Home > Questions

My SD card is formatted as exFAT, but Mac won't recognize it, why?

I have a new Campark Xtreme camera (like a Go Pro) that uses a Micro SD disk in exFAT format. My 3-year-old MacBook Air won't recognize the disk in that format. But in order to reformat it, I have to erase all the content on the disk. When I put the disk back in the camera, the camera won't work unless I reformat the disk to exFAT.My computer is 10.10.5. So is my husband's. We have the same problem on both laptops. Anyone have any ideas?

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Amanda Wong

Amanda Wong

Answered on Thursday, March 9, 2023

macOS supports the exFAT format. Therefore, an SD card formatted with exFAT should be recognized by macOS without any issue. If the SD card is not recognized, there could something wrong with the connection, Mac software, and hardware, or the SD card-related issues, not the file format.

For exFAT, Mac provides complete read-write support. After being plugged in, any exFAT-formatted drives can be mounted immediately and appear on the desktop and in the Finder. Then, much like any other device with a file system that is compatible with macOS such as Mac OS Extended and APFS, Mac users have access to all files saved on an exFAT disk. 

Read more: [Answered] Can Mac Recognize and Read exFAT External Drives?

Then, when the SD card not recognizing on Mac occurs, it has nothing to do with the exFAT format, you should fix this problem from somewhere else. 

First of all, check whether Mac has successfully detected the SD card. It should be displayed in Finder, on the desktop, or at least in Disk Utility. If you can't find the SD card on your Mac anywhere, there may have problems with the connection, including the SD card reader and the USB port. Otherwise, the SD card is dead and cannot be recognized.

Secondly, if the SD card shows up in Disk Utility, but it isn't readable, you can try these methods:

  1. Check Finder and desktop preferences
  2. Remove the write protection from the SD card
  3. Manually mount the SD card in Disk Utility
  4. Repair SD card with First Aid of Disk Utility
  5. Update macOS 
  6. Recover data and reformat the card

Reformatting the unrecognizable SD card is the last resort you can take by yourself to fix it, but it will delete all the contents, you'd better recover lost and deleted files from the malfunctioned SD card before reformatting. Pick up professional SD card recovery software such as iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac could restore your SD card files as many as possible!

People Also Ask

Read More Questions

Read More Advice From iBoysoft's Computer Experts

Fix Mac does not recognize external hard drive

(New for macOS 12) Fix Mac Not Recognize External Hard Drive

If your Mac doesn't detect the external hard drive, use this tutorial to fix the external hard drive not recognizing issue on Mac. Then your files are accessible again.

Mac Data Recovery Tips

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

Mac will not read the SD card

[Solved] iMac/MacBook won't read SD card, how to fix it?

iMac/MacBook Pro/MacBook Air won't read SD card? Solution to fix SD card not readable on macOS 12 Monterey/macOS 11 Big Sur/macOS Catalina 10.15/Mojave 10.14/High Sierra 10.13/Sierra 10.12.

Mac Data Recovery Tips