14" Macbook Pro SD Card not mounting problem

I've got no idea what's going on. I was trying to get photos of a SD card on my new 14" MBP but when I inserted into the SD card reader in the laptop, it does not connect or mount. Shows a pop-up window and error message "The disk you attached was not readable by this computer." and options to either "Eject, Ignore or Initialise..." the disk.

What's weird, is if I take a Thunderbolt SD card reader and plug it through that, it works fine. The SD card works fine in the camera as well, works fine on my 2015 MBP as well.

After getting the photos off it, I tried "Initialise...", and it did nothing to resolve it. I tried Erasing the card via the 14" MBP to the listed FAT format, and it did not resolve it. I tried formating the card via the Canon camera's built in Low Level format, and that didn't help either.

What's also weird is that, this seems to be only affecting some of my SD cards? And not others. And I cannot find any pattern. Some SDHC work. Some don't. Some Sandisk work. Some don't.

In total I have tried 8 different SD cards that (1) all work in the canon camera (2) all work in my 2015 Macbook Pro (3) all work via the Thunderbolt adapter in the 2021 14" MBP BUT only TWO of these cards work directly from the SD card reader in the 14" MBP.

I have of course tried all the standard steps of unplugging and replugging in. Restarting it.

I have gone to the Apple Genius bar as well who have replicated the issue but have no idea on the resolution either.

Anyone else having these issues? Any resolution?

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Nov 1, 2021 3:40 AM

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21 replies

saury316 Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 1, 2021 5:33 PM in response to BDPlatt

Sounds like the SD card slot either has firmware or hardware issues... sadly I can't even get it to mount to get to the reading/writing point.

saury316 Author

Level 1

15 points

Nov 15, 2021 5:52 PM in response to TechnoGuru

Oh! That's odd. My 2015 macbook pro SD card reader seems to work fine with Monteray, as did all the iMac's I tested when at the Apple Store (they were also running Monteray).

pim16

Level 1

8 points

Dec 5, 2021 8:32 AM in response to saury316

Got a similar problem.. files crashes while transferring them to my new MBP 14inch. Through a card reader it didn’t have any problems..

ukpete

Level 1

0 points

Dec 30, 2021 2:59 AM in response to saury316

My Early 2015 MBP had issues remounting SD cards after sleep until I installed Big Sur, after which it never failed. Sadly, the problem has returned with Monterey.

Jan 20, 2022 6:51 AM in response to DanielKrnac

Sorry to hear. When did you purchase your new Macbook Pro?

Dec 19, 2021 1:07 PM in response to saury316

Same on 16" MBP 2021. I had this problem with my MacBook Pro 2015, ie the SD card would only mount after frigging around putting it and pulling it out of the slot etc. I resorted to a USB card reader which worked fine always. I'm just staggered that the my new MacBook pro 16" 2021 has exactly the same problem and intermittently does not mount the SD card (Sandisk Extreme Pro 64 GB). My camera (Sony RX10 Mk IV) has never had a problem with the card - I use it day in and day out.... however my new, rather expensive, Mac laptop seems to be little better than what I bought from Apple in 2015. I would imagine it's a hardware problem but (hopefully) I am wrong! I'm glad to find it's not just me with the problem.

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14" Macbook Pro SD Card not mounting problem