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The write-protect switch on an SD card doesn't connect to any internal electronics, so it must just be respected by the software controlling the card reader.

Is there any way for me to override this setting and mount a write-protected card with read-write permissions?

8128
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ændrük
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  • What makes me think this might be possible is the fact that the [Canon Hack Development Kit](http://chdk.wikia.com/) writes photos to a write-protected SD card. My incentive for wanting to do this in Ubuntu is to make it easier to work with the write-protected SD cards that are used with CHDK. – ændrük Sep 01 '10 at 23:32
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    @ændrük The thing with CHDK is the firmware for Cannon SD Readers are known. I think if you find a solution it's going to be very hardware specific. Unfortunately I don't envision there being a universal over-ride flag for card readers – Marco Ceppi Sep 01 '10 at 23:51
  • Could you update your post possibly with the specific hardware you're working with. It may assist you in narrowing the scopes question and getting an answer a lot faster. – Marco Ceppi Sep 01 '10 at 23:52
  • @Marco If the write-protection isn't the responsibility of Ubuntu or its drivers, that's a good enough answer for my purposes. I'm not interested in narrowing the scope to specific hardware. – ændrük Sep 02 '10 at 05:13
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    Why don't you just flip the switch on the side of the card? – maco Sep 02 '10 at 18:40
  • @maco An excellent inquiry. :) The answer is simply that sometimes I forget. It's clearly not a great burden to have to flip a tiny plastic switch, but if all it took to bypass it was a special mounting command or udev rule, that could be one more way for me to streamline photography work on my computer. And streamlining workflows is fun. – ændrük Sep 02 '10 at 20:00
  • @ændrük: so is flipping switches :)... – RolandiXor Aug 13 '11 at 17:45
  • For what it's worth, I ended up cracking open my card reader and soldering the write-protect circuit permanently closed. – ændrük Aug 14 '11 at 13:06

2 Answers2

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Not likely. The read/write access is set by the drive's firmware and is usually impossible to change.

Nathan Osman
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    It depends on the drive - some drives don't have read-write protection. It's an interesting question to see if you can override the drives logic. I don't think it's probable, but would be interested if it was possible. – Marco Ceppi Sep 01 '10 at 22:24
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    @Marco: There... I reworded it. – Nathan Osman Sep 02 '10 at 00:21
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Yes you can overide. on one side of ther SD_card there is a small nik ( remember cassette tapes ). if you cover this with some thin card (selotape works too, but needs several layers ). then it will allow the transfer of music pictures etc, onto the protected sd-card.

Eliah Kagan
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Daddykins
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    This is not a valid answer. The OP wishes to override the switch in software. The nick is assumed. – nanofarad Aug 03 '12 at 13:01
  • @ObsessiveSSOℲ This seems like a valid answer to me. This information will solve the same *problem* the OP has presented, and will likely be useful to many others who identify with the OP's situation, especially in light of [George Edison's (probably quite correct) answer](http://askubuntu.com/a/3458/22949). – Eliah Kagan Feb 03 '13 at 16:42