Free SD Card Recovery Software

Who hasn't had a bad day in our lives? You insert your SD card full of pictures from your latest family vacation into the memory card reader in your laptop, and the unthinkable happens: Windows informs you that the card is corrupted. You can still see your files in Windows Explorer, but it’s impossible to open any of them. This happens every day to countless people around the world, and it can happen to you, as well. Disk Drill for Windows can be a true lifesaver in similar situations, allowing you to recover photos from memory cards with just a few clicks.
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Free version recovers up to 500 MB
Disk Drill for Windows is like a streetwise private detective who knows where to look for clues. It can recover deleted files from SD card, including pictures, music, video, text, and others. In fact, Disk Drill for Windows is able to recover over 300 file formats from all popular storage devices. In most cases, the data recovery process is very fast, you won’t even have time for a cup of coffee.

How to Recover Deleted Files From SD Card

Step #1: Prepare for SD Card Recovery


We all make mistakes, and you wouldn’t be the first person in the world to delete important files from an SD card accidentally. You also wouldn’t be the first victim of data corruption caused by a faulty memory card. The good news is that Disk Drill for Windows is here to help you restore your files. This card data recovery software can restore photos and videos of all file types.


The first thing you need to do after experiencing a data loss is to stop using the affected SD card as soon as possible. Even if you can’t see them, your files are still there, and Disk Drill will find them. But the deleted data won’t be there forever because Windows most likely considers them to be nothing but unused space. That’s why you should download the free version of Disk Drill for Windows right away and verify that your SD card or other storage device is still readable and the data on it can be recovered after a proper preview.


  • 1Download Disk Drill
  • 2Install it
  • 3Start Disk Drill for Windows

Step #2: Recover Files from SD Card via Disk Drill

Disk Drill makes SD card recovery effortless. Designed with casual users in mind but able to satisfy the needs of IT professionals, Disk Drill for Windows is loved by hundreds of thousands of users around the world. Forget complicated file recovery software solutions that require you to read lengthy user manuals and look up obscure technical terms just so you know how to use them. Disk Drill doesn’t require any prior data recovery experience or deep computer knowledge. It’s no exaggeration to say that you just click on the Recover button and wait for your lost files to return from the digital graveyard. sd card recovery software

To recover files from an SD card with Disk Drill follow these simple steps:


  1. Download and install Disk Drill on your Windows computer.

  2. Connect the SD card to your machine either by using a card reader or by attaching the device that contains the memory card.

  3. Launch Disk Drill and let it discover all of your disks.

  4. Select the SD card from the disks displayed by the application.

  5. Click the Recover button to initiate the program's powerful scanning algorithms which will search the SD card for recoverable files.

  6. Preview the files that can be restored from the SD card. Choose a storage location where you will save the recovered files. Do not use the SD card itself to store the files as this may lead to file corruption or the data being overwritten before it is restored.

  7. Click the Recover button a second time and allow the application to recover your data.
There are two important points to remember when attempting to recover deleted files from an SD card. The first is to minimize your usage of the card after you discover that files have been lost. If you continue to use the storage device, it is likely that you will overwrite the deleted files and ruin any chance of ever recovering them. We recommend that you immediately stop using the card to give yourself the greatest chance of performing a successful recovery.

recover deleted files from sd card
The second point was mentioned in step 6 above but needs to be repeated in the interest of saving your data. Trying to recover the deleted SD card files to the SD card exposes you to data corruption and potentially will overwrite the very files that you wish to restore. Specify a new location where the files will be saved during recovery. When the process is complete, you can move them back to the SD card if you wish.

Step #3: Finishing SD Card Data Recovery

When Disk Drill for Windows locates all deleted or lost files, you’re just a few clicks away from the finish line. Select which files you would like to keep and which you don’t need any longer and choose the recovery destination folder. Disk Drill will perform its magic and recover your files before you can say “recovery“. recover sd card
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You never know when you accidentally delete an important file, format an SD card, or become infected with malware. It pays off to have a reliable data recovery tool at hand so you can quickly step in and solve the crisis. You can download Disk Drill for Windows for free and use it as your first line of defense against all data loss-related problems.

Never Lose Important Files Ever Again

Disk Drill goes beyond data recovery by providing you with a set of data management and data protection tools. Included among them is Recovery Vault, which is an extremely handy utility that monitors and protects selected files and folders. It automatically creates secure backups, allowing you to recover your files with a click of a button. All tools that come with Disk Drill for Windows are free even though they could be sold as stand-alone products for hundreds of dollars. The Recovery Vault utility is just one of many examples of the amazing value Disk Drill offers.

Disk Drill Has Free SD Card Recovery Option

Professional data recovery solutions often cost absurd amounts of money just because their developers assume customers don’t know any better. Disk Drill respects its customers by offering a free trial version alongside several premium versions. The free version lets you recover up to 500 MB of data, which roughly equates to hundreds of text documents and high-res pictures. sd card data recovery
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Disk Drill for Windows works fast — blazing fast. Shortly after you select your storage device and begin the photo recovery process, you will be presented with a long list of files. Included in the list will be thousands of random system files as well as the files you're looking for. It would be nearly impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff if it weren’t for Disk Drill’s filters and search capabilities. With them, you can view only those files that you care about and ignore the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated on by Disk Drill Team

Several issues may cause this problem. Your phone might not read an SD card if the card is not inserted correctly. The card may need to have its contacts cleaned to eliminate debris. Another reason that your card cannot be read by your phone is that the card has become corrupted.

Yes, you can recover deleted photos from an SD card. Deleted photos are logically removed from an SD card but can still be physically recovered. The most effective way to accomplish this is with data recovery software. Tools like Disk Drill can quickly and easily perform this recovery.

Yes, photos can be recovered from your phone’s SD card. The card needs to be connected to your computer through the phone or a card reader. Once the SD card is connected to the machine, your data recovery software application will identify the card as a disk and perform the restore.

Several methods can be attempted. Many devices offer a feature to recover recently deleted files. It’s always a good idea to check there first when searching for deleted photos. If you take backups of your SD cards you may be able to recover deleted photos from your backup storage media.

Recover data from a formatted SD card with data recovery software.

  1. Connect the SD card to your computer.
  2. Download, install, and launch Disk Drill.
  3. Scan the card for recoverable photos and preview the images that can be restored.
  4. Recover the files from the formatted SD card to your computer.

Recover SD card data for free via these options.

  1. Recover your data from previously made backups.
  2. Restore your images using the device’s recently deleted function.
  3. Use Disk Drill recovery software and recover 500 MB of data for free before upgrading your license.

Micro SD card recovery guaranteed

Disk Drill emphasizes simplicity, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t handle the most difficult data recovery scenarios. If you want something a bit more throughout than the standard recovery method, which can reliably recover over 200 file formats from all common storage devices, you can activate the Deep Scan recovery method. Deep Scan does exactly what the name suggests: It carefully analyzes each and every sector of your micro SD card, looking for scattered images and other files. It takes longer, but the results are worth the wait.
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  • Steve Cox
    Steve Cox
    A huge thank you to you and the CleverFiles team!! The beta build worked perfectly—it found my friend’s lost RPP files! You’re absolutely fantastic people. I’m used to customers being treated like annoyances—but not CleverFiles. You are class acts. Many businesses would do well to follow your example.
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    softpedia.com
    «Disk Drill is a practical and intuitive utility that can successfully assist you in regaining access to lost or damaged files from a variety of disk or file system types, making it quite worthy for considering, should you be in the market for such a tool.» by Marina Dan
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