[9671111]

INTRO

This info may help you if the following is true:
- up until now you’ve had no issues when using your sd card
- all of a sudden you can no longer write to the card, perhaps along with an error message being reported that indicates the sd card is mounted read-only

This is another one of those situations where it is not necessary to take extreme measures such as doing a complete reformat, or outright replacing the card…as suggested in the many threads on this subject.

Here are the facts. Your sd card’s file allocation table (FAT) has some kind of error. It’s an android-thing that crops up once in a while. Because of this FAT error, the card automatically gets mounted read-only, and no matter how many times you go into settings and try to unmount/remount the card, it is to no avail.

SOLUTION

Fix the FAT
- connect device to your PC (USB connection) and make sure it’s set so that you can copy files to/from your computer (on my device in the notification panel there’s an option to do this under “USB connected”)
- on your pc, open windows explorer (or click on start->computer), then right click on the mapped drive to your sd card – you may have to wait a minute or two for the mapping to take effect
- select Properties
- select Tools
- select Check now… (for error checking) to automatically fix file system errors (no need to deal with bad sectors at this time)
- when completed (takes a minute or so), the FAT will be in working order once again. No files are deleted during the process, so no need to worry about that.
- safely disconnect the device from your pc, at which point the sd card will now be mounted read-write and you’re good to go

[motazabualeme]

Hello sir ,
I tried to fix the problem following all steps but it didn't work cause it couldn't open support center ..don't know the problem is in my pc or in my device .
please reply

[Odymikey]

Omg thank you sooooo much i rlly appreciate this i had this prob for a while u fixed it thanks you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- - - Updated - - -

what? your doing somthing wrong, what support center? you don't have to open any support center?

[gordonmacwilliam]

My SD card is on a camera. I tried your technique, in addition to reformatting the card via computer, file sharing with "everyone", and none of these techniques work. I click off the grayed out protection and it comes back. File sharing with "everyone" appears to stick but does not. Interestingly enough, even though the card is a grayed out "read-only", I can still manipulate the disk directories and files on the computer. The sharing info shows the computer name.

[Rukbat]

If you have the FAT problem more than once, it could be an indication that the card is going bad. (The FAT is one of the most written-to areas on the card.) At that point, make sure that you have every single file that you may ever want backed up onto your computer. Then when the FAT finally goes bad (and if it's a good manufacturer, they may even replace the card for free), you won't lose your data.

Remember, even though SD cards have a huge number of write cycles, it IS a finite number, and every SD card will eventually go bad. You can replace the card, but you can never replace the picture of your granddaughter's first step. Data you don't have backed up to at least 2 independent places is data that you really don't need.

[rajeshhck]

Thanks a ton...I was scratching my head of because of this problem. I have rooted my android phone n had recovered apps through Titanium backup. But recently I couldnt download watsapp files to my phone and neither could install any apps on my phone. I was getting the error Could not install on sdcard or usb. That problem is solved now by following the sdcard permission problem. All my probs are solved for the moment.

[eric telles]

INTRO

This info may help you if the following is true:
- up until now you�ve had no issues when using your sd card
- all of a sudden you can no longer write to the card, perhaps along with an error message being reported that indicates the sd card is mounted read-only

This is another one of those situations where it is not necessary to take extreme measures such as doing a complete reformat, or outright replacing the card�as suggested in the many threads on this subject.

Here are the facts. Your sd card�s file allocation table (FAT) has some kind of error. It�s an android-thing that crops up once in a while. Because of this FAT error, the card automatically gets mounted read-only, and no matter how many times you go into settings and try to unmount/remount the card, it is to no avail.

SOLUTION

Fix the FAT
- connect device to your PC (USB connection) and make sure it�s set so that you can copy files to/from your computer (on my device in the notification panel there�s an option to do this under �USB connected�)
- on your pc, open windows explorer (or click on start->computer), then right click on the mapped drive to your sd card � you may have to wait a minute or two for the mapping to take effect
- select Properties
- select Tools
- select Check now� (for error checking) to automatically fix file system errors (no need to deal with bad sectors at this time)
- when completed (takes a minute or so), the FAT will be in working order once again. No files are deleted during the process, so no need to worry about that.
- safely disconnect the device from your pc, at which point the sd card will now be mounted read-write and you�re good to go

butnot sure where to startHi i was hoping you could help with the sd card read error you spoke about on here and might know how to fix it but using Windows 8 would like to follow the steps. but not sure where to start. Thanks

[Michael McIntosh]

work perfectly thanks for that info.....even though i wasn't the one that ask

[Vsweety]

Hello sir ,
I tried to fix the problem following all steps but it didn't work cause it couldn't open support center ..don't know the problem is in my pc or in my device .
please reply

What Android version are you running?

[Raja Booboo]

you said
then right click on the mapped drive to your sd card – you may have to wait a minute or two for the mapping to take effect

but my prob is i cant specify my device letter. so i cant able to start mapping, my device letter was not in the drive choosing box
what can i do, help me

[smoez]

Thanks,
I had camera saying Not enough space left on device ...
So I searched in forums for a solution ====> I was drived into Unlocking root access ....
Today i made a search .... landed on this solution ... it was great.

Thanks a lot.

[Rukbat]

unfortunately
this is above technique not working
how to repair this
any other trick what can I do plz help bro....

Try putting the card into a card reader and plugging that into the computer. It should come up as a drive letter. Follow the instructions from there.

If the card doesn't come up (but other cards in the same card reader do), or the card shows an error and doesn't come up, the card itself may be bad. (There's a whole computer in that little card.) In that case, contact the card manufacturer. (In cases like that, it pays to buy SanDisk cards - they're very easy to deal with when a card goes bad [which is rare].)

[aredub]

Thanks! This worked for me (Samsung Galaxy S4 with 64GB Sandisk SD card). The error check said it found errors that it couldn't fix, but I can save apps to the SD card again. It looks like some of the photos on the SD card are now corrupted, but fortunately I had made backups.

[ymf]

Thanks! The solution worked for me.

[Joseph Ross]

Not So Easily! I bought a new SD Card and re-installed all my music files. It, of course, still said "read only" and created a problem with apps that want to access it like camera. So I tried your suggestion on my win 8 computer. The phone showed up as a CD Rom so no fix option. I put the SD card in a usb holder and that showed up as Drive E: I then ran chkdsk and fixed it. NO BENEFIT. I then put the sd card back and Reformatted it and reinstalled my music files. NO BENEFIT. Still Read Only on the phone. I then downloaded "SDFormatter" and let that format the disk and again installed my music files. "NO BENEFIT still read only and creating errors.

Any other ideas? It is NOT Likely the new card and I have formatted it enough. It seems it has got to be the phone. However without the sd card the phone works flawlessly! BTW, when the SD Card is installed the phone reports in the notification box "686%" as processing state of the mounted SD Card! That and the Read Only are the notable errors.

Joe

[Kyle Carrington]

Nice idea, but there's a problem. when you press "Check" to error check - you get the same error "The disk is write protected". haha

[Joseph Ross]

Maybe it is the os? Look at this screen capture?

[Hao Fang]

That didn't work for me, I believe my problem is beyond weird

I can access my phone's sd card from PC, can read the file. I can also format my SD card from PC and inside phone both, but the thing is , although PC and Phone both successfully formatted but actually didn't have any effect. After the formatting, I refresh, then, all those previous folder and file appear agian. It's really making my head ache...

I don't think it's my PC's problem, cuz I can use my phone's memory as normal, only the external SD card has this weird thing.

Now I'm really confused and don't know where to look for a solution. Maybe I should just change other one SD card. gosh.

[Almeuit]

INTRO

This info may help you if the following is true:
- up until now you�ve had no issues when using your sd card
- all of a sudden you can no longer write to the card, perhaps along with an error message being reported that indicates the sd card is mounted read-only

This is another one of those situations where it is not necessary to take extreme measures such as doing a complete reformat, or outright replacing the card�as suggested in the many threads on this subject.

Here are the facts. Your sd card�s file allocation table (FAT) has some kind of error. It�s an android-thing that crops up once in a while. Because of this FAT error, the card automatically gets mounted read-only, and no matter how many times you go into settings and try to unmount/remount the card, it is to no avail.

SOLUTION

Fix the FAT
- connect device to your PC (USB connection) and make sure it�s set so that you can copy files to/from your computer (on my device in the notification panel there�s an option to do this under �USB connected�)
- on your pc, open windows explorer (or click on start->computer), then right click on the mapped drive to your sd card � you may have to wait a minute or two for the mapping to take effect
- select Properties
- select Tools
- select Check now� (for error checking) to automatically fix file system errors (no need to deal with bad sectors at this time)
- when completed (takes a minute or so), the FAT will be in working order once again. No files are deleted during the process, so no need to worry about that.
- safely disconnect the device from your pc, at which point the sd card will now be mounted read-write and you�re good to go

Thanks for the helpful write-up! .

[aspen4521]

THANK YOU so much for sharing the tip and my problem is solved.

[Lorenz HB]

Hello,
sadly your post didn't work as once i select the drive in windows explorer, i can do "properties", but "tools" is not available.
now, i can see the files in my download folder from my PC and from my phone. even access them (they are downloaded movies: .mp4 and .flv). in the past (with KK and lollipop) i could download, delete, move, etc... my files via my phone or via my computer. now it seems that i can download the file, but i cannot delete it (neither via phone or via desktop).
on phone it says: "check to make sure it's not mounted as read only", but once i check it via PC, it's not checked as read-only. if i try to delete via PC, it just says it couldn't and to either skip file or stop. something i never had before.
i checked with ConnectBot to see that i am indeed rooted. "quickboot" doesn't work, although that may be because of lollipop, as i hadn't tested it before i had the read-only issue.

in other words, i can download files, but i cannot delete them. eventually i will run out of storage.
i can also not find the "tools" option, as it's just not available.

any other suggestions?
thanks a bunch
- Lorenz

- Nexus 5
- Lollipop 5.0
- Franco kernel r68
- Rooted and unlocked

[Nuthan Kumar]

Thank u 4 ur info sir....

[Praveen K Gowda]

It is same with me also, did you get any solution to this?

[Reza Jalili]

My micro SD card is on exfat format and write protected. I use a Samsung 64GB and there are some files that I can neither delete or save something on it. Please help me to fix that.

[Rukbat]

If it's a SanDisk card, go to SanDisk microSD Tech Support and open a live chat (box at the upper right). They'll replace defective cards.

Samsung probably will too, but getting to them isn't as easy as getting to SanDisk.

Other manufacturers? Since they're using Samsung or SanDisk chips in their cards (there are no others), who knows?