Apr 10, 2023 • Filed to: SD Card Solutions • Proven solutions
In today's world, the SD card certainly carries weight. We give so much importance to that mini chip-like device. Once you realize that your SD card is on write protection, you may feel a little annoyed as you become unable to do any modifications to the files inside your SD card. Putting it differently, you will no longer be able to use your SD card normally like usually, you do. When you try to carry out any functioning, you fail to go ahead. Therefore, removing write protection from the SD card becomes a topic of great concern. And if you can relate to this situation, we are here to your rescue. You need to do away with the write protection on the SD card to make it useful. This is what we have collated in this article. Let us scroll down and discover some ways on how to format a write-protected SD card.
From the above introduction and not being able to use the SD card properly because of write protection, you must be having a slight idea now that a write protection SD card rejects any operation and doesn't let you use it.
On the other hand, you should know that there is a little need to write protection as well. If your SD card is write-protected, your files will be protected and anyone will not be able to do any erroneous operation. Also, having such protection will avoid any virus attack on your SD card. And what can be a better thing than not being able to get attacked by a virus? That is why an SD card at times, needs to write protection.
We have learned why to write protection on the SD card is important and what the need for it is. However, as you know this too that having such protection will not let you enjoy the SD card operations like transferring, adding, or deleting files. Therefore, in this section, we will make you enlightened on how to remove write protection from SD cards in 5 different ways. Therefore, without any further ado, let us begin with the tips one by one.
The first tip to remove write protection from a memory card is to do some trick with the physical switch of the SD card. Nearly every SD card contains a lock switch – a slider on the left side. This switch is working as a locking technique. Check your SD card and see if the switch is at the bottom position. If yes, that means the card is locked and write-protected. This will restrain you from making any modifications to the SD card. What you need to do is simply take out the SD card from the device/system and pull the slider to the other side i.e. at the top. This will hopefully remove write protection from the memory card and you will get what you wanted.
There is a provision in Windows PC with the help of which, you can remove the write protection on the SD card. This is possible that this particular setting is turned on unknowingly. So, to solve the problem with this, you need to check it. Here is how:
Step by Step Tutorial to Check SD Card's Properties and Space:
Step 1: Simply double click on "This PC" to open it.
Step 2: Go to your SD card and right-click on it. Select "Properties" from the options.
Step 3:Check the space of the SD card and ensure it is not full. Write protection errors usually occur due to a lack of free space.
Here is the next tip to help you. In this method, we are going to modify the registry information. See how to remove write protection on the SD card with the help of this method.
Step by Step Tutorial to Modify Registry Information
Step 1: Firstly, launch the run box with the help of Windows and R key pressed simultaneously. Or, click the Start button and input Run in the search box.
Step 2: Now, key in "Regedit" and hit on the "OK" button. The Registry Editor window will open now.
Step 3: When the window gets launched, you simply to follow the path given below:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/StorageDevicePolicies
In case you were not able to locate StorageDevicePolicies, you can create this folder. To do this, give a right-click on "Control" and hit on "New". Followed by this, choose "Key" and give it the name as StorageDevicePolicies. Right-click on this folder now and choose "New". After this, go to "DWORD Value". Now, name it "WriteProtect".
Step 4: If you have found the StorageDevicePolicies, you will be directly navigated to the "Write protection" option. Double click on the "Write Protect".
Step 5: Once done, make the value as "0" followed by hitting on "OK".
Congratulations! You have now removed the write protection on your SD card. You are free to do the operations on your memory card now.
If you tried the above method to disable write protection on SD card but to no avail, you can try this one out. With the help of Diskpart utility, you can put some commands to fulfill the task. Diskpart utility is an inbuilt utility program in Windows that offers disk management options. Here is how to remove write protection from the SD card using this method.
Step by Step Tutorial to use Disk Part Utility for Write Protection Removal
Step 1: As the first step, you need to open a command prompt. And for this, you need to click the Start button and enter "cmd". Now, type "diskpart" to begin the utility.
Step 2: Now, type "list disk" and press Enter key. It will display all the available disks in the system.
Step 3: Look for your USB flash drive and type "select disk #" (where # is the SD card with write protection enabled). Press the Enter key right after that.
Step 4: After this is done, you are required to type "attributes disk clear readonly" followed by pressing the Enter key.
Step 5: When you can notice "Disk attributes cleared successfully", type "exit" and press the Enter key afterward.
This way, you have removed write protection from the memory card and you can now easily make modifications in it.
The last method that will help you remove write protection on your SD card is diskmgmt.msc utility. This process is completely helpful whether you have an SD card or USB. These are the steps that you need to follow for serving the purpose.
Step by Step Tutorial to use diskmgmt.msc utility
Step 1: To initiate the process, press the Windows key and the R key together to open the run box. When it is opened, input "diskmgmt.msc" and press the Enter key.
Step 2: Now, you have to get to the context menu of the partition that needs to be formatted.
Step 3: Once done, go ahead with clicking on the "Delete Volume" and making confirmation of your actions.
Step 4: From the context menu, make sure to click on the "New Volume" option. Opt for primary partition and leave the default parameters.
Also learn about How to unlock an SD card or memory card.
What if you wish to have your data returned from a write-protected SD card? You just need a professional tool. Don't know which one to use? Take the help of Recoverit Data Recovery – a tool from Wondershare that allows recovering data from any storage media in no minutes. The tool gives you a privilege to preview your data before recovery. It shows great compatibility with Windows and Mac operating systems. Let us get to know more about this tool by putting light on the features. Later, we will learn the process of recovering data with Recoverit.
Key Features of Recoverit Data Recovery
How to Recover Data from Write Protected SD Card Using Recoverit Data Recovery
Step 1: To start the process, make sure to visit the browser firstly. Go to the website of Recoverit and get it downloaded from there. Choose the Windows version to download. Now, wait for the downloading to get completed and then install the tool over your PC.
Step 2: When installation gets over successfully, get your external device which is SD card, and use a good quality card reader to connect it to the PC. Now, see if the SD card is recognized by the system. Then launch the tool to begin.
Step 3: On the main interface of Recoverit, you need to click the device as the target location. Do this and simply hit on the "Start" button.
Step 4: As soon as you click the button in the above step, the SD card will start to scan by the software. Wait for some time as it will scan the whole card. During the process is on, make sure to search for your files to be recover. You can pause the process and stop it if you find it.
Step 5: After some time, the results will be shown. You can simply go for the file you need and preview it before recovering. When you are satisfied, click on the "Recover" button. When the file is recovered, make sure that you save it in another location.
If you are a video lover and loves to keep videos on your SD card, this bonus is just for you. A video is likely to get corrupted when the SD card is not handled properly. And therefore, Wondershare brings you the functionality of repairing corrupted videos. With just one click, you will be able to add your video to the program's interface and can leave the rest on the program. It will do the task and in no minutes, your video will be repaired.
The write protection errors on the SD card are no less than a pain. It is disheartening when you try to add some important files to the SD card but your efforts go in vain. When you need the SD card to work with, you need to remove write protection from it. And this is what we have provided you in this post. No denying that this is needed in some scenario as well, but when the time comes to use the SD card, formatting write protected card becomes the need of the hour. In the end, we have also added a bonus for you. If at any time you struggle with lost data from SD card, you can simply opt for Recoverit Data Recovery. We hope that you liked our efforts. If yes, drop us a comment to let your views reach us. Thank you for reading!
Eleanor Reed
staff Editor