# SD card read on camera, not on (several) PCs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702 "2014-03-27T18:16:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/1 "2014-03-27T18:16:48Z")
OK, so this probably just means that there’s something wrong with the card, but nevertheless, the symptoms are somehow odd: If I try to put the card in the computer’s (Win 8.1 system, tried on two different computers, same symptoms) slot, it is registered, but, for some reason, not mounted—i.e. a device called ‘generic SD something’ is installed, but no drive is added to the computer, and none can be found. Using another SD card works perfectly. Good, so I thought the card is simply broken; however, once I put it into the camera, I can view the pictures on it just fine. So then I thought, great, I’ll just link the camera to the computer via USB and copy the pictures that way—but again, I get the same symptoms: the device corresponding to the camera is detected, but no new drive is added. Trying a different SD card in the camera again yields the expected behaviour of some dialogue asking what to do with the mass storage media opening, and a drive being added to my computer, which I can then browse at my leisure. Again, the same thing happens on two different computers. So, what’s the issue here? Why can I see the pictures on the camera, but not copy them from there? Is it just that the card is broken and, well, sometimes this leads to odd behaviour? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/2 "2014-03-27T19:03:11Z")
Something similar happened to me, and it was because the card was compatible with the camera, but not with the pc. Double-check the logo. Perhaps the pc only takes “SD” cards, but not “SDHC” (High Capacity) or something like that. That card will fit physically, but the format isn’t readable. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/3 "2014-03-27T19:30:00Z")
You might try Control Panel -\> Administrative Tools -\> Computer Management, then Storage -\> Disk Management. See if the SD card is shown there. It may be there but not have a drive letter assigned, or it may be inactive. (Actually I’m extrapolating from what I know about hard drives, I don’t know if those are actual possible states for an SD card. But that’s what I’d check first.) ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/4 "2014-03-27T21:52:04Z")
IS the lock tab in the locked position or open position? Have you tried a card reader in the USB slot? ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/5 "2014-03-27T23:19:58Z")
I recently had the very same problem. I fixed it by rubbing the gold teeth on the card with a pencil and wiping off with a dry cloth. It worked fine after that. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/6 "2014-03-28T09:49:33Z")
Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately, none of the suggestions worked, but we eventually found a third computer that read the card effortlessly, so the thread is now obsolete. I’m still somewhat puzzled as to what caused the original problem, but I guess I’ll have to live with that. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/7 "2014-03-28T09:57:06Z")
I suspect that Keev above had the answer. Not the same problem, I know, but many people have reported problems using 64gig cards in cameras that work perfectly with 32 gig cards of the same type. It seems that in the memory card business, there are small differences that confuse some computers. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/8 "2014-03-28T10:18:14Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I suspect that Keev above had the answer. Not the same problem, I know, but many people have reported problems using 64gig cards in cameras that work perfectly with 32 gig cards of the same type. It seems that in the memory card business, there are small differences that confuse some computers. No, it was a 32-gig (micro)SDHC card, and others of that type have worked perfectly well on my computer. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/9 "2014-03-28T13:37:22Z")
I had this problem once, on Linux. Had to try two different USB card readers (after the built in reader didn’t work) and the second one worked. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/10 "2014-03-28T17:47:16Z")
Check if the card has more than one partition. Some suppliers stick an extra partition on a memory card (“bonus” software, maybe it was originally intended to be used on Android, malware, etc.). MS-Windows by default only allows one partition on a card for reasons no one can fathom. The camera software might be smart enough to handle it, but MS-Windows won’t. You can use a tool like [Partition Wizard](http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html) to see how it’s partitioned, remove, create partitions, etc. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-read-on-camera-not-on-several-pcs/684702/11 "2014-03-28T18:51:33Z")
Something like this happened on my dad’ PC. The problem was that in the lower right, in the System Tray, the “Eject Media” option that he used to remove the SD Card ejected the _entire card reader drive_, not the actual SD card. A reboot fixed it, though I imagine that’s already been attempted in your case.