How to access encrypted SD card from PC?

[Ketty178]

My Ulefone U007 stopped working properly this morning - after starting it said process system is not responding and kept rebooting. I removed the micro SD card and everything is working well again! Apparently is something corrupted on that card. It was encrypted as internal storage - I used it to install apps on it as well.

I tried to connect the SD card via card reader, but my PC comes with message "SD card needs to be formatted". But I would like to recover the photos from it before I format it. Is there any software to transfer files from an encrypted Android SD card via card reader to the PC?

 

[hallux]

It's not just being encrypted but also being formatted as internal storage. Both of those are a recipe for the data on the card being inaccessible when you pull it from the device to try and read it elsewhere.

Were your photos not backed up to Google Photos?


Welcome to the forums!

 

[Ketty178]

Thanks for your answer. No, they weren't backed up to Google Photos. I am going to do it in the future though. It actually isn't too bad for me to lose these pictures, it would be just nice to get them if it was possible. Does this mean I can't do anything else than format the card if I understand it right?

 

[hallux]

Correct. The phone holds the key to unlock the encryption so at the least you need to use the phone as you can't transfer that key to another device.

The next challenge is the way the phone utilizes the card for internal storage. It's possible that parts of those files are on the actual internal phone storage and parts are on the SD card. As a result, even if it WERE possible to read the card from the PC, you may have incomplete files that you couldn't open anyway.

All of this also means that if you get to a spot where you need to reset your device, you need to be absolutely sure you have another copy of EVERYTHING you want to keep from the phone.