Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Posted: 20 Feb 2010 03:07 AM PST

If your cell phone uses a memory card, it is most likely to use one a teeny-tiny MicroSD card. For their size, these cards hold tons of data—up to 32GB, which is more than most cell phone cameras and application files could fill in a year.

All things considered, these cards are fairly annoyance-free. But, many cell phones (especially Nokia's) allow users to create a password for them…which sounds good in theory…until you forget the password.

Most of the time, the password can be recovered from either the file explore menu on the phone, or by plugging the card into a card reader on your PC and searching for the text file the phone created containing the password. Here's how to find it:

Insert the MicroSD card into a PC card reader, and plug the card reader into your computer. You can use a standard SD card reader with the MicroSD-to-SD adapter, or a card reader specifically designed for micro SD cards. The ones designed for a MicroSD card sell for around $2 on eBay, and are nice to have in your computer bag.

In most versions of windows, the AutoPlay will popup as soon as you plug in the card reader. Choose "open folder to view files" from the bottom of this window.

You will then see the folders stored on the MicroSD card. The folder you are looking for is called system. Open it.

Within this folder, you are looking for a text file called MMCSTORE. Double-click it, and it should open with notepad. Voila! There is your password.

If this method does not work for you, you still have a couple of options. You can try downloading a password recovery software (though these normally cost money), or you can backup your files on your computer and format the MicroSD card. This will delete the password, so you can then selectively move the files you need back to the card.