Why My SD Card Shows Empty But is Full


Yesterday, I took some photographs with my camera, and there are many pictures stored on the SD card. However, the problem is that when I connect the SD card to my PC, it shows empty, but there are files on it, which I'm pretty sure about. Does anyone know why this happens and how to fix it? Thanks in advance!

There are several possible reasons why your SD card is full but shows empty:

  • Inappropriate insertion or ejection.
  • Virus infection.
  • File system corruption.
  • Accumulating bad sectors.

To completely repair your SD card without losing any data, you need a professional disk partition management tool. One of the most powerful software is Qiling Disk Master. It has comprehensive features and contains everything you need to resolve the SD card showing empty.

Before you perform the repair procedure, you can use this tool to clone your damaged SD card first to avoid data loss. The following article can help you with that.

📖Further reading: How to Clone SD Card in Windows 11/10/8/7

After that, you can now check 2 different solutions below and fix your SD card:

Solution 1. Show the Hidden Files and Fix File System Error

Step 1. Launch Qiling Disk Master and go to "Disk management" > "CleanGenius".

Step 2. Select "Optimization" and then choose "File Showing."

Step 3. Select your SD card and tick the "Check and fix file system error" option to show the hidden files and fix the file system error.

Solution 2. Format SD Card

Step 1. Launch Qiling Disk Master. Select your SD card, hit the partition, and choose "Format".

Step 2. Modify the partition label, file system, and cluster size, and then start the format process.

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