SD card not showing up on Mac

[HuGo25]

My SanDisk SD card isn’t showing up on my MacBook Air (2022, running macOS Sonoma). I normally use this card with my camera, and it’s been working fine — but now it doesn’t appear in Finder. Has anyone experienced this issue? Could it be a compatibility or formatting problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: After searching on Google for three hours, I finally found a solution. Running First Aid on the SD card and then reformatting it worked for me. You can refer to this guide: https://4ddig.tenorshare.com/mac-problems/mac-not-reading-sd-card.html#part3

[SBrown]

@HuGo25
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[Ellinor_William]

The issue could be due to the card reader or the SD card slot of your MacBook is defective. It could also be a virus infection, SD card corruption, or wrong system settings that can hide the external drive or result in an unreadable SD card on Mac issue.
Check this article to know better fixes for your SD card. Solved: SD Card not Showing up on Mac or Disk Utility

[fayewong]

Even if the card doesn’t appear in Finder, open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility) and see if the SD card shows up there.

If it does, it might just be unmounted. So, try mounting it manually.

Or, you can run first aid to repair disk errors.

[Daniel23333]

hey ya I’ve dealt w/ this a few times on mac (i’m on Sonoma too)… here’s a quick checklist that usually helps me figure it out:

check Disk Utility first – even if Finder doesn’t show it, Disk Utility might. if it’s there but greyed out, try mounting manually.

test w/ other SD reader or port, sometimes MacBook slots can be picky or just dusty

check if card shows up on camera again or on other devices – rules out card damage.

format type matters, Mac won’t read exFAT/NTFS properly sometimes if it’s corrupted. you can try First Aid in Disk Utility before formatting.

if nothing works – terminal diskutil list shows all drives, I’ve recovered invisible cards this way.

hope this helps! Check this guide if you need more help

[H-Gary]

Is your issue fixed now, if not, try these solutions:

Solution 1: Verify the SD card reader’s functionality

Check if the SD card reader is working properly. To do so, click the Apple Menu > About This Mac > System Report, and look for the Card Reader under the Hardware section. If the reader is functioning, you should see its Vendor ID and additional product details.

Solution 2: Adjust Finder and desktop settings to display the SD card

Connect your SD card to your Mac. Open Finder from the Apple menu, then go to Preferences > General and ensure the ‘External Disks’ option is checked. Next, click the Sidebar tab and confirm that the ‘External disks’ option under Locations is selected.

Solution 3: Reset NVRAM/PRAM

Power off your Mac. Turn it back on and immediately press and hold the Option + Command + P + R keys. Continue holding them for about 20 seconds. After that, release the keys and let your Mac restart normally.

Solution 4: Repair the SD card using Disk Utility’s First Aid

Navigate to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Select the corrupted SD card and click on First Aid at the top. Wait for the process to complete and click Done when finished.

If First Aid can’t repair the SD card and you receive an error message like “Disk Utility can’t repair this disk,” formatting the SD card may resolve the issue, eliminating any errors that prevent your Mac from reading it. Other tips should also be helpful for you: How to Fix SD Card Not Showing up, Reading, Recognized on Mac?

[Sherly]

1. Check if the SD card appears in Finder. If not, mount it manually.
2. Connect the SD card to another SD card reader or port.
   If nothing works, there might be a virus on your SD card, or it’s damaged. Hope you can recover your data on the SD card.

[jbron]

I also facing the same issue… and i mounted it then problem is resolved.