SD card is now Read Only

  • Thread starter Thread starter Danno
  • Start date Start date
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Danno

I have been using an SD card in my laptop for portable storage for ~6
months. Suddenly, I have started getting an error message saying that "Disk
is write protected." The tab on the SD card is in the unlock position. I
have tried using the properties window to change it but their is no option
to change it from Read Only or Change Permissions. If I click on a folder
on the SD card and try to change it via the Properties Windows the window
says that it is "Read Only" but when I uncheck "Read Only," it says I can't
because the disk is Read Only. And again I can't find any option to change
ownership or permissions.


Thanks in advance,
Danno
 
You could try formatting the card but most likely it has failed and is no
longer useable.
 
Thanks Richard. However, it does pass chkdsk, and it can be read from.

Any more ideas,
Danno
 
Some SD cards have a tiny switch on the side that make them read-only
- if yours has then maybe you bumped the switch?
 
Some SD cards have a tiny switch on the side that make them read-only
- if yours has then maybe you bumped the switch?
Click to expand...

The OP typed: " The tab on the SD card is in the unlock position."
 
Thanks Richard. However, it does pass chkdsk, and it can be read from.

Any more ideas,
Danno
Click to expand...

That doesn't necessarily prove it can be written to. Perhaps you could try
it in different machine or use a different card reader.

In fact, I had a card reader that started reporting to my computer that all
the SD cards I put in it were read-only. I tried another reader (same brand
and model) and the problem disappeared. I no longer use the first card
reader :-)
 
Hi, Danno.

Last week, after copying my latest batch of photos to the computer, I put
the SD card back into the camera, which promptly announced, "This card
cannot be used" or similar language. After several tries, I was convinced.
So I put the card back into the card reader and told Disk Management to
format it. In a few minutes, I put it back into the camera and have been
using it ever since.

I'm told that SD cards are good for only a finite number of write cycles.
It's a big number, but maybe we've hit the limit. I'll keep using my card,
but cautiously, keeping a spare handy in case it fails while I'm away from
home. So long as a new photo can be written to the card, my computer should
be able to read and copy it - I think - I hope.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100
 
Thank you to Gene, John A, and you for replying.

The switch is indeed in the unlocked position. Since the card reader is
built into my laptop, changing it is not an option. Reformatting is a last
choice of mine, but I may have to go that route. I haven't tried using the
card back in a camera, that might tell us something.

Does anyone know how to reset the read only attribute to the card? Would
taking ownership/permissions help? And how would I do it?

Thanks for the help!
Danno
 
The switch is indeed in the unlocked position. Since the card reader is
built into my laptop, changing it is not an option. Reformatting is a last
choice of mine, but I may have to go that route. I haven't tried using the
card back in a camera, that might tell us something.

Does anyone know how to reset the read only attribute to the card? Would
taking ownership/permissions help? And how would I do it?
Click to expand...

I can only guess. If you have ownership of the drive, give users read
and write? Remove attributes for hidden, system files. Actually make
the drive attributes with only "archive".
 
Hi, Danno.
Does anyone know how to reset the read only attribute to the card?
Click to expand...

But you said, "The switch is indeed in the unlocked position." And you had
already said that in your OP. Which switch are you talking about? Does
your laptop have a software switch to override the tab on the card.

When I slide the tab to lock, the camera or card reader can read from the
card, but not write to it. I can't take more pictures, but I can see and
download the ones already there. "Write protected", "read only" and
"locked" are just different phrases that mean the same thing in this case.

When the card is physically unlocked, it can be formatted, either by the
camera or by Disk Management. Just be sure that you've safely stored all
the pictures from the card onto your hard disk before formatting the card.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100
 
Try using in a different host system - a computer, digicam, videocam, audio
player, etc whatever can use and write to SD cards,

So if another machine cannot write to SDcard, backup its entire contents (if
you care for it!), and try reformatting.
If even formatting fails, card is bad, it can be used as ROM however :)
 
look, is that difficult to copy entire contents to harddisk NO. So do
that.
Then try reformattign card, whatever filesystem errors there're, they will
be cleared up.

If formatting failed, well, your SD card simply turned into ROM memory, it
cannot be written to anymore.
 
Danno said:
Thank you to Gene, John A, and you for replying.

The switch is indeed in the unlocked position. Since the card reader is
built into my laptop, changing it is not an option.
Click to expand...

A note on that: card readers that connect via USB are very cheap. My
laptop came with a built-in card reader. But when we used it to read a
card that had been used in our camera, the pictures came out garbled.
Buying a cheap USB-connected card reader made things work right.
 
A note on that: card readers that connect via USB are very cheap. My
laptop came with a built-in card reader. But when we used it to read a
card that had been used in our camera, the pictures came out garbled.
Buying a cheap USB-connected card reader made things work right.
Click to expand...

This is what I was gong to recommend when Danno pointed out that his card
reader is built in - in fact, I thought he'd get the hint from my first
post :-)
 
Gene E. Bloch said:
This is what I was gong to recommend when Danno pointed out that his card
reader is built in - in fact, I thought he'd get the hint from my first
post :-)
Click to expand...

FWIW not all computers that read SD card will read SDHC cards.
Regards
 
FWIW not all computers that read SD card will read SDHC cards.
Regards
Click to expand...

FWIW, we were talking about the inability to write to a card that used to
allow writing.

Incidentally, the ability to read (and write) an SDHC card depends on the
card reader, not on the computer. You can add a USB SDHC reader to any
computer that has USB, regardless of what any built-in reader can do.
 
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