Microsd adapter does not see it. What to do if the phone no longer sees the microSD memory card or USB flash drive? Computer hardware problems
In some cases, the phone does not see microSD, but not all users know why this happens and how to fix the problem
Moreover, this problem is serious, since it does not allow access to all the information stored on the flash drive.
For users whose phone is a player or a device for Internet surfing, this problem can pose a serious problem.
The essence of the problem
How does this problem manifest itself? How to understand that the phone really does not see the device? This is quite simple and becomes clear immediately after installing the memory card.
The device does not reflect that it was installed. At the same time, there is no memory card icon on the panel on the working screen, nor is removable storage displayed in the Memory section in Settings.
Accordingly, in all phone directories (for example, Music, Gallery) there are no corresponding files, previously .
Sometimes after installing external media into the phone, the device does not immediately display a message about its installation, as it usually does.
Sometimes while working with microSD it may suddenly turn off and a message like "Memory card is disabled".
In the most rare cases, the device reports that the memory card is damaged.
The problem can occur on both a new device and an old one. And also how old map memory, and with a new, empty medium. Regardless of this, the reasons are often the same in all cases.
Possible reasons
There are several reasons for this phenomenon. Conventionally, they can be divided into two large groups: problems with the phone and problems with the drive itself. The first group includes:
- Direct damage to the memory card slot;
- Other hardware problems in the device;
- Problems with the functioning of the software, due to which the device cannot be seen.
The memory card itself may have the following problems:
- Failure of the device (especially when a previously working card suddenly ceases to be recognized or the device reports its malfunction, which is typical for old memory cards with a lot of wear);
- Physical damage to the contacts on the card or other problems;
- File system mismatch (some new file systems do not “see” old phones, then it is shown that the drive is missing).
Depending on the cause of the malfunction, one or another method of eliminating it can be chosen.
<Рис. 2 Слот>
Elimination
There are several ways to deal with such problems. They are selected depending on the reason that caused the malfunction.
If this reason is not clear, then you will have to try several methods.
Working with hardware
<Рис. 3 Контакты карты памяти>
First of all, you need to check what exactly the problem is. Insert another memory card into the device, and if it is detected, then the problem is in the drive itself.
If not, then the problem is most likely in the phone.
What can the user do in this case? It is recommended to clean the card slot from dust, and also wipe the contacts on the media itself. This can be done with a cotton swab.
Most likely this will not solve the problem, but sometimes it helps. However, if it turns out that the card slot is broken, then the only way is to replace it.
Recovery
<Рис. 4 Восстановление>
Each one has a Recovery mode. Running it will allow you to “roll back” all dubious settings to factory settings.
Thus, if the device previously saw cards, but now does not see them, then this method can help.
- First, perform a normal reboot of the device (not turning it off and on, but rebooting);
- If this does not help, proceed to recovery;
- Press and hold the power and volume down buttons at the same time for up to 10 seconds (most often, this is how access to the recovery function opens);
- As soon as the device restarts, a special start menu will open in Windows;
- Go to the Wipe cache partition item (you need to do this using buttons or by clicking on the screen, depending on the device);
- Reboot your device (rebooting may take much longer than usual).
The map should now be detected. If this does not happen, then you will have to work with it on a computer.
Formatting
<Рис. 5 Форматирование>
Install the memory card into your computer using an adapter. Open it through the “My Computer” section to make sure the device is working.
If the computer does not see the drive, then the memory card is faulty.
- Press Win + R and wait for the Run window to open;
- Enter the command diskmgmt.msc in it;
- Now a window should open in which all memory devices will be displayed - external, internal, formatted, unformatted;
- If the letter designating the card matches the letter, for example, of the optical drive, etc., then you need to rename the card;
- In rare cases, renaming may solve the problem;
- If the problem is not solved in this way, then you need to completely format the card and create a new file system (of course, it is worth remembering that the data from the media must be copied before this);
- You can format the device from Explorer;
- Click on the memory card right click mice;
- A menu will open in which you need to select the line Format;
- A window will open in which you need to remove the marker from the window next to the inscription "Quick Format";
- Below, indicate that you need to create a format file system (most often this parameter is set by default);
- Click OK;
- Wait for the process to complete.
After that, install the memory card in your phone. It should be successfully recognized. If this still does not happen, then it is possible that there is still a specific hardware problem.
Restoring work
<Рис. 6 Восстановление через ПК>
Restoring the operation of a MicroSD card is a specific case when a medium that was successfully recognized before suddenly ceases to be detected by the same device.
There was no damage to the media or phone, no changes in software phone number was not entered, etc.
This method can also help when the phone reports that "Memory card cannot be accessed", “The memory card is damaged, etc.”.
This method is quite effective, but only for old cards. And only on the condition that they worked properly before. There is no point in using this method for new cards.
- Connect the memory card to a PC or laptop to make sure it is working properly;
- Open Explorer and right-click on the map;
- Select Properties from the drop-down menu;
- Go to the Service tab;
- Run Disk Check, having previously specified the need to automatically correct detected errors and malfunctions;
- In the same section you can conduct Surface test with automatic recovery of bad sectors (although this is not necessary).
More difficult option– this is troubleshooting by working in the HKLM branch. This is done as follows:
- Find the SYSTEM directory in the folder tree;
- In it, open the StorageDevicePolicies section;
- The parameters that need to be changed will appear on the right side of the window;
- Assign a zero value to the defining parameter (write the number zero in parentheses in the combination 0x00000000(1)).
The card should now interact normally with the phone.
File system
<Рис. 7 Файловая система>
There are memory cards in microSD HC and microSD XC formats. The second option is typical for cards with a capacity of more than 32 GB.
They have a different file system, which has its own advantages (for example, recording speed and duration of recording segments), but is not recognized by all phones, tablets and other devices.
So, some phones are simply not designed to support cards larger than 32GB. In this case, it is almost impossible to change the file system without special skills.
However, it is worth remembering that the type (HC or XC) of the card is written directly on it, so it is important to choose the appropriate one.
WHAT TO DO IF ANDROID (PHONE) DOESN’T SEEN THE MEMORY CARD?
The phone does not see the MicroSD flash drive: what to do, how to fix it?
Hello.
Today, one of the most popular types of media is a flash drive. And no matter what anyone says, the age of CD/DVD discs is coming to an end. Moreover, the price of one flash drive is only 3-4 times more than the price of a DVD! True, there is one small “but” - it is much more difficult to “break” a disk than a flash drive...
Although not often, one unpleasant situation sometimes happens with flash drives: you remove the microSD flash card from your phone or camera, insert it into your computer or laptop, but it doesn’t see it. There can be many reasons for this: viruses, software errors, failure of a flash drive, etc. In this article, I would like to stop on the most popular reasons for invisibility, as well as provide some tips and recommendations on what to do in such cases.
Types of flash cards. Is SD card supported by your card reader?
Here I would like to dwell in more detail. Many users often confuse one type of memory card with another. The fact is that there are three types of SD flash cards: microSD, miniSD, SD.
Why did the manufacturers do this?
It's just there different devices: for example, a small audio player (or a small mobile phone) and, for example, a camera or photo camera. Those. The devices are completely different in size with different requirements for the speed of flash cards and the amount of information. This is why there are several types of flash drives. Now in more detail about each of them.
1. microSD
Size: 11mm x 15mm.
MicroSD flash cards are very popular thanks to portable devices: players, phones, tablets. Using microSD, the memory of the listed devices can be increased very quickly by an order of magnitude!
Usually, when purchasing, they come with a small adapter so that this flash drive can be connected instead of an SD card (more on them below). By the way, for example, to connect this flash drive to a laptop, you need to: insert micsroSD into the adapter, and then insert the adapter into the SD connector on the front/side panel of the laptop.
2.miniSD
Size: 21.5mm x 20mm.
Once popular cards, used in portable equipment. Today they are used less and less, mainly due to the popularity of the microSD format.
3. SD
Size: 32mm x 24mm.
Flash cards: sdhc and sdxc.
These cards are mostly used in devices that require a large amount of memory + high speed. For example, a video camera, a car video recorder, a camera, etc. devices. SD cards are divided into several generations:
- SD 1 – from 8 MB to 2 GB in size;
- SD 1.1 – up to 4 GB;
- SDHC – up to 32 GB;
- SDXC – up to 2 TB.
Oh, very important points when working with SD cards!
1) In addition to the amount of memory, SD cards indicate the speed (more precisely, the class). For example, in the screenshots above, the card class is “10” - this means that the exchange speed with such a card is at least 10 MB/s (more details about classes: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital). It is important to pay attention to what speed class of flash card is required for your device!
2) microSD using special. adapters (they are usually written adapter (see screenshots above)) can be used instead of regular SD cards. True, doing this always and everywhere is not recommended (precisely because of the speed of information exchange).
3) SD card readers are backward compatible: i.e. if you take a device that reads SDHC, it will read SD cards of 1 and 1.1 generations, but will not be able to read SDXC. This is why it is important to pay attention to what cards your device can read.
By the way, many “relatively old” laptops have built-in card readers that are not able to read new types of SDHC flash cards. The solution in this case is quite simple: buy a card reader connected to a regular USB port; by the way, it looks more like a regular flash drive. Price: several hundred rubles.
SDXC card reader. Connects to a USB 3.0 port.
The same drive letter is the reason why flash drives, hard drives, and memory cards are invisible!
The fact is that if your hard drive has a drive letter of F: (for example) and your inserted flash card is also F:, then the flash card will not be displayed in Explorer. Those. you go to “my computer” - and you won’t see the flash drive there!
To fix this, you need to go to the “disk management” panel. How to do it?
In Windows 8: press Win+X, select “disk management”.
In Windows 7/8: press Win+R and enter the command “diskmgmt.msc”.
Next, you should see a window that will show all connected disks, flash drives, and other devices. Moreover, even those devices that are not formatted and that are not visible in “my computer” will be shown. If your memory card is on this list, then you need to do two things:
1. Change its drive letter to a unique one (to do this, simply right-click on the flash drive and select the operation to change the letter in the context menu, see screenshot below);
2. Format the flash card (if you have a new one, or it does not have the necessary data on it. Attention, the formatting operation will destroy all data on the flash card).
Changing the drive letter. Windows 8.
Lack of drivers is a popular reason why the computer does not see the SD card!
Even if your computer/laptop is brand new and you just brought it from the store yesterday, this does not guarantee anything. The fact is that the store sellers (or their specialists who prepare the goods for sale) could simply forget to install the necessary drivers, or simply be lazy. Most likely, you were given disks (or copied to your hard drive) with all the drivers and you just need to install them.
In general, there are special programs that can scan your computer (or rather, all its devices) and find the latest drivers for each device. I have already written about such utilities in previous posts. Here I will give only 2 links:
- Programs for updating drivers: ;
- Finding and updating drivers:
Connecting an SD card via USB using some device
If the computer does not see the SD card itself, then why can’t you try to insert the SD card into some device (for example, a phone, camera, camera, etc.) and connect it to the PC? To be honest, I rarely remove the flash card from devices, preferring to copy photos and videos from them, connecting them to my laptop via a USB cable.
Do I need special programs to connect my phone to a PC?
New operating systems such as Windows 7, 8 are capable of working with many devices without installing additional software. Driver installation and device configuration occurs automatically when the device is first connected to the USB port.
For each brand of phone/camera there are utilities recommended by the manufacturer (see on the manufacturer’s website)…
1. Try connecting the card to another computer and check if it recognizes and sees it;
2. Scan your computer for viruses (). Rarely, there are some types of viruses that block access to disks (including flash drives).
That's all for today, good luck everyone!
I received a request on the topic “MicroSD memory card is not detected.” The full text of the request is below in the screenshot.
As you already understood, the client was interested in the possibility of repairing a damaged memory card. After carefully reviewing the sent pictures with damaged memory cards, I came to the conclusion that there are chances to recover data from a damaged microSD, and they are quite good.
As for the possibility of repair, it’s the other way around. In the case where there is physical damage, then there can be no talk of repairs. And it’s not even about this particular case, but about the situation as a whole. Production technology microSD cards does not imply options for repair, although there are exceptions, but this is the exception to the rule. You can find out about repairing flash drives in my blog blog..
Memo:All -micro and -mini SD are monolithic flash drives, with all that it implies. You can read more about data recovery from monoliths in this publication.
Important:If there is important data on the card, but the microSD (microSD) does not work, then you should think about the need for repair. Repair can destroy all data, without the possibility of further recovery of information.
What to do if MicroSD is not detected
The fact is that almost all memory cards, for the most part, cannot be repaired, but there are some nuances. So, for example, I have had cases when clients brought me such memory cards with, well, “childish” problems. Below I will give a couple of examples.
Case No. 1
A client calls, saying that I had an SD card in the camera, but one day it was no longer detected in the device, and there were “mega-important photos” lying there. The first thing I thought was that there was a problem with the card controller, but everything turned out to be banal and simple.
Solution. It turned out that the client did not have an SD card at all, but a microSD inserted into an SD adapter (photo example below). After removing the microSD from the adapter and connecting via a card reader, I was able to access the contents of the disk in normal mode (without any “unknown” manipulations) and copied the data to the client’s flash drive. I was even embarrassed to take money for this. Such cases happen.
The thing is that SD adapters are a very unreliable “device” and should not be trusted. The strangest thing for me is that even some professional photographers use such a crutch technique, which I still cannot understand.
Case No. 2
The contacts have oxidized. There are also cases when oxides appear “commonly” on the card connector. In such cases, the microSD is not detected by the phone or any other device it is connected to.
Solution. The solution here is, well, very simple, and for this we need an ordinary stationery eraser and a cotton swab with technical alcohol. In general, you can do without alcohol, but how can we do without such a “device”. To eliminate oxidative processes, you need to take an eraser and carefully (without using rough physical strength, but without gentle rubbing) go over the contacts with an elastic band until they become shiny as in the photo below. After making sure that the connector contacts are well cleaned, you need to apply a little alcohol to the ear stick and clean the contacts and wait until the alcohol dries.
At this point, perhaps, the article about what to do if MicroSD memory cards are not detected can be considered closed. I wish everyone a good mood and life without breakdowns that could not be fixed.
If you have any questions about this topic, write in the comments under the article.
More information about data recovery from memory cards can be found in the "Data Recovery" section.
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SD cards will remain a popular data storage format for a long time. The standard has become very firmly entrenched in the photo and video equipment market, and therefore there was, is and will continue to be a need for card readers. From time to time, users encounter problems with the operation of SD cards (or card readers) in computers running Windows 10. The card is inserted into the appropriate port, but the computer cannot recognize it and the SD card is not displayed in Explorer. This is a very common and quite annoying problem, which, fortunately, is very easy to fix in the vast majority of cases. In this article you will find some tips that will help you if your computer does not see the memory card.
Although in this manual we are mainly talking about SD cards (the larger ones), the instructions are also relevant for microSD cards. Modern computers(Surface tablets, for example) have recently been often equipped with microSD slots. The tips described in the article are also relevant for these devices.
The computer or laptop does not see the memory card - what to do
First, you need to make sure that the card works. To do this, insert it into another device with a slot for SD (or microSD using an adapter) cards. This could be a camera, video camera, second computer, tablet, smartphone or any other device equipped with an appropriate slot. If the memory card is not recognized in this device or works intermittently, it means it is either damaged or needs to clean the connectors.
Take a cotton pad, ear swab or piece of cotton, lightly soak them in alcohol or a suitable cleaning product (in theory, plain water will do, but either a special cleaning product or simple alcohol will do the job best), then lightly go over the metal contacts on the back side memory cards. Important: do not pour liquid on the card (this will only risk killing it) or insert it wet into the port. Make sure the contacts are dry and clean, and then try connecting the memory card to the computer again.
Check if this area of the memory card or adapter you are using is dirty.
If after this procedure the memory card works in other devices, but does not work in the computer, then it makes sense to also clean the slot itself. There may be too much dust in it, which prevents the computer from reading information normally. You can clean the memory card slot in a computer or laptop using compressed air.
Advice: Don't blow into the slot. Your mouth will not be able to provide enough air and pressure to effectively clean the slot of dirt. This cleaning method can do more harm than good, since you risk simply spitting on a slot in your computer. It's better to buy compressed air at your local computer store. Fortunately, it is not expensive, and at the same time, high pressure and a long nozzle will allow you to effectively clean the deep memory card port without the risk of spitting on it with your drool.
One more tip: Make sure you insert the card the right way. The computer should indicate which side the card should be inserted. Some slots use a snap mechanism to secure the card in the slot. In such a computer, you will not be able to install the card the wrong way around, since it will not lock. Other computers may not have this mechanism, so make sure the memory card is installed correctly. Do not use force when inserting or removing a card, as you risk breaking the slot, card, or locking mechanisms.
Let's say the memory card works, you insert it the correct way, the slot in your computer is clean, but the PC still does not see the SD card. In this case, there are a few more tips that should help.
Check if the memory card is recognized in the disk management interface. If the memory card is not assigned a letter, the drive will not appear in Explorer, although both the slot and the memory card physically work.
Check if the memory card slot is enabled in your computer's BIOS settings. Sometimes it happens that the card reader on the PC motherboard is simply disabled for some unknown reason. You can check this by simply diving into the BIOS settings. Restart your computer and during startup press F2/Delete (or another button selected by your manufacturer) to get into the BIOS. Each computer has its own BIOS (UEFI), which differs depending on the manufacturer or model of motherboard, so we cannot publish all options here. You need to find the section with ports and devices ( Onboard Devices / Miscellaneous Devices and so on), and then look for something like “ Media Card Reader”, “SD Reader”, “Enable ExpressCard" and so on. Make sure it is turned on, then save the settings, restart your computer and try connecting the memory card again.
A checkbox that is responsible for activating the built-in SD card slot in the BIOS of Dell computers. If there is no checkbox, the port will not work.
In the case of desktop computers, it is also possible to have a scenario where the SD card slot on the front of the case is not connected to the computer's motherboard. Here you will have to open your case (before doing this, completely disconnect the computer's power from the outlet) and see if the wire from the front panel of the case is connected to the motherboard. The wire with a 9-pin connector must be connected to the appropriate comb on the motherboard.
Sometimes the source of the problem can be an adapter that is not working as expected. This is the case if you are using an SD adapter for microSD cards or a card of another format paired with an adapter. Of course, you don’t always have an extra adapter at hand, but this option is also worth considering if you just can’t get your computer to work with a memory card. Fortunately, adapters cost mere pennies and finding them is not difficult.
You can refer to the system's built-in diagnostic and troubleshooting methods. Perhaps Windows itself will be able to find the cause and successfully eliminate it.
The next option is to turn the card reader off and on. Perhaps a trivial bug in operating system or controller resulted in failure of the card reader.
If rebooting the adapter does not help, you can try to reinstall or update the card reader driver. Go to your manufacturer's website and check if new version drivers. If available, download and install it. You can delete it first old version drivers in Device Manager.
It is worth understanding that none of these methods will help if your computer's slot is damaged or broken. If the memory card works in other devices, but is not detected in your computer in any way even after all these dances with a tambourine, then you need to contact a specialist who will check the physical condition of the port, repair or replace it. To extract information from a card, insert it into another device (the same camera), and then connect it via a USB cable to your computer, or transfer the data you need from another PC.
We hope these tips will help you fix the problem and you won’t have to go to a service center, repair your computer, or change the memory card.
