SD Card Data Recovery
Deleted, formatted, corrupted and physically damaged SD and microSD cards. We assess the original card and explain the safest route for photos, video and files.
SD Card Data Recovery Expertise
We assess logical, electrical and physical faults across common camera, drone and removable memory cards
Logical Failures
Recovery from corrupted file systems, accidentally formatted memory cards, deleted photos and videos, and other software-related issues.
Electrical Failures
Recovery from cards with controller chip issues, circuit damage, or electronic component failures causing recognition problems.
Physical Damage
Recovery from broken, cracked, or bent SD cards, damaged connector pins, or cards with water and liquid exposure. We can often salvage data even from severely damaged cards.
Camera & Photo Recovery
specialised recovery of RAW image files, partially corrupted photos, and camera-specific formats from DSLR, mirrorless, and point-and-shoot cameras.
Drone & Action Camera Data
Recovery of 4K/8K video files, flight logs, and high-resolution photos from damaged microSD cards used in drones, GoPro, and other action cameras.
Monolith Memory Recovery
Advanced recovery techniques for modern monolithic memory cards where flash memory and controller are combined in a single chip, requiring specialised equipment and expertise.
How recovery starts
We examine the original device before recommending a route.
- Tell us what happenedDevice, symptoms, previous attempts and the files that matter.
- Hands-on diagnosis£39Normally 1–3 working days.
- Review the quoteWe explain the fault, recovery options, price and service level before you decide.
- Recovery and returnWe proceed only after approval and return the recovered data on an agreed destination drive.
If recovery is unsuccessful, there is no recovery fee – only the £39 diagnostic. Read the full service policy.
Common SD Card Failure Scenarios
Four kinds of failure cover almost everything that reaches the bench. What separates them is how deep into the device the fault sits.
Each card shows which layer the fault sits in. The further right, the further a recovery goes beyond software.
Deleted or Formatted Card
Software-levelNothing failed. The card was told to forget, and it has not yet been written over.
Flash memory, data still there
- Photos deleted in the camera
- Card formatted by mistake
- Camera reset wiped the card
- Quick format on a computer
Corrupted Card
Software-levelPulled out mid-write, or the camera lost power holding the file open.
File system on the card
- “Card needs formatting” message
- Camera no longer recognises it
- Files listed but unreadable
- Shows less capacity than it has
Controller Failure
Board-levelThe memory is intact. The chip that reads it is not.
Controller chip
- Not recognised by any device
- Reports 0MB capacity
- Locks up whatever it is plugged into
- Mounts empty
Physical or Water Damage
Board-levelThe card has been broken, bent or soaked, and the contacts no longer connect.
Card body and contacts
- Cracked or snapped card
- Bent or warped body
- Damaged contact pins
- Water or liquid exposure
SD Card Recovery Case Studies
Real cases from the bench, including the ones where not everything came back
SanDisk Extreme PRO Card Error at a Wedding
A wedding photographer’s 64GB SanDisk Extreme PRO showed a card error between the ceremony and the reception. Around nine hundred RAW files were on it and there was no second card in the bag.
What we found
The card itself was fine. Its file table had been damaged part-way through a write, which happens when a camera loses power with the buffer still emptying.
What we did
We imaged the card and worked only on the copy. The RAW files were whole; it was the index pointing at them that had broken, so we rebuilt it from the file headers.
The advice on the phone was to stop putting it back in the camera. Apparently every attempt was another chance to write over something.
DJI Drone Card That Nothing Would Read
A commercial drone operator’s 128GB card from a Mavic 3 Pro stopped being recognised by the drone, the card reader and the laptop. A survey flight for a construction client was on it.
What we found
A microSD card is one sealed part: memory and controller in the same package. This one’s controller had failed, so nothing could get a word out of it.
What we did
We read the memory directly through the test contacts on the card and rebuilt the file structure from the raw data. The footage came off in one piece.
I had always treated cards that small as disposable. I now fly with two and swap between flights.
GoPro Clips That Would Not Play Back
A snowboarder came home from a week in Austria to find most of the clips on the card would not play. The camera had been shutting down in the cold, sometimes in the middle of a recording.
What we found
Each of those shutdowns left a video file without its closing index. The picture was all still there; the file simply had no way of telling a player where anything in it began.
What we did
We rebuilt the index for each broken file from the recording itself. Most played back in full. Three that had been cut off within a second or two of starting had too little in them to work with.
Twenty-one of the twenty-four runs came back. I had gone in expecting none of them.
SD Card Snapped in Half in Kenya
A wildlife photographer snapped a 32GB card getting it out of a jammed slot on the last morning of a commissioned shoot. Three weeks of work was on it and the trip was over.
What we found
The break had gone through the plastic body but not through the memory package inside. The contacts along one edge had been torn away with it.
What we did
We freed the memory package from the broken card and read it on a jig that makes its own contact with the die. Every image came off complete.
I posted them two halves of a card in a padded envelope feeling faintly ridiculous. Everything came back.
Holiday Card Formatted in the Camera
A family formatted the card from a once-in-a-lifetime trip in the camera, believing the pictures had already been copied across. The camera had not been used since.
What we found
A format in a camera writes a new, empty index and touches nothing else. Because nobody had taken another picture afterwards, every original file was still sitting untouched on the card.
What we did
We imaged the card and rebuilt the photographs from their file headers on the copy. All of them came back, in the order they were taken.
We were told the one thing that would have ruined it was carrying on using the camera. Pure luck that we had not.
Data Recovery in Action
See our advanced recovery techniques and specialist equipment at work
Memory Card Recovery Questions
Answers specific to SD and other memory cards. Fees, timeframes and approval rules apply to every recovery and are set out in full in the service policy.
I have lost photos from the card – should I keep using it?
Stop using it now. Deleted files stay on the card until something writes over them, so every new photo, every reformat and every “repair” prompt is a chance to lose them for good. Take the card out and leave it out.
Can you recover from a card that is snapped or cracked?
Often, yes. The photos live on the flash memory inside, not in the plastic or the contacts, so a broken body is not the end of it. Damaged contacts can be bridged by microsoldering, and where the card is beyond that the memory can be read directly.
What types of memory card can you recover data from?
SD, SDHC and SDXC, microSD in all three sizes, CompactFlash, CFexpress, XQD and Sony Memory Stick. Cards out of cameras, drones, dash cams, phones and audio recorders all arrive here.
How long does it take once I approve the quote?
Standard recovery is 14–21 working days, Priority 5–14 and Emergency 1–4. Card cases carry no donor-part delay, so they often finish early within the level you choose.
What decides the recovery price?
Whether the card still talks to a reader at all. A card that mounts but shows the wrong contents is a different job from one whose controller is dead and whose memory has to be read directly.
Do you do the work yourselves?
Yes. Card work – contact repair, controller-level access and reading the flash directly – is done at our Wimbledon workshop. Nothing is passed to a specialist partner without explaining why and getting your written approval.
Fees, timeframes and approval rules in full: Data Recovery Service Policy. Anything not answered here – tell us what happened and we will come back with an initial estimate.
Request Your SD Card Recovery Quote
Tell us what happened, which files matter and how urgently you need them.