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I have a 32 GB Lexar microSD which had been working perfectly for the past 3 months on my phone. But recently I noticed I am unable to write new files to the SD Card. I tried to format it from my computer and got a message box saying:

"The disk is write protected"

Image of the box

I am quite sure that my microSD card adapter is not locked, and I do not remember doing anything which could have caused this. I tried changing the file permissions and even tried messing around with the registry. But nothing helped.

Is there any other way I could get the writing permissions back on my microSD? Because without writing permissions the SD Card is quite useless, and buying a new 32 GB microSD would be an expensive solution.

Any help will be appreciated.

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  • If a SD card starts acting up, it’s usually time to get a new one. And get the data off, if possible.
    – Daniel B
    May 1, 2016 at 18:02

2 Answers 2

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Back your data up off this card NOW!

Due to the way the cards work they have a 'hidden' number of spaces it can rewrite data when it fails to originally write. Once this run out something like this is put it by the manufacturers to make you aware that the card is reaching the end of it's usable life. Basically instead of lying to you and letting you continue to write data, it's turned read only to protect the data as much as possible and also serves as a nice warning.

It's beautifully explained at photo.stackexchange.com if you scroll down to 'Bad blocks'.

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  • 3 months for a card, used in the phone, doesn't make it plausible, that the card reached the end of it's usability.
    – user unknown
    Aug 3, 2019 at 12:04
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Is the Drive having a physical WriteLock switch?

If yes, Some drives have a write lock switch which toggles Read-Only mode preventing write access. This can compel windows into displaying the write protected message. The simple resolution is to toggle RW mode using the physical switch.

or

The Device might be malfunctioning In this case, prima facie, we just backup the existing data by Copying its contents to a external media or local hard drive. There's not much you can do here. But a try won't hurt. Now if you are on windows, head straight to DiskPart

  1. Open Command Prompt (Elevated/Admin Mode)
  2. Type diskpart
  3. Type list disk
  4. Type select disk <n> (where < n > is the disk no. Of the target USB Drive | ex: select disk 1)
    1. Type clean

Once the process is done. You should win. If this doesn't help, you can recreate the partition of that drive using a simple tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant

Do drop by for further assistance.

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  • Sorry for such a late comment... I tried doing as you said and this is what I got: link. I am quite sure the WriteLock switch is off.
    – Satrajit
    May 15, 2016 at 22:17
  • Had the same issue @Satrajit. Diskpart says I/O device error, and I've only had the microsd for a year :/
    – AnimaSola
    May 3, 2017 at 4:27
  • Same boat for me. Starting to think this Lexar Micro SD needs to go to the bin. Also tried the WriteProtect regedit but this thing just doesn't want to get out of write-protection mode.
    – Jay Killeen
    Aug 21, 2018 at 23:48

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