Level 1

7 points

MacBook Pro won't read Sandisk SDHC cards since Lion 10.7.1 update

Hi all, just wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I know there are dozens of posts about SD cards not working with MacBook pros, but mine seems to have started when I installed the latest Lion update.

I have a high-end 13" early 2011 MBP and the cards I'm having trouble with are all Sandisk 4GB SDHC. Two are 'Extreme III's" and one is an Extreme II. The card reader is showing up in System Profiler, and a really old 2GB Sandisk card gets read fine, so there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the MBP hardware.

Similarly, I can read the cards fine via a USB adapter, so it's not the cards that are causing the problem.

I had successfully imported photos from the cards before upgrading to Lion, and also before installing the 10.7.1 update. So, it looks like the problem may be linked with the update, but this is purely an educated guess.

I've tried resetting the SMC to no avail.

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7), 13" 2011

Posted on Aug 20, 2011 4:46 AM

Top-ranking reply

Baron Sekiya

Level 1

67 points

Posted on Dec 25, 2011 12:15 AM

Took my MBP to the Apple Store yesterday to investigate the SD card slot. They said the logic board would need to be replaced. It's not dust in the slot, it's not a software issue.

I can get the SD slot to read memory cards but the cards appear to the MBP to be write-protected. USB and FireWire card readers work fine.

Wish Apple didn't go so cheap with the SD card reader being on the USB bus, it's so **** slow. Couldn't they have put it on FireWire 800?

Anyway, MBP will get sent to Apple to get the logic board replaced.

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127 replies

Jan 16, 2014 1:05 PM in response to Phillip Anthony

Spend most of today trying to find a solution to my problem:

Solution: If OSX v9,0 is used, the images can be uploaded normally.

I have OSX v9.0.1 on my new IMac and could not retrieve a single photo. The card reader icon would just self-eject as described above. So, it appears that v9.0.1 is the culprit.

Hope this helps someone.

Jul 26, 2014 8:38 PM in response to aledco

I am frustrated with the same trouble as everyone else. I have Macbook pro (2009) OS X 10.6.8 trying to mount a SAMSUNG micro sd adapter. So its a full size sd card. But it won't read. I tried air, not pushing the sd card all the way but nothing is working. I have downloaded XQuartz not exactly sure what to do with that but its still not reading even with the latest X11. What's the deal? This is getting incredibly annoying. Please help anyone?

Dec 22, 2014 1:55 AM in response to Supritha

Fixed my MBP mid 2014 15".

Card would mount.

Items were able to be seen.

Some/Most of the items were damaged.

Damaged files could not be transferred.

Could run verify disk.

Could not run repair disk.

Thank you for helping me fix an issue i spent about 3 hours trying on different MBP and PC's, also reformatting the card in a GoPro.

Mar 23, 2015 7:16 AM in response to Supritha

I have a 2012 Macbook Pro and in the utilities file I have no XQuarzt to go to, as you recommend in your solution with the card reader problem. closest thing is X11 which appears to be an old open platform. can you help?

Zolja

Level 1

0 points

May 31, 2015 10:14 AM in response to aledco

Suffering from the same problem with my mid-2012 Macbook Pro. Haven't found any solutions suggested in this thread to work for me.

Macbook Air late-2011 recognizes just fine the microSD. In Finder, in photos, through GoPro Studio while GoPro mounted, in Aperture, etc..

Macbook Pro is just lagging..

Aug 24, 2015 4:20 PM in response to Supritha

Hi Supritha,

I've tried following your instructions, but it won't seem to update. I'm not exactly sure why my SDHC card has decided to stop working (it's been fine in the past).

And helpful anecdotes would be great.

Thanks!

gencasey

Level 1

8 points

Oct 7, 2017 10:56 PM in response to tattootimmy

The Disk utility fix would help if I didn't want the images on the memory card. Unfortunately my problem is that cards which I have formatted in my D750 and shot a whole bunch of pictures in my D750 are showing up as not readable on my mac. Some of my cards are readable and others are not, I can't really find a pattern. I do not have the XQuartz utility that is mentioned in the other solutions. This is so frustrating!! what good is a mac that won't read pictures? I have had the problem both directly in the SD slot (it never works) and in a USB card reader.

Sep 14, 2011 11:14 PM in response to Baron Sekiya

I have the same problem with a fujifilm 8GB SDHC.

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,138 points

Feb 4, 2012 10:29 AM in response to ShelaghD-B

The new name for Xquartz is X11

tropuz

Level 1

0 points

Feb 7, 2012 1:46 PM in response to ShelaghD-B

exactly the same problem, please help!!

tropuz

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,138 points

Feb 8, 2012 12:47 AM in response to ShelaghD-B

X11 is oooollldddd (eighties). You don't need it. Used for some old Unix things, and old window treatments.

If you have it, it is in the Applications/Utilities folder.

Tim 1

Level 1

8 points

Apr 7, 2012 3:02 PM in response to Supritha

Sounds like a great fix, but XQuartz is not in my Utilities folder and a Spotlight search doesn't show it anywhere.

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,138 points

Apr 8, 2012 1:09 AM in response to Tim 1

It is called X11 in your Utilities folder.

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,138 points

Apr 8, 2012 1:51 PM in response to Tim 1

xquartz is an open source project.

Apr 19, 2012 12:13 PM in response to Supritha

Hey Supritha,

I'm on 10.7.3. Tried to find "Xquartz", but couldn't. Could you help me out?

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MacBook Pro won't read Sandisk SDHC cards since Lion 10.7.1 update