SD cards are usually used in portable devices like smartphones and MP3 players. But you can also use them on your PC to transfer the personal files from PC to SD card or SD card to PC. However, some user may end up with the “SD card not showing up” error.
Is your SD card not showing up or detected on the PC? Never mind it. Just follow this solution guide to fix the SD card issues without losing your personal info.
Why does the SD Card not Showing Up?
There can be any reason that causes SD Card not showing up error. Either your SD card might be damaged physically or logically. All the harms are influenced by various factors. Some of them include:
- SD might be locked – an SD card can be write-protected. Thus, your PC cannot be able to read the card and it will not show up the card.
- Loss of SD card driver – SD card driver may get lost, in such cases you cannot be able to access the card on your PC.
- Connection failure – the SD card might not be connected properly to the PC. This may happen when you use a damaged card reader or adapter or USB port.
Solutions to Fix “SD Card Not Showing Up” error
Method 1: Try it on Another PC or a new card reader
When you encounter an SD card not showing up error on your PC, the first thing to do is check whether the SD card is connected properly to the system. If still the error exists, then it might be a connection error. So, test the SD card on another port or on a new card reader to detect the issue.
If the SD on a computer or on a new card reader is detected, then most likely your PC has a faulty card reader. If the problem exists, then your SD card might be damaged.
Method 2: Dust and clean Adapter and SD card
If you have not used your SD card for a long time, the dust on it may hurt the performance of your SD card and card reader as well.
- Gently, wipe all the components of the SD card.
- Clean the adapter.
- Now, reconnect your SD card to the adapter.
Method 3: Enable Card Reader
Usually, the card reader is automatically enabled on the Windows PC. But, in some case, it can be disabled and then enabled again via manual way.
- Navigate to the Control Panel.
- In the Control Panel window, click on the Device Manager option.
- Click on the Memory technology devices and double click on the Card Reader.
- On the following screen, choose the Driver Tab and click on the Disable option.
- Now, a message will pop up saying “Disabling the device will cause it to stop performing” Do you really want to disable it?“
- Select Yes option.
- Finally, choose the card reader to open the properties window and select the Enable option.
- That’s it.
Method 4: Re-install or Update the SD card reader driver
- Open Device Manager and navigate to memory technology devices > locate the SD card reader.
- Select the Card Reader and click on Uninstall option.
- Then, choose “Delete the driver software for this device” and click OK.
- Reboot/Restart your system.
- Now, download the latest diver for the SD card reader along with its compatibility mode.
- To install it on your PC, right-click on the driver installer and select “Properties” option.
- On the following screen, click on Compatibility option and click on “Run this program in compatibility mode for“.
- Choose the windows version from the list and click Apply > OK.
- Now, run the setup file and follow the instruction to complete the installation.
- Restart PC.
Method 5: Change your drive letter of unrecognized SD card
- Search for Disk Management in the search bar.
- Search for the SD card and right-click on it and select “Change the drive letter and paths“.
- click on change option and choose a drive letter from the list and click OK.
- In case, if your card doesn’t have a drive letter, click Add.
Closure
There are various solutions to fix the SD card not showing up error. We mentioned only some of the best solutions to fix the error. Apply any one after the other until you get the one that fixes your sd card issue. Was this helpful? Share your comment with us!