SD cards are a widely used external storage device, especially for digital cameras or mobile phones. That is why it is very common to find laptops that have a slot for this type of card. Normally, these cards should work fine, but when write errors do occur, they can become a nightmare.
At the least expected moment, we may find that it is not possible to add a new file or delete anything from the card, which makes us doubt how to solve it. For this reason, today we are going to talk about the most common causes for which our SD card can cause problems and how to fix it. Although these tricks are focused on SD cards, they can also be valid for USB memories.
What does write protection mean
This protection helps protect the storage device from any accident, so that its content can be safeguarded and cannot be modified by third parties. In the event that our SD card or USB memory is write-protected, we will not be able to write to it , nor delete the files it contains nor format it, so it may become useless.
Possible causes for this to happen may be related to:
- It is locked by physical button.
- Contains bad sectors.
- Contains files or folders marked “Read Only”.
- It’s damaged.
Whatever the reason why this happens, we are going to see different ways that we have to be able to eliminate this annoying protection that prevents us from making modifications to it.
How to remove protection
Next, we are going to see different ways that we have to be able to end the write protection of our SD card or USB memory.
Check if the SD card is locked with a physical switch
One of the aspects that we must take into account is to verify that the memory card is not protected against writing. Whether it is an SD or micro-SD, we must look at a switch that is usually located on the side in lock or protected mode. If so, this switch will not be preventing us from writing to it.
If so, we must change the switch from on to off in order to unlock the SD card. After this, the write protection should be disabled and we should be able to make changes to it as usual again.
Check your available space and file attributes
Another check that we must carry out, once the USB card or memory is connected to the PC, is to check its properties and available space, to determine if this may be the cause of the problem. To do this, we right-click on its icon to bring up a context menu where we can select the “Properties” option.
This will open a new window in the “General” section. Here we must check that it has free space to be able to work with it, because if it is full, it may be one of the reasons why it gives us problems when using it.
In the same way, we must also look at the attributes of the files and folders that we have saved, making sure that the “Read only” mode is not activated. If activated, this will prevent us from being able to work with these files or save data in certain folders.
Use an antivirus
It is possible that unknown viruses or some type of malware could have encrypted our device by adding write protection to prevent us from modifying the saved data. In this case we can use our antivirus software to eliminate viruses. This is something that we can use from the “Windows Security” section of the operating system, which we can execute by typing its name in the Start menu search box.
Once opened, a new window will appear, with a list of options in its left panel. Here we must select “Antivirus protection against threats” and in the right panel we click on “Scan options”.
On the next screen we can choose between a quick, complete or personalized analysis. We run it to scan the SD card, clean it and remove any viruses.
Reset your attributes
Another aspect that we can try is to restore the attributes of the card or USB memory . This way, in case the permissions have been changed for some reason or read-only mode enabled, everything is back to normal.
To do this, it will be necessary to have the device connected to the PC to later open a Command Prompt window. This is something we need to do by typing cmd in the Start menu search box and running it with administrator rights. Once its window appears, we write diskpart to open the tool that we are going to use. Later we write list disk to show all the drives connected to the PC.
diskpart list disk
Later we must find out what our SD card or USB memory is and write down its number. Next, we type the command:
select disk [N]
We just have to make sure to change the N to the letter of our device. Once this is done, we must use the following command to clear its write protection.
attributes disk clear readonly
Once finished we can check if the protection has disappeared and we can use it again normally.
Remove protection using registry
Another way to be able to erase the protection of our SD or USB memory is by using the Registry Editor , which we find natively available in both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Of course, we must use it with caution since any unwanted modification can cause stability and performance bugs in our system.
The first thing we are going to do is press the keyboard shortcut “Windows + R” to launch the Run command. Later, we write regedit and press Enter or the OK button to start it.
Before modifying anything, we will make a backup, as a preventive measure. To do this, click on “File” and “Export”. We then specify All in the export range, give it a name, select the .reg format, and click Save.
Next, we navigate to the following route:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Control
Once here, we right-click on “Control”, and select “New” and “Key”, naming it StorageDevicePolicies .
Then we right-click on StorageDevicePolicies and click “New” and “32-bit DWORD Value” and name it WriteProtect .
Finally, we double-click on WriteProtect, change the value data to 0 , and click OK. All that remains is to close the Editor and restart the PC so that the changes are applied correctly. Once this is done, we reinsert the device into the computer to check if we can access and use it.
Nothing works? format it
In case nothing has worked so far, the only thing left for us to do is make a backup copy of all our data, to later format the memory card . Once all your data has been deleted, it should work normally again.
To perform this formatting, we can use a tool like HDD LLF that we can download from the developer’s website . It is a free app for home use. This version is limited to 180 GB per hour with a maximum speed of 50 MB/s. It is compatible from Windows XP to Windows 11.
Once installed and executed, its main menu appears where we must select the card that we want to format and press “Continue”.
On the next screen, in the “LOW-LEVEL FORMAT” tab we uncheck the “Perform Quick Wipe” box, so that it does not carry out a quick format. Finally, we click on “FORMAT THI DEVICE” and wait for the process to finish.
Once finished, we can check if we can access it normally and make changes to it.