tom’s Guide Forum
When you connect your micro SD card to computer & the system asks you to format it or when you see the prompt message on the screen of devices using micro SD card, you shouldn’t format the SD card as suggested until you have recovered all useful data from it.
- If you have agreed to format the SD card by mistake, please read Do You Want To Recover Formatted SD Card – Here’s The Thing.
- If you would like to know how to recover files from a memory card that is corrupted, please read Recover Data From Corrupted Memory Card Now With An Amazing Tool with care.
Now, let’s keep reading to find out how to recover data from the not formatted micro SD card.
SD Card Not Formatted Error Appears, How to Recover Data
As I have mentioned, you’re not advised to format the micro SD card when seeing the error message; otherwise, the secondary damage may be brought.
So, what you should do at this time? Please reject the request; then, get the setup program of MiniTool Power Data Recovery to local drive or an external drive and double click on the icon to start the installation process.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
At the end of the installation, you can launch the software to get into its main interface directly.
Please connect your micro SD card properly to the computer now and make sure it is not removed during the recovery.
Now, follow these steps to accomplish the file recovery on SD card.
Step 1: after taking a look at the four options displayed in the left-hand panel of the main interface, you should select the one that is proper for SD card corrupted/SD card not formatting case (This PC or Removable Disk Drive should be selected). Please select the option by clicking on it.
Step 2: find the volume that stands for your micro SD card by taking a look at the drive letter, file system, capacity, and other possible information.
If you still can’t confirm which the card is exactly, you can open Windows Disk Management to figure out.
Now, please select the SD card from the right-hand panel and click on the Scan button in the lower right corner to start detecting files in it.
Please note that you may click on the Settings button to change the settings of the scan, making it only works for specified file systems (like FAT32 and NTFS) and file types (like Word documents and JPEG camera files).
Step 3: after you clicking on the Scan button, the following interface will leap into your eyes. From this window, you can see that there are more and more files found in the specified SD card. At this time, you should open the listed searched partitions one by one to see whether you can find all the files you need.
Please add a check mark to the square box in front of files and folders listed in the partition and then click on the Save button in the lower right corner to set a safe storage path for them.
Please note:
- The software allows you to preview some files, such as pictures, photos, images, and txt files. You can click on the Preview button to have a look at first in order to confirm whether it is really needed or not.
- You shouldn’t save the files back to the original SD card for security reasons; in contrast, you should select a local drive or external drive (connected to the computer at this time) with enough free space.
- The trial edition only allows you to scan SD card and preview files; it can’t recover any files.
Top Recommendation
What if your SD card becomes dead? Is it ready dead? Please read this to know how to deal with such situation properly:
Fix the Error – Format Not Accessible Micro SD Card
If SD card not formatting error appears on Android or other devices, you may as well recover data from damaged SD card firstly as shown above and then reformat the card on the Android device/computer for further use. In this case, you may choose to format your micro SD card.
How to Format Your SD Card
Method 1: format it on Android device.
- Put back the micro SD card to your Android device.
- Find Settings icon.
- Find Storage under the Settings list.
- Find your SD card in Storage.
- Find the Format SD card/Erase SD card button and then click on it.
Method 2: format it on computer (Windows platform).
- Click on the Start button.
- Find Computer and then right click on it.
- Choose Manage.
- Select Disk Management under Storage.
- Find your SD card on the right panel.
- Right click on it and choose Format… option.
- Set a proper Volume label, File system and, Allocation unit size.
- Click on the OK button in the pop-up window to perform a quick format. (You can also right click on the micro SD card in Windows Explorer in order to format it directly.)
FYI: sometimes, you may also need to format an SD card in command prompt or format SD card on Mac.
Method 3: format it in DiskPart.
- Press Windows + R key at the same time to open Run window.
- Type cmd into the text box.
- Click on the OK button in this window or hit Enter on the keyboard.
- Type diskpart and press Enter.
- Type list disk and press Enter.
- Type select disk * (* represents the order position of your memory card in the disk list) and press Enter.
- Type clean (this will ruin all the data saved on the memory card) and press Enter.
- Type create partition primary and press Enter.
- Type select partition 1 and press Enter.
- Type format fs=* (* should be the file system that you want your card to be formatted with) and press Enter.
- Wait for the completion of formatting operation.
Click to know how to recover data lost by DiskPart clean.
Method 4: format it with third-party tool.
- Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard on your computer local drive.
- Run the software to enter its main window.
- Select your SD card from the right panel.
- Select Format Partition under Partition Management in the left panel.
- Set Partition Label, File System & Cluster Size or just keep the default value.
- Click on the OK button to confirm.
- Press Apply in the upper left corner.
- Click on the Yes button in the pop-up window to allow changes.
Well, what if those methods didn’t work? You’re still unable to format micro SD card (Windows was unable to complete the format). At this time, you may wipe the SD card completely or buy a new one to use.
How to Format a Memory Card Which Said Cannot Be Formatted
Even if you agree to format the micro SD card when you see the micro SD card not formatting error, you may end up in failure by receiving a Windows was unable to complete the format error. Under this circumstance, you need to figure out why a memory card can’t be formatted successfully and then adopt corresponding methods to fix the problem.
Possible causes:
- The virus infects the memory card.
- The card has bad sectors. (You can use MiniTool Partition Wizard to do a surface test.)
- The memory card is write-protected.
- The card is not compatible with the portable device or the computer.
- Physical damage occurs on the memory card.
Solutions:
- Get a reliable & powerful anti-virus program; install it properly and then run it to scan your memory card.
- Use special tools to scan/shield bad sectors.
- Remove the write protection from memory card after connecting it to the computer.
- Update all the drivers on your computer; make sure that they are compatible with the card you want to format. Besides, you can go to BIOS during booting to check whether the settings are proper or not.
- For serious physical damage on the memory card, you have no choice but to ask professional companies for help.
How to remove write protection from USB drives and memory cards?
After you’ve done these jobs, please choose a method mentioned above to format your memory card again and you’ll succeed this time.
Reading here, all of you must have known well about how to fix an SD card that will not format, I bet.
Bottom Line
Micro SD card, as a popular kind of memory card, is used widely in our life and work. The extensive use of it triggers a series of problems, inevitably. Micro SD card not formatted is one of the most popular issues users have met. When seething such error, most ordinary users feel helpless.
But, what I really want to say is that there are actually useful ways to help you recover data from a damaged SD card and fix SD card not formatting error. You should firstly stay calm and seize the time to take actions. Hope you all can solve the problem successfully by using the methods mentioned in this article.