Removable memory cards of various formats, along with conventional flash drives, are firmly entrenched in the life of modern users of mobile technology and computer devices due to their compactness and large amounts of memory. But sometimes you can see the appearance of rather unpleasant situations when you need to copy some files to a card connected to a computer (inserted in a card reader or located directly on a mobile device), and the system suddenly reports that there is a write protection. How to remove protection from the SD card in the simplest ways accessible to any user will be discussed later. It’s worth mentioning right away that the SD standard is taken solely as an example, and the actions described below can be applied to any removable media of other types and ordinary flash drives.
The main types of problems when working with memory cards
To start, let us dwell on the most common problems that can be encountered when connecting cards to computer systems. These may include the following:
- mechanical blocking;
- problems with access at the level of user rights;
- incorrect formatting;
- incorrect installation of the file system or its spontaneous change;
- encryption protection;
- mechanical and other damage to media.
The disk is write-protected: how to remove protection from an SD card in the simplest way?
The first and easiest solution to the problem is to make sure that no mechanical protection is installed on the card itself.
A special switch can be located on the device’s body, which blocks recording. You just need to move it by setting the disabled mode. With this, everything is clear. The situation is the same with microSD devices. However, everything can be aggravated by the fact that the protection is disabled on the card, and when you insert the media into the card reader, it is still impossible to perform any actions. How to remove protection from a micro-SD card in this case? And there should not be any special problems. Since microcards are first inserted into a special adapter, and only then into the computer’s card reader, therefore, you should check to see if the protection is installed on the adapter adapter.
Troubleshoot by changing access level
Based on the feedback from users who have encountered this problem, sometimes you can take some programmatic actions. So, for example, after connecting the card to the computer (provided that it is recognized by the operating system), you can remove the write protection from the SD card by opening the shared device.
After connecting the card in the "Explorer" for the media, you need to use the PCM menu, select the properties item, go to the access tab, click the advanced settings button and check the box for the sharing item. After that, it remains just to save the changes and try to perform the necessary steps to copy the files again.
Fast media formatting
If the problem is not resolved by any of the above methods, you can apply a more cardinal solution, which consists in formatting the drive. Initially, it is assumed that the information on the map you do not need.
In the "Explorer", simply call the formatting tools through the PCM menu on the media itself, select the checkbox on the quick format item, start the process, and after a few seconds the card should be defined in the system as a new device, with which you can perform all the necessary operations.
File system change
However, even in the case of quick cleaning, access to the card can still remain blocked. How to remove protection from the SD card in this case? To begin, try to reformat, but set NTFS as the file system (this is especially true when the card has a capacity of more than 4 GB). If this does not work, try full formatting by choosing your preferred file structure.
Windows tools may not be able to return the card to work, so sometimes it makes sense to use utilities like HDD Low Level Format Tool, which produce low-level formatting, as well as restore the functionality of such devices and open access to them.
Disable encryption
Now briefly about how to remove protection from the SD memory card if the drive is locked in the form of BitLocker encryption. In the "Explorer" through RMB just use its disconnect. Please note that if a user password was used during encryption, it will need to be entered at one of the stages of unlocking. You can also use the file with the key itself (if the key was archived) and specify its location for the BitLocker utility.
We recommend that you do this through the command line using the manage-bde management tool. The process is quite complicated, but I think it will not come to that. In extreme cases, you can view the rules for using the command in the help system by typing "manage-bde /?" (without quotes).
How to remove protection from an SD card on a mobile device?
Finally, many users and specialists call the formatting of the card directly on the mobile device one of the ways to remove security barriers. To do this, simply select the drive and activate the start of the process in the memory section. It is possible that this method will reanimate the card.
Note: if nothing helps at all, use the ChipGenius application, determine the PID and VID of the built-in card controller, then use them to find and install the appropriate (preferably the latest) firmware for the drive.