Reason & Solution: SD Card Not Showing Up in Windows

Is your SD card not detected or functioning properly on your PC? Here’s a list of effective solutions for SD cards not showing up, detected, recognized, working, reading, or mounting issues. If it has resulted in data loss, use the BLR data recovery tool to quickly and effectively find solutions for recovering data from your SD card.

Why SD Card Not Showing Up

SD cards not showing up on Windows PCs is common. In the below passage, get the exact cause of your SD card not being recognized in the list of possible reasons.

• Connection issue between SD card and PC
• Lost SD card drive letter.
• Unknown or corrupted SD card file system.
• Device driver outdated.
• The virus infects the SD card.

1. Try SD Card on Another PC or Card Reader

When you attach your SD card on your PC, it is not showing up on Windows. For solving this issue, you need to attach your SD card on a new PC or change your SD card reader.

To solve this issue, you will follow below steps:

• Change the SD card reader or USB adapter.
• Attach SD Card on a new PC.

Change the SD Card connection to see why the SD card becomes undetectable.

Then you can test your SD card to see if it shows up on your PC. If it works with the new SD card reader and computer, it is not a faulty card. There are error in your SD card reader.

If the SD card neither works with a different working PC or laptop nor with the card reader, then there is a fault in your SD card.

2. Update the unrecognised SD Card Drive Letter

Applies to: Changing the drive letter of an unrecognized SD card can sometimes resolve issues with accessing the SD card.

Change the Drive Letter:

• Right-click on the SD card and select “Change Drive Letter and Path.”
• In the pop-up window, click “Change.”
• Choose a new drive letter from the dropdown menu and click “OK.”
• Confirm the change by clicking “Yes” when prompted.

Shortcut:

1. Insert SD card.
2. Open Disk Management (Right-click Start > Disk Management).
3. Locate the SD card.
4. Right-click on the SD card > “Change Drive Letter and Path.”
5. Click “Change”, select a new drive letter, and click “OK.”
6. Confirm and check access in File Explorer.
7. Restart if necessary.

3. Run CHKDSK to Solve the SD Card Not Showing Up Error

Applies to: Running CHKDSK (Check Disk) can help resolve issues with an SD card that is not showing up in Windows

Insert the SD card into your computer’s card reader or an external USB card.

Run CHKDSK Command:

• In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press Enter

CHKDSK [drive letter]: /f

Replace [drive letter] with the actual drive letter of your SD card. For example, if your SD card is assigned the letter E:, type:

CHKDSK e: /f /r

• CHKDSK will scan the SD card for errors and attempt to fix any issues it finds. This process might take some time, depending on the size of the card and the extent of the errors.
• Once CHKDSK completes, it will display a summary of the results in the Command Prompt window. Look for messages indicating that errors were found and fixed.

Tips: If CHKDSK cannot run because the volume is in use by another process, it may prompt you to schedule the check for the next system restart. Confirm this by typing Y and restarting your computer.

Solution 5. Recover Lost Data and Format an SD card to Use it Again

If the SD card is still not working or recognized, or your SD card can be detected, but you lost important files after these attempts, we advise you to apply one of the SD card recovery software — BLR Tools to recover data from your SD card. Then, format your SD card to make it reusable again.

• Recover files from SD cards, an empty recycle bin, memory cards, flash drives, digital cameras, and camcorders.
• Retrieve deleted SD card, documents, videos, audio, and music photos.
• Data from SD cards can be restored after sudden deletion, formatting, file system corruption, virus attacks, etc.

Note: Only if your SD card can be detected in Disk Management will the BLR Data Recovery Wizard work for fast data scanning and restoration.

With the help of BLR data recovery tool, recover lost data from an SD card, follow these steps:

Step 1: Download and Install BLR SD Card Data Recovery Tool

• After visiting the official website of BLR Tools, get a data recovery tool.
• Download Software: Open the data recovery page and click on the download button.

Step 2: Prepare Your SD Card

• Insert SD Card: Insert SD card into your PC by using an SD card reader. Make sure that your computer can find the SD card.

Step 3: Launch the Software and Select Recovery Mode

• Open the Software: Launch the BLR SD Card Data Recovery Tool from your desktop. Choose Recovery Mode: Select the appropriate recovery mode for your situation (e.g., “Deleted File Recovery,” “Formatted Recovery,” or “Deep Scan”).

Step 4: Scan the SD Card

• Select the SD Card: Choose your SD card from the list of available drives.
• Start Scanning: Click the “Scan” button to begin scanning the SD card for recoverable files. This process might take some time, depending on the size and condition of the SD card.

Step 5: Preview and Recover Files

• Preview Files: Once the scan is complete, you will see a list of recoverable files. Use the preview feature to view the files.
• Select Files to Recover: Choose the files you want to recover by checking the boxes next to them.
• Recover Files: Click the “Recover” button and select a new drive on your computer to save the recovered files. Make sure not to save the files back to the SD card to avoid overwriting.

Step 6: Save and Verify Recovered Files

• Save Recovered Files: Save the recovered files to a secure location on your computer.

Bottom Line

In this blog, we covered mostly all points, including how to solve the SD Card not showing up on windows issues. I hope these solutions in this blog can help you fix SD card not showing up in Windows 10