New menu has disappeared in my external sd card

[mech-eng]

TL;DR Summary

I can't see new menu in my sd card in Win 10.

Hello. I cannot see new menu in my sd card. I can see it when I right click on desktop, but something has happened to my sd card. I have also realized that card gives "disk is write-protected". I think this cause not to create folder or file.

I cannot find a link that explains it. Would someone please help me?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Some SD cards have a physical slide button that "locks" the SD card, i.e. enables write protection. Check if your SD card has something like that.

Digital write protection can be disabled on Windows with the CMD using the diskpart command. See this article: https://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Writ...#Removing-Digital-Write-Protection-on-Windows

If that too doesn't work, please post a screenshot of the input and output of the CMD.

 

[mech-eng]

I have had the problem just for a few month and few times. So I suspect from a virus. Can it be related to a virus?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

I have had the problem just for a few month and few times. So I suspect from a virus. Can it be related to a virus?

If you have a proper antivirus software (which you should have if you are using Windows), why do you think there is a virus on your disk? A software virus will do much more than just randomly write-protecting your SD card. Do you have other evidence of random events on your PC that may suggest that you are under an attack? In my opinion, it is often easy to blame a virus, but the issues seldom arise due to them if you have a good antivirus software.

If the issue is erratic and occurs randomly, I would suspect that there is faulty hardware somewhere.

• Are you using an external SD card reader? That may have some hardware issues. Or the USB port that you are plugging into has some issues, like a corroded pin. If it is a USB port on the CPU cabinet that is attached to the motherboard via cables, those cables may have connection issues (loose pins, corroded contacts, not good quality wire, etc.)
• If you are using an internal SD card reader (one that is soldered directly on the motherboard), even that may go faulty: pin issues, dirt on motherboard solder joint, who knows? These hardware issues are probably very difficult to investigate without having the device itself and professional tools.
• Even the contacts on your SD card may be faulty.

Some troubleshoot suggestions:

• If you are using an external SD card reader, try plugging into a different USB port from next time, and see if the issue repeats. If it repeats, try to get hold of another SD card reader and see if the problem recurs. If the issue repeats even after that, your SD card has some faulty hardware.
• In case of an internal SD card reader, see if you can borrow or buy an external SD card reader. If the card works properly in that, your internal SD card reader might be faulty. Otherwise, the SD card will be faulty.

Software issues are harder to troubleshoot, especially on Windows, as many things "just happen" and nobody knows why. If you have access to a separate PC, then you can try to use the card consistently over there for some time. If the issue recurs, then definitely it's something with the SD card. If it doesn't repeat, then there might be a hardware or software issue in your PC. Hardware issues can, once again, be checked using the above troubleshooting steps, if you have not done them already.

 

[mech-eng]

If the issue recurs, then definitely it's something with the SD card. If it doesn't repeat, then there might be a hardware or software issue in your PC. Hardware issues can, once again, be checked using the above troubleshooting steps, if you have not done them already.

Then we can dismiss viruses. I think it is related windows, especially registry. I have found a method to solve it but it isn't a good one. I remove sd card and plug it into again. If that that does not work, I repeat the action. Then it works. However I don't use "safely remove". Does this method damage the sd card?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

I think it is related windows, especially registry.

How did you deduce this?

However I don't use "safely remove". Does this method damage the sd card?

The "Safely remove drive" option actually checks if there are ongoing IO operations on the drive to be removed. If some program is writing to that disk, and you remove it abruptly, not only will the program fail, but you will also lose data. I, for instance, lost several essential files while moving them from a USB drive which inadvertently got displaced and hence unmounted. Since I was moving and not copying, those files were lost forever from both the disks.

If your drive is lying idle without any program running, then it is probably fine to plug it off directly, though not recommended.

 

[FactChecker]

If your drive is lying idle without any program running, then it is probably fine to plug it off directly, though not recommended.

I often can not find anything that might be using my USB drive but Windows 10 says that it is in use for a long time. Then I have to decide whether to do an entire shut-down before removing or just take a chance. I often just take a chance and have not been burned by it yet.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

I often can not find anything that might be using my USB drive but Windows 10 says that it is in use for a long time.

According to this answer on Super User, there is a program Process Explorer which you can use to check which processes(s) are accessing a particular path. I don't have Windows on any of my machines, so can't check if it works for USB drives.

 

[FactChecker]

According to this answer on Super User, there is a program Process Explorer which you can use to check which processes(s) are accessing a particular path. I don't have Windows on any of my machines, so can't check if it works for USB drives.

Thanks. Yes, I have tried to use something like it but it always came up empty.
Process Explorer looks more thorough than what I tried to use, I will give it a try.

UPDATE: Process Explorer is much more informative and thorough than what I used before. It only requires a search for the drive letter in question to see what tasks are using the thumb drive. I hadn't realized that any open Explorer attached every mounted drive. That may have been my problem. (Apparently, I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer.)

 

[DrJohn]

If it's an old SD card that has been in and out of the drive reader a lot of times, the connection pins can get worn, not connect properly and the card not get recognised. So you might get an intermittant read or write failure at the worst possible moment.

 

[mech-eng]

I don't have Windows on any of my machines, so can't check if it works for USB drives.

What do you use, then

 

[Wrichik Basu]

What do you use, then

Ubuntu.

 

[mech-eng]

I often just take a chance and have not been burned by it yet.

Would you please explain what you mean by "burned"? Do you mean "malfunction" or "break down"?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Would you please explain what you mean by "burned"? Do you mean "malfunction" or "break down"?

It means that @FactChecker hasn't faced any disastrous consequences yet for unplugging the SD card without "Safely removing it" (AKA stopping all IO operations and unmounting it) first.

 

[mech-eng]

But is the "burn of an electronic device" related to malfuctioning of it followed by a characteristic smell?

 

[FactChecker]

But is the "burn of an electronic device" related to malfuctioning of it followed by a characteristic smell?

Sorry for using casual terminology. All I meant was that there were no bad consequences when I took that risk. That is a matter of luck. I observed for a while to see if there was any writing on the USB thumb drive before I removed it.