raine

you’re a genius ^-^ it gave me the same problem too~ i was frantically searching thru the net coz i cannot save a single thing.. thanks!

Genni

Thank you so much for posting this solution.
Why does this “disk write protected” problem occur, anyways? Mine was saving things just fine and then one day it stopped working. WTF?!

hoser

Thanks for the info. The tape is absolute genius. This card reader was driving me insane. Why do they have to screw with us like that. F’em

QC

The tape thing didn’t work for me.

TC_WOLF

Im not sure why, but that worked! Thank you!

Betatester

This sure did the trick !!!!!
Thanks man. Looked for hours on the web, until I found this solution.

tj

The tape didn’t work for me either. I have a bonzai 2.0 USB drive from Simpletech, and a 1.0 gb SD card.

d

what about from a dvd?

Tequib

Worked like a charm, thanks!

Someone

didnt work for me neither

Big B

I was skeptical, but it worked for me on the first try. Thank you!

james

My old memory card does not have a switch or lock but has that disk protection message, Any ideas how to go about this?

baldo

james: let’s try with the “tape” (even if your memory card doesn’t have the switch, the car reader has it).

Citori

I tried everything first and failed! this worked first time, What a Star. Thanks.

cagan

Thanks a lot it is works

tc

I had a similar problem and the tape didn’t work. I put the SD card in my camera and formatted it from there (you will lose anything on the card). Then when I put it back in the card reader it no longer said it was write protected.

cs

I tried the tape on a lexar 1 gig sd. I tried placing it in my computers internal card reader. It didnt work to remove the error, but when i tried placing the card back into my handheld where I first found the error, I was able to run the card no problem.

Try the sd card in different readers. Maybe the readers have different sensitivities, some pic up the slight indent in the tape others dont.

baldo

CS: thanks for sharing info.

ed

Not working here. Trying five different SD cards, all have switches, all switches are in unlocked position. They all allow my camera to read and write, but none will allow my card reader to write. The tape trick didn’t work. Neither did formatting. About to try buying a different reader.

riz

Same problem here, Tried tape, (the write protection tab is already OFFFFFFF), tried formating using my cell, my digital camera and what not. Can take/save pictures on it from my digital and cell. camera. Can read from it on my pc but cannot write to it on my pc NO MATTER WHAT..

I guess I will try another card reader now.

By the way I am using a Dell Inspiron 9300 built in SD Memory card reader.

ec

didn’t work for me either. wasn’t hoping it would.

saukoon

The trick worked for my Kingston Travelite reader. I suspect the cause is that some latch inside the reader is spoilt, and thus always in the ‘protected’ state, even though we do not lock the card.

This trick simply makes the latch trigger into ‘write’ mode

baldo

saukoon, I think you are right.
ec: I’m sorry if it didn’t work for you :(

lar

This DOES work!
If it isn’t working for you try a thicker layer of tape… It will work.

Just be careful not to make it so thick that it messes up your reader!

tracey

Didn’t work for me :-( everything i try fails… i have tried 3 different sd cards but the smae thing happens. i can’t add or delete anything off it!!!

luvdzun

This always always works :)

This is definitely doe to widening of the side forked latch, due to wear & tear. If you can open the drive, u can c it urself. Push the widened edge a bit inside so that it almost touches the other fork.

Or put a heavy tape mate!

paul

that is when your mmc has a switch that you can put a tape on it but mine has NO SWITCH, but still my card reader gets an error: “The Disk is write-protected. Remove the write-protection or use another disk” message” help me, thanx…

baldo

paul, did you try to change the memory reader?

Carol Sebastian

Thanks a lot dude..u really did a great post..it was buggin me for hours..Thanx a lot cheers…

tth

sadly.it dint work for me..sob..hais..mine dont haf a lock or watever thingy..

Reza9

THANX A LOT!!!! Malaysia here…i’ve tried the ‘tape’ solution. and it worked…BOGUS! t=it was fuckin’ on my nerves for days.

k

I removed in a SD card from the card reader and all of … cannot delete because the disk is write protected and that I must remove the data / copy

k

I removed the SD card from the PPC and put it in a card reader and all of … cannot delete because the disk is write protected and that I must remove the …

Miki8605

Hi guys! my mini SD card 512mb is ‘ill’

Suddenly the card said: It is ‘writeprotect’!!!

Can somebody help me???

Eugene

my MMC had this problem and i try taping the whole card, but it wont work. Any place that got other solution? Tried many software to low level format etc but cannot be done

baldo

eugene, try changing the card reader..
Does the MMC work with another reader?

Ruben

you’re a lifesavor…it’s 11pm and I’ve been trying to figure this out for the past two hours. Your solution worked instantaneously.

Thanks!

Dave

Only windows can assign attributes (not the reader, nor the card unless switch is in lock position). If I am correct, I think I figured it out….All the posts are about MICRO SD AND XP. ALL HAVE WORKED JUST ONCE.
I removed my reader and used a different one..Worked fine but not a second time! Apparently, when you insert the reader into a usb port, it is assigned a drive letter (onto which XP assigns the unremovable write protection attribute. I believe if you either reassign a new drive letter, or remove the device from your registry, the same reader will work once again (for one time only)

Eugene

Baldo: Hi, changing card reader doesnt work. Tried to format in camera, pda, handphone, taping the whole mmc with tape, changing registry etc. None work at all. But the mmc card can still b read, inside have mp3s and photos and all still can b see and played, but non removable.

Was wondering have anyone encounter this problem for MMC and had methods that works. Cos all are abt SDcard protection.

Thanks

Houdong Chen

I searched the solution for hours, and finally found this one. I put a piece of transparent tape over the switch, and it worked!! Unbelievable! Thank you very much.

4bob

Hi, here is another problem:

if got a 4 GB 150x Card and the write protection switch fell off while removing the card from the reader in my PC.
Now my Windows Mobile tells me the Card is write protected.
How may I get writing access ?
Inside are two Samsung 604 Chips and a Controler SK6602.
Thanks in advance

baldo

try the tape 4bob!!!

evil dad

The tape trick did not work for me, perhaps shorting pins? Any suggestion my firends ou there???? Grrrr

baldo

sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.. that’s technology! :)

bob

thanks for your suggestions.
Unfortunately those one with the tape didn´t work. Í assume that the switch is connecting some pins to the board by mechanical pressure, but which ones???
So I am hopefully waiting….

sean

used blue painters tape (thats what i had lying around) and it worked!

dont cover the pins, just wrap it around the card covering the slide switch (but not the pins)

Lil Boog

HEY MAN THANKS I WAS JUST GETTING READY TO TRASH MY MEMORY CARD. THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS INFO. IT REALLY WORKS!!!

shay&samantha

hey thanks so much!samantha nd i were trying to figure out how to put the songs on there…nd we must admit that we were at 1st in disbelief that putting scotch tape on the adapter would work!but it did!how’s you ever think of that?

anywho,thanks again!!!!!

baldo

@48:

I’m always happy to help someone!!

ginamarina

tried the tape, but it didn’t work. Took it home and used the built-in card reader and it worked fine. As soon as I put it back in the portable card reader the write-protection error is back. I’m sending for a replacement reader. I don’t know how much more tape I can put on this new card!

baldo

don’t put to much tape.. you can damage the reader if the tape get struck inside it

ginamarina

I’ve got a replacement reader coming shortly. Hopefully it’s the cheapie reader I bought on ebay that broke it’s “write protect checker”!

Sharona

I tried the tape and it didn’t work the first time. I used clear tape, not scotch tape. So I put 3 layers of clear tape and it worked, :O I was so surprised!

baldo

sharona, what is “CLEAR TAPE”?
It can useful for others.

Sharona

Transparent tape…the one you can see through. Non-opaque unlike Scotch tape.

Trevor

I also had the write protection error on my SD 2GB card. After a whole night of searching the web, I awoke the next morning and found a solution.

My multi-card reader (6in1) has a program that is loaded at bootup called “Disk Monitor”. All I had to do was exit the Disk Monitor program and then the SD card was able to write to it again. Try exiting your Card Reader program from the tasktray, this may work for you too. If you still have the write protect errors, I have this last suggestion; uninstall your Card Readers program & drivers, then reboot and let Windows install it’s default drivers (assuming your reader is recognized). The default windows drivers may allow you to write to your SD again.

For reference, I have an IC Card Reader.
P.S. If you are having the problems with your SD card showing the wrong size after formatting, I have included a website link in this post. Please read the posts in the link carefully. I suggest you put the SD card directly into the device you are going to use it for, immediately after performing the HEX edit to your card.

baldo

trevor, thanks for the link:

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=130856

but the tape solution is for any OS, cause it’s something about the hardware write protection switch (and not something software).

BTW, why not to test if the tape solution doesn’t work?

[...] A quick google search found a strange solution: All he did was to put a piece of tape over the switch on the SD card - and it worked! | Save This Page | | Stumble it! [...]

otsy

the tape didn’t work for me either. one day it copied next day not. my brain’s gonna explode!

neelachal

PUTTING TAPE OVER THE SWITCH WORKED FOR ME. Actually there is a switch in the card reader slot which should be in pressed condition when you insert the card and putting a tape make the card a bit large to keep the card reader switch in pressed condition comfortable.

Thanx everybody who suggested this method.

otsy

**if the tape doesn’t work try this**.
put your card in the adapter, but don’t lock the card in.
this is the only method that worked for me.

aj

Omg it worked!! awesome. the first time i tried the tape it didnt work but then i covered it with another layer and it worked!!! works every time now :) thanks so much!

baldo

u r welcome AJ!

Abdul Razzaq

Thank You It worked for me.On my 2GB Memory Card.

Dave

I think this is related to windows update too.

XP +SP2 and my SD card reader in my laptop works fine. Add the 89 windows-updates and the sd card erader dies and the driver comes up with the “code 10″ error in device manager. though the MS SDO driver is ok - very odd.

iana

mine is mm, dont hve any switch on it..
, n i bought a new card reader yesterday.. still, dat doesn’t work…what should i do?

iana

mmc card..

baldo

iana.. mmc should have the switch.. check another time!

iana

seriously no..i dont see any switch here..
i’ve use the tape..didn’t work either..

baldo

iana, sorry cannot help you :(

iana

:(… i bought dat mmc only few hours ago..
kingston, 1gb..
waaaaa….:(

Kirstin

you are an absolute GENIUS! thanks

iqbal khan

thank you very much.i was also having a problem with my m. card. whenever i tried to copy to it i had the warning ‘disk is write protected remove write protection from the disc’.i followed your solution. now i can copy in my m card. thanks a lot

kat

THANK YOU!!!!! hehe i was tryin to get on acouple of songs and i like paiced so much haha thank you x

kirk

Haha, thats probably the strangest work-around I’ve ever seen, but 3 layers of clear tape actually did the job, so thank you for that tip!
Since my camera didn’t like the thicker card, I removed the tape again, but I can still make my cards work, by firmly pressing them to the side of the lock switch while sliding it into the reader. Doesn’t work every time, but on the other hand you don’t risk to mess up your other readers (like cams, cell phones, etc.)

surya

great tips. it work for me. phew…
thx dude

stakas

nice. very nice…

Rosy

Incredible!!I didn’t believe in it… I thought it was just a Vista problem…instead…after 3 layers of tapes NOW IT WORKS!!!! Thank you VERY much!!!

vel

It is Great!!
Never, ever did I expect such an easy way to solve the problem.

My wires got tripped one day and the card reader start behaving strange all a sudden. I have two 1 GB SD card full with pictures and I cant get to delete them for other uses. imagine my frustration.

Thanks for the great tip! ^^

Aamir Siddiqu

WOW

Thao

Oh my god!!At first I intended to complain the SD card’s seller as it didn’t work on my computer…After reading your tip, I tried it and luckily it WORKED:D…Thanks a lot , man

Charles

Unbelivable.. it worked on two types of SD cards! Both had the same problem… a Transcend 1Gb and a SanDisk 2GB. ThanX and Merry Christmas!

BlueThunder

Thanks for the help. I was trying to write mpg. music files to a 2 gig PNY Micro SD card and got the same responce. I taped the CE adapter and also the tiny slot on the Micro SD card and the files transfered perfectly.

colin

After reading this thread I realised that there must be a tiny switch in my reader that needs adjusting. I popped open the plastic and pushed the little metal tab in a bit so that the contact would be better. Problem solved.

Graham

Thanks for this fix. It took three layers of tape but it does work.

Aaron

Thanks buddy! You rule!!!!

Chris

Hah! Worked a treat!! didnt expect that! I always thought the switch was connected to the circiut?? Ah well! Thanks for the post! Really helped me out there!!!!

Just in case anyone needs it, I used 2 layers of black insulation tape.. Make sure you dont cover the pins!!!!!!!!!!! :P

Chris

louis

umm what if the swich thing is completly gone

Ondrej

Great trick ;-)
Spent hours finding a solution and it was so simple..

Simplemind

Yeah, tape works. I formated the card with tape on, and then removed the tape. Now it’s working well without the write protection problem anymore…

Gaston

I saw this post after getting my reader working. After finding out in the web that the problem was the hard an not the soft, I tried putting the slide just in the middle of the path between lock and unlock. It worked like a charm!!.

Hope it helps!

Paul

Thanks. This worked … an old trick I had forgotten I used with floppies long ago. Also, you may wish to remove tape before using in camera.

Ben

omg it worked!!!
amazing!
how?!?

Andrew

You are a superstar! After much distress, this suggestion solved my problem!

csaba

Genius!!! it works just fine and had same prob. Thanks!!!

Wiseman

Thanks for the tip fantastic,but it actually works without the tape, if you move the switch over to the unlock postion the card will be read as un-protected.

Loopyloo

Thanks for the tip, was tearing my hair out. All it took was 3 pieces of tape lol.

KingofRock

how in gods name did you figure this out? it really works. unbelievable.

baldus

kingofRock, I found somewhere in some forum

ricardo

IT WORKS…

TRY ONE LAYER OF TAPE…

THEN TWO LAYERS…

and so on until the SD CARD fits the reader…

IT WILL WORK!

Loki

Well fuck me running, the tape WORKED!

John

Tape works. Why? Who cares? It works. Thanx!

jennifer

omg i frekin love u!!

jennifer

omg i love you

dave t

First try with the tape did not work. Multiple layers of tape later…and it WORKS!

Monica M

OMG I was skeptical that this would work, but it did work on the first try. Thank you so much to the genius that figured this odd remedy out xD

Bill in Bristol

A USB SD card reader stick did it for me.

Dean

WTF?!?! I worked? Why in the heck did this work? Thanks but I’m baffled.
IT WORKED?!?!

Baldo

:)
The tape works cause it fixes the “protected switch” on the SD.

Atlez

i did not believe u at first… but i try it any way… and it actually works…
thanks man you save my card

Auckland

Grrrrrrrrt!!!! It worked man! Your word is medicine. Thanx a million times.

tomas morales

ngiga nimo bai, epektiv jud!

Kurtis

I had the same problem with my SD card. No matter what I did it kept saying it was write-protected. So, I finally noticed that the switch was changing positions everytime I stuck the chip in my PC’s slot. I would set it to Un-Protected, stick it in the PC then pull it out. Guess what, it would be magically moved to the Locked position. (write-protected). If I carefully insert the SD chip it does not move the little slider switch and I can format the chip or whatever. Good Luck and thanks for all the comments.

Ply

It worked fine for me…thanks so much for sharing this info, saved me hours of research and stress!!

Plys last blog post..Scaricare Firefox 3.0

Vintek

I had the same problem with the WSD 2 GB. I have been looking for a solution everywhere. Putting the tape worked for me as well:)))). Thanks

Bradley

If it still doesn’t work try right clicking on the device and click eject, take the card out of the card reader and put it back in and try renameing a file on the card it should work! It Worked For Me!!!

Gizmo

Yep, this really did work. MicroSD in Sandisc SD -> USB adapter; trying to move files from PC to card for LG Dare; worked at first, then later gave “write-protected” error regardless of switch position. Make sure you don’t cover any of the contacts on the underside of the card/adapter with the tape :-)

Elme

Waaaaaaaa!!!! IT WORKED!!!! cant believe it!!! I had a micro SD. It works fine with the the kingston card reader, but when using the SD adapter and the card reader it failed(?????).
MASTER, GENIUS!!!

muzikmooyka

ABSOLUTELY GENIUS! THANKS SO MUCH!!

steve

WELL ILL BE FU****. it worked. i tried setting the switch in “limbo” position, in the middle between lock and unlock and it worked fine. WTF.

is there a way to remove the switch alltogether?

Baldo

I don’t think it’s a good idea to remove the switch Steve..

Tlacael

It worked! Thank you!

Mohit

U OWN MAN IT ACTUALLY WORKED I STAYED UP LIKE 12 HOURS STR8 AND TRYED 2 WORK IT BUT IT WOULDNT WORK I WAS ALSO FIGHTING THE FLU. THE TAPE ACTUALLY WORKED TY

ieatworld

i tried the tape, one layer, two layers, three layers, nothing works.

mike

i didnt think it would work but it did

Pramod

If your OS is Win XP then try the following…

Look in the registry for the following….

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies]

If you see the DWORD value “WriteProtect” set to 1, change it to 0.

sameer

thanks alot…it took me ages 2 figure it out…1 simple flick and ma cards working again…dint need da tape btw..buy y da hell du dey put da lock on in da first place..stupid idiots..
thanks

Ak

I was very angry and couldn’t find out how to fix my SD card. I tried everythinG BUT NOTHING WORKED. I took your advice and used tape. It worked.God bless you.

zac

Thanks for the tip!!!
Amazingly it worked!!
Thanks

tejas

thanks dude it workd 4 me too ……..

Wildy

It doesnt work for me. I’ve tried 2-3 different MMC cards. All are working on different computers except this 1..It displays a WRITE ERROR when I try to Write/Format/Rename etc. I’ve also Formatted the card and then Inserted it in the slot. Still Doesn’t work!!

Nyx

Thank you very much, I worked for only one thing I did first time tape and didn’t work. I did two times tape ( double taped ) and it worked.

Sorry for my english.

Emily

GENIOUS!!! i soooo didn’t think this would work. you’re my hero! woohoo!

mrv

at first it didn’t work for me, but I kept reading the comments and one said that I should try thicker layer of tape then I put few more layers (just be careful that card would fit into the card reader ;) ) and it worked. thank you very much

Wilson

dude, crazily enough it works

you are a genius!

top40mp3andlyrics.blogspot.com

wahhh tq very much.. i’ve been looking for this solution for such a long time.. thanks again..

top40mp3andlyrics.blogspot.coms last blog post..Sean Kingston - Red Dress Mp3 N Lyrics

mohamed

i have 128 mgb removable disk
iam unable to add or remove any thing to it
i always receive an error message disk is write protected please i need your help

krealynb

Thanks. I tried scotch tape- no luck. Good old Duck Tape worked. Now, I can transfer my files, and my SD card will be protected from a terrorist attack.

HEngkok

Dude!

its awesome, how did you know that.

GOd bless you Man…

jas

the tape only works with the switch coz it stops it slidinwhen u put it into the reader mking the protection switch on

but on mine i dnt have a switch,insted of putting my micro sd into the big adapter, i have a card reader that can take a micro sd witohut the adapter… nd i dunno how to take the protection off!!!

criminalu

AWESOME!

Google bits: SD card Vista protection.

Thanks man! good idea with the damn tape! :)

Got it working in no time! I believe the readers don’t send the info properly to vista, or Vista is really picky on them.
Anyway, thx again! worked for me…

Joshi George

Guys this is a beautiful website. I was able to find a beautiful solution for this after a great research. i was just like you, breaking my head.

The simple reason why this error occurs is because the card reader holder or adaptor is not properly connected with the card. 1.Just try pressing the adaptor, so that the card touches the pin properly.
2. cellotapes on the other side of the card.
3.Tight the screws of your card reader.
Am sure this will help you..

In fact some fools purchased new card for this silly problem… Thanks for the website and thanks for the posters too…
God bless you..

If you need any softwares for N72, you can mail to joshi_mcc05@yahoo.co.in. I ve got a collection of beautiful softwares for n72. Thanks for the opportunity as well.

Bob Hovey

For all of you for whom the tape trick did NOT work, try this: wedge a toothpick against the opposite side of the card from the slide (to push the card over a bit). Sometimes the spring sensor in the card reader (which is supposed to detect whether the slide is open or locked) is too strong and it just pushes the card over (making it read as ‘locked’). The toothpick will push the card over enough to overcome the sensor spring.

lostinspace

i just buy SD kingston 2GB and when i put it for the first time in my computer it say that i need to formate it… i click yes… and then it say that is whrite protected.
but when i use it on my ppc it works. why?
i try the tape but it doesent work.
please help…

beano

I LOVE YOU!!!!

i carnt belive that it worked!

:D

chas

I tried the tape thing but it didnt work, but i did figure out another way to fix the problem. If you press your thumb (or whatever is easy for you) against the opposite corner of the lock tab on your card when its in the reader you should feel/hear a slight click. Keep it pressed and you will be able to transfer files. Try a few times but it should work, I did it for 3 different sd cards.

Baldo

sometimes it works.. sometimes it doesn’t..
:)

Victor

It worked for me - thanks

Julia

You saved my evening! Thanks for the simple genius!

Ruchin

yo buddy ….superb trick….worked for my SD card…!!

Bruce

The little slider on the card presses on a switch in the reader when it is in the “unlocked” position. When it is “locked”, it does not press on the switch. In other words, the problem is never with the card itself unless the slider is missing altogether. There could be a piece of lint interfering with the contact in the reader and if so a blast of compressed air may clear it. I had to take apart my reader and bend the switch ever so slightly so it once again makes contact when the card is inserted. The “tape trick” serves to take up the slack in a reader that is only slightly worn.

Lamb chop

It actually works !!! ahahhaha

testakis

worked!

Rimpu

Hello sir

i have a SD card reader.
but can not copy any file
a message show = “this card write protcted”

help me

how to un-write protcted”

thanks

Mongolia

I have this problem and i fixed it.
first i used tape and it doesnt work. then i disassembled my card reader. When insert the Sd card to reader a small pin switched on card readers metal case. If there is distance between pin and case it indicates “write protected”

Lindaangellady

Viola! You are awesome! Now I can save my mom’s favorite pics for her Digital picture frame that I baught her for Christmas last year!! Oh my… it will be a Merry Christmas surprise. She is back in the hospital for Christmas this year, and we can bring her lots of cards and beautiful pictures for her to enjoy ! ! !

Lindaangellady

TAPE.. HOW SIMPLE FOR SUCH A HEAR TEARING PROBLEM ! ! ! IT WORKED, IT WORKED, IT WORKED ! ! ! Oh my goodness. A whole year of frustration all fixed with a small piece of tape ! ! ! LOL

Syndrome

Man you made my day!This is awesome!Piece of tape fixed my all problems!Thanks man!What else can i say?Thanks Thanks and Thanks!

noor

man u r soooooooooooooooooooooooooo gooood it worked i dunno y i dunno how it just worked u r freaky genius so coool

Ed Corcoran

It certainly isn’t a simple problem. I have two Kodak SD cards I got at the same time and have not used either very much.

One works just fine in my laptop reader and with 2 different card readers, I can add & subtract files with no problem.

The other has the Write Protect (WP) problem. I can read picture files off it, but whether in the laptop or either card reader, I cannot write to it. Tape in 1,2,3,4 or 5 layers does not seem to help nor does moving the write protect tab slightly one way or another.

Both SD chips seem absolutely identical. I do not see the slightest physical difference between then. The one with the WP problem does not seem to have any deformation, warp, dirt, burrs, gunk, or anything else. The WP tab seems to move the same way on both, to be just as solid on both, and does not seem to slip out of place in the slightest on the problem chip. The good chip & the problem chip both show up with the same drive letter, but the letters are different if I use the laptop reader or an external card reader.

Considering this happens with three different chip readers, it does not seem to be a problem with the little switch in the readers, tho shorting out the switch might do the trick. The picture of the opened SD chip in Wikipedia makes it perfectly clear that there is absolutely no internal connection for the tab. So I am baffled as to why one of two seemingly totally identical chips would work and the other not. So it seems to be some kind of problem within the chip, and not with the laptop, the readers, the write protect switch, or the software.

Ed Corcoran

I also tried duct tape & electrical tape.

No mater how I twist, push, or prod the problem chip in the readers, I still cannot get it to write. As for the good chip, no matter how I twist, push, lever or bend it, I can still write to it no problem.

Bruce

You certainly seem to have done your homework on this. It sounds like you have a have a defective card there. You could probably get a replacement under warranty depending on how old it is and if you have your reciept of course.

blackjackass

i can not beleave….it was truely worked.thanks m8

arim

what if my sd card doesn’t have that knob thingy…? how can i change it from being write protected?

Bruce

The pressure required to activate the switch in your card reader is very slight. If you put a piece of tape over the notch where the “knob thingy” was it may work for you. Take a piece of tape, start on the back and wrap it tightly around to the front completely covering the notch where the write protect slider would normaly be. If that does not work, you can cut a small piece of wood from a toothpick or something that will fill in the notch and secure it with the tape as noted above. This will fill in the void that would normaly be take up by the slider.

Claudia in tears

Still works! Thanks man!

Techno dude

ur a life saver
and with a micro sd card u need a micro sd adapter u normally get them when you buy the card or get them off ebay for less than a fiver!!!

Mike

U saved my hours dude, U rock…

I was wondering tht the old saying “NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION” is 100% true… U invented a great solution…

Thanks a ton bro..

Johnbo

Would like to add these keywords to save other surfers the 2 hours I wasted trying to find this solution on Google. XP error reports cannot write to disc (SD photo card) E:F:G:H:J because drive locked. Msdos Unlock wont work with XP. Fault lies with Memory Card reader. Problem not caused by lock switch on SD card which works okay but by
oversensitive reader misreading/misreporting card as locked. Put tape over switch and try as suggested in this column. Worked first time for me! Many many thanks.

Lacó

Thank you!

It helped me too.

Lukas

Hi iam wondering if someone here could told me how to get to the Wii The Hombrew Channel downloading menu, so i can start with downloading again???

Zach

Thanks SO much! :D

Cheryl

The tape worked here as well. Thanks
I used thin brown opaque packing tape, & had to use 3 thin pieces to cover the switch area.

GiNo

Tape didn’t work for me but just putting the switch in the middle did work for me!! :)

Dave

works great with the tape thanks!!!

jao

your a true genius..,,, wow!
how do you now it?

dwaz

I just broke that little swich off and that worked for me

DonBoy

Tape worked!! Thanks!!!

foumi

you are a genius really…. thanks

Yamiyo

Ha! Cheers, i can’t believe that actually worked ^^
but i’ll be damned if i ever understand why ! (p_q)

Teddy

You are a god :))))))))thanks and have a nice day

Not Telling you my name

People, the reason why tape trick works is that the card reader is responsible for write protection, not the card itself. This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s true. The switch on the SD card, when set in the “write-protected” mode activates a switch inside the card reader once the card is inserted. That’s how the card reader knows the card is “write-protected”. On my card, the swtich broke off altogether so I put a piece of tape over it, DONE. Problem goes away

“I used to think that the write-protect tab operated a switch inside the card. Not true - the tab is a purely mechanical flipper, with no electric connection inside the card. Instead, it toggles (or fails to toggle) an electro-mechanical switch in the SD card reader. ”
Source: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/11414-2-card-reader-card-write-protected

shumaila

dint work for me :(

simpLy.me :)

what will i do at the tape??????????

Bruce

simpLy.me

What you are actually trying to do is use the tape to increase the thickness of the card at the exact spot the little slider is when it is in the unlocked position.

Wrap the tape over the notch where the write protect slider is.

Bruce

NOTE: This will not always work. I have two readers which have both failed to recognize the position of the write protect switch. I have disassembled both of them and bent the contact so it makes positive contact when a card is inserted for sure but they will still not allow the card to be erased or written to.

righi

incredible!!

it works, as simple as that

thx a LOT

Rocco

This is retarded, 3 layers of packing tape actually frigen worked, not 2 or 1 but 3, just wild!

MarioMan

OMG. Friggin, didn’t need the tape but i see why it works. Why do company’s that make card readers such fags that they close the switch WHEN PUTTING THE CARD IN! It didn’t do it at first. But I can just slide the card closer to the opposite side to avoid contact with switch.

Von

Hey guys! The tape thing works but got another solution and it works just fine. No need for a tape…just a lil manipulation on your SD card’s properties..

Go to your SD Card’s properties and then share it.. It works smoothly… By the way, Im using MS Vista. Haven’t tried it on XP yet. But hoping it’ll work just fine too.

Hope this helps..

Mo

Yay ! My SD card randomly one day started saying disk is write protected when I turned my camera on .. Closer inspection led to noticing that the lock notch on the side had disappeared ! Been stressing for days, found out about the tape trick & its working a treat, thanks very much :)

Paul

Nah man all this is bullshit, just explain how this technique works. It’s Fuc’n driving me Extremely MAD!!!

Bruce

Paul,

Read the posts. Several times it has been explained it detail.

ddio

how about for my usb flash memory? before it is working well but now it is write protected, how can i solve this problem…

ddios last blog post..Assenza di campo dopo aggiornamento iphone a 2.2

Mike

It worked for me. Awesome thank u

ron

It worked. Nice one. Many thanks guys :)

corc337

I had a write protect problem with an SD card, but it wasn’t so simple. I actually have two identical Kodak SD 1 GB cards, bought at the same time, and had no problem writing to either of them, and could not detect the slightest difference between them. But then on one of them, after I got on about 300 MB of files, the write protect problem started.

I tried Scotch tape, and tried twisting the card a bit, putting pressure on one side or the other, etc. Still no results. this was with three different card readers, so did not seem to be a switch problem. Then I found, much to my surprise, that I could delete and re-name files on the supposedly write-protected disk. Then I could re-write the deleted files. And then I could write other files also.

Then I took off all the tape and it still worked.

So it seems that in this case it was something electronic internal to the disk - a software problem of some sort.

Nausheen

OH MY GOD!!! THE TAPE WAS A FREAKING AWESOME TRICK!!!! THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!

Zain Shaikh

OH God, what a simpler problem it was, and i could not guess it. thank you so much and thank you google :)