Android Phone Micro SD Card Requires Formatting

phone sd requires formatting"I bought a new smartphone which run Android system, but the micro SD cannot work when inserted it to this phone. Android phone says that memory card needs to be formatted. In order to know what happened, I removed the micro SD card from the Android phone and connected it to my computer. However, Windows system reports the same error message that memory card is not formatted do you want to format it now. Can I fix the not formatted error without formatting the micro SD card? How to recover deleted files and photos in phone memory card after formatting? The card still contains lots of precious photos."

"My 16GB Lexar TF card for Android phone is not formatted, and I cannot access any file inside. Please give me some advice to extract files off the corrupted micro SD card. Or how to recover data if I formatted memory card?"

Solution - Unformatted Micro SD Card Data Recovery

Also read: phone not reading micro sd card - fix it in 6 ways

Cannot access any file when your Android phone micro SD card requires formatting? Well, the read-only iCare data recovery software can help you extract those inaccessible files off the micro SD card without formatting.

Steps to Restore Data from Not Formatted Micro SD Card

Step1. Insert the micro SD card to a card reader to get it connected properly to your computer. Download and install the data recovery software. Then, launch the software and select a recovery module.

download data recovery software

select recovery
Step2. Select the unformatted micro SD card and let the software scan. You only need to wait during the scanning.

select drive
Step3. You can preview the found files after scanning. Then, you can choose all the files you need and recover them.

recover files

SD Card Shows 0 Byte

One possible problem you may encounter is that the capacity of micro SD card shows 0 byte and its file system turns to RAW when it requires formatting. Many people would format the micro SD card directly because they think that there is no data inside the micro SD card anymore when it show 0 byte space. However, as a matter of fact, the reason why micro SD card shows 0 byte space is that system cannot recognize the RAW file system normally. The truth is that all data is still stored on the original space. If there is important data stored on the unformatted micro SD card, you had better not format the card directly.

Format Micro SD Card Later

You can format the micro SD card later when data is restored. You can format the micro SD card so as to change its file system from RAW to FAT32, which can fix the not formatted error on your card and enable you to access the card normally. However, have you ever received the similar message like below when you format an unformatted micro SD card?

  • Windows was unable to complete the format
  • The format did not complete successfully

If you receive the similar message, it indicates that you are unable to format the micro SD card. Then, how can you convert the RAW file system to FAT32 and fix the not formatted error on your micro SD card?

==>> Micro SD card cannot be formatted when you want to convert it from RAW file system to FAT32? This page will guide you to fix the problem - SD memory card cannot be formatted by Windows >>

Other Possible Methods to Fix Unformatted Error on Micro SD Card

If you cannot format yourmicro SD card successfully when it says memory card in RAW format, here are some possible solutions that may give you some help:

1. Run anti-virus software to check if the micro SD card is attacked by virus

When a micro SD card is attacked by virus, it may prevent you from formatting the card. In this situation, you just need to use the anti-virus software to remove the virus and then complete format the micro SD card.

2. Run Windows Error-checking tool to repair bad sectors

If the micro SD card doesn’t contain any virus, you can connect the card to your computer and run Error-checking tool to check if the card contains any bad sector. In the card has bad sectors, you can repair the bad sectors and then full format the card.

3. Format the micro SD card with professional format tool

If you insist on formatting the micro SD card even when receiving the message "Windows was unable to complete the format", you can try professional format tool to format the micro SD card. Although this way may help you format an unformatted micro SD card successfully, it may also cause some damage to your card.

Tip:
The micro SD card might be corrupted when it cannot be formatted successfully. Therefore, you had better backup important data on the micro SD card in order to run into data loss problem in the future. Even if the micro SD card is not corrupted, it is a good habit to backup important data.

Last updated on Nov 28, 2023

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