How do I tell whether it's the card or the reader?

Try the card in a second reader, plugged directly into the computer and not through a hub or dock. Then try a card you know is good in the first reader. If the good card also fails there, the reader is the problem and your card is probably fine.

The card works in my camera but not in my computer. What now?

Then the card is readable and the problem is on the computer side. Connect the camera to the computer with its USB cable and copy the files off through the camera. Do that before troubleshooting the reader.

Memory Card Recovery

Rule out the reader first

Card not recognized by camera or computer

Stop using the card. Do not format it. Do not keep shooting.

What causes it

“Not recognized” covers three different problems, and only one of them is about your photos.

The reader. Card readers, built-in laptop slots, hubs and docks fail often. The card is fine and so are the files.
The camera. A dirty or damaged card slot, or a camera that doesn’t support that card’s type or capacity, will reject a healthy card.
The card. Either its file system is damaged, which is a recovery job, or its electronics have failed, which is a physical one.

The point of the steps below is to find out which of the three you have, without making the third one worse.

What to do right now

Stop putting the card back in the camera. Repeated attempts don’t help, and if the slot is damaged they can hurt.
Try a different reader, plugged straight into the computer. Not a hub, not a dock.
Try a different computer if you have one.
If the camera reads the card but the computer doesn’t, copy the files off through the camera’s USB cable.
Look at what the computer actually reports, in Disk Management on Windows or Disk Utility on a Mac, and write it down. Does the card appear at all? Does it show the right size?
If the computer offers to format or initialize the card, decline.

What’s realistically recoverable

What the computer reports decides which kind of case this is.

The card appears with its correct size, but can’t be opened. It may show as unreadable, as having no file system, or it may ask to be formatted. This is the workable kind. The card is talking; the index is damaged. It is usually a Standard recovery, and it is the same situation as a card that asks to be formatted.
The card appears but with the wrong size, or as zero bytes. The card is responding, but not normally, and this often points at its controller. I can evaluate it, and I’ll tell you plainly what I find. Some of these read; many turn out to be physical cases.
The card reads in one device and not another. That is a reader or camera problem, not a recovery.

When it isn’t

If the card doesn’t appear anywhere, in any reader, on any computer, or in any camera, with no size and no name, it is a physical case. The memory chip may still hold the files, but reaching them means working on the hardware. Some of these I can do at my bench, and I quote them after evaluation. The rest I refer out. Either way there is no charge for finding out which yours is, and if I can’t do it the card comes back to you.

Cards that are cracked, bent or snapped through the body fall in the same group.

Before you send a card in that state, try the second reader. It costs nothing, and a dead reader is the best possible answer.

Start a Card Recovery Case

Pricing

What card recovery costs

Standard

$100 flat

A deleted or formatted card that still reads, where the files come back intact.

› Deleted photos or video
› Card formatted by accident
› Card asks to be formatted
› SD, microSD, CF, CFexpress, XQD, USB flash drives

Complex

$150–$250

Quoted after evaluation. The files are there but need rebuilding before they are usable.

› Reconstruction from fragments
› Corrupted video repair
› Very large cards

Rush

Add-on

48-hour turnaround from the day the card arrives. Added to the Standard or Complex price, and quoted with the job.

› Ask for it on the intake form
› Amount confirmed with your quote

Not detected at all

Case by case

A card that no reader or camera can see is a physical case. Some of these I can do at my bench, quoted after evaluation. The rest I refer out, at no charge.

› No capacity, no name, nothing
› Checked in more than one reader
› If it's not one I can do, I tell you and send it back

No data, no charge.

The evaluation is free. I'll show you what's recoverable before you pay anything. If what you're looking for isn't there, you owe nothing.

Recovered files are delivered by Dropbox link. Very large recoveries can cost more, because I need extra storage to hold them. If that applies to yours, it is in the quote. Return shipping is on me, whether or not anything was recovered, unless you ask for rush return shipping. That is quoted with the job.

Common questions

How do I tell whether it's the card or the reader?: Try the card in a second reader, plugged directly into the computer and not through a hub or dock. Then try a card you know is good in the first reader. If the good card also fails there, the reader is the problem and your card is probably fine.
The card works in my camera but not in my computer. What now?: Then the card is readable and the problem is on the computer side. Connect the camera to the computer with its USB cable and copy the files off through the camera. Do that before troubleshooting the reader.
What happens if my card isn't detected by anything?: A card that no reader and no camera can see has a hardware fault, and getting data from it means working on the chip itself. Some of these I can do at my bench, and I quote them after evaluation. The ones I can't, I refer out. If yours is one of those, I tell you, there is no charge, and the card goes back to you.