# Fix MBR for SD cards



## kyle2194

Try booting up with a windows installation disk, going into the recovery console, and using this command http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d....mspx?mfr=true


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## LemonSlice

Command prompt > type diskpart. Type list disk, find the one that is your SD card, by matching the capacity, and remove all other flash disks to keep confusion minimal. It isn't likely that your hard drive matches your SD card size, I hope. Anyway, it will have a Disk # next to it. Now type "select disk #" where number is the SD card. Now type "clean". Then go into Disk Management by typing "compmgmt.msc" in the Run window and selecting Disk management on the left pane. You should get a message saying that a disk must be initialized. If not, then look through the list of disks for the SD card, and it should say "Not Initialized". Right click, initalize, select MBR and follow the rest of the info. This was the method I used on my flash drive to clear out linux mbr bootloaders.

This can be done in Windows, I personally did it on Windows 7.


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## *Madridi4ever*

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LemonSlice* 
Command prompt > type diskpart. Type list disk, find the one that is your SD card, by matching the capacity, and remove all other flash disks to keep confusion minimal. It isn't likely that your hard drive matches your SD card size, I hope. Anyway, it will have a Disk # next to it. Now type "select disk #" where number is the SD card. Now type "clean". Then go into Disk Management by typing "compmgmt.msc" in the Run window and selecting Disk management on the left pane. You should get a message saying that a disk must be initialized. If not, then look through the list of disks for the SD card, and it should say "Not Initialized". Right click, initalize, select MBR and follow the rest of the info. This was the method I used on my flash drive to clear out linux mbr bootloaders.

This can be done in Windows, I personally did it on Windows 7.

erm.. I reached the part where I should see the not initialized, but I didnt see my drive. When I cycled down, I saw my SD as unallocated space. I went ahead and created a volume (-8MB for some reason but it doenst really matter) and went ahead and formatted it to FAT32 and as far as I can see everything works fine!!
I didnt see anything MBR related though..

So thanks for everything.. +rep


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## LemonSlice

When you create the partition, it should be the max possible. 8mb doesn't seem particularly right, set it to the max possible for one large partition chunk. What is the actual size of the SD card?


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## *Madridi4ever*

it's a 2GB SD card. I'm pretty sure I set it as max but I read 8MB somewhere while creating a partition, and it balances out as I have 1.88GB instead of 1.89GB ..

Doesnt really matter as I use about half of the card to begin with. I'm just glad its being recognized again.

*fyi, it was a wii issue that I started noticing with wiixplorer. Dimok (the coder) concluded MBR going bad on the card after the card type being seen as unknown, and size was 544.31 GB*


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## LemonSlice

Well if it works fine, then all is well







.


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## headscratcher

If any of you guys are still here... This is my question. I have a 32GB micro SD card full of vacation PIX, which I can no longer access- no drive letter. If I reformat the card, might it still be possible to retrieve the JPEG's with a program like RECUVA?

Thanks,

Headscratcher


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## DzillaXx

Quote:


> Originally Posted by **Madridi4ever**
> 
> it's a 2GB SD card. I'm pretty sure I set it as max but I read 8MB somewhere while creating a partition, and it balances out as I have 1.88GB instead of 1.89GB ..
> 
> Doesnt really matter as I use about half of the card to begin with. I'm just glad its being recognized again.
> 
> *fyi, it was a wii issue that I started noticing with wiixplorer. Dimok (the coder) concluded MBR going bad on the card after the card type being seen as unknown, and size was 544.31 GB*


Oh, yeah if it is for a wii then you don't need to fix anything on the SD card regarding MBR. As the Wii doesn't boot from the SD card.

While it has been more than 2 years since I messed with my modded wii, I know the SD card is mainly just used to store the apps you need. A few things can be installed right to the wii, but not most. Just need to make sure it is accessing the files right.


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## headscratcher

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *headscratcher*
> 
> If any of you guys are still here... This is my question. I have a 32GB micro SD card full of vacation PIX, which I can no longer access- no drive letter. If I reformat the card, might it still be possible to retrieve the JPEG's with a program like RECUVA?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Headscratcher


To answer my own question, *"Yes you can!"* I did a REFORMAT on the original device. Just make sure you do *not* do a "Low Level Format". Plugging the SD card back into the PC provided the required Disk Letter on the *My Computer* screen. Of course, it showed up as an empty card. I ran the program RECUVA using the DEEP SCAN option, and all the original JPEGS showed up. The one thing I hadn't anticipated was how long it would take RECUVA to respond. 32 GB is *alot of data* , and the program scans the entire card. This cannot be done instantaneously. Just start the program and come back in an hour or so.


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