I have several microSD cards that have been corrupted. (probably by me)
They are not recognised as disks.
I don't care about losing the data. I would just like to recover them for continued use.
I have Windows7 and Windows10.
I guess that everything would be easy with Linux but I can't be bothered to install Linux just for this job.
David.
I have had the same problem and the only solution I have is to use my Mac Mini's Disk utilities. Works like a champ every time.
Jim
SD Association has a formatter :
https://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/fatfs-and-disk-removal#comment-2645466
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Using this can sometimes recover bricked SD cards.
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Hopefully the PC's SD controller will recognize the SD card's controller.
edit : quote
... but I can't be bothered to install Linux just for this job.
edit : https://www.osdisc.com/products/linux/usb/64bit/live/systemutilities
David,
Were you able to recover the SD cards? If so, what worked?
Alan
No. When I saw that a new message had been posted, I hoped that this was going to be a solution.
There must be lots of Windows Users with damaged SD cards.
I am sure that there is a simple procedure.
David.
Can you see it in Windows Disk Management?
Are they recognized by SD Formatter?
One of the options is to completely over-write before formatting. I presume this includes the FAT. If so, then it has to recreate all that from scratch. Question is: can it do that on a card that it does not recognize as a valid "disk" at the start.
Jim
Are you attempting to re-format using one of those USB universal memory card contraptions ? I've found they can be quite iffy when formatting cards, whereas the built-in SD Card slot on my Dell laptop works perfectly.
The question is, is he using Disk Management? If the thing is corrupted it probably won't show up in File Explorer. File Explorer only shows partitions that have drive letters.
... whereas the built-in SD Card slot on my Dell laptop works perfectly.
Card Reader Controllers - REALTEK
edit : an alternate way is via the SoC's SD controller (Raspberry Pi)
(page 65)
5 External Mass Media Controller
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edit2 : A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-UM.pdf (page 26, 6.2 MicroSD card connector) via A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 - Open Source Hardware Board
I had some USB memory sticks that were showing similar signs of death. It was actually some utility from hp.com that resurrected them. Long time ago though, cant remember other details.
Are all you guys using alien software telling me that Disk Management wouldn't fix the problem, or maybe you think it's too easy?
I don't use windows but when I googled I came up with "DISKPART" command.
Are all you guys using alien software telling me that Disk Management wouldn't fix the problem, or maybe you think it's too easy?
Bill Greiman has written an example sketch that he provides with his Arduino SdFat.h library.
This displays the configuration details of the Card controller
As well as the Filesystem that might be installed on Partitions in the Master Boot Record.
This gives clues as to why the O.S. does not recognise the SD card as an "external device"
Having wasted a bit of time attempting to write my own "Sdinfo" utility I feel at little foolish. The sketch was already on my PC !!
I have one microSD that will not even talk to the disk controller. I regard this as beyond repair.
Other SDs have some "unlikely" configurations. These might be recoverable.
I have not attempted anything yet. I will leave that to another day.
There is also a SdFormatter sketch.
David.
Been following this thread, I also have a few sd cards that have died over the years that I would like to repair.
yeah we're talking about memory devices that have got into such a confused state that a normal format won't fix them.
For $8-$15 can get a brand new cards, so I'd hesitate to store anything really important on a card that was magically fixed. It might magically quit working again! I suppose always have a backup (or multiple backups) is true , regardless of the storage type.
I'd hate to loose all of my banana bread recipes.
If i have a windows machine near by (i often don't) , i use this one : https://www.sdcard.org/downloads...
On linux it usually helps to dd the first 32..100 MB w zeroes, and reinitialize it with gparted.
That would "blow away" anything on the SD card related to "layout"
On linux do a : sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
Stop the dd after a few minutes
But remember to make sure the device you want to "Blow" is /dev/sdb , or change the parameter.
dd WILL zero any thing you point it at , including your boot/root/data disks , and it doesn't ask for confirmation.
/Bingo
I noticed this post just when one of my USB flashdrives stopped working. So I tried the procedure as posted by Bingo. It worked ! BUT: I wasn't able te create a new "msdos" partition table. So I tried "gpt" and that worked. Linux handles this type of partition fine, Windows does not. So this will not a suitable option for David. But it's worth a try to see if you (David) can create a msdos partition table.
Thanks Carsten, for another great tip !
Nard
They are called Rosa, Sylvia and Tessa, You can find them https://www.linuxmint.com/
Dragon broken ? http://aplomb.nl/TechStuff/Dragon/Dragon.html for how-to-fix tips
NARD!!!
You're alive! What have you been up to these days?
Now if only Johan would call home.....
JIm
O yes, I am very much alive. Or at least that is what I think I am (reference to The Hitchhikers Guide of the Galaxy)
Thanks 
They are called Rosa, Sylvia and Tessa, You can find them https://www.linuxmint.com/
Dragon broken ? http://aplomb.nl/TechStuff/Dragon/Dragon.html for how-to-fix tips
Hi David, Don't worry we a solution for you. I suggest you can use data recovery & repair software for windows there are several data recovery program in the market like Stellar Photo Recovery software, Ease Wizard, Minitool data recovery, Recuva..etc. I hope these tools will able to resolve your problem. Thanks!
Spam-vertising maybe?
Jim
