SD Card Formatted in and used with MBP 14" will no longer mount; files inaccessible

[swingerofbirch]

I keep a 256 GB SD card in my 14" MBP for extra storage. I don't know if it's related, but a few days before this happened I had ugpraded to Sonoma (14.0).

I got a message that the disk had been improperly ejected despite it still being in the drive. I took it out and put it back in, and it wouldn't show up. I tried it in my Mac mini and had the same issue.

In Disk Utility I can see it, but it's greyed out. It still has the name of the drive. Running First Aid it says the disk has no problems.

One interesting thing is that it says the partition scheme is Master Boot Record. And unless I made a mistake when formatting, I would have set it up as GUID. However I set it up though, it had been working for a couple of months until it suddenly wasn't.

I'm going to try it in a PC once I can get my hands on one just to see if it's any different, and at that point if it doesn't show up will try a data recovery program (a bit worried about messing with it and potentially worsening chances at recovery).

But just wanted to reach out in case there are any other ideas.

 

[AlixSPQR]

It should work. However, Sonoma is new.

Partition schemes available in Disk Utility on Mac

Disk Utility on Mac supports several partition map schemes: GUID Partition Map, Master Boot Record, and Apple Partition Map.

support.apple.com

What does it say in the Terminal, running diskutil list?

 

[swingerofbirch]

It should work. However, Sonoma is new.

Partition schemes available in Disk Utility on Mac

Disk Utility on Mac supports several partition map schemes: GUID Partition Map, Master Boot Record, and Apple Partition Map.

support.apple.com

What does it say in the Terminal, running diskutil list?

I ran that (deleted my name from the picture where it's in the HDD names, etc):

Also, I looked back in the system logs from the time this happened, and the app SecuritySpy was writing to the SD card when this happened and these are the logs from that time:

default 2023-09-29 06:54:30.943438 -0400 SecuritySpy CacheDeleteCopyAvailableSpaceForVolume ENTRY, volume: /Volumes/SD Card

default 2023-09-29 06:54:30.943746 -0400 SecuritySpy CacheDeleteCopyAvailableSpaceForVolume ENTRY, volume: <CacheDeleteVolume> at: /Volumes/SD Card [/dev/disk6s1 : hfs] freespace: 156092493824 (156.09 GB), initialFreespace: 156092493824 (156.09 GB), used: 99743272960 (99.74 GB), total size: 255835766784 (255.84 GB)

default 2023-09-29 06:54:30.948551 -0400 SecuritySpy 367 CDRecentVolumeInfo _recentInfoAtUrgency, volume: /Volumes/SD Card, urgency: 3, result:

default 2023-09-29 06:54:30.948570 -0400 SecuritySpy CACHE_DELETE_VOLUME : /Volumes/SD Card

default 2023-09-29 06:54:30.948853 -0400 SecuritySpy <<<Query Result from client cache (u: 3, ET: 0.0050905): "/Volumes/SD Card : 147.46 KB"

default 2023-09-29 06:54:30.948906 -0400 SecuritySpy CACHE_DELETE_VOLUME : /Volumes/SD Card

default 2023-09-29 06:54:30.949237 -0400 SecuritySpy Query Result>>> 147456 bytes on: "/Volumes/SD Card".

default 2023-09-29 06:54:30.949661 -0400 SecuritySpy CacheDeleteCopyAvailableSpaceForVolume: <CacheDeleteVolume> at: /Volumes/SD Card [/dev/disk6s1 : hfs] freespace: 156092493824 (156.09 GB), initialFreespace: 156092493824 (156.09 GB), used: 99743272960 (99.74 GB), total size: 255835766784 (255.84 GB)

default 2023-09-29 07:04:30.939460 -0400 SecuritySpy CacheDeleteCopyAvailableSpaceForVolume ENTRY, volume: /Volumes/SD Card

default 2023-09-29 07:04:30.939716 -0400 SecuritySpy CacheDeleteCopyAvailableSpaceForVolume ENTRY, volume: <CacheDeleteVolume> at: /Volumes/SD Card [/dev/disk6s1 : hfs] freespace: 156076572672 (156.08 GB), initialFreespace: 156076572672 (156.08 GB), used: 99759194112 (99.76 GB), total size: 255835766784 (255.84 GB)

default 2023-09-29 07:04:30.944171 -0400 SecuritySpy 367 CDRecentVolumeInfo _recentInfoAtUrgency, volume: /Volumes/SD Card, urgency: 3, result:

default 2023-09-29 07:04:30.944184 -0400 SecuritySpy CACHE_DELETE_VOLUME : /Volumes/SD Card

default 2023-09-29 07:04:30.944505 -0400 SecuritySpy <<<Query Result from client cache (u: 3, ET: 0.004743583333333333): "/Volumes/SD Card : 147.46 KB"

default 2023-09-29 07:04:30.944566 -0400 SecuritySpy CACHE_DELETE_VOLUME : /Volumes/SD Card

default 2023-09-29 07:04:30.944828 -0400 SecuritySpy Query Result>>> 147456 bytes on: "/Volumes/SD Card".

default 2023-09-29 07:04:30.945087 -0400 SecuritySpy CacheDeleteCopyAvailableSpaceForVolume: <CacheDeleteVolume> at: /Volumes/SD Card [/dev/disk6s1 : hfs] freespace: 156076572672 (156.08 GB), initialFreespace: 156076572672 (156.08 GB), used: 99759194112 (99.76 GB), total size: 255835766784 (255.84 GB)

default 2023-09-29 07:11:16.651386 -0400 revisiond file renamed while open: /Volumes/SD Card/.DocumentRevisions-V100/.cs/ChunkStoreDatabase

default 2023-09-29 07:11:16.668158 -0400 revisiond file renamed while open: /Volumes/SD Card/.DocumentRevisions-V100/db-V1/db.sqlite

default 2023-09-29 07:11:16.749495 -0400 kernel hfs: unmount initiated on SD Card on device disk6s1

 

[AlixSPQR]

This is weird, your SD Card seems to be listed as an internal, physical device with a FDisk_partition_scheme, it should be neither, the scheme is associated to Linux disk commands. Maybe this app SecuritySpy did that, but IDK. My advice is to save the SD Card's files and then reformat it.

 

[triptolemus]

Had a similar issue with an SD card recently. Wound up successful using dd in terminal to image the disk, then opened the image in Finder successfully. Was able to retrieve files that way.

How To Create Disk Image on Mac OS X With dd Command - nixCraft

Explains how to create disk image on mac OS with dd command line. Learn how to use the dd command to write to disk image or create disk image

www.cyberciti.biz

 

[swingerofbirch]

This is weird, your SD Card seems to be listed as an internal, physical device with a FDisk_partition_scheme, it should be neither, the scheme is associated to Linux disk commands. Maybe this app SecuritySpy did that, but IDK. My advice is to save the SD Card's files and then reformat it.

Thank you. I have used SecuritySpy for years with no issues. The only change was upgrading to Sonoma—in hindsight a dumb move on a X.0 product. I hadn't been able to access the files at all (it shows up in Disk Utility greyed out but not in Finder) but I just downloaded an app called Disk Drill that sees them all and is in the process of seeing if they are recoverable (it seems like it given that they are all listed so far with correct names and file sizes).

 

[swingerofbirch]

Had a similar issue with an SD card recently. Wound up successful using dd in terminal to image the disk, then opened the image in Finder successfully. Was able to retrieve files that way.

How To Create Disk Image on Mac OS X With dd Command - nixCraft

Explains how to create disk image on mac OS with dd command line. Learn how to use the dd command to write to disk image or create disk image

www.cyberciti.biz

I downloaded a program called Disk Drill I'm using right now that seems to be working. I actually had tried from Disk Utility to right click and create disk image from the disk, and it did create a .dmg file, but it wasn't openable. Is that the same thing as what you're suggesting through Terminal?

Also was your issue since updating to Sonoma by chance?

I have to think there's a connection . . . but I'm not sure.

 

[triptolemus]

I downloaded a program called Disk Drill I'm using right now that seems to be working. I actually had tried from Disk Utility to right click and create disk image from the disk, and it did create a .dmg file, but it wasn't openable. Is that the same thing as what you're suggesting through Terminal?

Also was your issue since updating to Sonoma by chance?

I have to think there's a connection . . . but I'm not sure.

I had tried Disk Drill as well as EaseUS Recovery Wizard, no joy with either. Although I got a file listing with EaseUS, it wouldn't / couldn't recover the files.

I don't think it's the "same" per se, but when I'm having these sorts of problems, removing layers and going directly to Terminal. In this case, byte level duplication seemed appropriate so I could attempt recovery on the image without risking further problems with the SD card itself.

This had nothing to do with Sonoma.

Try to dd the SD card, then work with that image using various tools (start w/ opening in Finder).

 

[swingerofbirch]

I had tried Disk Drill as well as EaseUS Recovery Wizard, no joy with either. Although I got a file listing with EaseUS, it wouldn't / couldn't recover the files.

I don't think it's the "same" per se, but when I'm having these sorts of problems, removing layers and going directly to Terminal. In this case, byte level duplication seemed appropriate so I could attempt recovery on the image without risking further problems with the SD card itself.

This had nothing to do with Sonoma.

Try to dd the SD card, then work with that image using various tools (start w/ opening in Finder).

Disk Drill finished and worked. Only one file that won't open—and because it's just the one I wonder if it was like that before this. I ended up paying for Disk Drill because I've got so much going on at the moment and after it took an hour or so to list all the files I was kind of skittish about retreating and trying another method—wanted to take my chance I had in that moment, but thank you for the advice about Terminal. I may go back over the SD card again later if I ever get more time because while I think everything is there, I honestly don't remember enough to know what would be missing. The bulk of it is there, at least, and I think all of it.

I just wish I knew what had caused all this to begin with.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I ended up paying for Disk Drill because I've got so much going on at the moment"

Lesson learned.
I would not trust an SD card for storage of valuable files in the future.

Use a REAL drive -- either SSD or HDD.

 

[zevrix]

Are you using the built-in SD slot?

When MBP M1 16" was initially released, some users (including myself) had issues with the SD slot (enormously slow copying etc.) The solution was to use a SD to USB-C adapter - it worked with no issues.

I guess the initial slot problem was software-related because the slot started working normally at some point.

Don't know if it has anything to do with your problems - but maybe using SD card adapter will help.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Are you using the built-in SD slot?

When MBP M1 16" was initially released, some users (including myself) had issues with the SD slot (enormously slow copying etc.) The solution was to use a SD to USB-C adapter - it worked with no issues.

I guess the initial slot problem was software-related because the slot started working normally at some point.

Don't know if it has anything to do with your problems - but maybe using SD card adapter will help.

Thank you. Yes, I'm using the built-in reader, and I do remember reading about that and that the problems had been resolved. For my use case having it in the internal slot and available always plugged in (even though not nearly as flush with the computer as I could achieve with the small USB-A flash drives) is necessary. Those USB-A flash drives never failed me; I wish the MBP made a concession to offer just USB-A port.

 

[ChrisA]

If there is data on the SD card that is not backed up then slide the physical "lock" on the SD card ASAP. This will prevent the card from being messed up even more.

BTW. It is not good to leave an SD card in the Mac long-term and use it for storage. SD cards wear out. You can only write to them so many times before they stop working. I suspect this is the cause if the problem.

You might THINK you are not writing to the SD card. But you are. The metadata is being constantly re-written, things like the time/date of the last time you looked at a file are updated