21-04-2021



  1. Sd Card Adapter For Mac Pro
  2. Sd Card For Macbook Pro

The SD (Secure Digital) memory card is a stable or non-volatile memory card or storage system known to last a long time like a standard HDD but has the portable accessibility of the more volatile flash drive. All modern Macintosh computers, from your iMacs to your MacBooks and everything in between and beyond, make use of the SD slot to allow access to SD media.

  1. Mac Pro (2019) has 12 DIMM (memory) slots that support up to 1.5TB of 2933MHz memory when all 12 slots are full using DDR4 ECC DIMMs. 8-core, 12-core, and 16-core Mac Pro models support up to 768GB of memory.
  2. Want to upgrade the RAM, graphics card, processor, storage (SSD or Hard drive) or even use an optical drive in a Mac to add an SSD? Check out our guide! Find out which MacBook Pro, MacBook Air.
  3. Formatting an SD or a Micro SD card on Mac is a super simple process that will not take you longer than 3 minutes. The only little stumbling block is some Macs don’t have an SD card reader (post-2015 MacBook Pros) and some do.

With that said, how should you go about opening your SD card?

What You Need

You will need the following:

  • SD card
  • Passive adapter
  • Laptop or MacBook computer
  • PC or desktop Macintosh computer

Steps Involved in Accessing Files from Your SD Card Using a Mac

  • Step 1: Simply put your SD card into the SD slot and let the computer read it. The SD slot of a typical Mac should be able to access standard 4MB- 2GB standard SD cards, SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) 4MB-32GB cards, 4GB-2TB SDXC, MMC (MultiMedia Cards), and UHS-II (up to 2TB) cards, but the last one only works on iMac Pro.
  • Step 2: If your computer lacks an SD slot that’s the right size for MiniSD or MicroSD cards, you can still access the SD using a passive adapter. This adapter allows the abovementioned cards and their high-density counterparts like MiniSDHC and MicroSDHC to conform to the thickness and width specifications of these extra small yet powerful SD formats.
  • Step 3: You know that you’ve gained access to the SD card if a drive icon has appeared on your desktop. It can be named anything you want if you’ve named it prior through your device. To access your SD card, just click on the drive icon. You can now do with the contents of your SD memory card as you see fit. You can open them on your photo viewer or editor, copy them unto your hard drive, delete certain files, and even reformat your SD from there like a regular HDD or flash drive.
  • Step 4: To manipulate the files for copying, pasting, cutting, and deleting, just highlight them with your mouse or touchpad and then right-click or press Ctrl and then click in order to get a dropdown menu enabling you to manipulate the files any way you wish. Just take note that when deleting these files they typically go to your Mac’s Trash program. In order to unleash the full capacity of your SD, you have to empty the trash bin first. You can also reformat the whole thing for a clean swipe.
  • Step 5: Some Macintosh PCs have an SD (Secure Digital) or SDXC (Secure Digital Extended Capacity) card slot. If your desktop or laptop PC has the latter then that means you have a wider array of SD cards to open. The extended capacity card enables you to read and write data to SD media as though you’re using it as your own personal flash drive even if it’s a camera SD card, while the SD slot is limited to copy, move, delete, and reformat.

True SD Card Capacity & Speed Test Pro Version is the topmost and popular app with more than 1,000+ installations with 4.1 / 5.0 star average rating on Google playstore. It is available to download for FREE on mobile platforms. Whereas, for the Desktop platform, the app is not developed.

Conclusion

All the modern versions of the Mac can access SD cards as long as they’ve existed. Therefore, even the greenest of newbies to Macintosh or Apple computing should be able to figure out how to access their SD card regardless of what format it is. If worse comes to worst, you might have to get a passive adapter for Micro or Mini SD cards.

For

Related Posts:

What is SD?

SD describes devices that conform to SD standards for non-volatile memory cards. See the SD Association website for details.

Are there size limitations for the cards that can be inserted into the SD slot?

Yes. The SD card specification for a memory card is 32mm by 24mm by 2.1mm. You can also use thinner cards, such as MultiMediaCards (MMC). Avoid using cards that have a thickness greater than 2.1mm, as they might damage the SD card slot if you try to insert them.

Which SD card formats work in the SD card slot?

Cards that conform to the SD 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x standards should work. The SD card slot can use:

  • Standard SD, 4MB to 2GB
  • SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity), 4GB to 32GB
  • SDXC, 4GB to 2TB
  • MMC (MultiMediaCards)
  • UHS‑II, up to 2TB (iMac Pro only)

You can use a passive adapter like the one shown here to make MiniSD, MicroSD, and higher density formats like MiniSDHC and MicroSDHC conform to the width and thickness specifications listed above:

How fast can my Mac read or write to an SD card in the SD card slot?

Mac notebooks use the USB bus to communicate with the SD card slot. They have a maximum speed of up to 480Mbit/s. Mac desktops use the PCIe bus to communicate with the SD card slot. Desktops can transfer data at a faster rate.

Check the packaging that came with your SD media to determine the maximum transfer rate that your specific card uses.

To determine the maximum transfer speed of your Mac, you can use System Information. Choose Apple () menu > About This Mac and then click System Report.

If you use a Mac notebook:

  1. Select Hardware, then select USB.
  2. Select Internal Memory Card Reader and look for the Speed entry.

If you use a Mac desktop computer:

  1. Select Hardware, then select Card Reader.
  2. Look for the Link Speed entry. Computers that use the PCIe bus express their speed as GT/s.

Does the SD slot work with cards that exceed 32GB?

Yes. However, most media manufacturers preformat the media using common block-and-cluster sizes that don’t approach the theoretical limits of a given file system.

Most SD cards use the FAT32 file format, and preformatted FAT32 SD media is commonly available up to a capacity of 32GB. Media that exceeds 32GB usually uses the exFAT file system, while some smaller capacity cards use the FAT16 file format. Preformatted FAT16 media is generally available up to a capacity of 2GB.

If you use OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.5 or later, you can find out which file system you’re using:

  1. Insert the media into the SD card slot.
  2. Choose Apple menu > About This Mac.
  3. Click System Report.
  4. In the Hardware section, click Card Reader, and find the File System field.

Sd Card Adapter For Mac Pro

Will the SD card slot work with SD cards that use the exFAT file system?

Yes. Any Mac that has an SD card slot and is running OS X 10.6.5 or later can use the exFAT file system.

exFAT is also supported in Boot Camp with Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 on any Mac made in 2011 or later with an SD card slot.

How do I insert media into the SD card slot?

When you insert the card, make sure that the metal contacts face down and point toward the computer. Don’t force media into the SD card slot, as this might cause damage.

How does my Mac use the media inserted into the SD card slot?

Your computer recognizes a card inserted into the SD card slot as a USB storage device. You can mount, read from, and write to the SD card just like you can with any other USB storage device.

I put the card in the slot, but it didn’t mount. What should I do?

Remove the card and insert it again. Sometimes the SD card won’t mount properly if you put it into the slot too slowly.

When I try to write content to the card, I get a 'cannot be modified' message. How can I fix this?

You see this message when you try to edit data on an SD card that’s locked. You need to use the lock slider to unlock the card before you can edit the data.

To eject the card, drag the icon that represents the card to the Trash. After the icon disappears from the desktop, you can remove the card from the computer. Adjust the lock slider tab to unlock the card, then reinsert the card into the slot. See the manufacturer’s instructions for the location of the slider tab.

Can I use Disk Utility to reformat an SD card?

You can use Disk Utility to partition and format an SD device as FAT32 (using the MS-DOS FAT setting) or Mac OS Extended. The Mac OS Extended format can be used only on Macintosh systems. Non-Apple systems won’t recognize cards formatted to Mac OS Extended.

You might have to format a card that’s larger than 32GB with exFAT if you want to use it with a digital camera, GPS, or another device. When in doubt, format the card in the device that you intend to use it with.

Can I install macOS on an SD storage device and use it as a startup volume?

Use Disk Utility to change the default partition table to GUID. Then format the card to use the Mac OS Extended file format.

How do I remove a card from the SD card slot?

Before you remove the card, allow any data transfer to SD media to complete. To eject the card, drag the icon that represents the card to the Trash. After the icon disappears from your desktop, you can remove the card from the slot.

Don't remove a card while your Mac is sleeping, as this could lead to data loss. Always wake your computer and eject the SD card before removing it from your Mac.

Can I use Secure Digital Input Output (SDIO) cards?

Can I use macOS to see the specifications for the interface hardware and media inserted in the SD card slot?

You can get information about the interface hardware and the media that you inserted in the slot from the System Information:

Sd Card For Macbook Pro

  1. Choose Apple menu > About This Mac.
  2. Click System Report.
  3. In the Hardware section of System Information, select USB.
  4. In the list of USB devices, select Internal Memory Card Reader to access information about the interface hardware and the media inserted into the SD card slot.

Can I use the SD card slot while running Windows using Boot Camp?

The SD card slot works with Boot Camp in all supported versions of Windows. You’ll need to download and install the Windows Support Software to use the SD card slot with Windows.

Learn more about using Windows on a Mac.

Can I use an SDXC card on my Mac with Windows?

You can use an SDXC card in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 with these Mac computers:

  • MacBook Pro (Early 2011 and later)
    MacBook Pro models from 2016 and later don't have a built-in SD card slot. You can use a USB-C card reader, or a combination of a USB-C to USB Adapter and a USB card reader.
  • MacBook Air (Mid 2011 and later)
  • Mac mini (Mid 2011 and later)
    Mac mini (Mid 2010) doesn't support SDXC cards.
  • iMac (Mid 2011 and later)
    iMac (Mid 2010) doesn't support SDXC cards.

Can I use an SD, SDHC, or SDXC card to install Windows on my Mac?

No. You can’t use SD, SDHC, or SDXC cards with Boot Camp to install Windows software on Mac computers.