Written by
Connie Yang
Summary: We introduce write-protected SD cards in this post in all aspects, including what a write-protected SD card is, how the write protection works to protect the SD cards, how to remove write protection from SD cards, and how to format write-protected SD cards.
You are informed that the SD card you connect to your Windows PC or Mac machine is write-protected, so you can't write to the SD card.
What is a write-protected SD card? If you are puzzled about this kind of SD card, follow this post. We will explain what a write-protected SD card is and tell you how to remove the write protection from the SD card or format the write-protected SD card if you want.
What is a write-protected SD card?
A write-protected SD card is an SD card that has been set to prevent data from being written to it. Users can only access and read data on the SD card but can't edit, delete, or modify files or add any data. This protection safeguards important data on the SD card from accidental edition, deletion, or overwriting.
Usually, full-sized SD cards including Standard SD cards, SDHC cards, and SDXC cards have a physical write-protection switch. How about the write-protected Micro SD cards and mini SD cards? Micro and mini SD cards rely on external adapters or third-party software to achieve write protection.
Write-protected SD cards are mainly used on cameras, camcorders, media players, gaming consoles, audio recording devices, etc.
Go to let more people know what a write-protected SD card is.
How does write protection work on an SD card?
Most SD cards have a small physical write-protection switch on the side. You can toggle the slider between two positions to turn on or off write protection for the SD card.
When you toggle the slider to the position labeled LOCK or a lock icon, you enable write protection for the SD card. In other words, the SD card is now read-only. You can only access and view data stored on it.
When you switch to the opposite position, you unlock the SD card. Now, you can read and write to the card seamlessly.
How to remove write protection from SD card?
The ways to remove write protection from SD cards vary depending on how you make it write-protected. You may enable write-protection on SD cards by toggling the physical write-protection switch on the side to the lock position or by changing the properties to read-only.
So, choose one of the ways to turn off write protection on your SD card according to your situation.
Remove write protection from the SD card with the physical switch
- Check if the SD card has a switch on the side.
- Toggle the slider to the opposite option (or the position doesn't label LOCK or a lock icon).
Remove write protection on SD card without a physical switch
You want to know how to remove write protection on an SD card or Micro SD card without a switch as there's no physical switch on the card.
In this condition, turn off write protection on the SD card in this way:
If want to make a write-protected SD card on Windows to read-write access, connect the SD card to it, open This PC, right-click the SD card, choose Properties, and check if Read-only is checked in the Attributes section. Then, uncheck it to make your SD card writable.
If you have a Mac, right-click the SD card in the Finder sidebar or on the desktop, choose Get Info, move to the Sharing & Permissions section, and change the privilege next to your account to Read & Write.
How to format a write-protected SD card?
To format a write-protected SD card, you should turn off write protection on the SD card first. Formatting an SD card is the action of writing data to it.
Format the write-protected SD card on a Windows PC
- Toggle the switch on the side of the SD card to the opposite position to turn off the write protection. If your SD card doesn't have a physical switch, connect it to your PC, go to This PC, right-click the card, choose Properties, and uncheck Read-only.
- Right-click the SD card, select Format, choose a file system, set allocation unit size, and check Quick Format.
- Click Start.
Format the write-protected SD card on a Mac
- Move the switch on the side of the SD card to the opposite position to remove the write protection. If your SD card doesn't have a physical switch, connect the SD card on your Mac, right-click it, select Get Info, change your permission to Read & Write.
- Open Disk Utility.
- Click View > Show All Devices to list the top hierarchy of the SD card.
- Select the SD card and click Erase.
- Enter a name, choose a format, and set GUID as the partition scheme.
- Click Erase.
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