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memory card locked
my digital card is stuck on lock as the small plastic knob on the side broke of is there anything i can do to unlock it manualy
rob
What kind of memory card is it, rob? Is it a SD card?
Chieh Cheng
take out the memory card look on the left hand side of it and it might say in little letters lock and theres a little thing that moves up and down and then move it up... i just had the same problem and felt really stupid hope it helps
ellie
Learned this from Wikipedia today: "The switch / notch works in same way as the notches on compact audio cassettes and videotape cassette tapes or floppy disks. A closed or covered notch is writable, while an open notch (or removed tab) is protected.
Chieh Cheng
I lost the little tab when I took apart this miniSD adapter. I guess the old tape over write-protect trick from the old 5-1/4" floppy disk still prevails . . . ;-)
Attached Image:
Chieh Cheng
I had a similar issue when I inserted my card in a new card reader that was slightly misaligned from the factory. I broke off the lock. Managed to find the little gray plastic lock piece, though, and ended up prying apart the card, putting the lock back in its groove, and then crazy glueing (VERY CAREFULLY!) the card back together. It worked - at least, so far. Like the other person said, its just like a VHS tape, the reader 'sees' the write-protect in the proper position.
Ian
plese add me on msn jack_freeman2004@hotmail.com if u can jhelp me with my micro sd its broke!
jack
THANK YOU! My Dad rang me sayign "Help my camera is saying card locked - what do I do I cant take or delete any pictures?" - I had no idea *g* thanks again
Sue Despry
Thanks !
unknown
thank you man, its works
jose
unlocked card thank you i do feel stupid
anonymous
i inserted a disk when the grey thing was up, but it still said it was locked? could you help mee arghhh :] x
kim
Kim, try moving the grey tab up and down; make sure it's not stuck. Try the memory card in the camera with the tab in both positions. If it is still locked in both position, then it's not the card; it's your camera.
Chieh Cheng
No matter how many times I move the tab, the stupid card still locks on me.
Kate
That means your device (digital camera?) is broken. The tab doesn't do anything to the card itself. The sensor that detects where the tab is located is in your device (digital camera).
Chieh Cheng
I'm having the same issue. I'm using a Sandisk 1 GB and the lock is set to unlocked but my card reader always says it's locked. The thing is, my other one, a 256 MB off brand, works just fine. My only solution is color scheme... the 1 GB one is dark blue and the lock is gray and the 256 MB one is black and the lock is white, so maybe the sensor can't tell the 1 GB one is unlocked? Is it a visual sensor... well, any help would be appreciated.
Luke
my card is slightly bulged at the bottom after i dropped it on the carpet, it will got into the camera but the cam. says MEMORY CARD ERROR-LOCKED
anonymous
I've had the same problem. The lock tab on my SD card was not broken but loose. Every time you insert it in a card reader or camera the tab slides back to the locked position rendering it useless. My solution is to super glue the lock tab to the unlocked positon. If your lock tab has broken off just put or make a replacement tab and glue or tape it to the unlocked (forward) position. BTW super glue leaves a white powdery residue after it dries. Wipe it off before it gets into your camera.
A Rafanan
I just recently purchased a small digital camera and was working fine - UNTIL it said " Card Locked" on the LCD screen. I tried for over an hour with the settings and nothing worked. I thought I was going to have to buy another card until I read your postings regarding the tabs on the memory cards. Thank you to the person who suggested the idea. You saved me a trip to the store!!
Cathy R.
Thanks a lot! It worked as you had said. I had no idea this sort of thing exists!!! Thank you once again!
Santhosh
Thanks Chieh Cheng, problem solved for a friend that had been offered this camera with this "fault"...... its the camera alas. I tried covering the "slide" with tape as someone-else suggested, but couldnt get the card into the camera. Anyway, with the remarks about horrendous battery useage found elsewhere I shall suggest he doesn't buy it. Shame, because it feels rather neat ! Jen Thank goodness for this information! The grey switch on my SD card kept slipping into the lock position when i would put it in.. but a little tape and its good as new! Thanks guys.. I almost bought a new card! jamie I have 2 digital cameras (canon A640 & canon A530) and problem with memorry card (transcedend 4GB)when I put the card in A640 it works, but when I put it in A530 it says MEMORY CARD ERROR-LOCKED... enybody kow why my mem card dont work in A530 ... i took another memcard (friends) in my A530 and it works, so the problem is not in camera ... allso I tried with little slider (Try the memory card in the camera with the tab in both positions) allso a cnat format beacuse he (camera dont give me that solutin with that card) .. I am goning carzy pls help ..hope my english is good and you undrestand me Milena Add me to your list of technology illiterate people. Today is Father's Day and I'm the camera nut in the family. I had no idea what "camera locked" meant. After finding this website, I solved my problem in 2 minutes. Thanks a million. noraehack Guys, thanks for this information. I also lost the write protect switch (it fell off or something). I just put two layers of scotch tape and it is writable again now! Thanks a lot! Ken my memory card says tath it is SD protecetd so how do i get it unprotected i have an SD impact 256mb Pauline I tried tape, switching the lock back and forth, but the LCD still reads "card locked!". If it's the camera, is there anything I can do about it? Jill THX SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! elliot THANK YOU!!! I thought I lost my family photos forever! I did the tape trick, it worked!! Thank you, I'm downloading as we speak- PEACE, LOVE and HAPPINESS TO YOU ALL! brandice THANK YOU ALL!! TAPE TRICK JUST WORKED, I just aplied a single layer of plastic tape (scotch?). :) thanks! Ramiro the switch the memory card for my camera where i can lock and un-lock it missing and when ever i yurn on to take a picture its said it locked what should i do? Amer thank you so much, i wish you were with me, was unable to take photos at a party due to this. how daft do i feel. thanks your a star. anonymous Thank you so much! Have not been able to use my camera for a few days now, running across this article has saved me lot of aggravation! J West Please help me I have 2 SD cards for my Canon A530 a 2GB and a 16MB that came with the cam . The 2GB from Kingmax came with a lock and unlock switch and it is giving me the "locked card error message" I tried putting scotch tape on in both the unlock and locked positions but i am still having problems with it.Any help will be appreciated Thanks Bing THANK YOU! YOU and SCOTCH TAPE SAVED MY DAY! Rachelle I brought a fujifilm micro sd for my fone and it had an adapter come with it first i put the msd in my adapter and put it in my sd card reader when u go to add files as u would do it will say failure to send remove write protection but u can over run that just right click on the things u want and go send to it will most likely say mmc/sd :F and click on it then two weeks later i went and put my mem card in a camera to put some photos on it but as i put it in i accidentally flicked the lock button on and when i got home i tried to get the pics off it sed write protection again and i came across this article and fixed it. rohan i really need help to remove write-protection my memory card phone.please..............i really needed it right now...............i beg ur help.........please....... mat I just had this "card locked" problem too. My card is SanDisk SD 1G Extreme III. I tried switching the lock up and down. The lock stays in whatever position. (it does not slide back to lock position as other user's card, so I don't need to tape it). But no matter I unlock or lock, the screen always says "card locked"! I called SanDisk tech support and also emailed them. They can not give me a sulution but offer me a replacement. But I have 1G photos in it!!! I can not afford to loose them. Any suggestions? Break the lock?? Thanks!! Evelyn You won't loose them, Evelyn. When the card is locked, it is protected from formatting, erasing, and file deletion. You can still read the photos from the card. You should copy the photos on the card to your computer as soon as possible. Chieh Cheng thank you chieh! Evelyn thank you so much it really worked. cj i put the memory card in and i think i pushed it into far , am i screwed ? i will owe you big whoever fixes this , Emily McGuire Well, you'll have to pull it out first with a pair of pliers. Chieh Cheng hey thank you for the information.. that really helped alot.. I didn't know what was wrong with my card for my camera. luckily i found this website... kristen Whew that's fantastic.. I was just about to go away for a holiday, and thought my camera wouldn't let me take pictures when i was in the cote d'azur! yay for camera hacker! Rosie i would like to say thanks to the person who gave the solution for using tape.it worked.i really didnt want to break open my card or buy a next one.my lock switch got broken and now i used the tape and i can use it as normal. phillip alexander i busted my sisters cam...i sat on it and its 5.400.....it sez locked what do i do phil My camera won't let me take any pictures or look at them. Everytime I turn it on it says memory card error, card locked. i've tried moving the locked switch on the side of the card up and down but that hasn't done anything. and i know it isnt my camera because i put an old memory card in it and it read that memory card just fine. I have pictures on there that i dont want to lose and i tried putting them on my computer but it says i didnt take any pictures..I know i did though because i used it to take pictures the same day it stopped working. I have so many pictures on it. please help me anonymous Thank you all sooo much! I too felt like an idiot when something I was stressing over for an hour was as easily fixed as it was... but I'm VERY relieved, lol. Mandi THANK YOU! i thought my card was doomed, when all i had to do was just move the little thing up on the memory card to unlock it... It's so simple, yet so hard... x Becky i haven't seen a solution (or i missed it) for when the card is "locked" and the problem is not with either the card's slider or the camera, as it is with mine. i saw a few people posted the question, but didn't see an answer. is there one? dan i was purchased a 512mb memory card.That card was inserted into my card reader/writer.But i couldn't copy the songs into my card.Every time i found one message "The Disk is write-protected".How remove the write-protection.so plz reply me. nithin wow! thanks! I would never have known! debbie I was semi-freaked! Had no idea (old eyes) the SD card even had a switch and the word, "lock" on it. I went deep into the camera user's guide and found no reference to this "card locked" screen. I was ready to go and buy a new 2G card and I only had 522 pics on it. I believe the built-in card reader on my computer slid the switch back as I pushed the card in at an incorrect angle (my bad). Thank you so much! Joe B. i read the comments here and tried the "taping"...i put a little scotch tape on the left side of the adapter and it worked! i felt like an idiot! ive been stressing since yesterday and its 334am now and still stressing over my camera's memory card...but im relieved now...thanks to you guys :) Fides i have the same kind of problem with the sd card being locked, only my sd card has no plastic cover, and no card protect switch to lock and unlock it. I tried using electrical tape and aluminum foil, which worked for a day or two and then didn't work. I was wondering, Is it possible to fix this problem? (see attached pictures) Brenden i have the same kind of problem with the sd card being locked, only my sd card has no plastic cover, and no card protect switch to lock and unlock it. I tried using electrical tape and aluminum foil, which worked for a day or two and then didn't work. I was wondering, Is it possible to fix this problem? (see attached picture) Brenden Haha. What happened to the plastic case on your SD Card? As you can see from the "Tape Over Notch on SD Card.jpg" photo above, the lock is purely physical. Without the case, it'd be very difficult for the card to trigger the lock sensor. You'll have to make a lock tab that is extended further out to the edge of the plastic case. To do that, you'll need to compare this naked card to a cased SD Card. Chieh Cheng well, it had started to break apart about 3 months after I got it. it had been fine up until about the second week of september, then it just broke, I managed to fix it with electrical tape, but the second I put the fixed sd card into the camera it worked but when I went to take it out, it wouldn't come out. so I took the camera apart and pushed it out, that's when the whole thing fell apart. oh, and I still have the intact case. It split along the seam where the retards who put it together glued it. is it possible to somehow trick the lock sensor without making something for the sd card? and is it possible to somehow remove or modify the lock sensor in my camera? just wondering. Brenden The sensor is either an optical sensor or a mechanical sensor. Based on the tape trick, I'd assume it's a mechanical sensor. You can probably disable (or permanently enable it) by pushing the mechanical sensor in and hold it there . . . maybe with solder? or tape? Chieh Cheng thanks it works don't know why i did not thought of that first... andy Thanks, that worked :) Have a good day. anonymous I have a sd card that is locked the little switch on the side is broke off. Is there a way I can unlock my card. Kimberly My memory card says locked. I have moved the switch on the side and tried it in lock and unlock. This did not happen until I put the card into my TV to view photos. The on/off switch moves and does not seem to be broken. Any suggestions? jan My SD card was also saying card error, card locked! message. I tried the tape, didn't work. So I looked at the connectors and there seemed to be some sort of green oxidation going on, so I wiped it with a damp cloth(water) and dryed it before re-inserting. It worked! Had that not worked I was going to blow on it like the old Nintendo cassettes. Good luck. Raul My camera gave this error as well with switch in both positions. I did a low-level format on my computer, and all is well again. Then I reformatted in the camera before going back to shooting, a good habit to have. Jeff L i was reading these comments and thought to try the tape trick except i cudnt find any. so i took a little piece of paper, folded it enough and slid it into the lock as my switch was broke and lost. and voila! it works abhishek My memory card has been locked all afternoon driving me crazy i could not use it in the camera or upload my photos... aaaarrrrggggh! anyway after reading this and not finding a solution i moved the little grey switch up and down with brut force (not to break it) but to make it work... and now it does so it pays not to be too gentle... eve Heyyy . Well Myne is a little different then all your's but , when i put my memoryy card in the bottons don't work, i can't see my pictures , and even worse can't take anymore ! :( Kenziee. Kenziee, the problem you described is specific to your digital camera model, not general to memory cards. Please start a new thread in the forum related to your digital camera brand. Then describe the problem fully with camera model information. Chieh Cheng The slider on my SD card popped off I tried putting tape over the place where the slide was but it doesn't help. Am i doing it wrong? can someone please put in a picture of a Sandisk SD card with the tape on it Nick The fifth post in this thread has that exact photo. You can't see it? Chieh Cheng I can but it doesn't look like mine and when i tape it over nothing changes Nick The problem could be on the camera side. Did you try a different SD Card? Chieh Cheng No but it doesn't work in my card reader for my computer or my camera Nick would you give up a detailed description on how does it not work? Chieh Cheng The white slider thing on the side came off and then when i went to put a file on it it said error ROM please insert another disk. an the tape when put on doesn't change anything Nick Your card is bad. The locking tab has nothing to do with it. The locking tab only locks the card from being written to and erased. You can still read the card without the tab. If you can't even read it, then the card is bad, or your readers are bad. Since you posted to this thread, I was assuming you had a memory locked problem. Chieh Cheng im so glad i found this site. i really didnt want to go buy Michelle HEY! I HAVE A LEXAR MICRO SD MEMORY CARD AND I TRIED MOVIN THE LIL SWITCH ON THE SIDE TO LOCK AND UNLOCKED AND IT STILL SAYS DAT ITS WRITE-PROTECTED WHEN I DO IT EITHER WAY. A LIL HELP WOULD BE NICE! Nikiona Hi, I have Cannon PowerShot SD500 camera and my SD card card Ultra II 1G keeps saying its locked. I have checked the tab on the side and i am sure that its not locked. I have tried the tape trick and the blowing air into the camera and this still does not work. I can still view my pictures but I cannot take anymore. I really don't want to buy another card since I just got this one. Any ideas on how to fix my problem will be appreciated. I received the error when inserted the card to my computer to download the pictures (something i have done multiple times) so i don't know why this time it did not work. HELP!!! mwikali I have had my camera for years; I don't buy new ones because they come up with new ones every ten minutes. So I know my camera, or at least I THOUGHT I knew it; when I was taking a bunch of pictures and I was all excited to download them, I must have taken out the card and put it back a few times.. that I didn't realize what I had done; until; AAAH, the card is locked? What does that mean? I can't delete the pictures? That's the beauty of digital cameras that we can DELETE the pictures! So I had a panic attack and was on the verge of going out and buying a new card; hoping it will fix it, which it would have.. because apparently it's all a matter of switching that little tab on the card itself.. who would have known? Maybe if I read all the manuals that come with; but who has time? So anyway, thank God for Web 2.0; because I knew I'd find a solution here and sure enough I did. Thank God for super smart tech folks too.. Thanks y'all! Ray my lock tab on my card is broke, i tried the tape thing and making a new tab, when i put in the computer i can read it, i just can delete any files or add any am i doing something wrong please help me ieshia well i have a Canon Power shot sd950 IS and it was working fine, my friends memeroy card was bigger then mine so i put hers in and was using hers, then when i was done using hers i put my memory card back in (canon MMC-32MH)(whatever that is) and when i turned on my camera it says "Memory Card Error" "card locked". my memory doesnt have a lock switch on it im 100% sure. and idk what els can be wrong with it. and i need it fixed casue i need my camera in five days for a concert! HELP vannessa My memory card also says it is locked when the little slider is in the unlocked position. Another memory card that I have works perfectly fine in the same camera. The bad memory card also does not work in another camera. I think it is a problem with the memory card, not the camera... Christie T Ellie: YOU Are a lifesaver tHANK yOU! Emma Thank you so much! I was so upset I couldn't get my memory card to work, but I found the gray notch, took the card apart and put it back together and it is finally working again! thank you!!! thankful FIXED MY "CARD LOCKED" problem, where the camera said that the card was locked when the switch for the SD card was set to unlocked. This "card locked" message was displayed for more than one card for me, so I knew it had to do with the camera itself. This rendered my camera useless since I could not take any pictures, no matter what SD card I used. SOLUTION: The problem with my camera was that the sensor spring somehow got pushed in further than it was supposed to and a piece of the sensor was stuck in one of the groves in the SD card slot. To fix this, I took a small paper clip, unbent one of the sides and bent the tip of it to make a mini hook, and carefully prodded what I thought was the sensor. The sensor mechanism had a bit of bounce to it (which confirmed my guess that it was the part that was pushed in when the sd card is set to locked), so I proceeded to "hook" the furthest part of the sensor and gently pulled it out until it "sprung" out of the little grove that it was stuck under. After that I put in my SD card in and it worked like new!! Not sure if this will work in every situation, but it was worth a try for me since I effectively could not use my camera to take pictures. Hope it works for you! Tommy perfect just like a good old tape, who would've known! thanks!!!!!! downforce222 it did it ti my camera card today. i panicked. i didn't even know you could do that... LOL. jordan leigh I have been using the same SanDisk 2G sd card for years. I recently bought a SanDisk 4g and when I inserted it into my camera it says Memory card error card locked! The tab is in the unlocked position and does not slide easily back and forth between locked and unlocked positions. The only difference I can see is the tab on the 4g is gray (not white). I can't access the formatting position in my camera (Cannon SD360) kim There is another difference between the 4GB and the 2GB . . . The 4GB is SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity). These newer cards are not compatible with older SD Card device. It's likely that your digital camera does not support the new SDHC standard. And it is not a memory card locked problem. Chieh Cheng Hi All, As someone said before, noone has provided a solution for the card locked problem (when the problem IS IN the card and the card is surely unlocked. I have 2MB of pics on my card and Im getting crazy). The card isnt read by the camera or the computer. What can I do? Thanx for any help, Paco tommy, thanks. i was freaking out that my brand new $700 pentax might have gotten broken. the mechanical sensor in the camera was jammed. cranberry mars i put the tape around my card in an attempt to fix the "card locked" thing and now i cant get the card out of the camera. somehow it locked up in there or jammed or some shit, but would anyone know how to get it out or another way to fix the locked card with a broken switch without putting tape on it? bubba Thanks, didnt even know there was a slide on the sd card. freeman Thank you soooo much for writing about how to use the paper clip to pull the sensor tab back out - it worked for me! I was going crazy because the camera wasn't mine and I needed to take pictures! Becca Oliver thanks soooooooooo much!!!!! da tape thing worked for my card and now i dont have to purchase another one!!!!!!!! u guys are awesome!!!!!!! tina ok im getting pissed i was readin some of these and mine is doin the same i tried it in both up and down thing and its still locked but its my card from my old camera so it told me to format so i did and now its locked and it cant be the camera its brand new so i dont know what to do helpppppp!!! PLZZZ Brittney same problem ^^ help please can you tell me where to tape the memory card please???? scratch wonderful..advice on card lock systems.. anonymous Hey everyone! Thought I would add this suggestion to the mix. My boyfriend just busted off the itty bitty little white lock mechanism (shown in red on pic of the exact card I have). I took a twist tie (with wire inside, the kind that came with my garbage sacks haha) cut off a very small piece, folded it in half with tweezers and popped that bad boy in the groove. Slid it to lock and unlock a couple times and we're back in business! Say 'heck no!' to buying a new 1 GB memory card! I'm from Orange County, Calif (the REAL Orange County.. the Huntington Beach surf shack with the wall mount A/C that never worked-Orange County) I'm cheap! Stoney and creative! Thanks everyone for the great suggestions that led me to my Magiver solution! OC_Surfer_Chick i downloaded my photos on the computer then when i detached it to delete the photos the camera says "Card locked!", how do i unlock it? it also wont let me take pictures either grace I had an error Chris I have a Polaroid SD. And when I turn my camera on it saiys its locked!! I looked up to see what to do and i moved the little switch on the left hand side up like it said and its still reads locked!! I have over 300 pictures on that card and would really like them back! If anyone can help me, please let me know!!! Thank you, tiffany I have a similar problem with my cards saying locked. But i have a feeling it might be the camera because it happened to both my cards after insertion. The cards dont have locks on them either. Rebecca Rebecca, please be more specific. What kind of cards are they? SD? miniSD? microSD? A photo will also help. Chieh Cheng I had a similar problem with all the cards I tried. They were all unlocked, and after reading a post that said someone wiped the sensors on the card with a damp cloth, let them dry, and put a card back in - it worked! I liked that idea, but was too lazy to get a damp cloth, so I licked - yes, licked the sensors on the card, let them dry, put one back in - and it worked! Best of luck. Lisa Okay, my problem (with a micro SD card) was that the micro SD -> SD adapter's lock was loose, so when I slid the adapter into my SD card reader, the lock would engage. The piece of scotch tape everyone's talking about is used to keep the lock in the "off" position. Also for a note on wiping sensors with water and stuff? I wouldn't really recommend doing that with anything but distilled water. I believe residue from tap water or something else could damage the card somehow. At least, I know that's the case when you drop a camera into the ocean. You have to first rinse it thoroughly with distilled water before drying it in a bowl of rice, otherwise the water leaves and the salt remains, and that can damage the circuitry. Though of course, with the SD card, all you would be wetting would be the gold connectors, not the insides of the card themselves... Good luck. Ben Regarding contact cleaning, I always used a "hard" pencil eraser back in the days where I was replacing memory sticks in computers (in the days of 30 pin SIMMs, anyone still remember them?). They would get a film of crud on the plating, and you'd end up with dodgy connections. The eraser takes off the crud and corrosion, and gets you a good connection again. I guess licking them would have worked, but if you'd seen the state of some of the machines I had to deal with, you'd have been asking for hazmat gear rather than sticking your tongue near the insides :) A pencil eraser is slightly abrasive, but it's unlikely to kill your connectors unless you do it every day for years. Simon I just bought a patriot SDHC memory card and its locked. I used the card in my camera and i can still take pics with it and view them on the camera but when i put it into another camera it comes up saying "memory card error, card locked!" it was in the unlocked slot so i tried moving it to the locked spot then back to the unlocked spot. I still get the same thing. I put the card in the card reader to transfer the pictures to my computer and it comes up as "error on card" How can i save these pictures that mean so much to me???? Thanks for any help anyone can give me carla carla, it's probably not locked. It's likely that your second digital camera and your memory card reader are not compatible with the new SDHC standard. Put it back into your original digital camera that works with the card. It's likely you'll see you photos again. You'll need to buy a new memory card reader for this card. I'll add some SDHC memory card readers to the "Related Links" below. Chieh Cheng I lost the small plastic/metal that makes the current attach to lock or unlock the SD CARD. Do you know which pins do I have to sold to leave it unlocked? I'm enclosing picture of my SD CARD. Thanks. Peppe.: luiz peppe Read this thread, you'll see that it's a mechanical switch on the reader side. There is nothing to solder. Chieh Cheng Hii; I Once Broke My Camera And Had It Repaired And Updated Laureenn dude your awsome it worked.... my little notch of my sd card broke of and i couldnt get it to unlock but low and behold i put a little piece of tape over it and tada it sudenly works it's like magic hahaha well thanks your the best awsome Great info, saved me hours! I have a comment to add, which goes along with Luke's. I have an SD card where the write-protect tab is bright yellow. After reading Luke's comments, I took out my trusty Sharpee and colored it black. And, voila! the read-only problem vanished! Thanks Luke, and hope this simple trick works for others. Al O. Al O. Thanks Tommy your comment from April 08 did the trick! Buddy Just got the same problem .... read the first few comments .. seems all helpful .. r3 Pannicked as I had 2 locked memory cards with loads of holiday photos I couldn't do anything with until I read about the 'little tabs' on the side which I had never really noticed before. All sorted now Many Thanks Heather Thank you for your info - have been going nuts wondering what I did this time! Found the little knob, and hey presto, am in action again! Macca OMG, Thank you I've been like helpless over my camera saying, "Card is locked" Guess I should have read the directions with the memory card. lol. Thank you so much!!! Emmy this works, thanks for writing this up joe HAHA THIS WEBSITE JUST BLADY SAVED MY LIFE I THOUGH I BROKE MY CAMERA :-( THEN I LEARN ITS THE STUPID NOTCH ON THE SIDE OF THE CARD! HOW RIDICULOUS AND STUPID AM I .. anonymous ---my memory card was locked,,, i cant take pictures anymore,, and some of the pictures in the memory card was unidentified,, what supposedly im going to do?--- dygee Suddenly my camera LCD displays Card Loscked. I have tried the Tab and tape option....But LCD still says "Card Locked". Other SD cards are woking fine. I tried reading this card with my lap top also but no luck. Our families whole vacation pics are on it!! Can anyone suggest anything I can try to retreive pics? Asif Jaffar You should be able to read the card even if it is locked. The lock switch only prevents you from write, deleting, and formatting the card. If you can't read the card, then it's likely it is corrupted or damaged. Chieh Cheng OMG YOU SAVED MY LIFE! thank you sooooo much anonymous i feel so stupid all it was was a little slide ! ive been plugging it in and out of my computer for hours haha thanks alot Lola OK!!!!! The scotch tape over the slot worked for me.. My sd card notch was broken and I tried the tape thing worked like a charm. The write protect was off thanks alot everyone. lavon watson Thank you for the information. I had no idea. It must have happened when I took the memory card out of my computer. Karen Karen Hi I am really in desperate need of help. I was in Machu Piccu taking photo's on my Canon G7 with my 4GB Sandisk SDHC card and have been using the same card for a long time and all has been fine when "Memory Card Error" Card Locked! appears. I cannot even read the SD card on my computer that has a SDHC slot so cannot run any recovery software etc. Can anyone help? Please???? Chris I had the same problem- the lock slider on the SD adapter came off and it kept showing the micro memory card as locked- I tried using Scoth tape over the slider area and it still read locked- then I tried putting on 2 layers of tape and it worked- still working fine btway- Note *Don't put too much tape on or the card will stick in the camera and be hard to get out- Great help though and thanks to the people who suggested it. bobdut My sd card is locked and we have tried everything. It is a Kodak 1 GB card. We tried to lock and unlock the card as well as using the tape. Do you have any other suggestions? I am stuck. Leo whoever suggested the tape idea is my hero.=] missxmoose wow that was easy! thank you. yup it was just slid over to the lock position laurie What should i do if my camera says that the memory card is locked. but i have tried switching the little switch on the card both ways and it still says it is locked and it says it for other memory cards too. What do i do? Kassie HELP! I am desperate..we have over 500 pictures of family vacation that are trapped on my sd card and now it is locked and I cannot access them. Error message is card locked..card error in other cameras..we have tried the tape and coloring the tab, using the twistie tie someone else recommended on this site..nothing works! Is there anything that can be done, even if I take it to a camera shop..I will do anything!!! Jenn The lock switch only prevents you from being able to delete photos, write to the card, and format the card. You should still be able to see the photos on the card. If you can't, either the memory card slot on your camera is damaged or your memory card is corrupted. First thing to do is to buy a memory card reader for your computer to see if you can read the card. Chieh Cheng i have the same issue! thanks to this forum, i solved the card locked... oh also i didnt feel stupid, because i really dont know about this kind of things, so i quickly search google and typed, card lock digital camera! arsetothem I did have a card reader and tried that as well as trying to read the card from 2 other cameras and I still get the same error message so I am assuming it is corrupt since nothing decribed on this site works for this card. If it is corrupt is there anything that can be done to retreive them? Thanks! Jenn Not really, Jenn. It's time to chuck that card, get another one, and move on. In the future, you might consider downloading the photos from the cards more often and have a backup process. Take a look at the "Photo Storage Solution" article on this site. Chieh Cheng YOU hElPED ME ALLOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! annie 2 things that might cause problems that I have seen no one mention here. Both are related to using a built-in card reader on your computer. One is an issue similar to the one Tommy mentioned with his camera. If you are too aggressive with pushing the card in, a switch may get stuck in the reader. Try gently taking the card in and out a few times to see if the switch unsticks. Secondly, you should NOT use the "safely remove hardware" option when taking a card out of a built-in reader. This will lock the card on any other device. If you have done this, plugging the card back into the computer you did it on will allow you to read the card. areader Thanks for the advice about taping the switch into the "unlocked" position. I knew there wasn't anything wrong with the card because it was working fine in my card reader. The problem I was having was with the camera. I taped the switch into the "unlocked" position and--yippie it worked! Horray! JWhite Hi, Paul lol! my sd card works! serves me right for buying cheap **** rob I took my sd memory card to a photo lab and they push it in to the reader to hard and cracked the blue case. The lock switch has been broken off also. When I put it in my computer it says card reader error. Is there anything that can be done? It has xmas pics. I am desperate. carol thanks for the tip, really appreciate it and like you i felt stupid too! marty MY SD MEMORY CARD IS LOCKED mohamed mahir mohamed zujah My memory card says locked when the notch is not even on the lock...what do i do?? Ariel Perry okay. so i got a camera from my sister last night. and my memory card keeps saying card locked. i switched the thingy so many times in different positions. can it be the camera? beckii I have locked my memory card with a password but now don't remember the password NIDHI I read your blog for quite a long time and should tell you that your posts are always valuable to readers. Ex Back i moved the little thing in my sd card..but i had taken pics. im wonderin if they erased because it says no file exist..i need help!! jessica Thanks so much! i put a piece of tape onmy memory card and it fixed the problem!!!! Cecilia Thank you so much! Amina T_T TTTTTTHHHHHHHAAAAANNNNKKKK YYYYYOOOOOUUUUUUU SSSSSOOOOOO MMMMUUUCHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ren Hey, I'm getting the 'memory card error: card locked' error with two Kingston 8GB HC SD cards. They just decided to quit working while I was trying to read them through a USB card reader. The camera has no functionality at all to read them, nor the tabs to unlock them. A USB reader will detect the presence of the reader itself but merely claims that the device is empty. I have looked everywhere to try and get a way to make these cards readable, somehow. jnwrx1 HELP !!!!! My camera works perfectly well with a lower capacity memory, and moving the slider on that card locks / unlocks as prescribed... but when i put an 8 Gb one in the same camera , it reads "Locked" in both positions.... any ideas, anyone ? Nick Field I unlocked my memory card I feel REALLY stupid!!!!!!!!!! I'm glad I looked on this website because I Have a field trip tomorrow Rose Nick, check to see if your digital camera supports 8 GB cards. 8 GB are SDHC Cards. They are different than regular 2 GB and under SD Cards. Chieh Cheng Thanks, saved me from buying a new card! Jen @Chieh Cheng-- hahahah thanks so much for noting the fact that the little knob at the side locks it..i feel so stupid too!! hah, thanks. aaron So yeah, my SD cards switch broke off, and i cant find the little switch.. Is there a manual way to change it back onto unlock.? Mike My camera recognizes my SD card as a Locked card. The lock is up in the UNlock position. I have tried the tape over the notch trick and still get nothing. It does not work in my SD card reader either. I am at a loss. Not only did i lose 105 pics i can not get back, but i can't even open the card with either my camera or my computer to re-format it to use at another time. If anyone has any info that might help, please advise. don whitmire THANK YOU Sun-E/Sukhraj Thank you all so much! I was about to buy a new micro-SD card when I found this forum. The simple tape trick worked! First I thought I only had to put tape on the part were the switch was supposed to be when unlocked, but putting tape over the entire thing worked! Thanks a lot! Love, Eline Eline Kerpels hi many thx mohit i jus wanted to thank this site because the switch on my SD memory card broke off and no matter what i tried the camera kept saying locked. I even used a pin to slide the switch without the knob being there and it wouldnt work. Well i read this forum and stuck a little piece of tape over the opening where the switch used to be and BOOM it unlocked!!! im super excited because i have a party tonight and i need my camera! i didnt wanna spend the 30bucks or whatever it is on a new memory card so thanks again!! melissa hi. I havet lost my lock button :D in memory :) put i used tape :D Now ist unlock :P Kriss2 THANK YOU SO MUCH!! My card said locked and i had NO idea what to do then, just before i was about to give up there was the little switch on the side !! Tashiana Thanks to all who pointed out that SNEAKY little tab on the SD cards! I've been battling my camera, computer and everything else for three days wondering how this disk had become locked when I hadn't done anything except download my pix! I did have a glitch when doing this (thank you Mr Gates and your wonderful Windows!), and thought this had done something.... So, with apologies to Mr G, it was my fault! Phew, David R. David Reed Thank you all so much. I had the same problem today when I wanted to take photo. It seems so easy when you know how. Thanks again! Zoe thanx so very much ! this helped so muchh cause ithouqht ihad too buy ah new memory card but when irealized ijus had too slide they qrey thinq iwas so happy. michaen williamson Thanks for posting this. It works!!! Took me 2 seconds to fix it!! Annie I HAVE THE SOLUTION FOR ALL OF YOUR BROKEN SD CARD PROBLEMS!!!!! Go buy a camera that takes FILM. You'll never have a problem with that b.s. again. J-Shif hi can anyone help me i have just brought a new san disk 8gb but even though i pushed up the tab so its not locked its still saying that it is helen That was sooooo helpful, something so simple. lol Just had to slide the little tab on my memory card. Thx Heather I came to this site because my camera, a Canon PSA540 said the memory card was locked after I uploaded pics to my computer from it. After reading all the threads, trying the lock slide, the tape trick etc I was ready to give up but put it in my computer one more time to see if it still contained the pics. There was no data read drive.....weird........then I looked at the SD adapter in the case and realized.......YEP....realized I was trying to load the adapter into the camera and not the SD card. The SD card was sitting in the adapter case. For a NOVICE such as I it was a true revelation of stupidity. Just thought I would pass it on in case someone else was having the same problem. But thanks to all of you that taught me about the slider lock and the tape. I now feel one step ahead of the game because of your posts......just in case it really does happen to me again. de Thank you ever so much. We had almost reached the point of Frustration.Then we decided to go to our friend...Our Computer Search..We typed in "locked card"..and there it was..We flipped up the "yellow" on our Memory Card...and it "unlocked our card"..So good to know that you are always there..Thanks again for sharing with us..Happy Day.. Bill Runkle we had borrowed a camera from our talkative cousin and the card locked and we didnt know whta to say to her and thank you for your beautiful site..thank you thank you thank you....mwaah! anele oh God!!thanks guys for the INFO,i thought i made something wrong...and i was already on they way to buy new card,u SAVED ME!THANX:))) KAtharina I feel like such an idiot. My card broke and the tab came off. I spent 10 minutes with tweezers putting it back in the unlocked position while telling myself that it is impossible for the switch to do anything since it isn't connect to anything inside the card. I don't know why I didn't think about the reader/camera detecting the position of the slide. Bill
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Title: microSD card and adapter write protection problem Title: how to remove lock code from memory card? Title: broke my SD Card Title: Is SD Card Different From a SDHC Card? Title: Getting Data Out of ATP miniSD Card for Nokia 6126 Related Links
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