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Moto G Power Update Wiped my SD card

I have a Moto G Power (the 2020 model) which I bought 11 months ago.

It has functioned just fine until yesterday when I security updated to build RPMS31.Q1-54-13-8 PATCH DATE December 1, 2021. (Android 11)

After the reboot, I got the dreaded problem with micro SD card needs to be formatted error message.

I declined to format it and tried to restart the phone thinking it was a glitch.

But no joy.

So I turned off the phone. Pulled it out of its case. And pulled out the 64 GB Sandisk Extreme micro SD card.

I connected it to my Windows 10 PC card reader and the micro SD card was listed as unformatted.

I declined to format it and instead ran PhotoRec to try to retrieve my jpegs and mp4's from it.

PhotoRec found 0 headers after 3.25 hours.

It then began to search for files, but after two hours still did not find anything and I had to shut down to use the PC for other purposes.

I had chosen FAT/... file system and to look on the entire micro SD card.

I am astounded that the card could be wiped clean by the update. I figured I would find at least one file remnant in the entire 64GB of Sandisk Extreme.

I am going to try to resume my halted file search, but before I do so, I wanted to ask here if anyone has any suggestions to help me.

Thank you.

You could have an encryption issue or your card is broken - I have no recommendation for you.

I never used encryption and the error message was that the card was unformatted.

The card seems to read when PhotoRec is running. I get no error messages about access?

You did not bother documenting your case posting screenshots or log files.

Did you select "free space" or "whole" in Photorec?
Which recovery location did you select? Does it have free space?
Have you found files in there?

Duplicate your SD card using ddrescue as described in the manual to rule out any error issues with your card. Then run Photorec again.

Please attach your photorec.ses file to your next posting. It might be necessary to rename it as text file before doing that.

I will take images on the next try.

I selected "Whole" in PhotoRec.
I selected my hard disk folder that contained PhotoRec as the recovery location.
It has more than 500GB free space. The micro SD card is 64GB.
No recovered files were found in the recovery folder.

I will download DDRescue-GUI for Windows from this website: https://www.hamishmb.com/html/ddrescue-gui.php

I do not see where ddrescue is mentioned in the manual.
Can you please post a link for me so that I can find the instructions?

I will attach your photorec.ses file to my next posting.

Your downloaded Testdisk software package contains the manual named "Testdisk.pdf".
Use CTRL <F> and search for "ddrescue".

Using any search engine with the keywords "Testdisk manual" will provide you with a link pointing to the manual.