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My SD card got fried and now I want to return it since it wasn't too long ago I bought it. On the card is my Raspberry PI system. I'm a little bit uncomfortable with giving the store the SD card with all the data on it. But I can not erase my data because the card is in "read only mode".

Is there a way to wipe all the data on it without destroying it?

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    The answer depends very much on the state the card is in now. So what exactly do you mean by "got fried", and what by "is in Read Only"?
    – Tilman Schmidt
    Feb 12, 2022 at 20:17
  • It's to second time that after some intense CPU and Storage load to the SD Card it has become read only. Last time that happened I couldn't resolve this and bought a new one.
    – nojiyi4811
    Feb 12, 2022 at 20:30
  • Why not return it, they will not spend the money trying to recover any data on it, its toast.
    – Moab
    Feb 12, 2022 at 21:56

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If you want to fully erase the SD card and remove both visible and hidden data, you need to format it without using the Quick Format feature.

If you can't format the card because it is read-only, then there is nothing else that you can do.

SD cards usually become read-only when they amass too many errors, so your card is anyway in a very bad shape.

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  • Yeah, I want to erase it completely.
    – nojiyi4811
    Feb 12, 2022 at 20:26
  • If it's read-only, the only thing you can do is physically destroy it. But then you can't return the card.
    – harrymc
    Feb 12, 2022 at 20:28
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Assuming this is not a permanent hardware related error, you can try to remove the read only via DiskPart (assuming you are using Windows to access the card, on a Linux system you could use something like parted):

  • after selecting the appropriate "disk" (in your case your SD card), type Attributes Disk this will show you the cards attributes

  • if it show to be read only you normally use the command "attributes disk clears read-only" to remove the read only attribute

This should but your card back in writeable mode, good luck.

Otherwise I would just inform the store that you can not erase your data, some stores give you the option to destroy the card and give you an replacement, but make sure to ask first.

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  • unfortunately it is a hardware error
    – nojiyi4811
    Feb 12, 2022 at 22:44
  • @nojiyi4811 Then I would explain the situation to the shop. Unfortunately with SD-Card you can not hold a magnet to it and make it unreadable as it is with HDs. It will loose it's data over time but that usually takes years. Sometimes it works despite the read-only attribute that you can format the disk or change the file system.
    – Albin
    Feb 13, 2022 at 21:31
  • @nojiyi4811 what happens if you try to turn off the read only attribute? do you get an error massage? Also just to make sure, does the card have a physical read-only switch?
    – Albin
    Feb 13, 2022 at 21:32

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