SanDisk is a well-known brand that produces a variety of storage products, including memory cards, USB flash drives, memory sticks, and other portable storage solutions. SanDisk SD cards are widely used by both professional and everyday users to expand the storage capacity of digital cameras, smartphones, tablets, and other devices.
However, unlike some other storage devices, SanDisk memory cards can be prone to data loss due to issues such as low storage space, card errors, accidental deletion, or formatting. Fortunately, if you experience any data loss situation, you don’t need to panic. As long as the files have not been overwritten and the memory card is not physically damaged, there is a good chance you can recover them using SanDisk SD card recovery methods.
Read on to learn possible causes for SanDisk data loss and how to recover deleted photos from a SanDisk SD card.
Possible causes of SanDisk data loss issues
There are a number of reasons that can lead to data loss on the SanDisk memory cards. Some of the most common data loss scenarios on SanDisk are:
- Accidental Deletion: You might delete files by mistake or while cleaning up disk space. Since SD cards are removable storage devices, deleted files do not go to the Recycle Bin and cannot be restored from there directly.
- Formatting of SanDisk SD Card: Unintentional formatting can result in data loss. For example, you might select the wrong drive letter and format the wrong drive. Also, if you format the card intentionally but forget to back up the stored data, you will lose it.
- Improper Operations: Removing the SD card without turning off the digital camera, or ejecting the card from a computer without using the “Safely Remove Hardware” option, can lead to data loss.
- File System Corruption: The file system on the SanDisk card can become corrupt or turn RAW due to power loss during data transfer, virus infections, formatting errors, or frequent use across different devices. You may see error messages like “You need to format the disk in the drive before you can use it” or “The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.” In such cases, the card becomes inaccessible and data is lost.
- Virus Attack: Viruses or malware can infect the SD card and corrupt or delete stored data.
- Bad Sectors: If the SanDisk memory card develops bad sectors, any data stored in those sectors can become unreadable or lost.
- Other Reasons: Additional causes of data loss include unexpected power outages, physical damage to the card, system crashes, or the SD card not being recognized by a device.
Can I recover lost photos from SanDisk memory cards?
You may wonder if it is possible to recover photos lost or deleted from SanDisk memory cards. The answer is yes, you can perform SanDisk card recovery as long as lost photo files have not been overwritten.
When files are lost due to formatting or deletion, they are not immediately removed from the card. Instead, they are marked as deleted and the disk space they occupy is marked as available for new data. In most cases, deleted files still stay on the SD card even though they cannot be seen or accessed by the operating system.
Methods to Recover Photos from SanDisk SD card
Here are some tried and tested ways that you can use to recover your deleted or lost photos from the SanDisk SD card.
Recover deleted media files from SanDisk from the backup.
One of the most effective ways to recover deleted photo files from a SanDisk memory card is by restoring them from a backup. If you have a habit of maintaining regular backup of your memory card data using cloud storage services, external hard drives, or through built-in backup tools like Windows File History or macOS Time Machine, you can easily recover the lost files.
Recover Photos from SanDisk memory cards using SanDisk RescuePRO.
SanDisk has a dedicated recovery tool, SanDisk RescuePRO that can recover deleted or lost files from SanDisk memory cards, microSD, CompactFlash, and other storage devices. Here’s how to use this tool to recover lost files from a SanDisk memory card:
- Visit the official SanDisk RescuePRO website and download the Standard or Deluxe version of the software, based on your needs. Then, install the software.
- Now, connect your SanDisk card to your computer using a card reader.
- Launch the SanDisk RescuePRO application and select the Recover Photos option.
- Next, choose your SanDisk card from the list of available drives and click the Start button to begin the recovery process.
- After the scan completes, you can preview recoverable photos. Select the images you want to restore and click Recover to save them to your computer.
However, SanDisk RescuePRO has certain limitations, the tool doesn’t let you recover any photo files for free. The free trial lets you view the recoverable data, but not recover any of it. Moreover, depending on the card size and condition, the scan can be very slow.
Therefore, we suggest you go for the best Sandisk SD card Recovery software, i.e. Stellar Photo Recovery.
Recover Photos from SanDisk Memory Cards With Professional Recovery Software
Stellar Photo Recovery is one of the best tools for recovering photos, videos, and audio files lost due to deletion, corruption, formatting, viruses, or inaccessible drives from SanDisk memory cards, CompactFlash cards, and microSDHC/XC cards. It is an easy-to-use yet powerful recovery tool, capable of retrieving multiple photos, videos, and audio files of various formats such as PNG, JPEG, RSV, MP4, and more.
- Download, install, and run Stellar Photo Recovery software on your PC/laptop.
- On the home screen, select the type of data you want to recover, let’s say Photos. Then click Next.
- Select the drive (i.e., SanDisk SD card) from which you lost the photos and click Scan.
- Let the software scan the drive. Once it is completed, you may preview the photos, select the ones that you want to retrieve and click Recover.
- Click Browse to choose the desired location where you want to save the recovered pictures. Next, click Start Saving to store the recovered photos.
Tips for successful SanDisk SD card recovery
Here are some tips you should pay attention to so that you can increase the chances of successful recovery from a SanDisk memory card.
- Avoid data overwriting: The very first thing when you realize the data loss issue, you stop using the SanDisk memory card. If you continue taking photos or saving data to the memory card, you are likely to overwrite the data, making it more difficult to recover data.
- Do Not Run CHKDSK: Avoid using CHKDSK on a corrupt drive with important data, as it may alter the file system and damage the original directory structure, making it harder to recover files with their original names and paths.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, you can easily perform SanDisk SD card recovery on your own using tools like SanDisk RescuePRO or reliable software such as Stellar Photo Recovery. However, keep in mind that overwritten or severely damaged photo files cannot be recovered successfully, even with professional tools. Therefore, avoid any writing actions on the card after data loss to maximize the chances of successful recovery.