Recover Data from Encrypted SD Card (2024)

"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 is 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 makeEaseUS Data Recovery Wizardextremely difficult from an encrypted SD card without the password.

If you have no ideas about how to decrypt SD card and performSD 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.

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.

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.

Bonus Tip: Recover lost or deleted files from SD Card

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, EaseUSEaseUS Data Recovery Wizardis recommended for its easy-to-use feature.

Download for Win  Recovery Rate 99.7%

Download for Mac  Trustpilot Rating 4.7

Notice: Different from common SDmemory card recovery, file recovery on an encrypted SD card requires you todecrypt the card first. Before trying the following steps, follow the solutions above to unlock the SD card in advance. If you cannot decrypt theSD card, the process may fail.

This software also supports deleted, formatted, or permanent file deletion on SD card. Only 3 simple steps will work with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard:

Step 1. Select the SD card to scan

Download and install EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your Windows PC.
Use the proper way to connect your SanDisk/Lexar/Transcend SD card to the computer.
Open EaseUS SD card recovery software and choose SD Card Recovery on the left panel. All connected drives will display here. Select your SD card and click "Scan".

Step 2. Check for scan results

Wait for the scanning process to complete.
Specify one or several file types to show up, like Pictures or Videos.
Click "Preview" to check if they are the wanted files.

Step 3. Recover SD card data

Preview the recovered files and click "Recover".
Choose a different location to save the recovered files instead of the original SD card.

Video Tutorial: Recover Data After Decrypting SD Card

Recover Data from Encrypted SD Card (2024)

FAQs

Can you recover data from an encrypted SD card? ›

Method 1: Use a Data Recovery Tool

Connect the encrypted SD card to your computer. Use 4DDiG Data Recovery, as mentioned in Part 2, to initiate a scan on the SD card. The software will attempt to recover your data without requiring a password. Once the recovery process is complete, you can access the decrypted data.

Read On ›

Can encrypted data be recovered? ›

A backup can help you recover your encrypted data in case of a ransomware attack, a hard drive failure, or a lost key. However, you need to make sure that your backup is also encrypted and that you have the key to decrypt it. Otherwise, you may expose your data to unauthorized access or corruption.

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How do I recover lost encrypted data? ›

Option 1: Recover Deleted encrypted Files from Google Drive

What you have to do is to log in to your Google account, sync your Android device with the Google account, and Google Drive will automatically start saving the backup of your data.

How to decrypt a microSD card after a factory reset of the device used to Encrypt it? ›

On the phone: Settings -> Security -> Encrypt sd Card (should be real fast since it's an empty sd card) On the PC: Copy the contents of the sd card onto the phone. On the phone: Settings -> Security -> Decrypt sd card (edit: this may take a while depending on how much data was on the card)

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Is it possible to decrypt a SD card after a factory reset? ›

The Factory Reset process gets rid of the encryption key ( AES type ) stored in Android's /system. As a result, the device has no way it can decrypt the files and, therefore, makes data recovery extremely difficult if not even impossible.

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What is the difference between encrypted and decrypted SD cards? ›

The SD card encryption will encode the data stored on the card with a special key or password so that it can't be accessed without authentication. This type of encryption is more secure than traditional methods. In addition, as long as the SD card is not decrypted, other people cannot recover data from it.

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What software is used to decrypt SD cards? ›

Decrypt an Encrypted SD Card without Password. If you don't remember the encrypted SD card password, you still can use third-party tools like FExplorer to restore your password or use the encrypted SD card settings. If both of them are not working, the only way is to clean the SD card with DiskPart command line utility ...

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Is it possible to decrypt encrypted data? ›

Data encryption is a method of converting data from a readable format (plaintext) into an unreadable, encoded format (ciphertext). Encrypted data can only be read or processed after it has been decrypted, using a decryption key or password.

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Can encryption be undone? ›

Encryption can always be reversed. The point of encryption is to take a message and encode it with a secret key so that only another person who has the key can reverse the encryption and read the message.

Can encrypted files be decrypted? ›

However, only users with the private key can decrypt the files, so the files remain safe from unauthorized access. Symmetric encryption uses a single private key for encryption and decryption. The two parties exchanging information through symmetric encryption must exchange keys to decrypt the encoded files.

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What happens when SD card is encrypted? ›

Encryption of an SD card means adding an extra layer of protection to your data stored in the card. Noone would be able to access the data inside the SD card without the password. These days SD cards are more in use in Android phones.

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How does SD card encryption work? ›

A self-encrypt SD card secures the data at rest before writing it to disk. The data remains encrypted until the SSD's controller decrypts it. Once decrypted, the data is then written to the underlying storage area of the SSD.

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How safe is encrypted SD card? ›

Encrypting the data on your microSD card adds an extra layer of security. It locks the information on your SD card to your device in its current state. If it's lost, stolen or removed, the files won't be read even if it is moved onto another device or computer.

Get More Info Here ›