Sony SD Card Recovery: Recover Photos, Videos & Repair Corrupted Cards (Free Tools)

Need to recover photos from Sony SD card or fix a card that won’t open? This guide shows three proven, beginner-friendly methods: iCare Recovery Free for file recovery, Sony Memory Card File Rescue (official tool) for supported Sony media, and quick ways to repair a damaged or corrupted Sony SD card. Keywords covered: Sony SD card recovery, sony sd card data recovery, Sony memory card file rescue, and recover & repair corrupted Sony SD card.

⭐ Part 1: Recover Files from a Sony SD Card with the Free Tool iCare Recovery Free

If your Sony SD card is readable (shows a drive letter) but photos/videos are missing or the card asks to format, try iCare Recovery Free. It’s designed for accidental deletion, formatting, RAW file systems, and quick corruption cases.

🆓 Cost: Free edition for basic recovery.
🎯 Best for: Deleted files, formatted card, RAW/unknown file system.
📸 Recovers: JPG/ARW/HEIF/MP4/AVI and many common formats.

Steps (Windows):

🔌 Stop using the card immediately. Remove it from camera/phone and insert into a reliable card reader.
💻Download, install and launch iCare Recovery Free and choose Deleted File Recovery or Deep Scan (for formatted/RAW).
🗂️ Select the Sony SD card drive > click Scan.
👀 Preview found photos/videos. Use filters (type, date, size) to narrow results.
💾 Click Recover and save to a different drive (never back to the same SD card).

Tips:

✅ If the first quick scan misses files, run a full/sector-by-sector scan.
✅ Try another card reader/USB port if the card doesn’t appear.
⚠️ Do not format or write new data to the SD card before recovery completes.

Also read:memory card data recovery, or Sony data recovery software

🔷 Part 2: Free Tool “Sony Memory Card File Rescue” — Download & Use

Sony provides its own utility, Sony Memory Card File Rescue (sometimes spelled “rescue”; common misspelling “resuce”), to help recover images and movies from compatible Sony memory cards. For genuine Sony media (SD/SDHC/SDXC, Memory Stick) and supported camera formats, it can be very effective.

🏷️ Official Sony tool for compatible cards and formats.http://www.sony.net/filerescue/
🖼️ Optimized for JPEG, RAW (e.g., ARW), and common video formats from Sony cameras.
🧭 Simple workflow: detect card → scan → preview → restore.

Steps (Windows/macOS):

⬇️ Download & install the latest Sony Memory Card File Rescue from Sony’s official support page.
🔁 Connect the Sony SD card via a reader. Close camera apps that might lock the card.
🔍 Open the tool, choose your Sony SD card, then start the scan.
🖼️ Preview recoverable photos/videos; tick what you need.
💽 Recover to your computer’s internal drive (not back to the SD card).

Notes & Gotchas:

📦 If the card is counterfeit or severely corrupted, the tool may not detect it—try Part 3 repairs first, then scan again.
🔡 For exFAT or very large SDXC cards, ensure your OS supports the file system.
🧪 If the tool recovers partial/garbled video, try re-scanning or a deeper third-party scan as a second pass.

🛠️ Part 3: Repair a Damaged or Corrupted Sony SD Card (Without Losing Data if Possible)

Before formatting, try these non-destructive repairs. Run recovery (Part 1 or 2) first whenever files matter—repairs can change the file system layout.

Windows Fixes:

🔎 Drive Letter: Press Win+X > Disk Management, right-click the SD card > Change Drive Letter if missing.
🧹 CHKDSK (repairs file system errors): Open Command Prompt (Admin) and run:
chkdsk X: /f /r (replace X: with your SD card letter)
♻️ Clear Write-Protection: Check the card’s physical lock switch; in DiskPart:
diskpart → list disk → select disk n → attributes disk clear readonly
🧪 Test the Reader/Port: Try another USB port/reader; avoid hubs.
Drive update: Connect the SD card to a Windows computer, update its driver.
When Sony sd card is not working on camera, phone, storage devices or computers, you may update the Sony sd card driver in computer.

Also read: 8 free sd card repair tools
🆕 Reformat (Last Resort): After successful recovery, format via File Explorer → exFAT (for 64GB+ cross-platform) or FAT32 (≤32GB, wide compatibility). Then in-camera format.

macOS Fixes:

🩺 First Aid: Open Disk Utility → select the SD card → First Aid to repair.
🔄 Mount/Unmount: If not mounted, click Mount. Try a different reader/USB-C port if it fails.
🆕 Erase (Last Resort): After recovery, erase with exFAT (SDXC) or MS-DOS (FAT) (SD/SDHC). Then format again in-camera.

Camera-Side Good Practices:

📷 Always format the card in-camera after you’ve backed up and finished recovery.
🔋 Avoid sudden power loss—swap batteries before they’re too low during video capture.
🚫 Never remove the card while recording or while the card light is blinking.
📦 Buy genuine, fast Sony-compatible SD cards; store in cases to prevent damage.

🎉 Quick FAQ

Can I recover after formatting? ✔️ Yes, if you act quickly and avoid new writes. Use iCare Recovery Free or Sony Memory Card File Rescue first.
The SD card isn’t detected—what now? Try another reader/cable/USB port, assign a drive letter, or run First Aid/CHKDSK.
RAW ARW files won’t open after recovery? Update your photo editor/codec; try re-recovering the same files with a deep scan.

🚀 With these three parts—iCare Recovery Free file recovery, Sony Memory Card File Rescue usage, and repair steps—you’ll maximize your chances to recover and repair a corrupted Sony SD card and safely get back lost photos and videos.

Sony Memory Card Error Stories

"Does anybody know how to get deleted pictures back from memory card? I deleted photos from my Sony 8GB memory card mistakenly in my digital camera. Although it is not the first time I accidentally delete files from my memory card, I have never successfully restored any data after deleting. This time, all deleted photos are precious and unique, so I must recover them. Can you tell me the method?"

"My Sony 16GB memory stick pro duo was not working in my digital camera, so I plugged it to my laptop to check what is wrong with the card. However, the problem is that my laptop cannot recognize my memory card normally. I have many files on the card, so I want to know how to perform corrupted memory card data recovery?"

"I formatted Sony camera memory card in Windows 7 when I connected the card to my PC to transfer some data. There are some documents, images and videos on the memory card, and what I need to do is to get back the deleted photos. Please tell me can photos be recovered from a formatted memory card? By the way, my card is a Sony 32GB SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 R40 Memory Card which has been used for my Sony digital camera for more than two years."

"Hello! Can I recover data from memory card that needs to be formatted in my Android phone and computer? Whether I want to access the memory card in my phone or PC, it says error message you need to format memory card before you can use it. How to repair memory card not formatted error so that I can get back lost files from the memory card?"

3 Steps to Recover Images/Videos off Sony SD Card

Data will not be erased permanently and completely when you delete files from Sony camera memory card. Therefore, if you want to recover data from Sony sd memory card after deleting, formatting or when memory card is not readable, the first thing you should do is to stop writing new data to the sony sd card.

Here are 3 steps to restore lost data from the memory card with iCare Recovery Free: Download->Scan->Recover.

Sony memory card file rescue download

Step1. Run the data recovery software and select a recovery option.

Step2. Choose the Sony memory card as aim disk so that the software can scan it for lost files.

Step3. You can preview files after scanning and then recover the files you need.

This data recovery software allows you to recover data from not only Sony memory card, but also from other memory card like Samsung, SanDisk, Kingston, Lexar, Transcend, etc.

Sony Camera Memory Card Recovery

Sony Corporation does not only manufacture memory card / stick, but it also manufactures digital camera like Sony DSC-TX1, Sony DSC-W190, Sony NEX-5TL and other products. Sony digital camera appeals to many users.

If you lose any data from memory card for Sony digital camera, you can also rely on iCare Data Recovery Free to recover deleted data from memory card of digital camera when data got lost due to formatting, deleting, memory card RAW file system and more other reasons.

FAQs

Question: Sony xqd card recovery software

Answer: iCare Recovery Free is able to help recover files from sony xqd card if you deleted images on the sony card, formatted sony memory card, or when Sony memory card is not working.

Question: Sony rsv file recovery

Answer: The rsv file is generated by Sony camera that you may use camera recovery software to restore the rsv file.

Question: Photo Recovery From Formatted Sony Camera Memory Card

Answer: Formatted memory card on Sony camera? Sony sd card format recovery can be performed by iCare Recovery Free that can help rescue files after format sony camera.

Question: Sony memory stick pro duo recovery software, how to recover deleted photos from memory stick (pro, pro duo, pro hg duo, micro)

Answer: You may use iCare Recovery Free as your Sony memory stick recovery tool.

Last updated on Aug 22, 2025

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