SD card reader not working on high sierra

@Peter, it's been well established though the discourse of this topic discussion that this thread's issue has been isolated to certain Mac models (specifically 2010 Mac minis). The INTERNAL card reader on those specific Mac models are disabled when people upgraded to Mac OS High Sierra, despite Apple's claims that these Macs would support OS 10.13.x High Sierra. External card readers, such as the one you referred to, is not the issue being addressed here (as it's been well established that people with the disabled INTERNAL card readers can use external readers as a workaround). If your external card reader had an issue, and you found a solution, please start a new thread as this one is focused on the loss of functionality of Apple's own built-in internal SD card reader after upgrading to 10.13.x (High Sierra) - i.e. a completely different one than that of your external card reader.

I had the same problem with a Sabrent Card Reader plugged into my iMac. A PRAM reset got it back.

I have a mid 2010 iMac with this problem. I was trying to use my SD card from my Nikon D40 but the only time it would mount would be when I restarted with the SD in the slot.

After no luck trying several things, I updated to 10.13.2 + restarted with the SD in the slot + renamed the SD card. I took took the card out and put it back and it worked.

I'm not sure if the update matters but try to rename the card.

To all you people giving advice for what worked for you PLEASE READ PREVIIOUS COMMENTS before typing what you perceive to be the obvious solution. This discussion is about a very specific issue that impacts certain makes and models Macs (with the majority of the people experiencing this issue being 2010 Mac mini users). 5K iMacs are not what we're talking about. If you had a problem with your 5K iMac's card reader, please post it in a new topic discussion, as your issue and your solution are probably both valid, it's just that they're not relevant to this discussion. Mac OS High Sierra rendered the internal drive reader inoperable on certain older model Macs that Apple stated are OS High Sierra compatible. There are quite a few people experiencing this issue, and it's no coincidence that we are all experiencing it on the same specific models. There's nothing physically wrong with the card reader, nor is there a problem with the cards. This is an OS High Sierra specific issue that impacts certain makes and models that Apple needs to address with a software update. Speaking for myself, I have tried ALL of the recommendations listed to no avail (and I'm fairly confident others have too). SMC reset does not fix it, nor does blowing compressed air in the slot, safe boot, etc... etc.. etc.., The only solution that appears to work successfully for those specific Mac models is downgrading the OS to the previous version (i.e. OS 10.12 or earlier), which anyone who's done can attest is not a pragmatic fix.

Seriously. Though the thread title should be changed to be more specific to the Mac Mini. People are responding to off topic posts with solutions for all sorts of things because they don't read the original post.

Actually, since the 2010 Mini is officially obsolete and this is pretty clearly a firmware issue, there's little hope for a fix other than perhaps a downgrade to Sierra. So the thread might as well be closed. Really a shame.

Reset NVRAM may solve your problem.

Use Terminal command or apple document to reset NVRAM.

Thanks

In Photos at the top of the second window tick Open Photos>

In Photos> Devices > *NO NAME*

If your device is not there see if you can hover over Devices > Show

Open Finder and see if it there, may need Devices > Show again

Hope this works for you.

For me (MBP 13' 2017, MacOS 10.13.3) an SD card connected via an external card reader does show up in the Finder, but when I try to open it I get a nonsensical error message and I cannot see or access the SD card content.

However, I can access the data on the SD card via Terminal and then copy the data via shell commands to the hard disk.

(So this seems to be a problem in the Finder app, not in hardware or low level OS).

Helpfull thanks for your comment.@jhon galt hope it it will fix the problem.

An SMC Reset has been known to fix that problem

I'm glad that worked for you, but it sounds like you had a different issue. As indicated in previous comments, the internal card reader has stopped working for specific Mac owners (such as those with 2010 Mac minis who upgraded to mac OS High Sierra). This isn't a power cable issue (I'm assuming that's what you meant by "cable"), it's a conflict that's specific to a version of the macOS in conjunction with specific Mac models. And, yes, I have tried unplugging the power supply for a while and rebooted (longtime fan of the IT Crowd). My mini's internal card reader still doesn't read SD cards under macOS High Sierra.

try a different card? what about all the data on the existing card?

Alas, the PRAM reset didn't rectify the problem. After resetting the PRAM and booting up again, the mid-2010 Mac mini's system report did register that a built-in SD reader is present, which seemed promising, but the reader still wouldn't read cards. (I've tried several brands of SD cards, all of which worked prior to updating to High Sierra and still work when inserted in my printer's memory card reader or if I use a USB card reader. Only the Mac mini's internal card reader is compromised. After resetting the PRAM and getting the computer to at least register that an internal memory card reader is actually present. I tried several troubleshooting suggestions in previous posts (e.g. Command+R, launching Image Capture and then trying the card, and checking to see if Disk Utility registered the card it didn't). If it was a Finder issue, as some have suggested, I figured it wouldn't hurt to trash the Finder.plist file and reboot. After doing this, the computer's system report reverted back to its, "This computer doesn't contain any Apple memory card readers" status. So, basically the PRAM reset got the computer to temporarily register that a card reader is present, but I'm still at a loss as to how to get it to actually detect/read cards again. Hopefully 10.13.4 will address this, especially considering how many people with certain Mac models are experiencing similar woes.

I had a similar problem but with an important variation. I COULD import footage from my SD card - no problem there - but when I created any movies in iMovie after the beginning of November 2017 there was a noticeable defect/glitch/picture break up at the top of the frame which lasted a second or so. This occurred several times in a 3 or 4 minute video. I considered problems with my camera or the SD card or the slot on my Mac but then realized that the problem occurred RIGHT after upgrading to macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 in November 2017. IMHO then it had to be related to the upgrade and after discussion with techs and Apple Care, I learned it was a combination of the upgrade AND the fact that my regular camera model was no longer supported by Apple and iMovie. Big news to me. Tim at Apple created a "walk around" for me that meant I would not need to go out and buy a new camera. Basically it involved on finding the clips in Canon then AVCHD and then exporting via Quick time and them importing back again as a .mov file. A little convoluted but it has been working. So if anyone is having that "glitch" problem - no need to buy a new camera - just take this new approach. Hope it works for you as it did me

I agree. Mac mini 2010 apparently is not fully compatible with macOS High Sierra. No resets of anything nor safe boot don’t help. The issue remaining is why Apple claims the Mac Mini 2010 to be High Sierra compatible. For us Mac Mini 2010 users the macOS Sierra remains the last fully compatible operating system so far.

I needed to Erase my SD card so that the camera would read it after opening it in Finder.