7 Methods to Fix “SD Card Doesn't Show Up” Error

Summary:
 
SD card doesn't show up? Never mind, just follow solutions here to fix the issue without losing data. Free download Bitwar data recovery software to restore lost data from SD card with simple clicks and follow solutions to repair corrupted/failed SD card.
 
You must have experienced a similar situation. After days of using your SD card to store pictures, files and videos, you try to transfer everything from it to the computer in order to backup or further editing. However, the SD card doesn't show up in Windows. Thus you try again and end up with the same result. You doubt the SD card might be damaged. However, you shouldn't blame the quality of the SD card or even try to format it, formatting is always the fastest way to erase all of the data on the SD card, obviously, we cannot lose the data we have.
 
Therefore, the first thing you should do is check if there is a backup. If not, you need to restore the data on your SD card.

How to restore data from SD card

If the file system of the SD card is FAT_RAW, NTFS_RAW, RAW. You can retrieve the data back with Bitwar Data Recovery software. Download and install Bitwar data recovery on your windows, then follow the guides to recover data from the raw partition.

Step 1. Select the raw partition or device

Launch Bitwar Data Recovery software on your windows. Select the raw SD card and click "Next".

Step 2: Select the Scan Mode

There are two modes to scan your data out, You can choose the “Quick Scan” mode to recover lost files first, If you cannot find files after Quick Scan, try Deep Scan again. The deep scan will search every sector of the hard drive to find all existing files.

Step 3: Select the file types

Select the file types you want to retrieve on this page, you can also choose “Select All Types” to scan all files. Then click “Next” to start scanning.
 

Step 4: preview and recover lost files

After the scan, you can filter the files which you want by file name, type, path and time. Then preview and select the file, click the "Recover" button to save it to another partition or external device.

After following the above 4 steps, most files will be back. Then you can fix the program of SD card doesn't show up.

Solutions to deal with SD card doesn't show up

Solution 1: Place SD card's lock switch in the "Unlock" position

Many SD cards have a mini-physical switch on the edge of the card, and you can check if your SD card has such a switch. This switch is designed to make whether the card can be written or not. If the switch is on the unlock side, data on the SD card can be edited or modified. In contrast, you cannot access it. Therefore, you should look for the tiny switch and make sure it is placed at the unlock side. Once it is moved to the correct position, try your SD card again and see if it can be recognized.

Solution 2: Update SD card driver 

Go to Device Manager, here you will see the card reader in the list. If it has a yellow sign beside it, the problem is most probably caused by driver issue. Then you need to update the driver. Here's how to do:
 
1. Connect the SD card to PC.
2. Navigate Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager -> Disk drivers.
3. Find and select your USB device, right-click and first choose "Uninstall" and then choose "Scan for hardware changes" to refresh the drivers.
4. Select “Search automatically for updated driver software”. If there is no new driver, try to look for one on the manufacturer’s website and follow the installation wizard.
5. If it doesn’t work to update driver, just right-click the device and select “Uninstall”. Then restart your computer, and Windows will reinstall the driver by itself.

Solution 3. Enable SD Card Reader

Disabled SD card will not show up on Windows. The steps to enable this function are the same as above. First, find your SD card in “Device Manager” and right-click it. If it shows “Disable Device”, then you have already enabled SD card reader and there is no need to do anything. If not, just select the option “Enable Device”. Then Windows could detect your SD card normally.

Solution 4: Assign/change drive letter for SD card

If the SD card you inserted to your computer does not have a drive letter, it won't show up in the system. To solve this problem you can try assigning a new drive letter.
 
1. Right-click the Start button and select Disk Management from the menu list.
2. Find the SD card in Disk Management and right-click it to choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths" from the context menu.
3. Click Change button from the popped-up menu, choose a drive letter from the drop-down list and click OK button. If the SD card does not have a drive letter, you should click Add button.

Solution 5: Remove SD card write-protection

As mentioned in the previous part, if the SD card is set to be write-protected, then it cannot be recognized by the computer. If your SD card does not have a lock switch and it is write-protected anyway, you can follow the instruction here to remove write-protection.
 
Step 1, Access Device Manager. Press Windows key and R to launch Run window. Then type devmgmt.msc in the box and click OK button.
Step 2, Locate and expand Disk Drives option and find out the SD card.
Step 3, Right-click on the card and choose Properties.
Step 4, If you can see an option related to writing policy, turn off it and click OK. If you cannot see such an option under the General tab, look for the option under the Policies tab.

Solution 6: Run the hardware troubleshooter

Windows 10 ships with a built-in hardware troubleshooter. Using this hardware troubleshooter, you might be able to make the SD card show up on your PC. Go to Settings app > Update & security > Troubleshoot. Click on Hardware and Devices troubleshooter and then click Run the troubleshooter. The troubleshooter might be able to identify the problem and fix it automatically.

Solution 7. Run CHKDSK to fix the memory card error

When the memory card fails to show up and cannot be detected by your mobile phone or PC, you can try to run Disk Management tool to force it to show up in PC and run CHKDSK command to fix internal errors so to make memory card readable again.

Let's see the detail steps now:

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7 Methods to Fix “SD Card Doesn't Show Up” Error