Fix Micro SD Card Not Detected in PC, Android Mobile Phone or 3DS

Tracy King updated on Nov 08, 2023 to Storage Media Recovery | How-to Articles

The 2-step guide is offered here to fix the 'Micro SD card not detected' issue in Windows 10/8/7 and other versions. Try to download EaseUS file recovery software, and repair or recover data from corrupted Micro SD card which is not detected, recognized, read, or showing up on PC, Android mobile phone, 3DS, or other digital devices.

Micro SD card not detected

  • on Windows 10 computer:

"When I plug my 2GB Micro SD card into my Windows 10 laptop to transfer data, it is not showing up. Is there any corrupted Micro SD card repair software that can help to recover my data?" 

  • on Android mobile phone:

"My mobile is not detecting a microSD card. And I try to access it with my PC, it is still not showing up. Does anyone know how to recover data from an undetected Micro SD card? I have important data over there."

Fix Micro SD card not recognized by PC, Android phone or 3DS

Nowadays, Micro SD cards are widely used on PCs, Android mobile phones, 3DSs, cameras, and other digital devices to save data. But sometimes, the card can get damaged and stop being recognized. The symptoms vary. Sometimes, the Micro SD card is not showing up on Android mobile or on My Computer. Sometimes, it appears but cannot open. Sometimes, you might get the error 'Please insert a disk into removable disk', 'Android phone cannot find micro SD card' or 'There are no valid media'. In all these situations, how to fix unreadable SD card and recover data becomes a problem. Read on to learn the solution. 

Step 1. Recover data from Micro SD card not detected

If your SD card cannot be detected by your PC, but it shows up in Disk Management, you can turn to EaseUS data recovery software. This free data recovery software makes data recovery easy and fast. It only takes three steps to restore lost/deleted photos, documents, PPT files, videos, Word files, and other data on your PC, laptop, USB, or SD card.

Download this SD card recovery software and restore lost data on your own.

Step 1. Connect the SD card, memory card, or CF Card to your computer and launch EaseUS memory card recovery software on your PC. The SD card will be listed under the Devices section. Choose the SD card and click "Scan" to start looking for your lost data.

Step 2. The software will start a scan automatically. The scan is powerful enough to find all lost files that even lost file names. After the scanning process, you can find deleted items from the tree-view panel on the left. Then, click "Filter" if you are looking for a specific file type, like photos, documents, videos or emails.

Step 3. You can directly double-click the files to preview the content. After this, you can choose wanted files and click "Recover" to restore them to a secure location on your PC or other external storage devices.

Step 2. Repair corrupted Micro SD card not detected or showing up 

Here are three methods to fix the not detected SD card :

Method 1. Update driver for Micro SD card

1. Open "Computer" and choose "System Properties".

2. In the taskbar on the left, click "device manager" and next to "USB controller" click "+".Then you'll see a yellow exclamation mark.

3. Right-click and choose "update driver software", then click "automatically search for driver software online"...

Wait patiently and let the driver be installed and reboot your computer. After doing so, you can try to reconnect your Micro SD card with a computer and check whether it can be detected or not. 

Method 2. Format Micro SD card using Disk Management tool

1. Click Start and go to Control Panel.

2. Click Administrative Tools and then click Computer Management.

3. When the window opens, click on Disk Management and then find the device in the drive viewer. 

4. Then you can right-click on the Micro SD card and select Format to directly format the Micro SD card.

Disk Management is not the unique disk formatting tool you can use, likewise, you can format a micro SD card using Windows, CMD, and software.

Method 3. Repair corrupted or unreadable Micro SD card with CMD

1. Press Windows Key + X button to bring up the power users menu. 

2. In the power users menu, select the Command Prompt (Admin) option.

3. Click Yes when you are presented with a UAC window requesting permission to launch the Command Prompt as Administrator.

4. In the new Command Prompt window, type chkdsk E: /f /r /x. Here you should replace E with your Micro SD card letter.

EaseUS CleanGenius is a user-friendly computer fixing tool that is both safe and lightweight. It's a perfect alternative to CHKDSK command. Use this one-click tool to fix the damaged file system easily.

Step 1. DOWNLOAD EaseUS CleanGenius on your computer and complete the installation.

Step 2. Run the software. Click "Optimization", and then choose "File Showing" . 

Step 3. Select the drive with a corrupted file system. Tick the "Check and fix file system error" option and click "Execute".

Step 4. Wait the tool performs the repairing task. After that, click the "here" button to check the drive.