Home > Questions

SD card with MBR partition is not readable on my Mac, need help!

I bought a Sandisk extreme plus Micro SDHC for my new Raspberry Pi 3Then, I installed Raspbian on it with this software. It was working, but I wanted to erase it to install Berryboot (to multi-boot my sd, with another os like kali...). Anyway, I went to Disk Utility and erase my sd, My micro sd card became invisible! And it says: The disk you insert is not readable by the computer. I tried some commands in the terminal to recover the sd but it failed: error: device contains an MBR. I just want to erase the content of my sd card and be able to "see" her and install a new os!

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Amanda Wong

Amanda Wong

Answered on Thursday, March 9, 2023

You can format the SD card in Disk Utility to make it readable again. Given that it is a new drive, there is no need to worry about any data loss. 

It is common to receive the error message "The disk you inserted/attached is not readable by this computer" when you inserted a new SD card into your Mac given that a new SD card is usually an uninitialized disk. With the error, it provides three options, namely Initialize, Ignore, and Eject.  

You can click the Initialize button and follow the onscreen guide to initialize it. Or, you can click the Ignore button, and navigate to the Disk Utility to format the SD card. 

  1. Open Finder > Applications > Utilities, and launch Disk Utility.
  2. Click the View button and choose Show All Devices.
  3. Select the unreadable SD card on the left list and click the Erase button on the toolbar.
  4. Assign a name to the SD card, choose a file format, and choose GUID.
  5. Click Erase, and click Done.

Now you can access the formatted SD card on your Mac normally. 

If the not-readable error occurs on an SD card in use, formatting will erase all your SD card files. You can run iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover deleted/lost data from unreadable SD cards before or after reformatting.

People Also Ask

Read More Questions

Read More Advice From iBoysoft's Computer Experts

how to fix SD card wont read

How to Fix SD Card Won’t Read [Ultimate Tutorial]

If the SD card won't read on your Windows/Mac/Android, check this post for an ultimate tutorial to fix it.

SD Card Recovery

usb flash drive not showing up on Mac

Fix USB Flash Drive not Showing up on Mac [Solved]

Troubleshoot and fix Mac not recognizing USB flash drive, flash drive not showing up on Mac desktop, in Finder or Disk Utility.

How to Tips

fix the disk you attached was not readable by this computer on Mac Monterey

Fix The Disk You Attached Was Not Readable by This Computer

8 solutions to fix The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer on Ventura/Monterey/Big Sur/Catalina/Mojave/High Sierra.

Mac Data Recovery Tips