Help Please help! Windows wants to format my sd card- am very untecchie

[Willow33]

Hi
I am trying to upload all my photos from my sd card onto my pc (am doing this for the first time) as I have just got my new phone upgrade. However Windows wants to format my sd card which had lots of photos and videos on it. Can anyone please advise me on this matter. Also ideally can your responses be untecchie.

thanks

 

[Hadron]

Firstly, don't let it format the card as that will erase your data.

Secondly, we need more information to diagnose the problem. I assume you have put the card in a card reader - is this correct? Did you try just connecting the phone via USB and copying the photos from there instead of using a card reader? If so, what happened? If Windows doesn't recognise the card that is your best way of saving the data (since it presumably was, and still is, working in the old phone).

Finally, if you have been using Android 6 had you reformatted the card as "internal" storage ("adopted" the card as an extension of internal storage)? If you have then the only thing you can do is put it back in the old phone and copy stuff to the PC over USB, because using the card that way encrypts it so that only that phone can read it. If this is the case you'll really need to copy everything off, because the new phone won't be able to use the card without formatting it either.

 

[Herbie53]

Hadron, you are very kind to reply, thank you. Yes, I put the Samsung sd card into a card reader and stuck that directly into my pc. I had just copied some photos by connecting the phone via a USB (how did you know?!) and that seemed to work.
However, a few days ago, I unmounted the SD card and couldn't find the card reader and so put it (the SD card) back into the phone. The phone asked to mount the card which I didn't do as I understand this would erase the data on it. I had originally mounted it when I first put in about a year ago.

I am not sure what Android 6 is. I have a Samsung S4 mini phone though.

I won't need the SD card in the new phone as it has a large internal memory. I just need to know how to get the photos and videos off it without formatting it.
Thanks

 

[Hadron]

Android 6 is an operating system version (aka "Marshmallow"). I don't think an S4 Mini is running Android 6.

Mounting a card won't erase data - the phone mounts the card every time it boots up - so it may be worth trying in the phone again. But take any warnings about erasing or formatting very seriously and don't say yes to that. I'd just shut the phone down, insert the card, power up and see whether it finds it OK.

 

[AZgl1500]

hey!
Just to let you know you are not alone with seeing that message.

I just ignore it totally, every single time.
There is nothing wrong with your SD card, it just was not formatted with Windows and MS systems don't like anything that they did not format.

 

[Herbie53]

Oh dear! It says that my SD card is blank or has unsupported files! I am sure that my photos were being stored onto it as were my videos but can't seem to see them.

 

[Hadron]

This is the phone saying it now rather than the computer?

It's easy to tell whether the photos were on it: if you can still see them on the phone without the card then they were on the phone, otherwise they were on the card.

As for the card, is it saying "unsupported files" or "unsupported filesystem"? I suspect the latter, but that's not good. You did eject it properly from the PC before removing it? Try rebooting the phone just in case it works better a second time, but it may be that the card has been damaged. If so it will be a case of finding some file recovery software that can get your files off - Recuva is often recommended for Windows (and is free, so nothing to lose by trying), but I've had errors that it couldn't cope with. But don't format the card, there are ways of getting data back from most failures.