Cant write to SD card?

Question

TacoLord187 Author

Level 1

1 points

Cant write to SD card?

I cant seem to write to my SD card. I have an early 2011 Macbook Pro and am using a Samsung 64gb class 10 SDXC card.

The card reads just fine, but I am completely unable to copy files to it or delete files from it.

Its all of my SD cards too. I have tried different sizes and formats. I am able to Read/Write on a PC.

NO. None of the cards switches are on the LOCK position.

I have tried to format the cards several times, and even some weird trick saying to put the lock switch half way between locked and unlocked. Nothing is working.

How can I fix this?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jun 30, 2013 9:21 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jun 30, 2013 11:16 PM in response to TacoLord187

The device is formatted for Windows, as NTFS. The format is readable, but not natively writable on a Mac. To write to the device, you must either reformat it (erasing all the contents) or install third-party software to enable write access to NTFS.

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Answer 2

TacoLord187 Author

Level 1

1 points

Jun 30, 2013 11:51 PM in response to Linc Davis

That's not it. As I said in my OP, I have tried other formats. Plus on top of that, I already have NTSF software installed. I also am unable to format it from my Mac as the card is read only.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jun 30, 2013 11:56 PM in response to TacoLord187

In that case, your card reader is probably malfunctioning. To be sure, you would have to cleanly install OS X on another device, boot from it, and test.

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Answer 4

TacoLord187 Author

Level 1

1 points

Jun 30, 2013 11:58 PM in response to Linc Davis

That's encouraging. I don't have another device.

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Answer 5

LowLuster

Level 6

12,105 points

Jul 1, 2013 1:28 AM in response to TacoLord187

He mean like on a external drive of some kind. Even on a large USB thumb drive. Once OS X is installed on that other device ( external Drive) boot your mac from it and test the SD card reader. If it works then it is your copy of OS X installed on the internal drive. If it doesn't work then it is the card reader.

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Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jul 1, 2013 6:49 AM in response to TacoLord187

You can boot into Recovery mode and test the card in the shell. Ask if you need instructions.

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Answer 7

TacoLord187 Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 1, 2013 3:51 PM in response to Linc Davis

Please

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Answer 8

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jul 1, 2013 4:48 PM in response to TacoLord187

What is the name of the volume on the card?

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Answer 9

TacoLord187 Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 1, 2013 6:38 PM in response to Linc Davis

EOS_DIGITAL

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Answer 10

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jul 1, 2013 7:02 PM in response to TacoLord187

Boot into Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select

Utilities ▹ Terminal

from the menu bar. In the Terminal window, type this:

touch /V

Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:

touch /Volumes/

Now type the first few letters of the volume name and press tab again. The name should be auto-completed. If not, type it out. Press return.

If you get an error message to the effect that the volume is read-only, then that's what it is. If you get no error message, the volume is writable, and something is wrong with the system on your startup volume. In that case, you should quit Terminal and reinstall OS X (but only if you have a current backup.)

To exit Recovery mode, select

 ▹ Restart

from the menu bar.

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Answer 11

TacoLord187 Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 1, 2013 7:04 PM in response to TacoLord187

Alright, ill test it and let you know. If I have to do a reinstall, ill wait till that's over. I do have a time machine

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Answer 12

TacoLord187 Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 2, 2013 4:28 PM in response to Linc Davis

Here is what I know. Mac thinks it read only because there is an issue with the lock switch in the readeritself. It seems to think all SD cards have their switch set to lock. I know its not my card even though mac says its read only for 3 reasons.

1. Its brand new. Literally 2 days old

2. It lets me read/write on a PC

3. My camera can read write it.

Please don't tell me to take it to Apple for repairs, they will just charge me $500 because they would have to replace the whole logic board because I don't have Apple Care. I need a way to either bypass that stupid internal lock switch, or somehow fix it.

Any help along those lines is gretaly appreciated.

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Answer 13

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jul 2, 2013 4:43 PM in response to TacoLord187

I can't tell you anything that isn't obvious. There's no secret button to push that I know of. You have these options:

Use the cards read-only on the Mac. If the camera can write to them, I don't see why it's a problem. The purpose of the cards is to store data in the camera and transfer it to the computer.

Write to them on your PC, if you need to to do that for some reason that I'm unaware of.

Try an external card reader (which is cheap, but may not work.)

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Answer 14

TacoLord187 Author

Level 1

1 points

Jul 2, 2013 4:51 PM in response to Linc Davis

There has to be a way to pull that switch back out.

Using the mac as a read only is kind of a waste....these cost so much I shouldn't have trouble deleting photos off a simple SD card. Im leaving for college soon so I wont have PC access like I do now. I have an external reader but it doesn't support my SDXC card. Deleting all the photos on the cam is a huge pain especially when I take 50-200 at a time.

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Answer 15

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,535 points

Jul 2, 2013 4:57 PM in response to TacoLord187

There is no switch in the reader. The switch, if there is one, is on the card. A reader costs about $10, maybe less.

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