How to Format SD Card Without Losing Data

SD Card Turns RAW and Windows Promptsto Format It

My SD card displays a RAW file system on my camera. Upon inserting it into my laptop, a prompt appears stating, "Micro SD card needs formatting. Do you want to format it now?" However, I wish to retain the photos on the card. How can I convert the RAW file system to NTFS or FAT32 without losing the SD card's contents?

Here's a video tutorial on how to convert a RAW file system to NTFS and recover data from a RAW system. Follow the guide to fix your RAW SD card.

SD cards are a widely used storage device commonly found in digital cameras, smartphones, and camcorders. Occasionally, the card may become RAW and inaccessible due to various reasons:

• Human errors
• System errors
• Unexpected disasters

When encountering such an error, Windows often prompts you to format your devices. However, this action can lead to data loss. To format the RAW drive while keeping your data secure, follow this solution: first, recover data from the RAW SD card, and then format the SD card.

Part 1. Recover Data from RAW/Inaccessible SD Card

A hard drive that has not been formatted with the NT File System, such as FAT or NTFS, is referred to as a RAW hard drive. When your drive becomes RAW, you're unable to access it. Additionally, both its capacity usage and available space will display as "zero." This means that all data initially saved on that "RAW" disk is lost; you won't be able to view it or transfer it to a secure location for future use.

However, a third-party data recovery program can access this RAW drive and retrieve data before formatting. Data Recovery Wizard is an ideal choice for recovering data from a RAW drive. It is fully compatible with all Windows and macOS systems. Additionally, it enables users to restore data from various storage devices like SD cards, USB drives, HDDs, and more.

这个过程只需要几个简单的步骤。

Step 1. Choose the SD card to scan

Translate into English: 1. Download and install the Data Recovery Wizard tool on your Windows PC. 2. Connect your SanDisk/Lexar/Transcend SD card to the computer using the correct method. 3. Launch the SD card recovery software and select "SD Card Recovery" from the left panel. All connected drives will be displayed here. Choose your SD card and click "Scan".

Step 2. Check the scan results

1. Wait for the scanning process to complete. 2. Specify one or several file types to display, such as Pictures or Videos. 3. Click "Preview" to verify if they are the desired files.

Step 3. Recover SD Card Data

1. Preview the recovered files and click "Recover."
2. Select a different location to save the recovered files rather than the original SD card.

If the data recovery software fails to restore RAW files, you still have a good chance of retrieving the data by utilizing professional RAW recovery services.

tools RAW Recovery Services

Click here to contact our experts for a free evaluation

Consult with our tools data recovery specialists for personalized manual recovery assistance. After a FREE diagnosis, we can provide the following services:

• Repair corrupted RAW drive without the need for formatting
• Recover data from RAW drives, including those encrypted with BitLocker
• Recover RAW partitions, RAW USBs, RAW flash drives, RAW external hard drives, etc.

Part 2. Format RAW SD Card Without Data Loss

Upon recovering data from the RAW SD card, you can now format the RAW SD card to NTFS or FAT32 without losing any data:

1. Format your SD card manually

Step 1. Insert your SD card into a card reader and connect the card reader to your computer.

Step 2. Right-click "This PC", select "Manage", and enter "Disk Management".

Step 3. Locate and right-click on your SD card, and choose "Format".

Step 4. Click "Yes" to proceed, then assign a new label and choose a file system such as exFAT, FAT32, or NTFS for the card. Finally, click "OK" to format your SD card.

2. Format your SD card using software

Here, we recommend a third-party free partition manager. It is entirely free for SD card formatting. Additionally, it is very user-friendly and efficient. To format SD cards in Windows 10 and all other operating systems, simply download and install the free partition manager on your computer.

Details: How to Format an SD Card

Part 3: Backup Files to Safeguard Your Data

Take preventive measures before anything happens. If you have a backup of your SD card, you won't need to worry about data loss. Backup is one of the best ways to prevent such losses.

To事先备份文件，您需要一款免费的文件备份软件。在这里，我推荐使用Todo Backup工具。有了它，您可以创建文件备份，并在过程中享受更多实用功能。您可以设置计划每天、每周或每月备份文件。此外，您还可以利用磁盘克隆、分区克隆、系统克隆等其他功能。

Step 1. When you use Todo Backup to back up files for the first time, click Create backup on the home screen and then click the large question mark to select backup contents.

Step 2. Since you're planning to back up files and folders on your computer, proceed with the "File" backup mode. Here, you can choose to back up photos, videos, documents, and all other types of files.

Step 3. Follow the paths to find the files, folders or directories you want to back up, select them all and click "OK".

Step 4. Now you need to select a backup location to save and retain the backup.

Step 5. Todo Backup enables users to save backup files to any device that is convenient for you, such as a local hard drive, external USB drive, SD card, network drive, NAS drive, or even the brand's cloud drive. Personally, we recommend selecting the cloud drive over physical drives to store crucial backups due to its better accessibility, flexibility, and security.

To access the Tools Cloud, all you need is an email registration and login.

Step 6. If you're interested in an automatic and intelligent backup schedule for the next file backup task, proceed with the "Options" setting. Here, you can encrypt confidential file backups, compress the backup image size, or customize a backup scheme to instruct the software on when to initiate the subsequent backup.

Customize an advanced and automated backup task here:

Step 7. Click "Backup Now" to initiate the file backup process. Your completed backup files will be displayed in the left pane in a card view format.