Today, the method of storing data on portable flash drives has gained quite a lot of popularity. And now all flash drive manufacturers are struggling to create the smallest in size and largest in memory capacity flash drives; Micro SD cards occupy the leading position in the minimum sizes.
Micro SD flash cards are currently the smallest data storage devices that have been put into mass production.
Due to their very fragile structure, these drives quite often become unusable due to physical damage or incorrect completion of work with such flash drives.
There are often cases when, after a short period of working with a card, it becomes unreadable or is not detected by devices at all, so you cannot rely on the long-term operation of such a drive. I advise you to use a Micro SD card as a space for work, and not for permanent storage of information. Although every day manufacturers of such SD cards are improving their durability, and are bringing them closer to the possibility of using them for permanent and long-term storage of information.
Reasons why the computer may not detect the Micro SD card:
· Hardware problem.
· Flash drive failure.
· Assigning an already assigned partition letter.
· File system conflict.
· Malicious programs in the operating system.
If your Micro SD card is no longer detected by your phone, camera or other device, then you need to remove it and insert it into your computer to diagnose, identify and fix the problem.
Let's move on to considering and eliminating the most common causes of malfunction of such a flash drive.
How to check if the Micro SD card is detected on the computer?
In order to understand whether your computer has detected your Micro SD card, you can use 2 methods.
First way. Open my computer and check the connection of the new partition. If you have a new disk, then the flash drive has been identified. 
Second way. If nothing appears in Explorer, then it’s worth checking whether the computer has even detected that an SD card is connected to it. To do this, go to my computer, right-click on the computer and select “Manage” from the drop-down menu. 
After which the Computer Management window will open, there is a menu on the left side. We need to select the “Disk Management” section.
In the displayed statistics, we can see all connected drives to the computer, determine their volume, or set the partition letter.
If you did not see your SD card in this list, then read the following reasons and their solutions.
Hardware problem
If you are trying to connect your SD card to your computer through an adapter or through a card reader, and nothing happens, you should first check that these pairing devices are working.
If you use a card reader to connect the card, then try inserting a known working Micro SD card into it, if a known working card is also not detected, in this case, check and reinstall the card reader drivers. If after all the attempts nothing has changed, then most likely the problem is in the card reader.
If you are using a laptop, then most likely you are trying to insert an SD card through an adapter, directly into the built-in card reader of the laptop. If nothing happens when using this connection method, then I recommend checking the drivers for the built-in card reader first, and then checking the functionality of the adapter.
Drivers for card readers can be downloaded and installed from the manufacturers’ official websites; if you have a portable card reader that connects via a USB port, then download the drivers from the manufacturer’s website. If you use a laptop's built-in card reader, then you can download drivers from the official website of your laptop manufacturer.
In order to check whether the driver of your card reader is detected by the system, you need to open the “Device Manager”, to do this, press the key combination Win + R and in the “Run” line that opens, enter the command “devmgmt.msc”.
The Device Manager window will open in which you can see devices that do not have a driver installed. Such devices will be marked with a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark. If there are no such devices, then expand the “Portable Devices” section and make sure that the computer has detected the card reader itself in order to discard the option of a non-working device.
Flash drive failure
If you have checked the functionality of the above devices and are convinced that they are working properly, then it is worth checking the Micro SD card for physical damage, cracks, chips, deformation or damage to the outer layer, since such a flash drive consists of many small tracks, which are easy to scratch and tear.
Try connecting it to some device: smartphone, camera, etc. If the flash drive is not detected in any device, then most likely it is physically damaged and cannot be repaired. The only thing that can motivate you to contact the service center is the presence of important information on the card.
Assigning an already assigned partition letter
This type of problem occurs quite often. This happens when an SD card is connected to a computer, the system assigns it the same letter as the existing partition, because of this a conflict occurs and we do not see our flash drive in the list of computer disks.
In order to resolve this type of problem, open the “Computer Management” section described above.
After getting into the “Disk Management” section, we need to find our flash drive, focus on its volume, select a disk that matches the capacity of our Micro SD card. Right-click on it and select “Change drive letter or drive path...” from the drop-down menu.
A window will open in which we need to click the “Add” button.
In the window that opens, select the letter for this section and click “OK”.
Done, we have assigned a letter to our partition, now we check its presence in Explorer.
File system conflict
There are often cases when a flash drive is detected, but it cannot be opened. The reason for this may be a file system conflict or a damaged file system of the Micro SD card itself. If the data on the flash drive does not play any role for you, then you can try to format it into the NTFS file system.
To do this, right-click on the flash drive and select “Format” from the drop-down menu. 
In the formatting window that opens, in the “File system” section, select NTFS, set the Volume Label and click the “Start” button.
Thus, we formatted the Micro SD card into NTFS format, after which you can open it.
Malware in the operating system
When faced with the problem of identifying a Micro SD drive, you may not even suspect that the culprit for all this may be malware, so-called viruses, which can block USB ports and prevent the computer from working with your memory card.
In this case, it would be best to conduct a full system scan with your antivirus program, or resort to free antivirus programs that can help you with this.
I will recommend one of these to you - Dr.Web CureIt!
The program is absolutely free and is intended only for scanning and finding virus programs and removing them.
To download this program, go to the official Dr.Web website at https://free.drweb.ru/cureit/
Download the program and start scanning.
When finished, remove all malware found and after restarting the computer, try connecting the Micro SD card again.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many reasons why your computer does not see the Micro SD card, so it is impossible to unambiguously answer the question “Why does my computer not see the memory card?”, since this can be caused by problems of various kinds. To avoid making mistakes and solve the problem, you should take turns following all the steps described in this article.
Also, do not forget that when formatting, all information from the flash drive will be deleted.
And I still advise you not to store important information on drives of this type, as they most often fail due to their very fragile structure. Use this type of drive to directly work with files, saving them in more secure locations.
A memory card is very convenient for storing any information. It is easy to use, compact and at the same time roomy. But there are cases when the laptop does not recognize the memory card, in other words, does not see it. What to do in such a situation?
The simplest advice is to disconnect the memory card, restart the laptop, and reconnect the flash drive. Sometimes these simple actions are enough to solve all problems. You may have connected the device incorrectly. Check again to make sure everything is done as needed.
Also, ignoring the card may be due to the OS going into sleep mode. Just “wake up” your laptop and it will start working fully again. If the problem cannot be solved, contact the service center, where they will tell you exactly the cause of the problem.
A micro SD card helps to significantly increase the memory capacity of your Android device. Therefore, if Android does not see a microSD flash drive, users immediately need to understand the causes of the malfunction and eliminate negative factors.
This article is suitable for all brands that produce phones on Android 9/8/7/6: Samsung, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Sony, ZTE, Huawei, Meizu, Fly, Alcatel, Xiaomi, Nokia and others. We are not responsible for your actions.
Problems with the memory card
If Android does not see the memory card, then the cause of the problem may be on the side of the device itself or in the operation of the flash drive. You should start diagnosing with an external drive. Common causes of malfunction include:
- Inappropriate file system (for example, NTFS or ExFat instead of Fat32).
- Formatting errors, file system failures.
- Incompatibility of the card and phone, unsupported volume (the device cannot work with cards larger than 16 GB, and you install a flash drive of 32 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB).
- Hardware problems with the memory card, physical damage to the contacts.
If the card from the camera or video recorder cannot be read when installed in the phone, then the first thing you need to do is make sure that the mobile device supports this format and size.
The incompatibility problem can only be corrected by replacing the drive with a suitable one. It is much easier to deal with errors in the file system (or the wrong file system). After formatting, the card will be detected without rebooting or other unnecessary actions:
Increase Formatting will delete all data on the memory card. If this is critical, save them to your computer before cleaning the drive, and after changing the file system, put them back on the card.
Problems with your phone
If the memory card is compatible with the phone, the file system is in a format suitable for Android, and there is no hardware damage, then the reasons should be sought in the operation of the smartphone. If a smartphone does not see a flash drive installed from another smartphone, but the computer does, then the following factors may influence this:
- Incorrect drive installation.
- The memory card slot is damaged/dirty.
- Android software glitch.
Try removing the memory card and reinserting it, making sure the slot is working properly. If you see that the contacts are dirty, clean them with a regular eraser or a damp cloth. If cleaning does not help, there is a possibility that the contacts have become loose or damaged. Repairing them yourself is problematic and usually requires replacing the component.
If the device in Recovery sees the flash drive, while Android does not see the SD card in applications, although it shows that the space is occupied, then the cause of the problem should be sought in the operation of the system. If the error occurred due to a system failure, rebooting the device will help fix it.
Increase Another solution is to reinstall the problematic application or transfer it from internal memory to microSD. What to do for this:
- Open settings.
- Go to the "Applications" section.
- Select the application you are having problems with.
- Click "Move to SD Card".
Increase If difficulties with identifying an external drive arise after flashing the device, you should reflash it again using the official Android build from the manufacturer. You can get by with a less radical method and simply reset the settings through the Android interface or Recovery Menu.
In some cases, the phone does not see microSD, but not all users know why this happens and how to fix the problem
Moreover, this problem is serious, since it does not allow access to all the information stored on the flash drive.
For users whose phone is a player or a device for Internet surfing, this problem can pose a serious problem.
The essence of the problem
How does this problem manifest itself? How to understand that the phone really does not see the device? This is quite simple and becomes clear immediately after installing the memory card.
The device does not reflect that it was installed. At the same time, there is no memory card icon on the panel on the working screen, nor is removable storage displayed in the Memory section in Settings.
Accordingly, in all phone directories (for example, Music, Gallery) there are no corresponding files, previously .
Sometimes after installing external media into the phone, the device does not immediately display a message about its installation, as it usually does.
Sometimes while working with microSD it may suddenly turn off and a message like "Memory card is disabled".
In the most rare cases, the device reports that the memory card is damaged.
The problem can occur on both a new device and an old one. And also both with an old memory card and with a new, empty media. Regardless of this, the reasons are often the same in all cases.
Possible reasons
There are several reasons for this phenomenon. Conventionally, they can be divided into two large groups: problems with the phone and problems with the drive itself. The first group includes:
- Direct damage to the memory card slot;
- Other hardware problems in the device;
- Problems with the functioning of the software, due to which the device cannot be seen.
The memory card itself may have the following problems:
- Failure of the device (especially when a previously working card suddenly ceases to be recognized or the device reports its malfunction, which is typical for old memory cards with a lot of wear);
- Physical damage to the contacts on the card or other problems;
- File system mismatch (some new file systems do not “see” old phones, then it is shown that the drive is missing).
Depending on the cause of the malfunction, one or another method of eliminating it can be chosen.
<Рис. 2 Слот>
Elimination
There are several ways to deal with such problems. They are selected depending on the reason that caused the malfunction.
If this reason is not clear, then you will have to try several methods.
Working with hardware
<Рис. 3 Контакты карты памяти>
First of all, you need to check what exactly the problem is. Insert another memory card into the device, and if it is detected, then the problem is in the drive itself.
If not, then the problem is most likely in the phone.
What can the user do in this case? It is recommended to clean the card slot from dust, and also wipe the contacts on the media itself. This can be done with a cotton swab.
Most likely this will not solve the problem, but sometimes it helps. However, if it turns out that the card slot is broken, then the only way is to replace it.
Recovery
<Рис. 4 Восстановление>
Each one has a Recovery mode. Running it will allow you to “roll back” all dubious settings to factory settings.
Thus, if the device previously saw cards, but now does not see them, then this method can help.
- First, perform a normal reboot of the device (not turning it off and on, but rebooting);
- If this does not help, proceed to recovery;
- Press and hold the power and volume down buttons at the same time for up to 10 seconds (most often, this is how access to the recovery function opens);
- As soon as the device restarts, a special start menu will open in Windows;
- Go to the Wipe cache partition item (you need to do this using buttons or by clicking on the screen, depending on the device);
- Reboot your device (rebooting may take much longer than usual).
The map should now be detected. If this does not happen, then you will have to work with it on a computer.
Formatting
<Рис. 5 Форматирование>
Install the memory card into your computer using an adapter. Open it through the “My Computer” section to make sure the device is working.
If the computer does not see the drive, then the memory card is faulty.
- Press Win + R and wait for the Run window to open;
- Enter the command diskmgmt.msc in it;
- Now a window should open in which all memory devices will be displayed - external, internal, formatted, unformatted;
- If the letter designating the card matches the letter, for example, of the optical drive, etc., then you need to rename the card;
- In rare cases, renaming may solve the problem;
- If the problem is not solved in this way, then you need to completely format the card and create a new file system (of course, it is worth remembering that the data from the media must be copied before this);
- You can format the device from Explorer;
- Right-click on the memory card;
- A menu will open in which you need to select the line Format;
- A window will open in which you need to remove the marker from the window next to the inscription "Quick Format";
- Below, indicate that you need to create a format file system (most often this parameter is set by default);
- Click OK;
- Wait for the process to complete.
After that, install the memory card in your phone. It should be successfully recognized. If this still does not happen, then it is possible that there is still a specific hardware problem.
Restoring work
<Рис. 6 Восстановление через ПК>
Restoring the operation of a MicroSD card is a specific case when a medium that was successfully recognized before suddenly ceases to be detected by the same device.
In this case, there was no damage to the media or phone, no changes were made to the phone software, etc.
This method can also help when the phone reports that "Memory card cannot be accessed", “The memory card is damaged, etc.”.
This method is quite effective, but only for old cards. And only on the condition that they worked properly before. There is no point in using this method for new cards.
- Connect the memory card to a PC or laptop to make sure it is working properly;
- Open Explorer and right-click on the map;
- Select Properties from the drop-down menu;
- Go to the Service tab;
- Run Disk Check, having previously specified the need to automatically correct detected errors and malfunctions;
- In the same section you can conduct Surface test with automatic recovery of bad sectors (although this is not necessary).
A more complex option is troubleshooting by working in the HKLM branch. This is done as follows:
- Find the SYSTEM directory in the folder tree;
- In it, open the StorageDevicePolicies section;
- The parameters that need to be changed will appear on the right side of the window;
- Assign a zero value to the defining parameter (write the number zero in parentheses in the combination 0x00000000(1)).
The card should now interact normally with the phone.
File system
<Рис. 7 Файловая система>
There are memory cards in microSD HC and microSD XC formats. The second option is typical for cards with a capacity of more than 32 GB.
They have a different file system, which has its own advantages (for example, recording speed and duration of recording segments), but is not recognized by all phones, tablets and other devices.
So, some phones are simply not designed to support cards larger than 32GB. In this case, it is almost impossible to change the file system without special skills.
However, it is worth remembering that the type (HC or XC) of the card is written directly on it, so it is important to choose the appropriate one.
WHAT TO DO IF ANDROID (PHONE) DOESN’T SEEN THE MEMORY CARD?
The phone does not see the MicroSD flash drive: what to do, how to fix it?
When you load documents through a card reader, you see that your computer does not find the memory card, you need to do the following procedures that should solve this problem. First, make sure that the document storage and recording device is entered into the computer correctly. Sometimes it happens that document storage and recording devices are damaged.
In this case, you will have to correct this error. But we must not forget that this will delete all information. It also happens when the computer does not find the memory card - this is a problem with the drivers. You will have to apply a system restore. Go to the "Start" menu, then to "Utilities"
and click on "System Restore". 
Then select the desired restore point 
and follow the recommendations of the recovery wizard. After going through this process, the problem should go away. It happens that the computer does not find the memory card due to problems with the card reader itself. In this situation, it turns out that it is not the computer, but the card reader that does not see the memory card. It is unlikely that you will be able to fix such problems yourself. In this case, it is advisable to contact a specialist on these issues. If you cannot do without a card reader, you can use temporary substitutes - these are various small-sized card readers that are connected to the computer via a USB cable.
But you should still contact a professional as quickly as possible, because problems with the card reader can have the most global causes, for example, a broken motherboard. Also, the reason when the computer does not find the memory card may be due to the fact that the new card does not fit the outdated computer model.
Then you will have to reflash your computer or install an additional patch. If water gets on the system board for some reason, this can also lead to malfunction. The motherboard will need to be thoroughly cleaned and additional work may be required depending on the water damage caused.
Reasons for memory card failure
A flash drive is quite durable in comparison with other removable media; it is much more reliable and durable than CD/DVD drives, and can withstand different loads better than hard drives. The main causes of memory card problems can be divided into three categories:
1. controller failure when the flash drive is taken out during reading or writing
2. Wear of memory chips (exceeding the permissible number of rewrites)
3. Flash drive malfunction after mechanical impact (impact, etc.)
Of all three cases, only in the first is there any hope of fixing anything; it is enough to format the drive or reflash the controller. If your flash drive contains the information you need, you should seek the help of specialized companies engaged in data recovery from faulty drives.
