Micro sd card not being recognized.

Today, I realized that a microsd card that I've had since 2008, isn't being read anymore.

My phone doesn't recognize it.

My Windows 10 computer doesn't recognize it when I put it in a USB reader. I verified the USB reader works by trying different microsd and full sized SD cards. The reader can read those.

I tried 7 different sd recovery programs, but none of them can recognize the microsd card, because the reader can't recognize the card. Most of those programs claim that if they can recognize the card, then they can help recover the data.

I have a few things backed up from maybe 2008 - 2009, but not sure about much after that. Some things that were sent via text messages that I saved onto the microsd card, I can still recover, because I still have those texts.

But the best thing would be if I could get the content off the microsd card ASAP and back all of it up.

Any advice?

I've read that the first thing I should do is stop using the microsd card, so I've followed that advice. I won't be using it to try and save anything, anymore. But are there any apps or techniques you know where I can still somehow recognize the card, and recover the data?

As I said, I tried it both on my phone and PC, and neither recognize the card. It was working about 10 days ago.

thomaseg1 said:

Sd cards weren't meant for long life, they were meant for temporary storage and transfer.
Sounds to me that's its dead (which can happen without notice).
you could try minitool partition manager or recuva to see if it is possible to recover.
The fact that it isn't seen by the phone or computer makes it uncertain that they will help.

Thanks.

I tried Recuva, but it has the same issue as the other apps I tried. It doesn't recognize the card is in the reader.

Data recovery for minitool requires the paid version.

I looked into some data recovery companies.

Grillware Data Recovery:

* Free evaluation
* Estimate is from $250 - $1800, depending on severity (logical failure, hardware failure, etc.)
* Based in Wisconsin
* Return shipping is $25 - 30.

* Mostly good Yelp reviews.

We Recover Data

* Evaluation is $95, but is applied toward recovery if you choose it.
* Estimate is from $250 - $2500.
* Is close enough where I can do a local drop off if I choose.
* Return shipping is free if I choose USPS.
* They'll extract the data to a FTP server where I can download it.

* No Yelp reviews for the location near me. There are reviews for other locations, and they are spotty.

What do you think of these?

I need to contact Grillware again and ask how exactly they will send me the extracted data. Will it be on a FTP server like We Recover Data, or will they put it on another media?

Thanks, there's a few from those lists that I haven't tried yet. I'll provide an update after I've tried all of them.

There is quite a difference with Magnetic type storage media, Optical media, and Solid State media.
The magnetic media type say an old 3½" floppy disc or HDD does degrade over time but there is some very low level residual data left on there.

Solid state memory is different once the memory cells fail that is it, no data at all, no low level residual data to recover.

I know that is a overly simplistic view but it means that recovery of data from solid state memory is very likely to be zero.

Did you do a close look at the card contacts to see if they are clean (dust and oxidation free)?

Yes, they look clean.