Typical failures of removable flash storage
SD cards, microSD cards and USB sticks share the same anatomy as a miniature SSD: NAND chips and a small controller. When something gives way, it is almost always one of these symptoms:
- Not detected: nothing appears on insertion, on the computer or on the device.
- Asks to be formatted: the media is seen but its file system is unreadable — often after being removed during a write.
- Read-only: many cards and sticks lock themselves against writing when their cells are worn out; check the small "Lock" switch on SD cards first.
- Nonsense capacity (0 bytes, 8 MB, or on the contrary an enormous capacity): a deprogrammed controller — or a counterfeit whose real capacity does not match the label.
- Extreme slowness and copy errors: cells at the end of their life, the media is no longer reliable.
Checks before concluding it has failed
- Change reader and port: try another card reader, another USB port, another computer. Built-in readers are a frequent cause of false diagnosis.
- Check the Lock switch on an SD card, and the microSD-to-SD adapter, which is often faulty itself.
- Clean the contacts gently (eraser, dry cloth): oxidised contacts are enough to make a card invisible.
- Look in disk management (Windows) or Disk Utility (macOS): a media seen without a drive letter is not dead — its partition is.
Recovering photos and files: the real odds
After a format prompt or an accidental deletion, recovery software (PhotoRec, Recuva and the like) often retrieves most of it, as long as nothing has been overwritten. Work on an image copy of the media whenever possible.
If the media is no longer detected at all, software recovery is powerless: the chips have to be desoldered and the data rebuilt — specialist lab work, expensive, reserved for genuinely precious data. For irreplaceable family photos, ask for a quote before doing anything; for the rest, it is usually more sensible to let it go.
Dead or unreliable: don't throw it away, sell it by weight
A card or stick that can no longer be trusted should not store anything any more — but its NAND chips keep their value. That is why Recychips buys memory cards and USB sticks by the kilo, working or not, with no sorting required: SD and microSD cards of all capacities, USB sticks, removed adapters.
The typical batch is the overflowing drawer: camera cards replaced over the years, promotional sticks, doubtful media set aside. Weigh the lot, create a quote with the estimated weight, and ship it in a padded envelope or a small box. As with SSDs, no data is read: the media are dismantled and the chips reused as components.
Electronic media are still WEEE: if they are not sold on, take them to a collection point, never to the ordinary bin.
In short
- Try another reader, another port, the Lock switch, the contacts.
- Media still readable: back up immediately, then stop using it if it shows signs of wear.
- Precious data on undetected media: specialist lab, without trying anything first.
- Dead or doubtful media: into the batch to sell by the kilo rather than the bin. Value your drawer online.
