Gaming SD card needs formatting. No other choice?

[Psycho K]

I haven't used this micro SD in a month or two and now it's saying I need to format it to use it. I have a feeling there's no way around this and the data I did not backup cannot be recovered, but I thought I'd ask here first just to be sure.

 

[jumpman17]

As a last ditch effort, you could always try to do a Quick Format instead of a full one, then use some kind of data recovery program to regain the files as they would still all be there, just not visible to Windows anymore. I did this for a harddrive and used the free program Piriform Recuva. But I'd only try this once you've tried everything else you can think of and are out of options.

 

[Psycho K]

I have the micro SD card connected via a USB reader. When I try to quick format (format size adjustment off) it with Panasonic SD Formatter 2.9.0.5, I get an error prompt saying, "The Memory Card is write-protected. Please release the write protect switch." It's also displaying the size as 1.00 GB. It usually says 3.68 GB or so and this is a 4 GB micro SD card.

 

[Rydian]

Stick the MicroSD in an SD adapter and flip the switch?

Not sure on this though.

 

[Psycho K]

I tried that, but it did not help. I guess I'll have to use the format option presented by Windows when I insert the SD card.

 

[The_Dragons_Mast]

Well the wrong smaller size & write-protected error is usually a sign of a dead card. Try the windows format option & if you are lucky enough for it to work just run a data recovery software before putting anything on the card & you will be able to retrieve some of the files.