Broken SD Card Recovery: Cameras, Drones, Dashcams & More

SD cards are everywhere. They live inside DSLR and mirrorless cameras, drones, dashcams, action cameras, smartphones, tablets, outdoor trail cameras, dash recorders, security systems, and medical devices. Chances are you're carrying at least one right now — and at least one of the devices you depend on daily stores its most critical data on a tiny piece of flash memory no bigger than a postage stamp. When that card fails, the question isn't whether the data matters. It does. The question is whether it can be recovered.

Whether your SD card snapped in half, won't read, shows a format error, or simply isn't detected by any device — the data is almost certainly still recoverable. The plastic housing and metal contacts are just the interface to the data. The actual information lives on a NAND flash chip embedded inside the card, and that chip is far more resilient than the fragile shell protecting it. eProvided averages a 98% success rate on broken and damaged SD card cases, including cards that have been physically snapped in half, bent, water damaged, or corroded.

Our lab has spent over three decades recovering SD cards, microSD cards, CFexpress, XQD, and every flash format in between — for NASA, JPL, professional photographers, documentary filmmakers, drone operators, law enforcement agencies, insurance investigators, and tens of thousands of everyday users around the world. We've seen cards arrive in pieces, wrapped in tape, sealed in zip-lock bags with a note that says "I know it's bad." It usually isn't as bad as it looks. If the NAND chip is intact, we can work with it.

Broken SD Card Recovery for Photographers & Videographers

You nail the perfect shot. You wrap an all-day wedding — twelve hours on your feet, 2,400 frames, the ceremony, first dance, speeches, all of it. Then you sit down at your laptop, slot in the SD card, and nothing happens. The drive doesn't mount. The camera won't read it back. That sinking feeling in your stomach? We've heard it described over the phone more times than we can count. Few data loss scenarios hit harder than a photographer staring at an unresponsive card that holds an irreplaceable day in someone's life.

Our SD card recovery service was built with exactly this scenario in mind. Professional photographers — wedding, portrait, event, sports, real estate, documentary, and commercial — represent a significant portion of our daily case load. The same goes for videographers: YouTube creators, social media content producers, corporate video teams, and independent filmmakers all rely on SD cards to capture footage that simply cannot be re-shot. When that footage disappears, the professional and personal consequences are immediate and serious.

The good news is that most SD card failures are not storage failures — they are interface failures. The card's file system becomes corrupted, the controller firmware crashes, or physical damage severs the connection between the card's contacts and its internal NAND chip. In every one of these scenarios, the underlying data on the NAND cells remains intact until something physically destroys those cells. Our engineers work at the chip level to reach that data directly, bypassing whatever layer of the card stopped working.

Camera SD Card Formats We Recover

Every major camera manufacturer uses a different card standard — sometimes multiple standards across their product line. We recover all of them:

• Canon — SD, SDHC, SDXC, CFexpress Type B (EOS R3, R5, R5 C, R6 Mark II, 1DX III)
• Nikon — SD, SDHC, SDXC, XQD, CFexpress Type B (Z9, Z8, Z7 II, Z6 III, D850, D5)
• Sony — SD, SDHC, SDXC, CFexpress Type A (A1, A7R V, A7 IV, FX3, ZV-E1), Memory Stick Pro Duo
• Fujifilm — SD, SDHC, SDXC, CFexpress Type B (GFX 100S II, X-T5, X-H2S)
• Olympus / OM System — SD, SDHC, SDXC (OM-1 Mark II, OM-5, E-M1X)
• Panasonic — SD, SDXC, XQD, CFexpress Type B (S1R II, GH7, S5 II)
• Leica, Hasselblad, Phase One — various SD and CFexpress formats — all recovered

If it stores image data and it failed, we recover it. Format, brand, speed class, and card generation do not determine whether recovery is possible — the condition of the NAND chip does. And NAND chips are remarkably durable under conditions that destroy everything else on the card.

Drone & Aerial Photography SD Card Recovery

Drone pilots have a unique relationship with Murphy's Law: the footage that's hardest to re-capture is invariably on the card that took the worst hit. A DJI Mini 4 Pro skimming over a mountain lake, an Autel Evo II circling a construction site at golden hour, a Skydio X10 threading a canyon wall — these shots represent hours of planning, favorable weather windows, battery charges, location permits, and sometimes significant travel. When a drone hits the ground, the microSD card hits with it. When a drone drops into water, the microSD card goes under too.

When a drone hits the ground at speed, the microSD card takes the impact too. We've recovered footage from cards that were bent almost in half from crash forces, cards that arrived still embedded in a cracked drone body we had to carefully disassemble to extract. The card housing may be destroyed. The solder joints on the circuit board may have fractured. The controller chip may be dead. None of that matters if the NAND flash chip is physically intact — because our engineers extract the NAND directly and read it through chip-level NAND flash recovery, bypassing every failed component between the chip and the data it holds.

Water submersion presents a different set of challenges. Freshwater submersion is recoverable in most cases if the card is powered off quickly and not allowed to corrode. Saltwater submersion is more aggressive — the salt accelerates oxidation of the copper traces and contact pads — but even this scenario has a high recovery rate when the card reaches our lab quickly. If your drone went down over water, retrieve the card as fast as possible, do not attempt to dry it, do not power it on, and ship it to us immediately. Time genuinely matters here. For context on what makes a reliable card for aerial work, choosing the right microSD card matters — but even the best card in the wrong crash won't protect itself.

Drone Compatibility — Card Types by Model

We recover microSD cards from every drone model listed above and from every drone model not listed. If the card came out of a drone and it failed, we can help. Our engineers have handled crashed-drone recovery cases for commercial real estate operators, surveying firms, film production companies, search-and-rescue teams, and hobbyist pilots who just really, really wanted that footage.

Dashcam SD Card Recovery — Recover Accident Footage

Dashcam footage is unique among all the SD card scenarios we handle. With cameras and drones, the stakes are professional or sentimental. With dashcams, the stakes can be legal. Accident footage is time-sensitive evidence that insurers, attorneys, and law enforcement may need to establish fault, dispute a fraudulent claim, or document a hit-and-run. If your dashcam card isn't reading after a collision, the urgency is real — and "we'll figure it out tomorrow" is not a strategy.

We regularly recover dashcam footage from BlackVue, Nextbase, Viofo, Thinkware, Garmin Dash Cam 67W, Garmin 57, Garmin 47, Rexing, and Vantrue dashcams — as well as the dozens of generic off-brand units sold online. The brand of the dashcam rarely matters for recovery purposes; what matters is the condition of the microSD card inside it. We've recovered dashcam footage that insurance companies used to resolve fault claims in cases involving significant property damage and personal injury. The footage was there — it just needed the right tools to reach it.

Dashcam SD Card Not Reading After an Accident

A collision is a high-force physical event. Your car absorbed an impact — so did your dashcam, and so did the microSD card inside it. The card may have shifted in its slot, fractured, or had its file system corrupted by an unclean power cutoff when your vehicle lost electrical power during the crash. Any of these scenarios is recoverable. None of them means the footage is gone.

Loop recording is also a critical factor you need to act on immediately. Modern dashcams record in continuous loops, overwriting the oldest footage first. If your dashcam is still powered on after an accident and continues recording, it will eventually overwrite the footage you need. Stop the dashcam. Remove the card. Do not format it, do not keep inserting it into different devices, and do not let it keep recording. Contact us first. Every insertion risks further corruption of the file system, and every minute of continued recording risks overwriting evidence.

On the topic of card selection for dashcams: most modern dashcams require a minimum Class 10 or V30 card for reliable loop recording. The SD card speed class standards published by the SD Association define the minimum sustained write speeds each class guarantees — V30 means a minimum of 30MB/s, V60 doubles that, V90 is the pro tier used in cinema cameras. For dashcam recovery purposes, the speed class of the card doesn't change our approach. We recover them all.

Action Camera SD Card Recovery — GoPro, Insta360 & Sony

Action cameras live hard lives. That's the point. A GoPro Hero 13 Black goes surfing, skydiving, mountain biking, and white-water kayaking. An Insta360 X4 goes into situations where most electronics fear to tread. The microSD cards inside these cameras are exposed to shock, vibration, submersion, sand, and temperature extremes that would kill a standard consumer device. Most of the time, the cameras survive. Occasionally, the card doesn't — and that's where we come in.

We recover microSD cards from the full GoPro lineup: Hero 12, Hero 13, Hero 13 Black, MAX 360, and GoPro Volta. From Insta360: X4, ONE RS, ONE X2, and the full Ace Pro series. Sony action cameras including the ZV-E10, FDR-X3000, and HDR-AS300. DJI action devices including the Osmo Action 4 and Action 5 Pro. The scenarios we handle include surfing and diving water damage, cards dropped and cracked on concrete or rock during extreme sports, and cards that overheated during extended recording sessions in high-ambient-temperature environments.

Understanding why chip-off recovery works for these scenarios requires a basic understanding of how flash memory stores data. At its core, a NAND flash chip stores information in floating-gate transistors — electrical charges trapped in insulating layers that hold their state even without power. The plastic housing of the microSD card, the gold contact pads, and the controller chip are all just the interface to those floating-gate cells. When we perform direct chip-off extraction, we bypass all of that interface hardware entirely. If you want to go deeper, how NAND flash memory works at the physical level is worth understanding — it explains why flash data survives conditions that destroy conventional hard drives. Our lab is trusted by NASA and government agencies precisely because chip-off recovery works even under extreme physical damage conditions.

Broken microSD Card Recovery for Smartphones & Tablets

Not all microSD card failures happen inside dedicated cameras. A significant number of the cases we handle involve microSD cards extracted from Android smartphones and tablets — Samsung Galaxy A54, A55, A35, Motorola Edge and Moto G series, OnePlus Nord, Xiaomi, TCL, and Nokia devices, among many others. One of the most common physical damage scenarios we see is a microSD card snapped during insertion or removal — the card slots on phones are small, often awkwardly positioned, and it doesn't take much force applied at the wrong angle to crack the card in half.

We recover the full contents of microSD cards extracted from any Android device, regardless of whether the card is physically intact or broken. The process is the same: assess the damage, determine whether direct chip-off is required, extract and read the NAND, reconstruct the file system, and return your files. If your phone's microSD card is physically broken and you're reading this, you don't need to buy a new card and start over. You need to stop using the card and contact us.

SD Card Types We Recover — Every Format, Every Brand

Over three decades of flash storage evolution, the SD card family has grown into a sprawling ecosystem of formats, speeds, and capacities. We handle every SD card format manufactured in the last 30 years — from the original 8MB SD cards sold in the early 2000s to the latest 2TB CFexpress Type B cards used in flagship cinema cameras. If it stores data, we recover it.

Speed class designations — V30, V60, V90, UHS-I, UHS-II — describe the minimum sustained write speed a card can guarantee during continuous recording. V30 guarantees 30MB/s minimum; UHS-II cards use a second row of contact pins to achieve much higher transfer speeds. For recovery purposes, higher-speed cards tend to use more advanced controller firmware and tighter NAND packaging, which can add complexity to chip-off procedures — but it never makes recovery impossible. If it stores data and fails — regardless of format, speed class, or brand — we recover it.

Signs Your SD Card Is Failing or Damaged

Catching SD card failure early can mean the difference between a quick data recovery and permanent loss. Many cards give warning signs before they fail completely — others fail without warning during a write cycle. Either way, knowing what to look for allows you to act before the situation becomes critical.

1. No drive letter appears when inserted into any computer or device — the card is completely undetected
2. Thumbnails visible in-camera but full images won't open or load completely when transferred
3. Photos appear with colored lines, pixelation artifacts, or load only partially — signs of fragmented NAND read errors
4. Card shows incorrect storage size — a 64GB card suddenly reports as 0MB, 32MB, or as unformatted
5. Filenames contain garbled characters or unreadable text strings in the directory listing
6. Device displays "Card Error," "Format Card," "SD Card Not Supported," or similar error messages
7. Data transfers begin then freeze, stall, or disconnect mid-copy — the card cannot sustain a read cycle
8. Card is visibly cracked, bent, has a broken corner, or shows physical damage to the gold contact pins

If you're seeing any of these signs, stop using the card immediately. Do not shoot more footage onto it. Do not run recovery software. Do not format it. Every action you take on a failing card increases the probability of permanent data loss. Stop, remove the card, and contact our team.

Is My SD Card Recoverable? Use This Quick Checklist

Even if your card falls into the yellow rows above, don't assume the data is gone. We handle physically broken, water-damaged, and impact-damaged cards every single day. The checklist above is meant to help you understand urgency — not to discourage you from reaching out. Start a free evaluation and let our engineers tell you exactly what we're working with.

What NOT To Do With a Broken SD Card

The decisions you make in the first 10 minutes after discovering your card is broken can determine whether your data is recoverable — or permanently gone. We've seen well-intentioned actions destroy recoverable data more times than we care to count. Here's what not to do.

1. Don't run recovery software on a physically broken card. Software cannot read a card that doesn't mount. Attempting this on a card that partially mounts may overwrite fragile, partially-readable sectors, converting a recoverable situation into a permanent one.
2. Don't keep reinserting the card. Repeated insertion bends connector pins further and can short NAND circuits. One careful insertion to test detection is understandable. Inserting it fifteen times across five different devices is not.
3. Don't format the card. Formatting rewrites the file system structure — the directory index that recovery tools depend on to locate your files. Formatting doesn't immediately erase the underlying data, but it makes reconstruction dramatically harder.
4. Don't try to bend it back into shape. SD card PCB traces are thinner than a human hair. Bending the board to re-align a crack causes irreversible trace fractures that sever the connections between the NAND chip and the card's interface. What was a chip-off case becomes a microsolder case. The complexity only increases.
5. Don't put it in rice. Rice absorbs atmospheric moisture from the surrounding air — it does not pull liquid out of sealed electronic components. It also wastes the critical first hours after liquid damage, when fast professional intervention can halt corrosion before it permanently damages the NAND chip. Rice is for dinner, not data recovery.
6. Don't attempt home soldering. SD card components are microscopic. The contact pads on a microSD card are fractions of a millimeter wide. Amateur soldering attempts cause permanent NAND damage in virtually every case we've seen arrive after a home repair attempt.
7. Don't store it loose in a pocket or bag. Static discharge from fabrics can destroy exposed flash memory cells. Place the card in a soft cloth envelope or anti-static bag and keep it there until it arrives at our lab.

There is a corner of the internet dedicated to DIY data recovery tutorials — confident narrators with steady hands explaining how to fix a broken SD card with a soldering iron, a toothpick, and approximately zero understanding of NAND controller architecture. We genuinely respect the DIY spirit. But broken SD cards are not the place to develop it. The techniques below show what actually separates a professional recovery from a failed attempt at home.

Can a Physically Broken SD Card Be Recovered?

Yes — in most cases, data can be recovered from a physically broken SD card, even one snapped completely in half. The data lives on the NAND memory chip inside the card, not on the plastic housing or connector pins. As long as the NAND chip itself is physically intact, professional lab recovery is possible. The housing is just packaging. The connector is just an interface. Neither of them holds a single bit of your data.

eProvided averages a 98% success rate across all SD card recovery cases, including physically damaged cards. Our lab has recovered data for NASA and JPL — including storage media that was submerged in salt water for extended periods. If you're curious about the full scope of what our engineers have worked on, you can read about our work with used by NASA and government agencies on our credentials page. The same chip-off techniques we apply to mission-critical government storage are what we bring to your broken wedding photography card.

When you need to recover lost photos from SD card, the path forward depends entirely on what failed. Logical failures — corrupted file systems, accidental formatting, deleted files — are typically the fastest cases to resolve because the NAND data is fully intact. Physical failures — cracked boards, snapped cards, water damage — require more lab work but have high recovery rates when handled correctly. If the card also has liquid damage in addition to physical damage, time is the most critical factor. If your SD card was water damaged, the same urgent principle applies as with a water damaged phone data recovery — act fast, don't power it on, and get it to us.

What Makes Chip-Off SD Card Recovery Possible?

The NAND flash chip stores data at the cell level — individual floating-gate transistors that hold electrical charges representing binary data. These cells are physically independent of the circuit board, the contact pads, and the controller chip that normally mediates access to them. When a card fails because its controller crashes or its PCB traces fracture, the NAND cells continue holding their data indefinitely. Our engineers remove the NAND chip under microscope magnification and read it directly using dedicated chip-reading hardware, reconstructing the file system from the raw NAND data without needing any of the original card's infrastructure.

Factors That Affect Recovery Success

• Elapsed time — The sooner the card reaches our lab after damage, the better. Oxidation from water damage and continued electrical stress from repeated insertion attempts both degrade recoverable data over time.
• Prior recovery software attempts — Running software on a partially-mounting card can overwrite fragile sectors. If the card mounted even briefly and you ran software on it, let us know immediately so our engineers can adjust their approach.
• Physical state of the NAND chip — Most card failures leave the NAND chip fully intact even when the housing is shattered. However, extreme crush damage or high-temperature fire can damage the NAND cells themselves. Our engineers assess this during the free evaluation.
• Water and heat exposure duration — Brief submersion in clean water is very manageable. Extended submersion in saltwater or exposure to high heat is more complex, but rarely impossible.

eProvided's Broken SD Card Recovery Process

Our process is designed to be simple for you, even when the recovery is technically complex for us. You don't need to understand NAND architecture or chip-off procedures — you just need to stop using the card, package it safely, and ship it. We handle everything from there. Here is exactly what happens from the moment you contact us to the moment your data is back in your hands.

Step 1 — Stop Using the Card Immediately

Power off the device the card is in. Remove the card carefully. Place it in a soft cloth or paper envelope. Do not insert it into any other device, do not attempt to clean the contacts, and do not run any software on it. Every additional read attempt on a failing or damaged card risks further corruption of fragile sectors. The best thing you can do for your data right now is nothing — until it's in our hands.

Step 2 — Package It Safely for Shipping

Wrap the card in a soft, lint-free cloth or place it directly into a padded anti-static bag. Place that inside a small padded envelope or rigid box with a small amount of soft padding around it. Do not use bubble wrap directly against the card contacts — the repeated flex of bubble wrap can stress fractured circuit boards further. Do not ship it in rice. Include a brief note with your name, phone number, email address, and a short description of what happened and what the card contained.

Step 3 — Ship to Our Lab or Drop Off Locally

Mail via USPS, FedEx, or UPS — we accept all carriers. We recommend getting a tracking number regardless of carrier. Las Vegas locals are welcome to drop off in person at our lab at 9527 Knopfler Ln., Las Vegas, NV 89148. For international shipments, mark the package as "failed electronic media for repair evaluation" on customs forms to avoid delays. Our lab receives broken SD cards from every continent. Distance is not an obstacle.

Step 4 — Free Lab Evaluation (Within 3 Business Days)

Our engineers assess the card, determine the damage type and severity, and contact you directly with their findings and a recovery quote. There is no obligation and no charge for the evaluation. If we cannot recover your data, you pay nothing. "No Data, No Data Recovery Fee" is not a marketing phrase — it is a contractual commitment we make to every client. Need your data urgently? Rush recovery is available — select it when starting your case and our engineers will prioritize your card in the queue.

Step 5 — Receive Your Recovered Data

Recovered files are placed on a new USB drive or external hard drive and shipped back to you, or delivered via secure encrypted download link — whichever you prefer. Data is returned as close to its pre-damage state as possible, with original folder structure and file naming preserved wherever the file system reconstruction allows. For large recoveries (professional wedding shoots, multi-day drone footage compilations), we can coordinate delivery logistics directly with you.

Have questions before you ship? Join the conversation on our eProvided Reddit community — real customers share their recovery stories, ask questions, and get answers from our team. Prefer direct contact? Click to chat live with our team 24/7. We're here whenever the panic hits — and we've heard from clients at 2am on a Sunday when the realization sinks in. That's what 24/7 means to us.

What Our Customers Say

"The SD card of my Camera was damaged and couldn't be retrieved. E-Provided has helped me recover the data. They have skilled technicians who can perform this task. I personally felt they are a bit costly but the job gets done neatly and they have a good process in place from beginning to end. Thanks guys." ★★★★★ — Elancheran Jayaraman, July 2015 | Trustpilot

"This company saved over 500 images for me from a Lexar corrupted compact flash card that even Lexar's recovery software couldn't restore. I can't thank them enough for delivering MORE than was promised!!! Flawless, considerate customer service and guidance throughout the entire process and yes I was one of those “ANXIOUS” clients! I will ALWAYS use and recommend their expertise and services!!!!" ★★★★★ — Photo Tech / Karen Fig, May 2014 | Trustpilot

Karen's note about being an "ANXIOUS" client resonates deeply with us. Every one of our clients is anxious — that's completely appropriate when your data is on the line. Our job is to give that anxiety a safe place to land.

"eProvided recovered 2 years of photos that no one could recover; people told me to give up. Out of desperation, I sent my phone to eProvided. They got the pictures back, and didn't even consider it was of one of their more difficult ones!!!! Are these people already married?!" ★★★★★ — Eunice Sinclair, December 2013 | Trustpilot

"I recently had a USB drive simply stop working. No computer would even recognize it. As principal of a high school, I had our Tech people look at it to see if they could get it working again. They tried multiple ways to access the data but were unsuccessful. This drive had both critical school and personal info on it. I contacted eProvided and within days they had recovered every bit of the data for me. These guys are awesome and saved both my school and me a lot of heartache through their data recovery program. Thanks for the great work! I wholeheartedly recommend eProvided to anyone and everyone without reservation. Thanks again!" ★★★★★ — David Wall, November 2013 | Trustpilot

Frequently Asked Questions About Broken SD Card Recovery

Can a physically broken SD card be recovered?

Yes — in the majority of cases, even a card snapped completely in half can be recovered. The data lives on the NAND memory chip inside the card, not on the plastic housing or contact pins. As long as the NAND chip remains physically intact after the break, our engineers can extract it, read it directly using chip-off hardware, and reconstruct your files. The housing is just packaging. A clean break through the PCB rarely damages the NAND chip itself, which is typically located toward the center of the card and is far more robust than the surrounding materials.

What is eProvided's success rate for broken SD card recovery?

eProvided averages a 98% success rate across all SD card recovery cases. This includes physically broken cards, water-damaged cards, cards that have been dropped, bent, corroded, or subjected to extreme heat. The 2% of cases that are unrecoverable typically involve catastrophic physical destruction of the NAND cells themselves — crush damage that physically shatters the chip, or high-temperature exposure that fuses and destroys the floating-gate transistors where data is stored. In every other scenario, recovery is achievable with the right equipment and expertise.

How do I safely package a broken SD card for shipping?

Wrap the card in a soft lint-free cloth and place it in a padded anti-static bag. Place that inside a small padded envelope or rigid box with minimal soft padding. Do not use bubble wrap directly against the contacts or card surface. Do not ship it in rice or any other moisture-absorbing material. Include a note with your name, email, phone number, and a brief description of the damage. Ship via USPS, FedEx, or UPS with a tracking number. For physically broken cards with multiple pieces, place all fragments together in the same anti-static bag.

Can drone SD card footage be recovered after a crash?

Yes — drone crash recovery is one of the most common cases we handle. Whether the drone hit the ground, a tree, or water, the microSD card inside typically survives the impact with its NAND chip intact even when the card housing is cracked or bent. We've recovered footage from cards that were bent almost in half from crash impact forces. For water crash scenarios over lakes or rivers, retrieve the card as quickly as possible, do not power on the drone, and ship the card to us immediately. Salt water cases require even faster action due to accelerated corrosion.

Does recovery software work on a physically broken SD card?

No. Recovery software requires the operating system to detect and mount the card before any software-level access is possible. A physically broken card that cannot be detected by any computer or device cannot be accessed by recovery software — period. Running software on a card that partially mounts (due to partial physical damage) risks overwriting the fragile sectors that a professional lab could otherwise image safely. For any physically broken card, software recovery is not only ineffective — it actively makes professional recovery harder. Contact our lab directly rather than attempting software tools first.

How long does broken SD card data recovery take?

Standard recovery cases are completed within 3 to 5 business days from the time the card arrives at our lab. Complex chip-off cases involving physically shattered cards or advanced corrosion damage may take slightly longer — our engineers will communicate the timeline when they contact you with the evaluation results. Rush recovery service is available for time-sensitive cases and can significantly shorten turnaround. Select rush service when starting your case online, or mention it when you contact our team.

What SD card formats and brands does eProvided recover?

We recover every SD card format: standard SD, SDHC, SDXC, microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC, CFexpress Type A, CFexpress Type B, XQD, and CFast 2.0. Every major brand including SanDisk, Lexar, Samsung, Sony, Kingston, PNY, Transcend, Delkin, ProGrade, and Angelbird. Every speed class including V30, V60, V90, UHS-I, and UHS-II. Every capacity from 8MB legacy cards to 2TB modern CFexpress cards. If it stores flash data and it failed, we recover it — format and brand have never been a barrier in our 25+ years of operation.

Can I recover data from a microSD card that broke inside my phone?

Yes. A microSD card broken inside a phone is recovered using the same chip-off process as any other physically broken card. Our engineers will carefully extract the card from the phone if needed, assess the damage, and proceed with recovery. If the card snapped during insertion or removal — a very common scenario on Android phones with tight or awkwardly positioned card slots — the pieces can typically be reassembled and read, or the NAND chip extracted directly if the PCB is too damaged to reconstruct. Bring us the pieces and we'll take it from there.