How to Retrieve Deleted Files from Memory Card

Wondering how to recover deleted files from memory card? We’ve got your back. This guide will help you to get back your precious files safely and fast. Whether you are looking for a way to retrieve deleted documents, music, files and video from SD card, memory card or CF card, we’ve prepared this step-by-step guide for you.

Nowadays, memory cards are used in almost all the electronic gadgets including smartphones, digital cameras and more. The loss of precious data and files can be painful, especially if the files are business related.

Summary

Memory cards are popularly used today as storage media on numerous devices. A memory card can hold any kind of data and files such as video, documents, audio, and emails. People prefer to store their data on memory cards because they are small in size and some have sufficient capacity.

They are portable, so you can use it anywhere. The good thing is that users can buy a variety of memory cards on the market to store data.

There are numerous ways you can lose data and files from memory card. Often times the loss of data on memory cards can be caused by unintended deletion, virus infection or corrupt file system and more.

Now the question is what can you do in case your files get deleted from your memory card and you don’t have a backup? Do you know any means to restore your deleted files?

These are the possible causes of loss of data: Note that there are many causes but here are the most common causes for loss of data on memory cards.

  • Unintended deletion: You may delete files and folders on your digital camera or smartphone without intending. The good thing is that it’s easy to recover deleted files as long as you don’t overwrite the data by saving new data and files on the device from which the data has been deleted.
  • Formatted memory card. When you format the memory card, you wipe everything that is saved inside. You may accidentally hit the format button on your device and there is no backup available
  • Eject memory card from your smartphone or digital camera while it is still processing data. This can corrupt files and folders and it is not recommended. Experts recommend users to eject memory cards from digital devices in the right way.
  • A logically corrupted memory card: Sometimes you may want to access your memory card or save some files on it, but you get welcomed by a message like “Disk not formatted” “You need to format the disk before you use it” “Do you want to format?”
  • Damaged memory card: Sometimes you may want to access some important files but when you connect your device to the computer you find the PC cannot recognize your memory card. This occurs when the memory card is physically damaged.
  • Virus attack: We are leaving in a digital world where your files can be infected with viruses anytime. When your memory card is infected with a virus, your files may be changed to something else and may even get deleted.

Important: Once you realize data loss issues, you should perform data recovery immediately so that you don’t overwrite the deleted data and files by saving new data on the memory card. The good thing is that the process is simple and fast.

What To Do Immediately You Realize Data/file loss on your Memory card

Mostly when data is deleted from memory card it can easily be recovered. However, sometimes data recovery might not be successful. You need to abstain from doing these few things to increase the chances of retrieving all the deleted files.

  • You should stop saving new data on the memory card.
  • Remove the memory card from the digital device you are using.
  • Store it in a safe place to avoid damaging it.
  • Do not format the memory card: You might be tempted to format it since it will be showing you the format message.

These precaution measures are meant to prevent overwriting or physically damaging of the memory card. They are meant to increase the chances of recovering the deleted data and files.

Tips to Safeguard Data on Memory Card

Although it’s easy to perform data recovery on memory cards, and in fact, you don’t have to be an expert. However, there is no guarantee of recovering all the deleted files and folders. For example, when you accidentally delete data and files from memory card and you save new data on the same memory card, the data will likely overwrite the original one and this can make it hard to recover it.

So, to prevent data loss and protect your memory:

  • Choose genuine memory cards.
  • Backup files and folders on a regular basis. Immediately you save new photos and files to a memory card, ensure you transfer them to another storage media.
  • Change memory card regularly after a certain period of time.

Conclusion

Memory cards are the most popular storage devices today. They are portable so, users like to save their files, documents, photos, emails, and types of information. However, due to the unseen situations, data get lost due to formatting, deletion virus infection or corruption. Fortunately, when that happens, you can recover your files with the help of the best data recovery software.