Help! SD Card Permissions Problems!

[asherman13]

hey everybody, i'm sorry if this has already been posted, but i couldn't find anything related to it in searches of forums, so i'm posting it now.

i'm running an ibook and mac os x 10.4.2. i have three SD cards both for my palm and my canon digital camera. for some reason, while using my generic SD card reader, i am now no longer able to write onto (or delete from) the disks; i can only read. when i "get info" for the disks, clicking on 'ownership & permissions" tells me that i can only read, and doesn't give me any options to change this. when i opened disk utility, i found that i also cannot erase the disks or repair/verify their permissions. what is going on and what can i do to fix it?

i'm the only person on my computer, so obviously i'm the admin. i'm the only person who's been using the cards, and i would really like to be able to edit them (meaning fix this problem) without having to delve into terminal or the root user, as i'm not very good with mac os x on the technical software side. i'd appreciate it if someone could get back to me on this before the weekend's over, as i'm hoping to be able to use them on tuesday.

thanks so much!

 

[varmit]

hey everybody, i'm sorry if this has already been posted, but i couldn't find anything related to it in searches of forums, so i'm posting it now.

i'm running an ibook and mac os x 10.4.2. i have three SD cards both for my palm and my canon digital camera. for some reason, while using my generic SD card reader, i am now no longer able to write onto (or delete from) the disks; i can only read. when i "get info" for the disks, clicking on 'ownership & permissions" tells me that i can only read, and doesn't give me any options to change this. when i opened disk utility, i found that i also cannot erase the disks or repair/verify their permissions. what is going on and what can i do to fix it?

i'm the only person on my computer, so obviously i'm the admin. i'm the only person who's been using the cards, and i would really like to be able to edit them (meaning fix this problem) without having to delve into terminal or the root user, as i'm not very good with mac os x on the technical software side. i'd appreciate it if someone could get back to me on this before the weekend's over, as i'm hoping to be able to use them on tuesday.

thanks so much!

When looking at the permissions, did you expand the list so it shows all the permissions, and did you click on the lock to unlock the ability to change the permissions.

 

[asherman13]

When looking at the permissions, did you expand the list so it shows all the permissions, and did you click on the lock to unlock the ability to change the permissions.

yes, i did that, and here's what it looks like (see attached)

what to do?

 

[asherman13]

i mean, i guess i'm willing to delve into terminal...but i'd need the exact word-age....

 

[yenko]

yes, i did that, and here's what it looks like (see attached)

what to do?

Put the card back into the camera and change the settings. You'll have to read the manual because each mfg. has different ways of locking the card.

 

[yenko]

i mean, i guess i'm willing to delve into terminal...but i'd need the exact word-age....

Maaannnn.........are you sure???

 

[asherman13]

Maaannnn.........are you sure???

yea, i guess....i've done a few things before; didnt' hurt anything....i just don't know what specifically to do in terminal in this case.....still not sure about root user though...got an idea on how to fix the problem?

 

[asherman13]

Put the card back into the camera and change the settings. You'll have to read the manual because each mfg. has different ways of locking the card.

just tried that. failed....

EDIT i just opened disk utility; it said there aren't any owners enabled...can i change that to suit my needs?

 

[yenko]

just tried that. failed....

EDIT i just opened disk utility; it said there aren't any owners enabled...can i change that to suit my needs?

Look at the card. See if there's a small tab or lever on it that says "lock". Flip that sucker the other direction. See what happens.

 

[asherman13]

Look at the card. See if there's a small tab or lever on it that says "lock". Flip that sucker the other direction. See what happens.

done. sadly, that wasn't it. i flipped it, and nothing changed....i proceeded to flip it again and still, no change.

any more ideas?

 

[yenko]

done. sadly, that wasn't it. i flipped it, and nothing changed....i proceeded to flip it again and still, no change.

any more ideas?

I tried it on mine and it worked. Checked the "Get Info" and when locked shows it as read only; when unlocked shows it as read and write.
Maybe a "permissions" issue with your machine. Repair permissions, restart, unlock that SD card and reinsert it and see what happens.

I have no more ideas!

 

[asherman13]

I tried it on mine and it worked. Checked the "Get Info" and when locked shows it as read only; when unlocked shows it as read and write.
Maybe a "permissions" issue with your machine. Repair permissions, restart, unlock that SD card and reinsert it and see what happens.

I have no more ideas!

done, done and done. nothing.

does anybody else have ANY ideas, including root user and/or terminal stuff?

 

[yenko]

done, done and done. nothing.

does anybody else have ANY ideas, including root user and/or terminal stuff?

I feel like I hit a wall here with this.


Are you sure you're flipping the little lever on the side of the SD card?

What brand is it?
Are all of your connections from the reader to the computer fully seated?

Have you tried it with another SD card?
Have you tried it directly from the camera?

 

[groktheha]

hey everybody, i'm sorry if this has already been posted, but i couldn't find anything related to it in searches of forums, so i'm posting it now.

i'm running an ibook and mac os x 10.4.2. i have three SD cards both for my palm and my canon digital camera. for some reason, while using my generic SD card reader, i am now no longer able to write onto (or delete from) the disks; i can only read. when i "get info" for the disks, clicking on 'ownership & permissions" tells me that i can only read, and doesn't give me any options to change this. when i opened disk utility, i found that i also cannot erase the disks or repair/verify their permissions. what is going on and what can i do to fix it?

i'm the only person on my computer, so obviously i'm the admin. i'm the only person who's been using the cards, and i would really like to be able to edit them (meaning fix this problem) without having to delve into terminal or the root user, as i'm not very good with mac os x on the technical software side. i'd appreciate it if someone could get back to me on this before the weekend's over, as i'm hoping to be able to use them on tuesday.

thanks so much!

i'm having the exact same problem, described right down to the screenshot. i'm using a toshiba sd-m256, and it's deemed as read only by os x. i can write to it on a camera, and on a pc. not on my mac, however. the lock switch is off.

i using a program for windows that formats disks in mac format, but it ran in to errors (go fig) so i gave it up. i also formatted it as fat 16, fat 32, and again on my digi cam with no luck at all. can anybody help? at all? the problem here lies in convincing the OS that it is not read only, but i can't sit down and have a chat with tiger. would this be possible in terminal?

 

[asherman13]

I feel like I hit a wall here with this.


Are you sure you're flipping the little lever on the side of the SD card?

What brand is it?
Are all of your connections from the reader to the computer fully seated?

Have you tried it with another SD card?
Have you tried it directly from the camera?

all of them are sandisk sd cards, 16mb, 64mb, and 1gb. i've tried it with all of them, and yes, the little lever is not flipped to the 'lock' side. ive even tried it with the lever 'locked'. it works with the camera, but i can't delete pictures via iphoto when i import; it says i'm not authorized to do so. i can only delete pics on the camera. i've tried all three cards this way, and
although i'm not sure if the connections are "fully seated", i'm pretty sure. my printer and everything runs through the same usb 1.1 hub, and this is the first time i've had any problems.

today i'm gonna plug it in to a 10.2.8 imac and see what happens; if i can alter the permissions in the 'get info' window, since that was the computer i last used the card reader in before this problem started. also, a friend of mine is gonna try and help me with terminal, so if anything works, or doesn't work, i'll let everybody know.

anybody else have any ideas? could it be the card reader?

 

[asherman13]

i'm having the exact same problem, described right down to the screenshot. i'm using a toshiba sd-m256, and it's deemed as read only by os x. i can write to it on a camera, and on a pc. not on my mac, however. the lock switch is off.

i using a program for windows that formats disks in mac format, but it ran in to errors (go fig) so i gave it up. i also formatted it as fat 16, fat 32, and again on my digi cam with no luck at all. can anybody help? at all? the problem here lies in convincing the OS that it is not read only, but i can't sit down and have a chat with tiger. would this be possible in terminal?

i'll let you know how terminal goes; what's the pc program? have you tried talking to a mac genius? the ones in my store haven't been available the past few days...

 

[emw]

I may have missed this in the other posts, but have you re-formatted the card using the camera? It's odd that the modified date is from 1979, which seems to reflect a problem of some sort.

You might also try putting the card in the camera, and then connecting via USB to your Mac. Canon includes software that you may be able to do something with as well.

 

[groktheha]

i'll let you know how terminal goes; what's the pc program? have you tried talking to a mac genius? the ones in my store haven't been available the past few days...

the program that i tried using was transmac 7.2 from cnet's download.com

i know it's a demo version but i believe the error arose from the same nature as the the write only issue in os x.

i'm currently in Japan and i'd end up talking to a Japanese mac genius, a profound one nonetheless, but the problem there lies in finding an apple store. keep me updated. i'm out of ideas. hell, i was out of ideas last week.

 

[asherman13]

I may have missed this in the other posts, but have you re-formatted the card using the camera? It's odd that the modified date is from 1979, which seems to reflect a problem of some sort.

You might also try putting the card in the camera, and then connecting via USB to your Mac. Canon includes software that you may be able to do something with as well.

it does???

 

[emw]

it does???

Mine did.

 

[asherman13]

Mine did.

where?

 

[Mechcozmo]

where?

On the CD. Or in the Camera. In "Review" mode, under the menu, there should be a Format Card button.

That's how my Cannon is set up, at least.

You can also try my absolute favorite method...






An electromagnet!

 

[asherman13]

On the CD. Or in the Camera. In "Review" mode, under the menu, there should be a Format Card button.

That's how my Cannon is set up, at least.

You can also try my absolute favorite method...






An electromagnet!

tried that, also tried reformating in my palm; none of the cards will allow me to write, only read

wouldn't an electromagnet just reduce it to a small piece of plastic and metal?

------------------------

DOES ANYBODY ELSE HAVE ANY IDEAS??? terminal and root user accepted!

 

[asherman13]

ok, i tried going into root user and changing it, but it still said i could only read. when i went into disk utility as the root user, i discovered that the card (1gb) didn't have an owner after i formated it using my camera...

is there any way to make me the owner?

 

[Mechcozmo]

wouldn't an electromagnet just reduce it to a small piece of plastic and metal?

I don't think so...
Do you have a PC to access play with?