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Lost some files from your SD card? You can recover deleted images, videos, audio files, and more from a memory card using Disk Drill, a free SD card recovery solution. Disk Drill can scan and recover data from all types of memory cards, including SDHC, SDXC, MicroSD, CompactFlash Cards, xD Cards, and more. Whether you deleted the files by accident or they became lost due to corruption, Disk Drill stands out as an excellent solution in any data loss scenario.
Disk Drill can recover files from your SD cards in a wide range of data loss situations. Here are some data loss scenarios that the software can address.
Formatting the wrong SD card will delete your data, for good, if you do a full format. Disk Drill can scan your card and recover the files that were lost due to a quick format, but data recovery must be performed quickly.
If you have accidentally deleted important files from your memory card, you can get them back quickly and easily with this data recovery software tool. Most importantly, you should stop using the memory card to prevent data overwriting.
Infection with a virus or malware can be the case of data loss. Disk Drill gets your important files back if they have been deleted by malicious software.
Missing files can be caused by a corrupted SD card. Scanning the card with Disk Drill will get those files back, so you can save them to a different device.
Disk Drill can recover files from lightly damaged cards, so long as it’s reading in Disk Management with the correct size. A data recovery service will be needed to recover heavily damaged cards.
If your card’s file system suddenly changes to RAW, you won’t be able to view the files like normal. Disk Drill can scan the device and recover its data safely, bypassing any error messages.
Have you deleted some important photos or videos from your memory card? Disk Drill can recover files from an SD card and get your valuable data back where it belongs. Some of the features that make Disk Drill the best tool for SD card data recovery include:
A user-friendly and intuitive interface.Recovers data from all types of memory cards.Restores files from digital cameras and mobile devices.Excellent RAW photo and video recovery performance.Dedicated Advanced Camera Recovery (ACR) module to reconstruct video files.Note: Disk Drill works with any type of file system you have - NTFS, FAT32, EXT, ExFAT, HFS+, etc. Recovering lost files has never been so versatile. SD card data recovery and CF card recovery are not all that Disk Drill can do. You can restore erased files on system disks, external devices, USB drives, other computers, etc. Free Disk Drill is smart. It will scan your system and let you know what it can recover. Recover 500 MB of data for free.
Disk Drill supports data recovery on all types of memory cards. From a microSD card to an SDHC card taken out of a professional-grade digital camera, this reliable software tool will get your lost data back in the space of a few clicks. Take a look at the range of devices that are compatible with Disk Drill.
SanDisk®, Sony®, Lexar®
PNY®, Genuine SanDisk®, Lexar®
Delkin®, Verbatim®, Silicon Power®
Transcend®, Johnziny®, Canon®
Olympus®, xD-Picture®, Fujifilm®
MyMemory®, EgoDisk®, Delkin®
Tip: To recover data from a damaged SD card that cannot be accessed by your computer, contact Cleverfiles Data Recovery Center.
Disk Drill can recover virtually any kind of file that might have been stored on your SD card or compact flash card. The software supports over 400 different file signatures when performing a deep scan and will find all of your images, videos, and any other type of data on your card.
360 (360-degree GoPro video), INSV (Insta360 Video file), M4V (iTunes video), MKV (Matroska Video), MOV (Apple QuickTime movie), MP4 (MPEG-4 video), R3D (Redcode Raw video image)
MP3 (MPEG Audio Stream, Layer III), MID (MIDI), AA (Audible Audio Book), AIFF (Audio Interchange File), M4A (Apple Lossless Audio), WMA (Windows Media audio files)
3FR, ARW, CR2, CR3, CRW, DCR, DNG, ERF, EXR, FFF, GPR, HEIC, IIQ, KDC, MEF, MOS, MPO, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, RAF, RAW, RW2, RWL, SR2, SRF, SRW, TIF, X3F, X3I
SXC (OpenOffice Calc), PDF (Portable Document Format), PPTX (Microsoft PowerPoint), ODG (OpenDocument Graphics)
ZIP (Extended Zip File), RAR (WinRAR Compressed Archive), ISO (ISO-9660 CD Disc Image), 7Z (7-Zip Compressed)
RAW (Raw disk images), DB (Paradox), DAT (Legacy binary images), MYO (MYOB Limited Windows File), VMDK (Virtual VMWare disks)
Use the following steps to recover lost or deleted files from an SD card using Disk Drill.
Download and install Disk Drill for Windows on your computer. During installation, you will be prompted to provide administrator-level credentials to complete the process. Connect the SD card using a card reader or your computer’s card slot.
Tip: To safeguard your data during recovery, especially with a logically damaged card, use the Byte-to-byte Backup tool to create a disk image. Then, mount it via "Attach Disk Image" in the "Storage Devices" tab and scan this backup instead of the card.
Select the SD card and click Search for lost data. Click Universal Scan if you want to scan for all file types, or Advanced Camera Recovery if you want to recover videos from cameras and drones.
The default, universal scan will scan the memory card for all recoverable data. This method is recommended for most memory card data loss scenarios, like if files were accidentally deleted or the memory card was formatted, and you need to recover all different types of files.
If your memory card is corrupted or showing errors, creating a byte-to-byte copy of your memory card is highly recommended. Scanning the memory card directly can cause further damage, making some or all of your data unrecoverable.
If it’s media files like videos, photos, and audio files you’re recovering, using the Advanced Camera Recovery module is recommended for the highest amount of success. Its job is to locate fragmented media files and piece them back together.
Once the scan begins, Disk Drill runs all of its scanning algorithms. If the file system is intact, it uses file records; if damaged, it can identify over 400 file types via unique signatures alone. It also finds lost partitions. The scan time depends on factors like capacity, condition, and scan type. You can preview files during the scan, but it’s best to wait until it finishes to review everything.
Note: If you scan with ACR using specific parameters, Disk Drill may recommend a broader scan to find more files. If you chose automatic detection of cluster size and camera type, or you started the scan by right-clicking, Disk Drill will try to detect your card’s cluster size and camera type automatically.
Once the scan is finished, you’ll be met with a long list of files; some deleted or lost, some reconstructed, and some existing. As you’d expect, it can be overwhelming to go through them all. You have several methods by which you can search for the files that you want to recover. This can save a lot of time when compared to looking through the potentially long list of files that Disk Drill may have found.
Recovered files are displayed in folders and categorized by file type to simplify your search for recoverable data. You can choose to look only at Pictures, Video, Audio, Documents, Archives, and other files to narrow the search. If you are interested in the videos that have been recovered, why waste your time looking at everything that the app found?
If you know the name of the file you are looking for, you can just look for it directly in the app’s search bar. You can use wildcards as in other search boxes, so as long as you know part of the name this can still save a lot of time sorting through recovery results. Just jump right to the file you need.
Reconstructed files are those that have been found through a deep scan. The file fragment did not supply enough metadata to recreate the filename. They are found in the Reconstruction section and will have a generic filename with a valid file extension. You can preview the files and rename them after you perform the recovery.
Click the Recover button once you have identified the files you wish to restore. You will be prompted for a safe location at which to save the recovered files. Don’t save them to the SD card that suffered data loss or you may cause file corruption during the recovery process. When recovery is complete, you can move the files to the location of your choice.
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP
Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012 R2/2012/2008 R2/2008/2003 R2/2003
FAT16/FAT32/exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5, ReFS, HFS, HFS+, APFS, EXT2/EXT3/EXT4, BTRFS and any RAW disk
Disk Space: 1GB minimum free space
CPU: 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x86-64) compatible CPU 1.0 GHz or faster
RAM: at least 4GB
PROTECT
One of the free data protection tools provided by Disk Drill is called Recovery Vault. This tool allows you to designate specific important folders and files for additional protection against accidental deletion. Recovery Vault backs up the file’s metadata each time it’s connected to your PC and enables you to recover protected data quickly without performing a full data recovery procedure.
There are a lot of software applications available that claim to be able to recover data from memory cards. To help you find the best solution for your needs, we have put together this comparison of five of the most popular recovery tools for Windows that work and can restore your files. Take a look at the features offered by each solution and find the right one to resolve your data loss situation.
 Disk Drill |
 EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard |
 Recuva |
 Minitool Power Data Recovery |
 Recoverit SD Card Recovery |
|
|
Rating (5 star) |
|||||
|
Supported SD card file systems |
ExFAT, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ext2, ext3, ext4, HFS+, APFS |
ExFAT, FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ext2, ext3, HFS+, ReFS |
ExFAT, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ext2, ext3, ext4 |
FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS |
ExFAT, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ReFS, JFS , ext2, ext3, ext4 |
|
Deep scan file signatures |
400+ |
1000 |
50 |
100 |
1000 |
|
Corrupted SD card recovery |
✔ |
✔ |
✘ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
Formatted SD card recovery |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
RAW SD card recovery |
✔ |
✔ |
✘ |
✔ |
✔ |
|
RAW photo recovery |
✔ |
Partial support |
Limited support |
Limited support |
Partial support |
|
Video file recovery (HDV, AVCHD, H.264, MPEG4 etc.) |
✔ |
✔ |
Limited support |
Limited support |
✔ |
|
Data loss prevention |
✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
|
Modern user-friendly Interface |
✔ |
✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
✔ |
|
Mount recovery results as a virtual drive |
✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
✘ |
|
Save scanning sessions |
✔ |
✔ |
✘ |
✔ |
✘ |
|
Built-in preview of photo / video files |
✔ |
Limited support |
Limited support |
Limited support |
Limited support |
|
Backup failling SD cards to a disk image |
✔ |
✘ |
✔ |
✘ |
✘ |
As the above table reflects, each data recovery tool comes with different features at varying prices. Following an in-depth look at each data recovery application, we’ve summarized what we think about each tool below.
Read moreHere are some tips to protect the data on your SD card. They will help you minimize the need for recovery software and increase the likelihood of a successful restore process if it becomes necessary.
Stop using the card as soon as you suspect data loss has occurred to prevent the deleted files from being overwritten by new data, making them unrecoverable.
SD cards can easily be physically damaged by roughly inserting and removing them from a device. This can lead to data loss and should be avoided.
Every time you connect your SD card to a device you run the risk of infection with malware or a virus. Only use devices that have been verified virus-free.
Backing up your data provides you with a way to recover from data loss without software. It’s a valuable practice that you should be performing regularly.
Signs of impending SD card failure can include slow loading or missing files. If you think your card may be about to fail, move your files to a new storage device.
Inadvertently formatting the wrong SD card can lead to substantial data loss. Labeling them may help you keep track of them and format the right card.
I lost a whole SD card's images after a faulty download to a laptop. I was on location but Disk Drill found all my files and their tech support was very impressive and helpful. - Geof Smith
Great Product to Recover CR3 files! I had wonderful experience to recover 700+ CR3 files from a formatted SD card. This is the first time I was using the Disk Drill. The online support provided very efficient service to help me through all the steps needed all the way through. Strongly recommended this product and company!
by Disk Drill Team
To recover deleted files from an SD card:
Yes, Disk Drill fully supports microSD card recovery on Windows and macOS. Disk Drill can recover lost or deleted files from microSD cards used in phones, cameras, drones, dashcams, and other devices. Its support for file systems used by microSD cards allows it to recover data following accidental formatting, corruption, and unintentional deletion. Your memory card can be scanned and lets you preview recoverable files like photos, videos, and documents. The free version of Disk Drill lets you preview all files before recovery. All you need to do is connect your SD card using a card reader and start the scan.
You have a few options to recover deleted files from an SD card on Windows for free. Disk Drill is a good tool to start with, as it allows you to scan and preview unlimited files at no cost. If the file previews are intact, you can choose to upgrade and recover them. Another option is using the Command Prompt (CHKDSK) to fix minor corruption if the files were made inaccessible.
Yes, you can recover from a corrupted card using these steps and Disk Drill without formatting the device.
Disk Drill is one of the best free SD card recovery tools for Windows. It offers deep scanning, file previews, and support for a wide range of file systems and formats. It can also recover data from formatted or corrupted cards, and includes dedicated recovery features for photos and videos. PhotoRec is another good option, as it’s open-source and known for RAW data recovery, and Recuva is a beginner-friendly alternative that works well for basic recovery tasks on FAT/exFAT cards.
Here are some things you can do to try to fix an unreadable SD card.
There are very few ways to recover deleted files from an SD card without software. Start by checking the Recycle Bin, as files that you moved from the SD card to PC and then deleted can be found there. Otherwise, you will need to restore from a backup created by backup utilities, like File History, that have backed up data you previously moved to the PC. In rare instances of data loss due to corruption, you may be able to restore access to the data using the CHKDSK command to repair underlying damage. Without data recovery software, you will need to consult a data recovery service.
To recover deleted photos from an SD card, you must connect the SD card to a PC using a card reader. Then, use an SD card file recovery tool like Disk Drill to scan the SD card (or a backup image of it) to find photos of all formats, including JPG, PNG, and RAW formats. If you don’t want to use data recovery software, you must rely on restoring files from backups.
To recover photos from a formatted SD card, you will need to use a data recovery tool like Disk Drill. It’s capable of recovering photos following a quick format, including RAW formats supported by select cameras. All you need to do is connect your SD card via card reader, launch Disk Drill, select the SD card, and start the scan. Recoverable photos can be previewed and then recovered after upgrading. Do not write the data to the same card, and in severe cases, consult a data recovery professional.
Recover from a SanDisk SD card with the following procedure.
There is no way to determine how much SD card recovery will cost without first understanding the condition of your SD card and the cause of data loss. If you use a data recovery tool, it will only cost the price of what you paid for the software. Using a professional data recovery service will cost more, but you benefit from a greater chance of success when recovering your files.
If the contents of your SD card have been deleted through user error, formatting, or logical damage, there is a good chance that your data can be restored if you act fast enough. The first thing you should do is stop using the card, as continued use puts your data at risk of being overwritten.
To recover the deleted data from your SD card, you can do so using data recovery tools like Disk Drill. Software of this type specialize in searching for and recovering deleted data.
REQUIREMENTS
Windows 10-11 (64-bit)/11 (ARM), 51.1 MB
Use Disk Drill 2.x-5.x for Windows XP+
AVERAGE USER RANK
NEWEST RELEASE
Also available for macOS
