Hello,
I have a SanDisk Extreme SD card that I use in my camera. During a recent trip, the camera suddenly showed a card error message and asked me to format the card. I did not format it because the card has a lot of important photos and videos on it.
When I connect the SD card to my computer using a card reader, the card is detected, but Windows says it needs to be formatted before I can use it. I’m worried that formatting it will make recovery harder.
Has anyone experienced this with a SanDisk SD card before? Is there a recommended way to recover the files without formatting the card? Also, is it safer to make an image/clone of the card first before trying any recovery tools?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. These photos are very important to me.
I’ve seen this happen before, and the first thing I’d say is don’t format the card, even if Windows keeps asking you to. In many cases, it’s just the file system that’s corrupted, while the actual photos and videos are still there.
The fact that your computer still detects the SD card is a good sign. If the files are important, I’d make a backup image of the card first, if possible. That gives you something to work with without putting any more stress on the original card.
After that, I’d scan the card (or the image) with Stellar Photo Recovery software. I’ve used it to recover photos and videos from SD cards that were showing the same “needs to be formatted” message. If it finds your files, recover them to your computer or another drive, not back to the SD card. If the card starts disconnecting randomly or isn’t detected consistently, stop trying to access it and consider a professional recovery service.
