Getting Read Only File System errors on SD Card

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Level 1

8 points

Getting Read Only File System errors on SD Card

I copied a bunch of images onto and SD card (on my Mac), then used the SD card in a digital photo frame. I wanted to add some more pictures and received and error that the volume was read only. I am running a Power Book OS Version 10.6.5. The card is not locked. Here is everything I have tried so far - nothing below has worked:

I have tried the following: Disk Utility - Restore button was greyed out. Then I tried the following commands:

sudo chmod -RN /Volumes/....
I received the following error messages (one per file in the volume):

chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file IMG_0010.jpg: Read-only file system

I then tried
sudo chown -R USERNAME /Volumes/....
I received the following error messages (one per file in the volume):

chown: /volumes/Untitled/IMG_0011.jpg: Read-only file system

It is an SD card where I put a bunch of images onto it for a digital picture frame. After putting it in the frame I wanted to add files to the SD card and this is what I get. No, the SD card is not locked - I have tried to flip the switch a few times and there is no change. It is not the SD card as I purchased another new one - same thing happened.

Any ideas???

Mac OS X, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jan 16, 2011 12:55 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 16, 2011 2:19 PM in response to roseytoys

There is no PowerBook version of 10.6.5.

10.6 id Snow Leopard and it runs in Intel processors. So if you have a laptop that is running 10.6.5, it must be a MacBook Pro and not a PowerBook since the pOwerBook had the PowerPC processor. Please correct your system information so that we can consider your problem.

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Allan
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Answer 2

roseytoys Author

Level 1

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Jan 16, 2011 3:00 PM in response to roseytoys

Sorry, it is a Mac Book Pro not a power book. It is about 1 year old.

I have an image of with info on the SD card taken from finder where you do "Get Info" but I cannot figure out a way to upload it.

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Answer 3

Jan 16, 2011 3:10 PM in response to roseytoys

If you are referring to how to display an image as I do with my dancing Hobbes, I put it into my account on MobileMe with Apple and then use HTML to display it.

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Allan
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Message was edited by: Allan Eckert

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Answer 4

Jan 16, 2011 8:10 PM in response to roseytoys

The bottom line of the information pane for your SD card states that you only have read permission on the card. So as far I am concerned that explains why you can only read the card.

If you want to write to you are probably going to have to reformat the card, which of course will wipe all data from the card.

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Allan
User uploaded file

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Message was edited by: Allan Eckert

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Answer 5

roseytoys Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 17, 2011 11:32 AM in response to Allan Eckert

That is the problem. The card was not read only until it was put into the digital picture frame. I have no problem reformatting it, but since it is read only, I cannot figure out a way to do this. If I go into Disk Utility the Erase button is greyed out.

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Answer 6

ajduguid

Level 3

650 points

Jan 17, 2011 12:40 PM in response to roseytoys

Okay, you're clearly comfortable at a Terminal so how about trying the following?

diskutil list to get the list of devices

after finding which one is the SD card (the previous command before and after insertion will give it away if the size of the device doesn't) you can use

diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN (replace N with the disk number from the last command)

then the bit that I'm wondering about is

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/diskN bs=1m

That, if the system will allow you, would wipe the SD card. I'm wondering if after you've unmounted the device if this read only quirk will vanish and allow you to wipe it.

By the way, when you say it happened to a second card, was it the exact same sequence? you could write to the card before using it in the picture frame and then after that you couldn't?

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Answer 7

roseytoys Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 17, 2011 12:50 PM in response to ajduguid

Here is the output:

/volumes> diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1
Unmount of all volumes on disk1 was successful
/volumes> sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/disk1 bs=1m
dd: /dev/disk1: Permission denied

As for the second card, it was something I was using with my Cannon camera, I have always been able to read the card, iPhoto pulled the pics and then would ask me if I wanted to remove the images (which I have been able to do in the past). This same SD card now has issues with importing into iPhoto - I now get the error message: "iPhoto cannot import your photos because there was a problem downloading an image".

I then reformatted the SD card with my camera (again couldn't do so with my Mac) took a pic and had the same issue. I also could not format the SD card with the disk utility.

Thank you for all of your help, this is so frustrating!

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Answer 8

ajduguid

Level 3

650 points

Jan 17, 2011 1:27 PM in response to roseytoys

So if cards are writeable in other devices then I can only assume some sort of hardware issue with the SD card reader on your mac, maybe some dust or something is getting in the way of however the machine reads the write switch? Do you have an Apple store nearby that you could take the machine in for them to look at?

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Answer 9

Morbidou

Level 1

0 points

Feb 6, 2011 2:16 PM in response to ajduguid

I do have the same problem until fewdays ago I could use my card reader to read and write on SD cards used in and formatted by different high end Canon and Nikon DSLR camera. But today all the SD cards that I put in the reader of my MacBook Pro works on a Read only status. I can write and reformat the cards only if I use a Card Reader via USB. And even that card formatted with disk utility cannot be reformatted or modified with the internal car reader. I just did and update to OS 10.6.6 on the 3rd of Feb. Could it be a problem with the uppdate?

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Answer 10

Mar 29, 2011 11:16 AM in response to miketech1

I encountered this very same problem and later identified the problem as my own stupidity. The sd card holder I was using had a little slide switch on the side that serves as a write protect. I at first assumed I needed sudo - didn't work - then searched and found this thread. Then I pulled the card, saw the tiny slide switch on the side - flipped it - and problem solved. I hope the fix is as easy as this for you.

Peter

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Answer 11

May 21, 2011 2:05 PM in response to roseytoys

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be an isolated problem. I have an 8GB SD card that I was normally using on my iMac 27 (late 2009) and I decided to start using it on my Nikon D90 camera. After formatting the card in the camera and taking some pictures, it started to be recognized on my MacOS as read only.

Since the problem also appeared on a digital photo frame, I think it has to do with MacOS interpreting that the photos are only to be copied from the card, so the user does not change the file system and ruin the card, making it unreadable to the camera later.

Any suggestions? Have you seen something like that in the system?

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Answer 12

roseytoys Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 16, 2011 3:16 PM in response to roseytoys

Thanks here it is http://www.globalnerds.com/sd-card.jpg

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Answer 13

Feb 12, 2011 9:39 AM in response to roseytoys

same problem here. updated to 10.6.6 and no access to any sd cards. they are all read only. I am so tired of apple updates. They seem to break more than they fix.

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