What to do if your computer doesn't recognize SD card?

Here you will find out:

why an SD card is not recognized on Windows 10

how to fix this issue

how DiskInternals Partition Recovery can help you

Are you ready? Let's read!

Is your computer not recognizing SD cards?

SD cards are typically small in size but capable of saving a whole lot of data. If your computer is no longer detecting your SD card, this may be as a result of certain problems, which can be fixed following the various methods discussed below.

Reasons why an SD card is not recognized on Windows 10

If your SD card is not recognized on Windows Explorer and you’re sure that it is properly inserted to the computer via a card reader, these are the possible reasons for this:

The SD card is locked

Missing SD card drive letter

File system issues

Outdated device driver

The SD card is corrupt or infected with malware

Partition loss

Physical damage

All these are possible reasons why your computer is not recognizing SD cards. How to fix the issue you will learn below.

Method 1: Reboot your PC

Rebooting a computer has solved quite many issues faced by PC owners.

So the first thing to do is to reboot the computer and see if your SD card will be recognized.

Method 2: Connect your SD card to another computer

Remove the SD card from your computer and connect it to another computer. This will help you check if the problem is from your computer or the SD card. Alternatively, you can use another card reader to connect the SD card or try another USB port on the computer. All these actions will help to identify if the problem is the computer, the card reader, or the storage card.

If the SD card shows on another PC, then the problem is from your PC; you may have to run PC Repair to fix the problem or troubleshoot your drivers.

Method 3: Choose a new drive letter

Another way to fix the “Windows 10 not recognizing SD card” error is by changing or assigning a new drive letter to the SD card.

Launch the Disk Management menu by pressing Windows + R, and type “diskmgmt.msc”.

Select the SD card, right-click, and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths".

Click “Change”, then pick a drive letter from the dropdown list.

Click “OK”.

But if the SD card doesn’t have a drive letter, then you should click on “Add” while in the "Change Drive Letter and Paths” dialogue box.

Method 4: Clean the SD card and it's slot

Sometimes, the problem of the unrecognized SD card is "physical": it can be dust. So make sure your SD card and the computer's slots are clean.

Method 5: You can restore files from an SD card, that was is not recognized

If the SD card contains very important files, documents, and data for your business or personal life, then you should think about recovering all the files that are saved on a "not detected" SD card before formatting or damaging it. Yes, it is possible to access the files saved on an SD card that is not recognized by a computer.

Using DiskInternals Partition Recovery, you can recover all the files saved on the SD card. DiskInternals Partition Recovery is a handy Windows utility packed with lots of interesting features that help for any type of data recovery. Interestingly, DiskInternals Partition Recovery guides you through recovering all files on the SD card in four simple steps.

How to use: