Not sure but it can be due to dust presence inside the SD card slot. Clean the dust inside the slot for detecting. Also try deleting cache. Go to librarycachescroll all the way down and delete whats inside the bottom folder. You can contact Apple Macbook Pro USA Technical support care number: (800–275-2273) for any help.
- Macbook Pro Not Detecting Sd Card Reader
- Macbook Pro Not Detecting Sd Card Memory Card
- Macbook Pro Not Detecting Sd Card Holder
Apr 18, 2018 It is not necessarily related to the SD card slot. First of all, make sure you insert your card properly. The metal contacts must face down and point toward your Mac. Put the card in carefully, but not too slowly: sometimes it does not mount properly because of it. Having another SD card for a test significantly simplifies the task. Question: Q: macbook not recognizing sd card and card reader I recently purchased a macbook - when I plug in my card reader insert card nothing happens. I plug the same card reader and card into my iMac and it works fine - meaning it shows up on the desktop to open card files.
Introduction: SD Card Hack for Macbook Pro Retina 13 Inch
If you are a proud purchaser of latest Macbook pro 13 inch with retina display, you might have already started to wonder or might already be wondering about the extending storage options for this beauty.
The challenge is the storage upgrade cost. The 128 GB SSD model is the cheapest one and 256 GB comes at a reasonable upgrade cost while the 512 GB SSD model seems too expensive.
The upgrade options are very limited with custom designed flash cards, adapters for micro SD cards and what not.
Another options can be an external hard drive but you might not want to lug around the external HDD for the extra music that you like or may be some episodes of your favourite TV series.
What I have found out is that 64 GB is a sweet spot when it comes to price to value proposition as the cost of 128 GB SD cards is more than double, in fact 3 times the cost of 64 GB SD card cost.
In this Instructable we would see how we can use an off the shelf SD card to over come the storage limitation of our Macbook Pro 13 inch retina model.
*Note* This method may not work with all SD cards. But will work with most, specially the recent high capacity ones.
Step 1: What We Need?
What we need
1. A full size SD card, preferably 64 GB one. The one I used for this experiment was Strontium Nitro class 10 due to its price / value proposition. These are very easily available in India.
2. A paper cutter with sharp edges.
3. A pencil to mark the card for cutting.
4. A pair of tweezers to pull out the card while testing. (Optional but comes in real handy) Online recording software.
5. A ruler or a straight surface.
6. Of course a Macbook Pro 13 with retina display. This might also work for other Macbook models with slight difference in step 2.
Step 2: Marking Our SD Card
The reason I went for this approach is because, the micro SD cards have become smaller and I saw in some videos on youtube that most of the plastic in full size SD cards was to maintain the form factor for cameras etc. I tore open some micro SD cards adapters as well to see the insides.
Also it doesn't make sense for manufacturers to have different die sizes to make internals of the SD cards as it all plastic that is needed to maintain the form factor.
First thing we need to do is insert the SD card in the SD card slot on the right side edge of our Macbook pro or any other macbook.
Take the pencil and mark the sides so that we have a clear line to mark our cutting line on the plastic.
This mark will be at different distance for each Macbook model, if we mark the line right it should be good enough.
Step 3:
Now keep the card on a hard surface, place a ruler or another straight object on the line.
Hold it tight, and start making cuts along the line that we made, we would need to make multiple cuts as we would not want to break the circuits inside (just in case we are unlucky and or card the electronics all the way till the end.
One easier way to check that would be to use the knife point to pry open the card from the bottom edge to do that, or if the card is not black you can use a really powerful light source to look at the insides to detect the circuit boundary.
Once we have made multiple cut marks we start by prying open the plastic case from the bottom and try and break along the lines by folding it slowly and steadily increasing the folding pressure.
Once the top part breaks we can do the same thing with the remaining half.
I guess my cuts were not that deep so the edge slightly chipped of.
Check the card by plugging in. It works. Now the tweezers come in handy to pull out the card, if u don't have long nails.
We may file the cut egde a little to remove sharp corners and edges as around half a millimetre keep out of the slot.
The card can be made real flush with the surface but in that case the tweezers are a must to pull it out.
Plug in the card and enjoy the free space to store your music, TV series, movies or whatever you want.
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Oct 28, 2020 • Filed to: SD Card Solutions • Proven solutions
If it is your first time experiencing your SD card not showing up on your Mac, you are probably panic-stricken. My advice, relax and read on.
The SD card errors can result from minor factors, such as dust, any other substance coating the contact points, or imperfect insertion into the slot. These are usually the first areas to address before you even get worried.
Macbook Pro Not Detecting Sd Card Reader
There are also other causes surrounding the issue of your SD card not showing up on Mac. How can we fix this issue? Or How to solve the device not support the SD card? Let's together find the solutions.
First. Check and Open SD Card on Mac
So, you have your SD card at hand, and you are stuck as the SD is not reading. Well, first things first, check on the following:
Step 1. Examine your SD card physically.
Check that there is no damage, i.e., scratches on the shiny contact points or greasy coatings of any kind like food substances, dust or mud.
Clean your SD card with a clean and soft dry cloth. Do it thoroughly, especially on the corners around the contact points. However, don't use water or lick the fabric with saliva. The moisture can destroy it when you insert it to the device.
Step 2. Insert the SD card to the Mac computer.
To avoid write protection, make sure the switch on the side is on.
The slot is usually thin and wide. To embed, make sure the contact points are facing down, and they should go in first.
Push in the SD card on your Mac. You will hear a sound produced if it is insecure. It holds the card so that it doesn't slip out.
Step 3. Go to disk utility to check if Mac detects it.
For that, type disk utility in the spotlight. Click on the icon on the right or go through /applications/utilities/.
If you'd like to see it on the desktop, change preferences on Finder Preferences. Under the General tab, select External disks. Do the same under the sidebar tab.
After the steps, you can now open the SD card and access the contents through the Finder app. Enter into the SD card folder. On the right pane, contents get displayed.
However, if the above processes don't work for you and your SD card is not reading, take a look at the next part.
Second. Fix SD Card Not Showing Up or Reading on Mac
Like every other advanced piece of technology, the SD card is bound to be affected by inevitable glitches in one way or another.
In reality, many technical reasons are associated with your SD card not showing up on your Mac.
Damage to the SD card reader slot.
It can be very frustrating because the damage might be too small even to notice. So how would you know? You can try inserting your SD card into another machine and see if it responds.
The operating system errors.
If your OS prevents your SD card from being recognized, reinstall it and try restarting your Mac. It should generally solve the issue for you.
Viral infection of the SD card
A virus can most likely affect your SD card if you share it with several people, especially Windows users with no virus protection. Viruses are dangerous.
An unsupported SD card format.
Your SD card should conform to SD 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x standards for it to work. To investigate this, check out your SD card's manufacturer website. There are also file systems that your macOS version might not support.
The Corruption of your SD card firmware.
If your SD card gets corrupted, how would you know? You can check if your SD card has the signs as follows.
- A black screen appears, displaying the error 'SD card is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable'.
- Most of the contents in your SD card are missing.
- An error message 'Read/Write error on SD card' appears. You can't open any folders.
- Materials on your SD card are visible, but you can't copy them.
- When you are trying to access your images or files, an error message 'memory card error' pops up.
- The SD card has been recognized, but is blank on your computer, even though you had data stored in it.
Considering the issues mentioned above, how can you repair a corrupted SD card or perform any other fix? Looking at some of the possible solutions, they include:
Method 1. Restarting your Mac
There are three ways of doing so:
Step 1. Click on the Apple icon and choosing to restart on its menu.
Step 2. Press the Power button and on the dialog box that appears, click on 'Restart'.
Step 3. Simultaneously hold on Control + Command + Eject/Power button. It is the most reliable option, as it's not dependent on the OS.
After that, try inserting your SD card once again. With this method, most people can find their SD card recognized on Mac now. If not, you need other solutions.
Method 2. Mounting your SD card in Disk utility
Even after modifying your Mac preferences, your SD card might still not be visible on the desktop. It means it's only visible from the disk utility, thus not mounted.
Step 1. You can access Disk Utility through the spotlight. Simply type it on the search box or use the shortcut command + space.
Step 2. On the left pane, select your SD card. The right side of the screen will display the details.
Step 3. On the top sections towards the right is the mount option. If mounted, there will be an option of unmounting. Click on it to mount your SD card.
Method 3. Perform a First Aid check on your SD card
The First Aid check on Disk Utility is complete when you suspect something could be wrong with your SD card or any other external disk plugged in on your Mac.
Step 1. Go to Disk Utility.
Step 2. Select your SD card from the left pane.
Step 3. On the top options, First Aid is on the far left, click on it.
Step 4. Disk Utility performs a check on the partitions to verify its contents.
If the SD is going to fail, Disk Utility will inform you, and you should perform a backup before it's too late.
Method 4. Repair your SD card
Perform a repair on your SD card if it did not mount successfully.
Step 1. Through Applications > Utilities open Disk Utilities.
Step 2. Select your SD card from the sidebar.
Step 3. On the details pane, click on the First Aid at the top and wait for the repair process until it completes.
Step 4. When complete, a drop-down sheet displays detailed information. Select the Repair Disk option on the bottom right.
In some cases, Disk Utility might fail to repair your SD card. In such a case, it will warn you of failure so you can make a backup.
Method 5. Repair Disk Permissions
As from MacOS X Yosemite and earlier, you can perform a repair of disk permissions on your start-up disk. You should do this because your internal hard disk permissions could in some ways be hindering your SD card from reading.
Step 1. Launch Disk Utility and select your Hard Disk from the sidebar.
Step 2. On the details pane, click on First Aid.
Step 3. Under the drop-down sheet, on the left bottom side, click on 'Repair Disk Permissions'.
Method 6. Format your SD card
The option to format your SD card certainly sounds scary. However, do not be dismayed. Formatting your device, even though you may not have been able to perform a backup, is not the end for you. The article later addresses a means to recover files.
Step 1. Go to the Utility Disk. After selecting your drive, click on 'Erase' at the top.
Step 2. Disk Utility will choose a format for you. You can also select your preference, depending on how you plan to use the SD card.
Step 3. You are required to name the drive. Let it be a memorable name.
Step 4. On the security options, move the slider to where it is least secure to allow you to recover any lost files. It is also the fastest way of performing the erase.
After that, click on the erase button on the bottom right. When erasing is complete, you can now make the recovery of your files.
Third. Learn What SD Card for Mac Is and How It Works?
If you are still wondering how the SD card works, then you are in the right place. The SD card is a nifty little device that can pack a tone of storage capacities of more than 1 TB.
With an SD card adapter used together with a microSD card, it gives you the flexibility to also access files it may have from any other source.
Macbook Pro Not Detecting Sd Card Memory Card
But what does SD stand for? It stands for Secure Digital, a standard that describes non-volatile memory. Mac computers come with the SD card slot, also known as Secure Digital or Secure Digital Extended Capacity (SDXC) card slot through which you can insert your SD card.
So, there are formats and standards discussed above. Also, the SD card slot has its measures such as:
- The SDXC standard that supports 4GB to 2TB in capacity.
- MMC standard.
- The UHS-II standard supports up to 2TB that's only available to iMac pro.
- The SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) standard supporting 4 to 32 GB.
- The average SD supports 4MB to 2GB.
You can use these cards with adapters that conform to the specified physical standard.
All these storage media use specified file systems for them to store data. File systems store data in a breakdown of various clusters, depending on the type of file system.
The most known file system is the FAT32 format. It is available up to 32GB in capacity. For media that exceeds this, uses the exFAT file system. Cards of smaller sizes utilize the FAT16 file system.
Last. Recover Lost Data from SD Card on Mac
In this case, formatting is one method of restoring your SD card functionality, but you probably can't view the files or have no backup and thus data gets lost. Here Recoverit comes in.
Macbook Pro Not Detecting Sd Card Holder
Recoverit Data Recovery software is an efficient software in the recovery of files from your SD card on Mac.
- With precision, it lets you select the file format types as you like.
- Preview files before you save a batch of data onto the desired location.
- When scanning for images, it offers a sneak preview of images, videos, and documents in a larger window.
- The files you recover are usually intact. Also, it can retrieve raw data.
- Recovered files come with their original names and paths.
Step 1. Find and select your SD card from the Mac drives displayed on the screen.
Step 2. Click on Start for the software to begin scanning files.
Step 3. The preview window helps you get a sneak peek of your data. You can choose your preferred files if you don't want to recover everything. Finally, press the Recover button on the bottom right of the interface.
You also have the option of doing a deep scan of the files at the bottom.
The process of troubleshooting an SD card can seem tedious, but it is enriching. Furthermore, the steps might seem much at first as this article goes out of its way to give extra details, but the information will always be useful in the longer run.
In case files are not visible on your SD card, don't panic if you have no backups. It is a common characteristic of an SD card that can't read data. Just follow the instructions, and an option to recover lost files will be available.
Lastly, if this article has been of any help to you, please don't forget to share it widely with everyone.
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