SD Card Reader says the card is write-protected - Page 2

Simple solution I found on Yahoo Answers... I did try it and it totally WORKS. I used regular, clear scotch tape BTW.


I can help. What is not the problem, is the position of the switch entirely. With the SD card Face up and the tiny white plastic switch on the left side, should be slid toward the card edge connector (the shortest side). I know you may have done this and it still doesn't work. Here's why, On the opposite side of the SD card from the switch, there is a tiny "Notch" cut out.

Place a piece of tape, masking, electrical, sometimes transparent will work. Be very precise in placing the tape over the notch, but not over the brass connector on the opposite side. Then place it in your card reader, format it, read and write files to your desire.

This is a little known issue with the design of all SD cards. The notch forces them to work in camera's, MP3 Players, PDA's, etc. that are portable devices, but not in USB card readers or computers with SD reader slots.

The card reader with the SD card has this extra built in feature to protect copyrights (for some reason on blank cards), and makes it useless for custom applications. Once you have "Unprotected" the SD card, installed your files, then remove the tape.

If you get the same error again after applying the tape, add a second layer. Double check that you did not cover the connection edge, and the plastic tab is closet to the side you insert in the device you are using.

Sometimes it takes several tries, but it will work with patience. If you have existing files on the SD card, insert it, right click, select properties. Then remove the "Read Only" check by the box and try to delete or add files then. If it says Disk Write Protected, then check the tape again.

It's annoying, but it will work with patience to bypass this design flaw.

[quotemsg=369776,18,297458]The SD Cards' "Write Protection" issue is not a software issue or any computer related problem. It is not the problem with your SD card either. The real problem lies in the Card Reader itself, a stuck WRITE PROTECTION SWITCH in the card slot. Peer inside the slot and you can see on the left a copper lever switch. This is the WRITE PROTECT SWITCH.

****** For me, this does not seem to be the case

I have a write protect problem with an SD card, but it does not seem to be so simple.

I actually have two identical Kodak SD 1 GB cards, bought at the same time, and had no problem writing to either of them. I have looked at them very carefully and cannot detect the slightest difference between them. But then on one of them, after I got on about 300 MB of files, the write protect problem started.

I have tried Scotch tape, from 1 layer to four (the most I could get on and still get the card into the slot), and no results. Actually I had earlier tried a couple different kinds of tape.

I tried twisting the card a bit, putting pressure on one side or the other, etc. Still no results.

I have the problem with the built in reader in my COMPAQ Presario R4000 and with two different external card readers. These three readers all read & write to the identical Kodak SD card with no problem at all, but refuse to write to the second one.

So I am skeptical now that it is a problem with the little sensor switch in the card reader, since the cards are identical and the problem exists with three different readers, and the tape trick seems not to work at all.

I did see one suggestion on the San Baldo site of "Go to your SD Card's properties and then share it.. It works smoothly... By the way, Im using MS Vista. Haven't tried it on XP yet. But hoping it'll work just fine too." But I have XP and when I go to properties and sharing I only have two options -- one is "To share this folder with other users of this computer only, drag it to the Shared Documents folder" and the other is to use the Network Setup Wizard to enable remote access to the computer. Neither of these seem to have anything to do with the SD card and I do not find anywhere else in XP to change share properties on the SD card.

im having the same problem but i have a gateway

I had this problem, but found that the problem lay in the registry.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENT\CONTROLSETCONTROL
has a 'Storage Device Policies' area where you can opt to ban USB based updates by inputting a 1 to the registry. Look in your registry and if yours has a 1 replace it with a 0 (zero).

I am indebted to "My Digital Life" TIP #110 for this advice.

RonS

So I tried tape, and it didn't work. Then I tried deleting and adding files and it worked a bit, but not very well.

Finally I found a full working solution - I went to My computer, right clicked on the the drive that the card was labeled as and then clicked FORMAT and re-formatted as FAT-32. After that I was able to write to the card no problem.

hi I don't know what part I'm answering to but all I can tell you the hint to place a little bit of tape over the protection switch (I guess it has to be in the open position but not sure about that) all I know it worked very well for me. I used just ordinary transparent tape, unreal! I had almost given up.
I us W Xp and a transcend card reader and I think a Zone SD card but all my sd card refused to read b4 the tape hint.
I don't know why it would not work with one of previous entries, just glad it works with me Cheers and thanks for the tip.
Michelm

GOTTA LOVE THE INTERNET. I WAAS SO FRUSTRATED AND DIDN'T WANT TO BUY ANOTHER CARD. I BLAMED MY BRAND NEW HP LAPTOP FOR THE PROBLEM AND AFTER READING THESE POST I CHANGED THAT SWITCH ON THE SIDE BY SLIDING IT UP AND TAKING IT OFF OF LOCK AND WHHHAAALLAA. I CAN NOW DELETE AND MOVE FORWARD. ALL I WANTED TO DO IS CLEAN UP MY DISK AND TRANSFER EVERYTHING FROM MY CARD AND DESKTOP TO A 8 GIG DRIVE.. GOTTA LOVE THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THANKS A BUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have methodically tried EVERY single one of the above suggestions, not one of them have worked on my 16gb Sandisk Micro Sd HC on XP Pro computer. Seriously.... I even "removed" the "read only" - only to have it magically reappear. Tried the registry fix, the tape - everything. Nothing works. Have a reader/writer BTW. Completely at a loss. Any other suggestions? (Please, not the tape thing which has been mentioned over and over. Doesn't work for me.)

Thanks....

AWESOME answer. Thank you. 20 minutes on the phone with tech help didn't come up with this simple bit of genius. Thanks.

Thank you for all the responses. After trying EVERYTHING you listed here, the "thick" layer of tape over the SD card worked. No more "write protected" message. THANKS!