SD card recovery
Memory cards are the most recoverable storage there is – as long as you stop shooting on them. Here is the safe order of steps.
Do this immediately
- Take the card out of the camera or phone. Do not take more photos on it.
- Do not accept “format card” prompts, even if the camera says the card is unreadable.
- Use a card reader on a computer, and recover to the computer's drive – never back to the card.
Free: PhotoRec step by step
- Download TestDisk & PhotoRec from the official CGSecurity site and unzip it.
- Run
photorec_win.exe(Windows) orphotorec(Mac/Linux, with sudo). - Select the card (check the size to be sure), then the partition, then the file system type (usually “Other” for FAT/exFAT cards).
- Choose Free to scan only unallocated space after deletion, or Whole after a format.
- Pick a destination folder on your computer and start. Files appear in
recup_dirfolders.
Camera RAW files, JPGs and common video formats are among the 480+ extensions PhotoRec recognises.
If the card is not detected at all
Try another reader and USB port. If no computer sees the card, or it is physically cracked, software cannot help; a recovery lab can sometimes read the memory chip directly.
Paid tools
If PhotoRec's unnamed files are too messy, paid tools show thumbnails before recovery and try to keep folder structure. Use their free scan or free tier first and only pay if your photos appear in the preview.
Prevent it next time
Copy cards to a computer and a second location after every shoot – see the 3-2-1 backup plan.