An SD card is a device used to store photos in a camera. At times you may plug it into your computer and it shows you that the SD card has to write protection and you can't use it. Here is how to remove the write protection on your micro SD card.
Have you ever been locked out from accessing files on your SD card? All SD cards have a physical lock that can be enabled and disabled. You can use your Windows or Mac PC to remove the write protection to access your files. If the SD card is write-protected, you can't access the media, add new data, format, or delete files. Here are some reliable ways you can use to remove the write protection on the SD card.
1. Unlock the Physical Lock Switch
Take the SD card and place it on a surface with the label facing upward. If it is a micro or mini SD card, insert it into an SD card adapter with the label up. The lock switch is located on the upper left side of the SD card. It is a white/silver tab that protrudes outward.
Slide the lock switch towards the gold connectors at the bottom to unlock it. This turns off the write protection, and you can now access your files on the SD card.
2. Command- Line Cleanup
For this to work, you need to be using the administrator account to open the Disk partition tool. The SD card should be inserted into your computer.
Step 1: On your Windows PC, click Windows + R, type CMD to enter the command prompt panel.
Step 2: Type “diskpart” into the command prompt and press Enter. Click yes when prompted to open the disk partition. Then type in “list disk” and press enter.
Step 3: A list of all the disks on your computer will appear. To find the SD card, look for the gigabytes or megabytes that are similar to your SD card’s storage in the size column.
Step 4: Select your SD card by typing in “select disk number” where number is your SD card number on the list. For example, select disk number 1. Then press Enter.
Step 5: You will need to clear the write protection by typing “attributes disk clear readonly” and press Enter. You will see a line that reads; Disk attributes cleared successfully.
Note: Don’t input the quotation marks on the command prompt “ “.
3. Formatted SD Card
If you don’t have data on your SD card, you can format it. You can use the disk management partitioning utility to create, delete, format partition, or convert the disk. Hence, to format the SD card you can:
Step 1: Click Windows, search for Disk Management.
Step 2: Choose the SD card or USB drive you want to format and right-click on it. Click format to erase all the data on the SD card.
Step 3: On the dialog box that will appear, set the volume label, file system, and check on ‘Perform a quick format. Click Ok to continue.
4. Registry Rewrite
Step 1: Click on Windows + R, write “Regedit” to enter the Registry Editor. Then click Yes on the prompt that appears.
Step 2: Follow this path to find the item.
Step 3: Double click “Write Protect” on the right side to open the ‘Edit DWORD” dialog box and change the value to 0.
Step 4: If you don’t have any of the subkeys, create a new one and name it; Dword (32) on the control layer above it. Under the new key, create a new Dword (32). This depends on the number of bits on your computer.
Step 5: Restart your computer to check whether the SD card can be used.
5. Use CHKDSK
Step 1: Click Windows + R, type cmd to enter the command prompt panel.
Step 2: Type CHKDSK f: /f
Step 3: CHKDSK is the command used to check the disk and display the status, where F: means to execute the command on Disk F and /F means to fix the error on the disk.
6. Virus Cleaning
If the SD card may have been damaged by a virus, it may not be able to transfer written data properly. You can use a trusted anti-virus to make your SD card free from any kind of virus, whether you are using it on your phone, camera, or laptop.
Step 1: Download Kaspersky Endpoint Security, and on the quick launch panel, tap scan.
Step 2: Click on Settings > Anti virus > Scan
Step 3: To detect any adware or malicious viruses, switch on the Adware, dialers, and another toggle button.
Step 4: Click the action on threat detection, and select the action taken by the app by default which is quarantine. This helps store files as archives to prevent them from harming the device. It also helps to delete or restore the files that were in the isolated storage.
Step 5: The Kaspersky endpoint security will prompt you to select an action for any detected object. You can either quarantine, delete, or skip. This will help to make your SD card safe again.
1. What if I'm using a Micro SD card?
Just use a card sleeve, and then you can use any of the methods to remove the write protection on the SD card.
2. How do I turn off read-only mode on an SD card on Mac?
Simply insert your SD card into your Mac device correctly, search for a read-only file in the SD card, right-click it, click the file option and get info. Look in the sharing and permission part. If the file is read-only, change it to ‘Read and Write status.’
Click on the magnifying glass icon at the top right and type “disk utility” in the search bar, and double click it. Select your SD card, and click first aid, and it will start scanning your SD card. The First aid will fix the error.
