Many mobile phone users, who use memory cards, with their phones often encounter a common problem. The card refuses to permit them to modify, copy or delete any content being write-protected. The solution to this problem may differ as the memory card family includes different variants viz SD,MMC, SDHC, XD etc. While is some cases, it may turn out to be complicated or in others you would be required to reformat the memory card. Irrespective of the memory card type, you will be able to remove the write-protection from your mobile phone. Moreover, if need arises to reformat the card, you can do it without any hesitation as your lost data can be retrieved by using a memory card recovery software.
Many-a-times, you must have come across the following errors while trying to transfer data on to a SD card:
“Cannot copy files and folders, drive is write protected”
“Cannot format the drive, drive is write protected”
“The disk is write protected”
“Media is write protected”
Though, all the above error messages may frustrate you, it is quite easier to eliminate them completely by observing certain steps. You can follow the below-mentioned steps, in order to remove write-
- Unlock the memory card: ‘Lock’ switch is slid up i.e. in the unlock position. You won’t be able to modify or delete the contents of the memory card if it is in a locked position.
- Open Start>>Run, type regedit and press Enter, this will open the registry editor
Navigate to the following path: - If the above steps, do not help you remove the write-protection, reformat the memory card in your phone
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
Double-click the key WriteProtect in the right pane and set the value to 0 in the Value Data Box and press OK
Exit registry and restart your computer and now try to transfer data onto the memory card
Formatting will reset the permissions but will erase the data stored on to the memory card. You need not worry about the data loss as it can be compensated from an updated backup. However, if you haven’t maintained one, you can opt for a memory card recovery utility.
Such third-party utilities are designed to recover lost data from a formatted memory card by applying effective scanning algorithms. But, make sure you select a read-only memory card recovery utility which doesn’t alter the original content.
Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery is a reliable tool which recovers lost, deleted or formatted pictures and other multimedia files from all types of memory cards including SD, SDHC, XD, CF etc. The memory card recovery software is available for both Windows and Mac users.