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T3i is locking the SD card (and only the camera can write on it)

Started Apr 29, 2019 | Discussions
guipalazzo New Member • Posts: 2
T3i is locking the SD card (and only the camera can write on it)

Hi folks,

This bug is really messing with me. I have a 32 GB SD Card that showed up on my PC as locked.

The sliding physical lock isn't on lock position and the camera can write just fine, it also can format the card and erase individual pictures.

But when I insert it on PC, it is write protected and I can't manually format the card. I'm trying to reinstall Magic Lantern but can't even copy the firmware files.

I thought it could be because my card is getting old, but the same thing happened with my 8 GB SD card. It was working fine and transfering files between computers, and when I inserted it in the camera it asked me to format it. After I did format the card, it became locked.

Is there something that could explain why the camera is locking my cards and how to stop it from doing so?

Canon EOS 600D (EOS Rebel T3i / EOS Kiss X5)
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Ray UK Contributing Member • Posts: 977
Re: T3i is locking the SD card (and only the camera can write on it)
1

Sounds unlikely.

More likely that your PC is unable to read the card in the way that the camera has formatted the card. I would suggest you investigate your PC setup before blaming the camera.

OP guipalazzo New Member • Posts: 2
Re: T3i is locking the SD card (and only the camera can write on it)

You are 100% correct, I finally discovered that my PC have a card reader with a pin that needs to get in the "locked region" of the SD card. If the pin goes in, the reader can write. Normally the readers have this pin trying to get in the "unlocked region" and if the pin can insert, it prevent the reader to write, so any scotch tape can prevent the pin to getting in. I have it the other way around, so this pin NEEDS to get in and something is preventing this. Thanks!

Ray UK Contributing Member • Posts: 977
Re: T3i is locking the SD card (and only the camera can write on it)

That sounds like a very inconvenient card socket. I think I would be inclined to buy an external card reader that will plug into the PCs USB socket, would make life easier.

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