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Retina MBP SD Card Reader **help**

J

J.L.Photography

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 23, 2012
283
0
South Florida
So i bought a SCANDISK micro sd with the adapter....

i couldnt get my retina macbook to read it so i immediately checked the card on my wife's macbook air and it worked just fine....

tried again several times on my retina and nothing...



do i need to bring it to a "genius" at apple or is there something i dont know about......

thanks
 
Try opening Disk Utility (it's in the /Applications/Utilities folder), then click on your SD card in the left pane. Then in the right pane, click on the "Erase" tab. In the "Format" dropdown menu, choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and click the "Erase..." button.

This will format your card in HFS+ format (what OS X normally uses natively) instead of what your card used by default (possibly FAT). Since this will obviously delete everything on the card, make sure you back up what's on it prior to doing that.

Perhaps this will fix your issue.
 
SCANDISK sounds like a cheap ripoff of Sandisk.

Oh, wait a minute. In any case try different cards if you can. I wouldn't bring it in for repair because 1 card didn't work. Try different kinds and not the off-market ones if you can avoid it.
 
pgiguere1 said:
Try opening Disk Utility (it's in the /Applications/Utilities folder), then click on your SD card in the left pane. Then in the right pane, click on the "Erase" tab. In the "Format" dropdown menu, choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and click the "Erase..." button.

This will format your card in HFS+ format (what OS X normally uses natively) instead of what your card used by default (possibly FAT). Since this will obviously delete everything on the card, make sure you back up what's on it prior to doing that.

Perhaps this will fix your issue.
Click to expand...

Format SD card to HFS? :confused: :eek:

J.L.Photography said:
What alerted me is the MacBook Air picked it up just fine....

It doesn't show up under disk utility
Click to expand...

Can you try a regular SD card? If that doesn't work then you may have a bad SD reader.
 
Are you sure the adapter is inserted far enough into the reader slot? The Air has a wider slot, some adapters are thick enough that they work in the AIR but get hung up in the rMBP. You may have to use a bit of force, so I hear.
 
I have the same problem in my (classic) macbook pro. The card doesn't work in my machine, but works fine in everything else.
I picked up a 10 dollar external reader, works fine.
 
tengtengvn said:
Format SD card to HFS? :confused: :eek:



Can you try a regular SD card? If that doesn't work then you may have a bad SD reader.
Click to expand...

must be bad, ill find out at apple on sunday... thing works fine on one MB but not the rMB

----------
ColdCase said:
Are you sure the adapter is inserted far enough into the reader slot? The Air has a wider slot, some adapters are thick enough that they work in the AIR but get hung up in the rMBP. You may have to use a bit of force, so I hear.
Click to expand...

the adapter fits fine... not sure wtf is going on... my $2000 is junk all of a sudden...

----------
ColdCase said:
Are you sure the adapter is inserted far enough into the reader slot? The Air has a wider slot, some adapters are thick enough that they work in the AIR but get hung up in the rMBP. You may have to use a bit of force, so I hear.
Click to expand...

the adapter fits fine... not sure wtf is going on... my $2000 is junk all of a sudden...
 
Can you post a picture? Are you using a custom adapter? My Nifty adapter didnt went in completely and had to sand it a little bit so that it would completely slide in.
 
Last edited:
fskywalker said:
Can you post a picture? Are you using a custom adapter? My Nifty adapter didnt went in completely and had to sand it a little bit so that it would completely slide in.
Click to expand...

not the case at all, works fine on my other macbook air... just isnt reading or mounting at all on the retina... going to apple tomorrow...


for now, i ended up doing a folder sharing via network between the 2 macs with username access... worked just fine, but a little annoying for a $2000 computer..... if you know what i mean...
 
why format SD if this card worked fine on MBA?? Something wrong with rMBP?
OP, try push bit hard SD into slot it should work. Mine just work fine with rMBP. :apple:
 
J.L.Photography said:
not the case at all, works fine on my other macbook air... just isnt reading or mounting at all on the retina... going to apple tomorrow...


for now, i ended up doing a folder sharing via network between the 2 macs with username access... worked just fine, but a little annoying for a $2000 computer..... if you know what i mean...
Click to expand...


Trying using some compressed air if you have a can around. Typically when SD cards do not function on MBP's it's because dust or lint can prevent the metal contacts from properly connecting to the SDcard.

Issues will happen on any device you purchase, whether it's $1 or $1 million dollars. It's not convenient but price of a products does not make it immune to problems.
 
J.L.Photography said:
I tried pressing firm. Nothing.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem until I sanded off a bit off the adapter thickness. It looked fully inserted but wasn't, it was hanging up on some plastic. In addition to being thiner than the Air, the rMBP slot is deeper, so the adapter needs to be pushed in a bit further.

I'm sure the apple store will have test SD cards and sort it out for you.
 
ColdCase said:
I had the same problem until I sanded off a bit off the adapter thickness. It looked fully inserted but wasn't, it was hanging up on some plastic. In addition to being thiner than the Air, the rMBP slot is deeper, so the adapter needs to be pushed in a bit further.

I'm sure the apple store will have test SD cards and sort it out for you.
Click to expand...

I guess sanding is not that uncommon to fit SD cards on rMBP's since I'm not the ot one with the same fitting issue.
 
+1 with compress air. Use it to blow the dust away from the card reader. I even used some hand rub alcohol and rub the SD card.
 
went to apple today, they tried several things before finally trying their own sd card.... popped right up... what i didnt understand is that my microsd + adapter works just fine in the mbAIR, yet wont pop up on my rMBP.....


ideas on what to do? try a different brand? different sandisk micro with adapter??? just keep doing it via file sharing on wifi??

this is the one i have that wont mount... but my reader is fine...
32gb sandisk micro sd
 
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I've read the rMBP as well as some airs can be picky about adapters. Perhaps try another brand. The plastic connector separators may be too thick or misaligned just enough to make the rMBP unhappy. I've also read that some cards just won't work in the rMBP but works just fine elsewhere.

I have the 64GB version of that sandisk micro card in a minidrive adapter that works just fine in my rMBP 15.

Did the store try your card+adapter in other rMBPs?
 
ColdCase said:
I've read the rMBP as well as some airs can be picky about adapters. Perhaps try another brand. The plastic connector separators may be too thick or misaligned just enough to make the rMBP unhappy. I've also read that some cards just won't work in the rMBP but works just fine elsewhere.

I have the 64GB version of that sandisk micro card in a minidrive adapter that works just fine in my rMBP 15.

Did the store try your card+adapter in other rMBPs?
Click to expand...

No but perhaps I should have.....

So now I don't know what to do.... Grab a pny 32gb from best buy incase the adapter in general won't mount and if it doesn't just take it back?
 
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