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A removable microSD card is often easier to recover than Android internal storage, but only when the card was configured as portable storage. Adopted storage may be encrypted for one phone.
Portable or adopted storage?
If the card could normally be read in a computer or camera, it was probably portable. If Android formatted it as internal storage, another device may see unreadable data because the encryption key belongs to the original phone.
Safe portable-card workflow
- Power off the phone.
- Remove the card and use a reliable reader.
- Decline format or repair prompts.
- Scan the card from a computer.
- Recover files to the computer, not to the card.
- Verify full-size photos and video playback.
Check Android folders
Camera photos are commonly stored under DCIM, while messaging and editing apps may use their own folders. A file-system scan may preserve these paths. A deep scan can find media after the folders are damaged but may lose names.
If the card disconnects, heats up or produces growing read errors, stop. Important data on unstable flash memory should not be subjected to repeated scans.
Cards that have lived in a phone
Android writes thumbnails, caches and app data across the card, so photos end up more fragmented than they would in a camera. Recoverit handles that fragmentation better than most, which matters on a card that has been in daily use.