SD cards are the perfect companion to keep your data on the go, they have high data capacity with phenomenal Read and write speed. SD cards are slightly bigger than Micro SD Cards, they are mostly used in devices such as DSLR cameras and Camcorders. It would be a shame if your SD card stops working and your PC/device is unable to read/write on it. I have seen many people having problems with their SDHC cards so I have decided to write a troubleshooting guide for it.
This guide will help you if you have the following problems:
- SD card working on camera but not showing files (Pictures and videos) on PC
- SD card shows disk space used by not showing any files (probably due to a virus).
How to Fix Files not Showing on SD Card or micro SD Card.
There are many ways to get back files on SD card on Windows, try the following steps until you get your problem fixed.
Enable the Hidden Files in Windows
There is a virus that attaches itself to the autorun command of the portable memory cards and USB devices. It makes all the files hidden on your memory but you can still see the disk space being used from Windows Explorer. Don’t worry, it can be easily fixed. This fix also applies to micro SD card used in Android devices.
1. Press WinKey+R to open run.
2. Type “cmd” and press Enter. This will open a command prompt (black window).
3. Enter the following command in the command prompt. Replace “k” in red color with your SD card drive letter.
attrib -h -r -s /s /d k:\*.*
4. Go back to Windows Explorer, open SD card drive, all your files will reappear.
5. Now, Install a good anti-virus or antimalware such as Malwarebytes to remove the virus that caused files to be hidden
SD Card Not Showing/Recognized in Windows Explorer
If the SD card is not being detected in the Devices or My Computer. Make sure you have inserted the card properly, push it a little further until you hear a click sound. If it still does not work, download Install SD/MMC card reader device drivers from internet by entering its model no. Also try cleaning the SD card copper metal pins with a pencil eraser to remove the dust/rust.
Try Accessing the Camera photos/videos directly:
The default path for videos and photos stored by camera on a SD card is;
F:\DCIM
“F” letter in green represents the Letter of the SD card that will show up on Windows. “DCIM” in red represents the folder that contains your media.
Make sure your SD card is not Write Protected
SD cards come with write protection by default, there is a tiny switch on a card that enables or disables writing Data on it. Slide the tiny switch upward to remove write protection.
Connect your Camera to your PC
You can connect camera to your PC through data cable. That way your Camera will work as a card reader and you could see all the files.
Hello Austin,
Your website is really helpful and it has helped us solve our SD card folder display issue.
Thanks a lot. “Jai Techkhoji”
Cheers.
Pranay
Hey man, it was really helpful. I solved the problem. Cheers
my sd mini card reads on my Windows Surface (Win 10) and Lenovo Thinkpad (Win 8.1) when it is in the adapter, but will not read when in my Android Lenovo Yoga tablet
tried your advice, it did not work::
I got message “access denied” and a string of information like hereunder:
C:\Users|Expert\attrib -h -r -s /s /d j:*.*
Access denied – J:\Boot\bg-BG\bootmgr.exe.mui
Access denied – J:\Boot\cs-CZ\bootmgr.exe.mui
Access denied – J:\Boot\cs-CZ\memtest.exe.mui
Access denied – J:\Boot\da-DK\bootmgr.exe.mui
* In the micro card drive I instead found a folder > $RECYCLE.BIN.
Thanks. Your article solved my problem.
I got this error:
attrib.exe – Write Protect Eror
The disk cannot be written to because it is write proctected.
Please remove the write protection from the volume in drive F:.
Thanks a lot man.. Lot of people had many answers to this but this is the only one that worked. Really appreciate it!
My drive is showing the space being used but the files are not being shown. Tried the command for the showing the “hidden files” but no avail. got a message repeatedly saying
target of the symbolic link H:\DCIM\Camera\u does not exist
also tried the folder options to ensure that the option to see hidden files and folders was seen but still nothing
Please help.
Thanks for this article, I thought I’d lost all my pictures!
Thank you dudeeeee! The prob was fixed so quickly! U the man! ??????
Comment Text*PLS I DO USE MY TECNO 638 TO DOWNLOAD VIDEOS BEFORE AND IT PLAYS BUT AFTER SOME TIME IS NOT PLAYING AGAIN WHAT WE I DO.
Amazingly superb! thanks buddy. This command really works and I have got all my photos.
Once again Thanks!!!
i have samsung 64gb evo micro sd card and its not detecting any where , please help , i shall be very thankful to you.
HEELL YEA MAN THANK YOU SO MUCH I WAS HOPPELESS UNTIL YOU!!!!!!
It really worked. Thanks a lot…
Thankyou very much
Worked Straight up. Thanks for this tutorial
Hello
My sd card is showing only at bootup of phone after that content hides, on pc content are showing but i couldn’t delete or cut them and after trying the command you shared i get an error of your disc is write protected, any hrlp or pointer please?
Hi… Justin…
Million Thanks to you…. 🙂 Your steps works like charm….!!
I recovered my 150+ photos from my SD card using your simple command.
Once again i say Thanks a lot….!!!
Thanks a lot! It saved my a**! Added to my bookmarker!
Hi Justin!
My SD card has data on it but must be corrupted. It will not read in my camera or PC. PC shows data on it and displays a DCIM folder but it cannot be opened. Restore folder shows files about the right size but they are formatted as file fragments? Not sure how to get data back to picture files? Thanks!
@Mary,
There’s a possibility that SD card is corrupted.
Instead of accessing the DCIM folder, try copying the whole folder to your PC’s hard drive.
If that does not work, you could try recovering files from the SD card using this guide:
https://www.techkhoji.com/recover-files-windows-android-usb-drive-tutorial/