Apr 03, 2025 • Filed to: SD Card Solutions • Proven solutions
There are a lot of Android phones that come on a budget and hence do not have a lot of memory. The shortage of memory makes it difficult for the user to click photos, save videos, play games, download songs, and accomplish a lot of tasks he wants to. To solve this issue, the majority of the people buy sd cards and use them as secondary storage for their phones. However, one common and major issue faced by a lot of people is the error "this device doesn't support this sd card." This issue is faced by almost every third Android user once in a lifetime.
Are you one of the Android users whose sd card is not detected on their phone? Are you worried that you have wasted your money? Are you looking for a solution? If your answers to the questions asked are yes, then I am sure you have already tried taking the sd card out and reinserting it more than once. Have not you? If yes, then here is the solution for you.
There is not just one issue that causes your device to reject the sd card. People who have either gone through this issue or have a degree in computer science knows and understands the issues well. However, for a person who does not know much about technology, it is difficult to understand the issues, and hence, finding the right solution becomes a challenge. We will discuss the solutions to these problems later in the article. Here are a couple of issues that might be responsible for your device to reject the sd card.
1SD card's compatibility issues
This is one of the most common issues. In this case, your device will give an error of "SD card not inserted." This can make a lot of people confused and they can go on trying multiple solutions. Now the causes behind this can either be the mobile compatibility issue or the storage size of the card. It is possible that the storage space of the card way too large for the phone to accept. In both cases, the phone will not read the SD card and would return errors.
2Reading errors or incorrect file system
Another most common issue is the wrong file system of the sd card that makes it impossible for the device to read the files. Hence, it makes the device bounce the "this device doesn't support this sd card" error to the user. The possible causes of this issue can be bad sectors of the sd card or wrong read / writes errors, SD card's formatting that caused some issues for the device to not recognize it, or the file system of the SD card is unknown. Some of these issues are also caused due to the SD card being used in a different operating system previously.
3Incorrect data transfer mode on the device
Since the sd card is an external storage device, the device has to read and write information to it multiple times. It becomes hard for the device to read or write to the card if the transfer mode is not correct. This problem also causes the device to return an error stating that the sd card is not supported by the device. This issue can also be confirmed by attaching the phone to the computer and checking the mass storage. If the sd card is not displayed there, then the device has the incorrect data transfer mode for sure.
4Broken or damaged memory card
The most common issue that is also hard to catch is the bad sd card- broken or damaged. If your phone is not showing any of the above symptoms but is still not accepting the memory card, then the chances are high of it is either damaged or broken. The damage can either be physical or mechanical. In case of mechanical damage, your phone tells you that the SD card is not working. In some cases, it stops responding all of a sudden. In another case, the phone does not recognize the SD card but when inserted mobile devices, it shows the same behavior.
As multiple issues can result in a device rejecting the memory card, there are different ways to solve this issue as well. We will be discussing different ways to solve each undercover problem causing this issue.
To deal with the problem caused by an incompatible SD card, take out the user manual that came with your phone and read the details. The section about the external storage devices will contain all the details about the memory card. Read it thoroughly and see if you have bought the wrong memory card. Also, you can check for the right memory card so you can buy it later.
Once you have recognized the issue behind your memory card is not supported, it is time for you to fix it. If the issue lies in the reading of the file or incorrect file system, there is an easy solution for it. First of all, you need to find out your memory card's size. If the memory storage capacity of the microSD is over 32 GB, there is a huge chance that it has been formatted to exFAT. A huge number of Android versions do not support this file system. A quick and smart technique to solve this issue would be to try restarting the phone in recovery mode. While the phone is on the restarting mode select "Wipe cache partition" in the Android service menu. Selecting this option will clear the SD card in a few seconds. Moreover, it will format the card to FAT32, which is the most suitable for storing files on a phone. However, it is suggested for people who are expert in dealing with SD cards. If you are not one of the professional ones, then an easier way to format an SD card is by using a computer. Buy a card reader and either download or buy the SD Formatter app that will help you format the memory card properly. Attach the phone to your laptop and let the app do its work.
Fixing this issue is the easiest among all others. All you need to do is open the settings of your phone, check out the section of the storage, and select a media transfer option instead of the mass storage option when connecting your phone to your laptop or computer. Within a minute the Explorer will display the data stored on the memory card. These simple steps should be able to fix the issue with your phone.
This is the most heartbroken situation. If your SD card is broken or damaged, there is not much you can do or maybe nothing that you can do to fix it. Instead of wasting your time fixing it look for the specifications of the memory card and buy a new one. While buying a new memory card make sure that it is neither broken nor damaged. You can check it by placing your card inside the phone and see if the phone displays the acceptance of the card.
There are times when nothing you do could fix the error your phone is throwing at you- this device doesn't support this sd card. At such times, you have already gone through the long lists of the possible errors and have applied the long list of solutions already. At this stage, you are no longer interested in finding a way to fix the memory card, but you want to know the solution to recover data from this card.
There is a lot of precious data that one stores on his or her phone. This data can be comprised of music, videos, songs, movies, books, and what not? Are you eager to give up on the faulty card but do not want to give up on the data inside it? If yes, then you are at the right blog.
The best and the most convenient way to recover your data and get rid of this faulty sd card is through using Recoverit data recovery. It is capable of restoring files in more than 1000 formats with zero percent of data being lost. Moreover, it guarantees that it can recover 99% of the lost data if not 100%. Does not that sound great? We know it does. It offers a limited range of services free of cost so you can download it and check it to decide for yourself. If you have made up your mind to use this software, here are the easy steps that you can follow to recover your lost data from the memory card.
Step 1- Choosing the location to recover data from
Once the software is open, you can choose the location where you have lost the data. You can either select phone's memory in case of a phone or select a hard disk under the "Hard Disk Drives" tab to recover from your computer. Now, click "Start" to initiate the process of scanning on the selected location.
Step 2- Scanning the folder for files to recover
Once the scanning has started, you can sit back and relax for a couple of minutes. If the location has a lot of huge files, then it can take a few hours to scan the location completely. The scanning time directly depends on the size of the files present in the location.
Step 3- Preview recovered file
While the scanning process is still on, you can preview the file before recovering. Finally, click the "Recover" button to save.
We know that you came to read this article to find the solution to the "this device doesn't support this sd card" error and we believe that you have found the perfect solution. We have covered all the possible reasons for this issue and the solutions for the issues as well. With the help of this mini-guide, you can fix the problem right from your couch within a few minutes or a few hours. Moreover, you are equipped with the knowledge of recovering the needed and important data from the damaged SD card as well. Now that you are well aware of the possible issues and the possible and guaranteed solutions, we believe that you are ready to help out other people with similar issues as well. Good luck with your future endeavors!
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Eleanor Reed
staff Editor