What can I do if my memory card is no longer recognized?

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Question

My memory card is no longer recognized, what can I do?

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Answer

The following symptoms may indicate that a storage medium is faulty:

• Saved data is suddenly gone.
• Data cannot be copied to another medium.
• Error messages appear during file access.
• PC / Notebook: Although the storage medium is displayed, access to it is not possible.
  An indication that the storage medium has to be formatted appears.
• Digital camera: The display remains dark, no operation is possible.

If your memory card has any of these symptoms it needs to be repaired or replaced. But before that you should try the following:
If the memory card has a small slide switch on the side of it (write protection), please change it and check if the problem persists. Furthermore you should check the card on another device to see if you have the same issues, this ensures that there is no fault with the device. Dirt should also be removed if any. You can do this by cleaning the contacts of the card, e.g. Carefully clean with a cotton bud soaked in spirit.
Many operating systems even offer special repair functions for storage media. Under Windows right-click on the faulty memory card and select properties then select Tools and now “run error checking”, e.g.. With the Mac, programs such as Recovery Wizard and on smartphones special data rescue apps (usually require root access) will help.

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The information in this article refers to:

• Memory Cards

• YHYCYJ (IRIS-Symptom-Code_729)

Review Date: 2021-10-01