SD Card Error

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Level 1

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SD Card Error

Hi. I have a 2GB SanDisk SD card, and when I inserted it into my iMac, it threw up a prompt saying that the disk was unreadable by the computer. After opening Disk Utility, I found out it was grayed out on the sidebar, could not be verified or repaired, and said it had a storage capacity of 317.69GB. Before I filled it with camera pictures, Disk Utility said the disk was mounted, had a displayed value of 1.8GB, was able to read and write to it, and was not corrupt at all.

The disk is unable to be repaired, saying that the contents should be backed up, the disk should be reformatted, and the files should be restored. However, I am incapable of doing so because I cannot read or write to it. I've tried everything in Disk Utility except erase. Valuble photos are on that disk, and I do not want to erase it. The strange thing is though- when I put the SD card back into the camera, the SD card can be read. Any thoughts on what I should do? 😕

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3), Canon PowerShot SD630

Posted on Apr 6, 2012 9:27 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 7, 2012 4:17 AM in response to M. Klym

That SD card has probably failed, but I suspect you know that.

Some of the flash memory that's used in various peripherals is unfortunately prone to catastrophic failures.

Some SSD (flash memory) drives can sometimes drop permanently off-line, and with all data on that SSD lost.

All computer storage, for that matter, eventually fails. It's not just flash-based drives. Traiditional disk drives, DRAM disks, CD and DVD media, floppy disks; it all degrades and it all inevitably fails. This is the central the rationale for using both RAID and performing backups.

You can try sending that SD card to a data recovery firm, and see if they can get anything off of it. (Continuing to work with a failing device can reduce the amount of data that can be eventually recovered, and particularly if the corruptions and/or the failed hardware becomes more extensive.)

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Answer 2

Camelot

Level 9

54,333 points

Apr 7, 2012 8:19 AM in response to M. Klym

The odd thing is that the card is, apparently, readable by the camera.

If you need the images off the camera you should focus on that first, rather than on getting DIsk Utility to read the card.

For example, most cameras support downloading images via USB - connect the camera to your computer via USB and the SD card should mount on the Mac's desktop, from where you can copy the images off.

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Answer 3

M. Klym Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 10, 2012 7:52 PM in response to Camelot

Thanks Camelot, I tried plugging the camera in via USB and it worked. All this time I never thought of doing that, and it worked successfully.

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