Encrypted SD Card Recovery: Complete Guide in 2026

"To prevent other people from accessing or viewing files like photos, videos, documents, etc on my Samsung phone, I locked my SD card on the phone.

Recently, I bought a new phone, and I want to continue using the encrypted SD card. Is there any software that can help me recover data from an encrypted SD card?"

Encrypted SD Card Recovery Solutions at a Glance:

Overview of SD Card Encryption and Decryption 

Being portable and safe, SD cards are now widely used in digital cameras, Android phones & tablets, and other devices to store photos, videos, audio files, etc. And with its popularity, a lot of third-party encryption software comes to encrypt the SD card and lock data with a password.

However, many people know only SD card encryption but know nothing about decryption. Here is a brief introduction to SD card encryption and decryption.

What is SD Card Encryption❓

There are two ways that you can use to encrypt an SD card - using an Android phone, tablet, or a third-party tool. It is truly a nice way to protect your data from information leaks. No one can access the SD card's saved files without a password.

If you have no idea about how to decrypt an SD card and perform SD card recovery, follow the solutions on this page to resolve this issue on your own.

How to Decrypt an Encrypted SD Card❓

If you used a third-party encryption tool to encrypt the card, you can easily decrypt it using the tool with a password. If you used an Android phone for encryption on the SD card, the only way to access data on the SD card is to decrypt it.

To decrypt an SD card, reinsert it into the original device used for encryption, navigate to "Settings > Security/Lock Screen > Decrypt SD Card", and enter your password. If the device is lost, you may need to use third-party tools or factory reset the phone to unlock it. Though data loss is likely, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard helps restore data from an encrypted SD card safely.

Solution 1. Decrypt an SD Card with Its Password

Here we'll take the Samsung cellphone as an example to show you how to decrypt the SD card with a password on the source phone:

Step 1. Insert the SD card into the source Samsung phone, and restart the phone.

Step 2. Go to "Settings" and tap on "Lock screen and security".

Step 3. Scroll to the bottom and tap on "Decrypt SD Card".

Step 4. Tap on "DECRYPT SD CARD" and enter your password.

Step 5. Wait for the decryption process to finish, keeping the device charged during the process.  The more data you have on the SD card, the longer it will take for decryption.

Can I decrypt the SD card in another phone? Basically, the answer to this question is no. Different phones use different encryption algorithms, and the methods of decryption vary as well. Therefore, to access all saved data and continue using the SD card on a new phone, we suggest you decrypt the card on the source phone. 

Solution 2. Decrypt the SD card without a Password

Some of you may have the same doubt, right? How can you decrypt an SD card when you have forgotten the password? If you are having the same doubt, follow the provided methods here to resolve this issue:

#1️⃣. Restore SD card encryption password with a third-party app

There are many apps online that can decrypt an encrypted SD card by restoring the password. All you need is to find such a tool for the decryption. One of the widely recommend app is FExplorer. 

You can download it from the App Store and follow the steps below to decrypt the SD card:

Step 1. Restore the password of the encrypted SD card

• Keep the SD card inserted in your phone and connect your phone to the PC via a USB cable. 
• Download FExplorer from the App Store and run this app on your phone.
• Go to Internal Storage, locate a folder named as mmcstore. Rename it to mcstore.txt.
• Copy the file to your PC and open it with Notepad. Then you'll be able to view the password of the encrypted SD card.

Step 2. Decrypt the SD card with the found password. Then you can decrypt the SD card.

#2️⃣. Decrypt SD Card Using diskpart Command

If you don't care about the saved files in the SD card and only want to use it as a normal device for saving data on a new cellphone, follow the guidelines here for a guide. The DiskPart clean all command will make it easy.

Step 1. Insert the SD card into your PC via an SD card reader.

Step 2. Right-click the Windows icon on the Desktop, select Search, type cmd.

Step 3. Bring up Command Prompt and type diskpart and hit enter.

Step 4. Type list disk and hit Enter.

Step 5. Type select disk 1 and hit Enter. (Replace 1 with the disk number of your SD card.)

Step 6. Type clean all and hit Enter. Wait for the process to complete. 

Step 7. Type create partition primary and hit Enter.

Step 8. Type format fs=fat32 and hit Enter.

After this, you can insert the SD card into the old phone or the new phone to reuse it as external storage again.

How to Recover Data from the Encrypted SD Card 

After decrypting the SD card with a password, you should be able to use the SD card and use the saved data again. But if you lost data on the SD card, you should find reliable SD card data recovery software for help. Here, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is recommended for its easy-to-use features.

Unlike common SD memory card recovery, file recovery from an encrypted SD card requires you to decrypt the card first. Before proceeding with the following steps, follow the solutions above to unlock the SD card. If you cannot decrypt the SD card, the process may fail.

This software also supports recovering permanently deleted files on the SD card, including photos, videos, documents, etc. Only 3 simple steps will work with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard:

Step 1. Select the SD card to scan

• Download and install EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your Windows PC.
• Use the proper way to connect your SanDisk/Lexar/Transcend SD card to the computer. 
• Open EaseUS SD card recovery software and choose SD Card Recovery on the left panel. All connected drives will display here. Select your SD card and click "Scan for lost data".

Step 2. Check for scan results

• Wait for the scanning process to complete.
• Specify one or several file types to show up, like Pictures or Videos.
• Click "Preview" to check if they are the wanted files.

Step 3. Recover SD card data

• Preview the recovered files and click "Recover".
• Choose a different location to save the recovered files instead of the original SD card.

Video Tutorial: Recover Data After Decrypting SD Card

 

Conclusion

On this page, you'll learn two ways of how to decrypt an encrypted SD card with a password in the source or a new phone and restore files with ease. If you don't have a password, third-party software can help you find the password. When you accidentally delete or lose SD card data after the decryption, EaseUS file recovery software will restore the files for you.