How to Backup SD Card Before Formatting? [2024 Edition]

Are you looking for an effective way to backup SD card data? Look no further! In this article, we'll explore why backing up your SD card is crucial and introduce four practical methods to effortlessly backup all content on your SD card:

Why Back Up SD Card?

A Secure Digital (SD) card is a small storage device commonly used in older Android phones/tablets, digital cameras, music players, and dash cams. It's portable and makes transferring data between devices easy.

However, the more frequently you use the memory card on different devices, the higher the risk of data loss. For example, accidental deletion, file system corruption, or virus infection can lead to data loss. If you have a backup of your SD card data, your SD card data is safe when these mishaps occur.

The best way to fix an SD card with errors is to format it, and you can do this directly from the SD Card Formatter.

And how to backup SD card before formatting? We'll discuss that next.

Backing up your SD card before Formatting

Here, you'll learn where to back up your SD card and how to back up an SD card on your own.

The way you backup SD card data largely depends on where you choose to save the SD card backup. So, when you want to backup SD card data, first of all, you should determine where you want to save the backup.

**Where are my SD card backups?**

Here we've gathered four common devices you can use as backup destinations for your SD card, USB drive, external hard disk, or computer:

1. Save to an external storage device, such as an external hard drive or USB flash drive 2. Save to your computer 3. Save to a cloud storage service

【Four Steps to Back Up Your SD Card Before Formatting it】

So how to backup SD card? Some of you may think of “copy and paste”. Yes, this is one of the most common ways to back up files. But it's not the best. Here we offer 4 methods for you to choose one to back up before formatting your SD card:

Method 1: Copy and Paste to SD Card Backup Here's an easy way to back up your files to an SD card: 1. First, insert your SD card into the device (such as a phone or computer). 2. Locate the file or folder you want to back up, which is typically found in your device's storage. 3. Use a file manager application (e.g., "My Files" on a phone or "File Explorer" on a computer) to select the file(s) you wish to back up. 4. Tap and hold the selected file, then choose the "Copy" option. If you're backing up an entire folder, select "Copy Folder." 5. Navigate to the SD card location, which is usually displayed as "External Storage" or "SD Card" in the file manager. 6. In the root directory of the SD card or any folder where you want to save the backup, tap "Paste" or right-click and choose "Paste." 7. Wait for the copying process to finish. This may take some time, depending on the file size. 8. Once the copying is complete, you can safely remove the SD card. Your files are now backed up on the SD card and can be restored when needed. Make sure the SD card has enough space to store all backup files, and avoid interrupting the device's connection with the SD card during the process to prevent data loss.

Step 1: Remove the SD card from your device and connect it to your computer.

If you want to back up your SD card to another external device, connect it to your computer.

Step 2: Open File Explorer and open your SD card.

Step 3: Copy the contents using "Ctrl + C," and then paste everything from the SD card to another location on your computer or an external device using "Ctrl + V."

Wait for the copy and paste process to finish. You have now successfully made a copy of your SD card's data on another device.

Method 2: Back Up Your SD Card and Save It as an Image Before Formatting

If you don't need to frequently use the SD card, or want to save storage space on the destination device, it's highly recommended to use reliable backup software. Professional file backup software – AOMEI Backupper Standard with its File Backup feature can help.

With Todo Backup, you can back up your SD card before formatting with just three clicks.

Connect your device to your computer and back up your SD card easily by following these steps.

Step 1. Launch Todo Backup, and on the main interface, click "Create a backup", then "Select backup content".

Step 2: Since you want to backup your disk, just click "Disk" to start.

Step 3: tools Backup offers several choices. You can choose to back up the entire disk or a specific partition based on your needs. Then, click "OK".

Step 4.  Choose the location where you want to save the backup. You can choose to save the disk to a local drive or a NAS.

Step 5: Click on "Backup Now". After the backup process is finished, you can right-click on any task to manage your backups, such as restoring the backup, creating an incremental backup, and more.

### Method 3: Clone to a Backup SD Card

To clone and back up an SD card with large files, Todo Backup is a good option. Its cloning feature duplicates everything on the SD card with just a few clicks:

If you want to clone the SD card's data to another external device, connect it to your computer first.

Step 1. Launch Todo Backup and then click on "Tools" in the top right corner. You'll see the Clone and other utilities there.

Step 2. Select the source disk or partition and the target disk (make sure that the target disk has more space than the source disk or partition).

Step 3: Cloning will permanently erase all data on the destination disk/partition. If you have already backed up your data, click "Continue".

Step 4: Click on "Proceed" to start the clone.

## Method 4: Upload Your SD Card to the Cloud for Backup

Nowadays, cloud drives have become a common tool for people to back up their files and data. If you happen to have a cloud drive, you can also back up your SD card data to it.

For a step-by-step guide, please click on the following link for assistance:

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1. `#1. `Backup SD Card to Google Drive
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2. `#2. Backup to OneDrive`
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3. `#3. Backup to Dropbox`
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Format the SD Card after Backing Up Data

After backing up the data on your SD card, you can now use an SD card formatter tool to format and reset it so that it's back to its healthy state. Here, we'll show you the easiest way to format an SD card.

Format an SD Card using File Explorer

Step 1: Connect the SD card to your computer and open File Explorer.

Step 2: Right click on the SD card that is connected, and select “Format.”

Step 3: In the formatting window, choose an appropriate file system, like NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT. Click on “Start.”

Conclusion

On this page, we explain why backing up an SD card is so important and provide 4 methods to help you back up data on an SD card to a Windows PC. Besides an SD card, we also recommend trying out these 4 methods to back up data on other types of storage devices like hard drives, external hard drives, USBs, etc., which work on Windows 10/8/7.

With a backup, you can survive the loss, breakage, or even death of your device.

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Frequently Asked Questions: How to Backup SD Card Before Formatting in UTF-8

How do I save files to the SD card before formatting?

To save files to the SD card before formatting, you'll need to use an SD card reader to connect the card to your computer. Once connected, you can transfer files to or from the SD card just as you would with any other storage device. After the file transfer is complete, you can safely format the SD card for use with your camera or another device.

How can I format my SD card without losing data?

To format an SD card without losing data, you need to create a copy of your files and back them up first. After backing up your files, you can use the built-in formatting tool on your computer or a third-party application to format the SD card. Once formatted, you can restore your files from the backup and continue using the SD card as usual.