Memory cards hold the things that can’t be reshot — a wedding, a holiday, a job’s worth of footage — and they tend to fail at the worst moment: a camera flashing ‘card error’, a phone that won’t read its microSD, a card that suddenly wants formatting. The good news is that deleted and formatted photos are usually still recoverable, because cards don’t work like SSDs. We recover SD, microSD and CompactFlash cards of every make across the UK — post yours in or drop it at our Belfast lab.
Cards don’t use TRIM, so deleting or formatting rarely erases immediately — provided you stop using the card at once.
The single most useful thing to know about memory cards is that they generally don’t use TRIM, the command that makes deleted files vanish instantly on SSDs. On a memory card, deleting a photo or even formatting the card in-camera usually just marks the space as free — the actual image data stays on the flash until something new is written over it. That’s why accidentally deleted holiday photos, a card formatted by mistake, or footage that ‘disappeared’ are so often recoverable in full.
The one condition is stop using the card immediately. Every new photo you take, or anything the camera or phone writes, can overwrite the very files you want back. Take the card out, put it somewhere safe, and don’t reformat it or ‘repair’ it — the less that’s written to it after the loss, the more comes back.
‘Memory card error’ or ‘card cannot be used’ in a camera. Often the card’s controller or its file system has become corrupt — the photos are usually intact, but the camera can’t read the card’s directory. Don’t let the camera reformat it to ‘fix’ it.
Not recognised by a computer, or ‘you need to format this disk’. A corrupt file system or a failing controller. The data is still there; formatting is what buries it.
Deleted or formatted by mistake. As above — usually recoverable if you stop using the card at once.
Snapped, cracked or water-damaged. microSD cards in particular are tiny and easily broken. If the flash inside survived — and it often does — the data can be read directly from it.
Worn out or ‘locked’. Cards used hard in dashcams and CCTV wear out and drop read-only; cheap or counterfeit cards fail early or claim a false capacity. We can usually retrieve what genuinely fitted.
Corrupt video or interrupted recording. A card pulled or a battery dying mid-record can leave a broken video file — often repairable from the fragments on the card.
How a card is recovered depends on its construction. CompactFlash cards, and some full-size SD cards, have a separate controller and memory that can be worked on if the controller fails. But microSD cards, and most modern SD cards, are monolithic — the controller and flash are fused into one tiny moulded block with only surface contacts, and there’s nothing to unsolder (the same challenge as USB flash drives).
When a monolithic card’s controller fails or the card is physically broken, recovery means locating the card’s internal test points, wiring to them under a microscope, and reading the raw NAND straight out of the block — then reversing the controller’s error correction and scrambling to rebuild the images. It’s microsoldering-level work, and it’s exactly what a proper flash-recovery lab is for. Everything is done from an image of the card, so the original is never at risk.
Stop taking photos or recording the moment you realise something’s wrong — new files overwrite lost ones. Don’t let the camera or phone reformat the card to ‘repair’ it, and don’t format it on a computer when Windows asks — that’s the one action most likely to lose your photos. Don’t run camera ‘recovery’ or repair functions that write back to the card. If the card is snapped, don’t try to tape it together and force it into a reader — keep the pieces and let it be assessed. With cards, doing nothing protects your photos far better than trying to fix it.
We recover SD, SDHC and SDXC cards, microSD in every size, CompactFlash (CF), CFexpress and XQD, and older Memory Stick and xD formats — from every major brand including SanDisk, Samsung, Lexar, Kingston, Sony, PNY and Integral. Whatever wrote to the card — a DSLR or mirrorless camera, a phone, a drone, a dashcam, a GoPro, a games console or CCTV — we recover the photos, video and RAW files from it, including the camera-native RAW formats (CR3, NEF, ARW and the rest).
It starts with a free diagnostic: we identify whether it’s a logical, controller or physical fault, and tell you honestly what’s recoverable — with a fixed written quote and, where we can, a preview of the recoverable photos before you commit to any chargeable work. On most jobs it’s no fix, no fee, and pricing is per case. It’s all done by post or drop-off, so you don’t need to be nearby — post the card in from anywhere in the UK or Ireland, or drop it off in person.
Usually, yes — provided you stop using the card straight away. Memory cards don’t use TRIM, so deleting or formatting normally just marks the space free while the actual photo data stays on the card until something overwrites it. Take the card out, don’t take any more photos, and don’t reformat it, and there’s an excellent chance the images come back in full.
Usually not. A ‘card error’ is most often a corrupt file system or a controller problem — the photos are still on the card, the camera just can’t read the directory. The important thing is not to let the camera reformat the card to clear the error, as that’s what puts the photos at risk. Take the card out and send it in as it is.
Often, yes. microSD cards are tiny and easily broken, but the flash memory inside frequently survives the break. We read the memory directly from the card’s internal contacts and reconstruct the data. Keep the pieces, don’t tape it together and push it into a reader, and let us assess it.
No. A card showing as RAW or asking to be formatted has a corrupted file system, not lost data — your photos are almost always still on it, and formatting is the one step most likely to make them unrecoverable. Leave it as it is and let us image it and rebuild the file system from the copy.
Often, yes. A recording interrupted by a dying battery or a card pulled mid-write can leave a broken video file, but the footage usually still exists in fragments on the card. We recover those and, where possible, repair the video so it plays. Send the card in without reformatting or reusing it.
No. Our lab is in Belfast, but memory card recovery is done by post or drop-off, so we work with clients right across the UK and Ireland. Post the card in with insured, tracked delivery, or drop it off in person — the service, diagnostic and pricing are the same wherever you are.
Send it in or drop it off and we’ll find out whether it’s the file system, the controller or the chip, and give you an honest, fixed quote — often with a preview of the recoverable photos — before any chargeable work. No fix, no fee on most jobs.