Have you recently factory reset your SD card and found that not even a single data can be read and access? Well, if this is the case then it is possible that your SD card has become encrypted. But, don’t worry because here you will learn about encrypted SD card photo recovery. And, this will definitely will help you to recover photos from encrypted SD card.
Before proceeding to the solution to recover photos from encrypted SD card, I would like to first share a scenario. After I went through this scenario, I decided to write on this topic. So, let’s go through the scenario below:
However, EFS protection may become a severe problem if the owner of the encrypted data does not possess the appropriate cryptographic key. This type of file encryption is not the safes one if applied intentionally by the user to protect files from unauthorized access.
The data on your SD card will not be able to be read or decrypted after a reset or in another device. The only option to use the microSD card again is to wipe it completely. I think you forgot to remove the SD password. Unless your card reader has the unlock capability via an additional software, you cannot use the memory. Return back to the cellphone, remove the password first. I have the same problem but its on a galaxy a50, it say that 'This SD card cannot be decrypted because it was encrypted on another devise' even though I encrypted on the same phone before factory data reseting it. So how would I go and fix that 0 Likes.
Practical Scenario
I have a Motorola MotoG3 and yesterday I conducted a factory reset to try to fix some dialing out issues. Before conducting the reset I removed the sd card as it had all my photos and videos on it and I didn’t want to lose them. I wasn’t aware but the SD card was setup as internal memory and was encrypted. After the factory reset I reinstalled the sd card and the phone states unsupported sd card and ask me to reformat my PC does the same. There are some really important photo’s and video’s on this card is there anyway to get the back?
– Example Source From Android Central Forum
What Does Encrypt SD Card Mean?
Encryption is a process that transforms the data into an unreadable form. It converts the files into a code in such a way that only an authorized person can access those who have the right code or password. The idea of encryption looks very good. When you encrypt files, it simply alters the data instead of just hiding it.
It has become very easy to encrypt files on the SD card in order to restrict unauthorized access to data by an unknown person. There are lots of applications available that can help you to encrypt your data stored on SD card. Though, you can easily decrypt and access the files with password.
In the above-mentioned scenario, there is no problem with the encryption or decryption of the SD card. The problem is that the user has performed the factory reset before decrypting files stored on the card. After this, you will not be able to access the card and files stored within it.
In order to re-use the encrypted card, you have to format it. Though formatting will make it accessible but erase all its encrypted data.
Self-Encrypting Devices
Nowadays days many hard drives, solid-state drives and smartphones are self-encrypting devices (SED), which means that these devices have a controller chip that encrypts and decrypts the device’s data automatically.
But the main disadvantage of SEDs is that there is no decryption solution. If the self-encrypting device gets physically damaged then data is lost.
How To Recover Photos From Encrypted SD Card In Easy Ways
Well, when it comes to recover photos from encrypted SD card, you can try Encrypted SD Card Recovery Tool. This tool can rescue inaccessible or unreadable photos, videos as well as audio files from encrypted SD card and external storage devices. It also recovers media files from encrypted SD card after Android factory reset.
This encrypted SD card recovery tool is very powerful and can help you effectively recover encrypted pictures/images of different file formats as well as other multimedia files from encrypted SD memory card. Whether your photos are encrypted or your SD memory card is encrypted or you are looking to restore photos from encrypted SD card after Android factory reset, you can try SD Card Recovery Tool to get your photos back.
The encrypted SD card recovery software supports all models and all brands of memory cards such as SD card, miniSD, MicroSD, SDHC, miniSDHC, microSDHC, SDXC, miniSDXC, microSDXC, MMC, CF, SmartMedia, xD-Picture card, etc of SanDisk, Transcend, Strontium, Kingston, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, HP, Lexar, etc.
This recovery tool also allows you to:
- Rescue photos, videos as well as audio files from any encrypted SD card.
- Get back encrypted media files from several brands of SD card such as SanDisk, Transcend, Sony, Samsung, Kingston, Strontium, Lexar, etc.
- Retrieve media files from encrypted SD, MicroSD, miniSD, MMC, SDHC, SDXC, digital cameras, memory stick, pen drive and another external storage device.
- Preview recoverable files within the software before saving it on your system.
- 100% read-only program, safe, secure & easy to use.
Below you can download Encrypted SD Card Recovery Tool for Windows and Mac respectively.
* Free version of the program only scans and previews recoverable objects.
Important Notes!
- While you perform the recovery process, make sure that the process is not interrupted by any means or else you will not have successful recovery.
- While saving the recovered files, select another destination path or another storage location to save the recovered files and avoid saving of recovered to the same encrypted SD card.
Steps To Recover Photos From Encrypted SD Card
Step 1: Select Desired Location
Firstly, select the drive, external media or volume from which you want to recover deleted media files. After selecting, click on 'Scan'.
Step 2: Preview Recovered Media Files
Next, you can preview the recoverable media files after the scanning process is completed.
Step 3: Recover Media Files
Lastly, you can select the images, audio, video files you want to restore and click on 'Recover' option to save them at the location you want.
Helpful Suggestion – How To Decrypt SD Card on Android That Encrypted Using Settings?
Android devices come with inbuilt feature that can allow you to know how to encrypt SD card and files stored within it. So, there are people who have encrypted the files stored within the card by using the Encrypt SD Card Settings and now they are looking for the SD card decryption solution.
Well, if you are the one encountering the same problem, then follow the simple steps mentioned-below to decrypt SD card after factory reset in order to retrieve encrypted files.
Steps To Decrypt SD Card on Android That Encrypted Using Settings
Note:The steps are from the Samsung Galaxy Note. If you are using any other phone, then steps may vary.
- Make sure that you connect your encrypted SD card with the PC and then copy all the contents from SD card to the PC.
- Next, on your storage device, go to Settings and format SD card.
- Now, again go to Settings, then Security and then Encrypt SD card.
- Now, connect the SD card to the PC and the copy al the content back to your SD card.
- After this, go to Settings and Security and then Decrypt SD card.
On successful completion, you can now view the file stored within the SD card with ease and you do not have to enter any password or decrypt key to access your memory card data.
Common Causes For Data Loss on SD Memory Cards
- Corruption to the file system on SD card can make the files inaccessible saved within it. File system corruption can occur due to virus/malware infection.
- Constantly using the same card on different gadgets such as smartphones, digital camera, camcorder, laptop or mp3 player will logically corrupt memory card
- Interruptions while transferring data from card to any other storage device can result in the loss of encrypted files. The interruption can occur due to loose cable connection, abrupt removal of card, etc
- Format errors when you try to access SD card on laptop/PC can cause inaccessibility of encrypted files stored on the card
- Accidental deletion of encrypted data while you delete unwanted files.
- Formatting the memory card knowingly or unknowingly will erase all data stored within it, including encrypted data
If you are having any of the above-mentioned situations and lost your encrypted files from the SD card, then you start to look for a solution on how to get back encrypted files from the memory card.
Fortunately, there is a suitable solution is available through which you can easily retrieve encrypted files from SD card and the solution is Photo Recovery software.
Tips To Avoid SD Card Data Loss Scenario
- Always take a frequent backup of your memory card
- Make a key file and save it in a secure location
- Keep the record of all username and passwords in a secure location
- Make use of encryption application, instead of using self-encrypting devices
- Make sure to take a complete backup of SD card before you proceed further to format, factory reset or upgrading the smartphone or other media storage devices
- Do not use the same card on multiple devices
If you follow the above-mentioned tips, then you can help yourself to avoid losing your data.
Conclusion
As of now, I hope you were successfully able to recover photos from encrypted SD cards by using the recommended Encrypted SD Card RecoveryTool. Apart from that, this blog will also help you know how to decrypt the SD card and its files on Android phones from its settings itself.
However, in order to prevent any data loss, it is quite important to keep backup of your important files so that you can restore from there whenever you are in need.
I hope, this blog will help you out.
Alex is an expert technical writer with 7+ years of experience. His in-depth knowledge about data recovery and fascination to explore new DIY tools & technologies have helped many. Alex has a great interest in photography and loves to share photography tips and tricks with others.
- Shares
When the SD card gets encrypted, you can't access the saved file without using a password. On this page, we'll show you how to decrypt encrypted SD card with or without password on the source or a new phone without losing data. If you deleted or lost files after decrypting the SD card, EaseUS file recovery software will restore the files for you in 3 simple steps.
'To prevent other people to access or view files like photos, videos, documents, etc on my Samsung phone, I locked my SD card on the phone.
Recently, I bought a new phone and I want to continue using the encrypted SD card. Is there any software that can help me recover data from an encrypted SD card?'
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1. Decrypt SD card with password | Insert the SD card to the source phone, restart the phone. Go to Settings...Full steps |
Fix 2. Decrypt SD card without password | 1. Restore with third-party decryptor; 2. use diskpart clean all command...Full steps |
Overview of SD Card Encryption and Decryption
Being portable and safe, SD card now is widely used in digital cameras, Android phones & tablets and other devices to store photos, videos, audio files, etc. And with its popularity, a lot of third-party encryption software comes to encrypt SD card and lock data with a password.
However, many people only know SD card encryption, but know nothing about decryption. Here is a brief introduction of SD card encryption and decryption:
SD Card Encryption: There are two ways that you can use to encryption SD card - using Android phone, tablet or a third-party tool. It is truly a nice way to protect your data from information leaking. No one can access the SD card saved files without a password.
SD Card Decryption: The ways to decrypt SD card are highly depended on how the card was encrypted. If you used a phone for encryption, the phone is the tool to decrypt the card. If you used an encryption tool, you'll still need the tool for decryption.
- Notice:
- One thing that you should understand that the password that you've set for encrypting the SD card is also the key for decryption.
- Therefore, always remember the password. Otherwise, it will make data recovery extremely difficult from an encrypted SD card without the password.
If you have no ideas about how to decrypt SD card and perform SD card recovery, follow solutions on this page to resolve this issue on your own.
How to decrypt an encrypted SD card
If you used a third-party encryption tool to encrypt the card, you can easily decrypt it using the tool with a password. If you used an Android phone for encryption the SD card, the only way to access data on the SD card is to decrypt it.
This Sd Card Cannot Be Decrypted Full
Solution 1. Decrypt SD card with the password
Here we'll take the Samsung cellphone as an example to show you how to decrypt the SD card with password on the source phone:
- Step 1: Insert the SD card to the source Samsung phone, restart the phone.
- Step 2: Go to 'Settings' and tap on 'Lock screen and security'.
- Step 3: Scroll to the bottom and tap on 'Decrypt SD Card'.
- Step 4: Tap on 'DECRYPT SD CARD' and enter your password.
- Step 5: Wait for the decryption process to finish, keeping the device charged during the process.
- The more data you have on the SD card, the longer it will take for decryption.
This Sd Card Cannot Be Decrypted Online
Can I decrypt SD card in another phone? Basically, the answer to this question is no. As different phones have different encryption algorithm and the ways of decryption are also different. Therefore, to access all saved data and continue using the SD card on a new phone, we suggest you decrypt the card on the source phone.
Solution 2. Decrypt SD card without password
Some of you may have the same doubt, right? How can you decrypt an SD card when you have forgotten the password? If you are having the same doubt, follow the provided methods here to resolve this issue:
Method 1. Restore SD card encryption password with a third-party app
There are many apps online that can decrypt an encrypted SD card by restoring the password. All you need is to find such a tool for the decryption. One of the widely recommend app is FExplorer.
You can download it from the App Store and follow the steps below to decrypt the SD card:
Step 1. Restore the password of encrypted SD card
- Keep the SD card inserted in your phone and connect your phone to the PC via a USB cable.
- Download FExplorer from the App Store and run this app on your phone.
- Go to Internal Storage, locate a folder named as mmcstore. Rename it to mcstore.txt.
- Copy the file to your PC and open it with Notepad. Then you'll be able to view the password of the encrypted SD card.
Step 2. Decrypt the SD card with the found password.
Then you can go back to the guidelines in Solution 2 to decrypt the SD card.
Method 2. Decrypt SD card by using diskpart clean all command
If you don't care the saved files in SD card, only want to use it as a normal device for saving data on a new cellphone, follow guidelines here for a guide. DiskPart clean all command will make it easy.
- Step 1: Insert the SD card to your PC via an SD card reader.
- Step 2: Right-click Windows icon on the Desktop, select Search, type cmd.
- Step 3: Bring up Command Prompt and type diskpart and hit enter.
- Step 4: Type list disk and hit Enter.
- Step 5: Type select disk 1 and hit Enter. (Replace 1 with the disk number of your SD card.)
- Step 6: Type clean all and hit Enter. Wait for the process to complete.
- Step 7: Type create partition primary and hit Enter.
- Step 8: Type format fs=fat32 and hit Enter.
After this, you can insert the SD card to the old phone or the new phone to reuse it as external storage again.
Bonus Tip: Recover lost or deleted files from SD card in 3 steps
After decrypting the SD card with a password, you should be able to use the SD card and use saved data again. But if you lost data on the SD card, you should find reliable SD card data recovery software for help.
Here, EaseUS file recovery software is recommended for its easy-to-use feature.
Notice: Different from common SD memory card recovery, file recovery on an encrypted SD card requires you to decrypt the card first. Before trying the following steps, follow solutions above to unlock the SD card in advance. If you cannot decrypt the SD card, the process may fail.
This software also supports to deleted, formatted or permanent file deletion on SD card. Only 3 simple steps will work with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard:
Step 1. Run SD card recovery software and scan the card.
This Sd Card Cannot Be Decrypted Because It Was Encrypted On Another Device
Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your PC and select your SD card. Then click 'Scan' to start finding lost data on your SD card.
Step 2. Check found SD card data.
This Sd Card Cannot Be Decrypted Rom
After the scanning process, you can click 'Filter' to quickly find wanted files.
Step 3. Restore SD card data.
This Sd Card Cannot Be Decrypted One
You can check and preview found files by double-clicking each one of them. Then click Recover to save found SD card files to a secure location on your PC or external storage.