Your SD card stopped working. Your photos, videos, or files are gone — or at least that is what it looks like right now. In most SD card failures, your data is still physically present. RecoveryMaster is a certified data recovery lab serving Langley from our dedicated facility at 14935 100th Ave, Surrey, BC — minutes from Willoughby, Walnut Grove, and Downtown Langley, with free pickup available across all Langley Township and Langley City. Free diagnostic on every case. No Data, No Fee — if recovery is not successful, you pay nothing. Not a partial fee. Not a diagnostic charge. Zero.
Yes — in most cases. When an SD card fails, the files stored on its NAND flash chips are not automatically erased. They remain intact until something physically overwrites them. Accidental deletion, corruption, formatting errors, and even many physical failures still leave the underlying data recoverable.
The real danger is what you do next. Every time you insert a failed SD card back into your camera, phone, or laptop, you risk triggering a write operation that permanently overwrites the space where your files sit. Running recovery software on a card your device is not reading correctly makes this worse.
Stop using the card immediately. Do not insert it into another device. Do not format it when prompted. Contact RecoveryMaster for a free diagnostic before attempting anything else.
Different SD card failures indicate different recovery paths. Identifying the symptom accurately at the start makes recovery faster and more successful.
Your device or computer cannot see the card at all — no prompt, no drive letter, nothing. Typically controller failure, corrupted firmware, or damaged connector pins. NAND flash chips are almost always intact.
The card is detected but appears to contain no files. Almost always a file system corruption or partition table error — not actual data loss. Your photos and videos are still stored on the flash chips.
One of the most common SD card failures — and one of the most recoverable. The file system has become unreadable, but the underlying data is intact. Frequently happens after a camera battery dies mid-write.
You deleted files, or formatted the card before realizing you needed the files. The space is now marked as available — but the files are still there until new data overwrites them.
Cracked housing, bent connector pins, water exposure, or a card snapped in two. For standard SD and microSD cards, the NAND chip is often still intact even when the card body is destroyed. Chip-level extraction possible.
The card shows up, but photos appear corrupted, videos won't play, or files have strange names and extensions. Typically a partial write error or sector corruption. File carving at the data layer can often recover the original file structure.
You carry zero financial risk from the moment you make contact. RecoveryMaster provides a free diagnostic on every case — unlike many labs across Metro Vancouver that charge an assessment fee before telling you anything at all.
Most labs in Metro Vancouver quote 7–10 business days as their standard. RecoveryMaster's standard turnaround on SD card recovery is 3–5 business days — with same-day emergency service available.
Most places offering SD card recovery in Metro Vancouver are general repair shops using consumer software. They cannot address controller failures, NAND-level damage, or physically broken cards. RecoveryMaster can.
200+ verified Google reviews · 4.9 average rating
"My drone SD card got corrupted mid-flight and I thought I lost six months of footage. RecoveryMaster recovered everything — all 4K video files intact. Free diagnostic, no pressure, confirmed every file before I paid."
"My camera asked to format the SD card during a wedding shoot. I panicked. RecoveryMaster recovered every single photo — even ones from earlier in the day. The No Data, No Fee policy meant I had zero risk trying them."
"Accidentally formatted a 256GB SD card with three years of travel photos. RecoveryMaster recovered the vast majority of them. Spoke directly with the technician throughout. Honest, fast, and fairly priced."
Your files are never opened. File integrity is verified through checksums and structure analysis only. Every step from intake to delivery is documented, restricted, and handled by one assigned technician.
Every failure type below is handled with specialist tools — not consumer recovery software.
All SD card formats recovered in-house at the Surrey lab — from standard SD cards to microSD, SDXC, and professional CF cards.
We'd rather you do nothing and bring it to us. Each one narrows the recovery window — sometimes permanently.
Not in Metro Vancouver? Your SD card is assessed the same day it arrives at the Surrey lab. The same No Data, No Fee guarantee applies to every mail-in case.
Straight answers about SD card recovery, cost, and what to do right now.
RecoveryMaster serves every community in Metro Vancouver. Free pickup from all locations listed below. Walk-in at our Surrey lab. Mail-in from anywhere in Canada.