Cannot bin files on an SD card

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Level 1

4 points

Cannot bin files on an SD card

Out of the blue, I can't do an operation I've been doing for years: clear documents from an SD card. Suddenly this is happening on both my laptop and desktop devices. The desktop is running Catalina 10.15.7 and the laptop, Big Sur 11.6. And no, none of the disks are locked. If I drag files (in this case video) to the bin, nothing happens. They won't enter the bin, so I can empty the bin bin and clear them.

An earlier thread suggested using Disk Utility to rewrite the cards and clear them the way, but Disk Utility won't do it whatever option I try.

Posted on Oct 29, 2021 9:08 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MrHoffman

Community+ 2024

Level 10

126,109 points

Oct 29, 2021 9:24 PM in response to PerPLEXed21

Okay, so you’ve confirmed that the SD card write-lock switch is set unlocked and permits writes…

Is this arising with one SD card, or with all SD cards?

Does the SD card work in a different computer?

Have you tried reformatting the SD card out on the camera?

Does Alt-Command-Delete delete the selected file on the Mac?

Try locking the SD card and testing file deletions (which then shouldn’t be permitted) and then unlocking and testing the file delete again.

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Answer 2

PerPLEXed21 Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2021 12:22 AM in response to MrHoffman

Okay, so you’ve confirmed that the SD card write-lock switch is set unlocked and permits writes…

Yep.

Is this arising with one SD card, or with all SD cards?

With all cards. Five so far. I've used these cards and deleted from them several times until this problem suddenly arose. These are Sandisk Ultra or Extreme 32 GB being used in Swift wildlife cameras.

Does the SD card work in a different computer?

You mean can I delete via Bin in a different computer? No. Exactly the same result in my laptop (see above).

Have you tried reformatting the SD card out on the camera?

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried this and it worked.

Does Alt-Command-Delete delete the selected file on the Mac?

No. Nothing happens.

Try locking the SD card and testing file deletions (which then shouldn’t be permitted) and then unlocking and testing the file delete again.

Tried this and nothing happened.

Also, when I try to erase the card via Disk Utility, using any option (for eg: MAC-OS Extended (Journaled) or any other) the card ejects and I get the message "Operation Failed".

Ha! What is this thing, the 'Sell more SD Cards' Virus?

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Answer 3

Oct 30, 2021 9:01 AM in response to PerPLEXed21

What’s the SD card format? FAT32 or ExFAT? Or something else? If NTFS, Mac treats that as read-only.

Download and run EtreCheck, and share the report to the clipboard. Then open a new reply here and press the button that looks like a printed page to get a text input box (an attachment box) big enough to paste the entire hardware and software configuration report here.

I’d guess there’s something wonky about the FAT format being used by the camera. Or maybe some local app is getting in the way. Anti-malware and cleaner apps can get oddly tangled, for instance.

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Cannot bin files on an SD card

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