Raspberry Pi Forums

Has anyone successfully recovered a NOOBS card that says it is write protected? I have read numerous posts and solutions but still appears there is no solution other than the card is bad. It started when I used Win32DiskImger to install a new image file (Octopi). I noticed I still had the old Jessie Lite on the card. I have tried SDFormatter and it reports the disk is write protected (it is microSD so no switch) and have tried three different USB adapters (they do not have write protect switches either). Other tools like RMPrepUSB either appear to work (but don't) or give the write protect message.

I can actually edit a file on the card like issues.txt and when I reopen the file, my edits are there. But if I unmount and mount again, magically my edits are gone. I can delete files like bootcode.bin, etc and I get a warning that I am permanently deleting them and poof they are gone. But they magically re-appear when I remount. This is darnest thing I have ever seen. I can even put the card back in the Pi and it boots after deleting ALL the files on the root from Windows. Also tried a digital camera format. It reports I am using 16 of 32 MB and when I format (regular and low-level) it appears to work but when I go back to the format option I get the same message (I am STILL using 16 of 32 MB).

And did I mention that there is no write protect switch so PLEASE don't suggest I check that!!! Thanks in advance!

Repartition the card with either fdisk, or gparted, on a gnu+linux system; then, on the same system, reformat it.

... if that does not work, then throw the card in the circular file.

marcus



:seriously-- if the card is reporting write-protected then it is either defective, or is broken. Repartitioning and formating *might* fix it... but maybe fruitless. Its an SD card, don't sweat it; just toss it out and get a new one... I have dozens of them...

If you ship it to me I'll try to recover it for you... you pay the shipping, handling, and you assume the liability for failure.

marcus

Or you can try to use the stock Windows formatter. Plug the sdcard in the computer, open my computer and right click your sdcard, click format and choose fat32.

I have the same problem,my SD card could not format on windows 10 or Mac,and shows the write protected info ,however, it works fine on my raspberryPI ,and I tried many solutions to format it, one was to use a camera to format my sd card and it worked.

I realized the SD card may be alright, it is the SD card reader on my Mac mini that has some problems which would make the SD card write protected.

I think others may have the same problem, just change a SD card or SD card reader to make sure which part on earth has problem.

bickman wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:12 am

I have the same problem,my SD card could not format on windows 10 or Mac,and shows the write protected info ,however, it works fine on my raspberryPI ,and I tried many solutions to format it, one was to use a camera to format my sd card and it worked.

I realized the SD card may be alright, it is the SD card reader on my Mac mini that has some problems which would make the SD card write protected.

I think others may have the same problem, just change a SD card or SD card reader to make sure which part on earth has problem.

SD Card Readers need to be SDHC:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital#SDHC

In the UK buy from Poundland or similar stores.