How To Unlock SD Card: Recover Data & Remove Write Protection

I. About SD card write protection

The purpose of SD card write protection is to safeguard the data’s integrity. Not only does it prevent unauthorized access or alterations to the SD card’s content, but it also helps prevent the storage of virus-infected files. There are multiple methods for enabling write protection on an SD card, such as using the card’s write protection switch or configuring it as read-only on a computer. If you are unsure how to disable SD card write protection, the following section provides guidance.

II. How to remove the write protection of the SD card?

1. Turn off the write protection switch of SD card or card reader

SD cards and card readers often come equipped with a write-protect switch. If you encounter difficulties trying to copy, modify, or store new data on your SD card, you can attempt to disable the write-protect switch on either the card or the reader itself.

If the write protection switch is turned off, but the SD card is still in the write protection state, you can try the following methods.

2. Use the diskpart command to clear the read-only attribute of the SD card

Step 1: Connect the SD card to the computer through a card reader, enter (cmd) in the search box, right-click (command prompt), and select (run as administrator).

Step 2: Please follow the given instructions and enter the following commands one by one, pressing the (Enter) key after each line of input:

diskpart

list disk (will list all disks in the computer)

select disk 1 (1 indicates the disk number of the SD card)

attributes disk clear readonly (Clear the read-only attribute of the disk)

exit (quit)

3. Remove write protection in the registry

There are write-protected settings in the registry, which can prevent all external devices from writing any data. Here are the steps to remove write protection in the registry:

Step 1: Press (Windows key + R) at the same time, enter (regedit) and click (OK).

Step 2: Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies

Step 3: Double-click on “WriteProtect” and change its value from 1 to 0 to remove the write protection. After that, please restart the computer.

If you’ve exhausted all other methods and still can’t remove the write-protection from your SD card, it’s possible that the card has reached the end of its lifespan or has been infected with a virus. Certain viruses, like CARDK Trojan and WannaCry, are known to lock entire SD cards. In the case of a virus, it’s recommended to use anti-virus software on your computer to scan and remove the virus before you format SD card. If you do end up formatting the card and realize important data is missing, there are ways to recover it.

III. After formatting, how to restore the data in the SD card?

When we format the SD card for some reasons, we can use some data recovery software to recover important data. The following will introduce a very practical data recovery software – Renee Undeleter , which supports multiple scanning modes and supports Windows and MacOS.

1. What is Renee Undeleter?

Renee Undeletere is a software specially used to restore system data files. When you accidentally delete important files, empty the recycle bin, or format the disk/storage, you can use this tool to retrieve the lost data. The software covers four functional modules, including file recovery, format recovery, partition recovery and image creation, which can help you solve all data loss problems in an all-round way.

2. How to use Renee Undeleter to recover SD card data?

Step 1: Connect the SD card to the computer through a card reader. Download, install, and run Renee Undeleter. Select the (Whole Partition Scan) option on the main interface.

Step 2: Next select the SD card partition and click (Next).

Step 3: Please wait for the scan to complete, as the duration of the scan will vary depending on the size of the SD card memory. While the scan is in progress, you can preview the files by double-clicking on them. If you have located the file you wish to recover, simply select it and click on the (Recover) button. This will terminate the scan and initiate the file recovery process. Alternatively, you can wait for the scan to finish, review the scan results for the files you want to recover, and then click on the (Recover) button.

If you still cannot recover the data through the above steps, the lost data may be overwritten or the SD card is damaged. Please check this article SD card repair method.