I learned something today at work that I have never heard before. I’m working on a case where I was sent an 16 GB SD Card that needs to be recovered. When I plug the SD Card into a Windows machine the card is visible but it says the size is only 32 MB.

After doing some research, I found a few common issues.

1. The SD Card could be a fake smaller card relabeled as 16 GB (In my case this is not very likely).
2. Some sort of physical/environmental damage could have been the cause (most likely).
3. Or apparently rooting a phone with an SD card can sometimes cause this problem.

I still haven’t solved the case yet but if I figure it out I will update this article with the conclusion. If anyone has any suggestions that don’t involve formatting please let me know.