How to retrieve data from an app on a damaged Micro SD?

[Android Central Question]

Hi friends

1) My problem:

My phone suddenly showed the notification "SD card not inserted". It seems the micro SD has somehow become damaged. All of the apps etc that were saved to the card have disappeared.

Importantly, I had some recorded interviews on the app Smart Recorder, which typically saves files as WAVs. It is very important that I retrieve these files if possible.

2) Actions I have taken:

I first attempted to check the Micro SD card by connecting it to my Mac with a micro SD reader adaptor, but the Mac could not find the card at all, it was like it was not there. So clearly it is damaged.

I took the card to a computer repair shop. The guy there ran a data recovery scan, and retrieved some 11gb of data, including a lot of MP3 and RIFF data but no WAV files. I brought this data home on a USB stick to go through it.

My WAV files from Smart Recorder app are not in the recovered data. The recovered data is mostly junk, including old podcasts and songs that I had actually deleted a long time ago. There are three very large (2-3 GB) SWF files recovered, that I cannot open on my Mac. I guess it's possible that these are apps and their associated data?

Does anyone think there is any hope? Why would the WAV files not have shown up in the data recovery scan when loads of other stuff did? Are they somehow locked within the app folder? If so, does anyone have any ideas for how I might be able to find these files?

3) My equipment:

Moto G 3 phone running Android 6/ Marshmellow
SanDisk Ultra Micro SD 32GB
Mac Airbook

Many thanks for any advice.

 

[Thacy]

Actually, you can use some recovery tools scan your SD card and Moto phone by yourself. You may get different result. Recuva, for example, is free for SD card file recovery. There are also some paid recovery software for SD card and mobile phone, which usually allow preview before actual recovery.