A memory card is a solid sate electronics flash storage device used for storing digital information on DSLR cameras, Smartphones, audio players, camcorders, video game consoles and other electronics devices. Unlike floppy disk or Compact disk (CD), a memory card is the fastest digital storage media through which data can be accessed quickly. Memory cards are portable, small in size but can store larger amount of data, have high re-record ability and can retain data without power. That is why these memory cards are widely used by people to store tons of files.

You can find variety of memory cards in market, where in the most popular cards are SD card (Secure Digital), MiniSD card, MicroSD card, SDHC card, SDXC card, CF card (Compact Flash), XD card, MMC and Memory Sticks. However even after having such extraordinary features and benefits, you cannot forget the fact that every man-made device has one or the other disadvantage. That is, files saved on memory card can get deleted or lost in an unexpected way due to any human errors or logical faults.

For an instance you may see a message like “memory card error”, “memory card not formatted”, “memory card is full”, “memory card locked”, etc soon after connecting memory card to Windows PC. You might think, suddenly what went wrong with your card and why is it showing these errors? You cannot see any of your photos, videos, songs and other files present on card. Other than card errors, other reasons for deletion or loss of files from memory cards are explained as mentioned below:

• Unintentional Deletion: Mistakenly erasing files from memory card when connected to computer or accidentally hitting "Delete All" button while previewing photo files from DSLR camera
• Formatting: Incorrectly formatting card on computer instead of digital camera or mistakenly clicking on Format card option provided on digital camera will lead to loss of files from card
• Card Errors: You need to format card when it displays errors like “format error” or “card not formatted error” in order to reuse it for saving new files. But formatting the card will erase entire files from memory card
• Mishandling the Card: Removing the card, switching off the camera in between file transfer process or ejecting the memory card during read / write process can lead to severe loss of data from card
• Card Corruption: Virus/malware infections is the key cause behind corruption of memory card file system, because of which user cannot access any files from card

Is it possible to recover files from memory card?

Yes, memory card file recovery is possible if you take necessary actions soon after losing files from it. When files are deleted or lost from memory card they are not completely erased from its storage space, instead its space on the card will be marked as free or reusable for saving new data; whereas the file content still remains intact on memory card as long as erased files are overwritten or replaced with new files. And such files are easily retrieved from card with the aid of competent card recovery software.

Card recovery software:

Growth in information technology has solved many problems of users by designing a number of data recovery tools, using which lost data from cards can be recovered in safe way. In this regard, Yodot Photo Recovery is considered as the best tool to retrieve vivid types of pictures, RAW images, music files, video files and documents from memory card on Windows OS. Its advanced scanning algorithms quickly scans memory card to find and extract various file formats based on their file signatures. It supports recovery of media files from CF, XD, SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC, Memory Sticks and other types of flash memory cards.

Once recovery process gets over, you can preview restored photos, videos and music file. You can also sort out the recovered files on the basis of filename, size of the file, date in which the file was created and file extension. This tool lets users to save restored files to any specified location on the hard drive or external drive accessible to host Windows OS. Mac users can download the Mac version of photo recovery tool i.e. Yodot Mac Photo Recovery to restore photos, RAW images, videos, music files and other files from various memory cards on Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain and Lion OS based Mac computers or notebooks.

Steps to restore files from your memory card:

• Download and install this Yodot Photo Recovery tool in your system
• Get your card connected to the system from where all the photos and other files have been lost or deleted
• Now to start the recovery process. All you need to do here is to launch the application and use the “Deleted Photo Recovery” or “Lost Photo Recovery” as per the scenario
• After the selection of the drive is done, you can get the view of the drives that are present in the system
• Select the memory card from where files have been lost or erased and proceed with the scanning process by clicking on the “Next” button that has been provided to you
• As the scanning process gets completed, the user will be presented with all the files that are recovered from card
• Check the respective file before saving it to the desired location as available to the host operating system user
• Cameras, cell phones, computers and various other electronic systems are supported to be used with these card storage devices

Note: Supported media file types and Windows OS

• Pictures: JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, TIF, PSD, WPG, WMF, TGA, SID, QTM, QFX, PSP, PIC, PICX, PCX, PCD, PBM, EPS, EMF, DWG, DRW, DCX, CPT, ART, AMFF, 3DMF
• Music and Videos: MP3, MP4, WAV, MIDI, RA, WMA, OGG, AU, RM, M4B, M4A, AMR, AIF, AIFF, XVID, WMV, M4V, MPG, MOV, DIVX< 3GP, ASX, AVS, AVI
• Digital RAW Images: NEF, CR2, CRW, DNG, ARW, SR2, ORF, MRW, 3FR, PEF, RAW, X3F, RAF, KDC, K25, DCR, 3FR, NRW, J6I
• Windows OS: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008