SD cards on Mavericks

[Jack W]

When I insert  an SD card into the slot on my iMac in Mavericks, nothing shows up on the desktop.
When I activate Disk Utility, the SD card inserted does NOT appear on the list of devices.
What gives, doesn't Mavericks support SD cards??

I've tried looking into System Preferences for answers to no avail.

BTW, Where is the 'Beat head on brick wall' emoji?

thanks,
Jack

[Xairbusdriver]

1. I assume the SD card has been formatted?

2. Does it appear on any other device?

3. Does your iMac recognize any other SD card?

4. You can always insert it with the following text; "wallbash". Just replace both quotation marks ["] with colons [:]. Attached is an image of the smilies in my Theme. Third one from the end of the line. Yours may be different. You can also use the [more] button to see all the smilies. 

[Jack W]

no sd cards work.

AND sd cards on Snow Leopard come up as "you can only read"

Methinks I have to reset pram.

[Jack W]

reset pram no work, now, all my prefs have to be reset.

:bummer: !!!

[Xairbusdriver]

I'm sure you've checked that none of the cards have the 'protect/overwrite' tab disabled?

How old are the cards? Do the contacts look worn?

Have you cleaned the SD reader entrance? Either vacuum or canned air might help eliminate household 'stuff'. Do you have a cat?!

Have any of them been used in a camera? Do you have a camera that can 'see' them?

At least if you can read them you can save the data. After that a Erase might help.

[Jack W]

I'm sure you've checked that none of the cards have the 'protect/overwrite' tab disabled?
• You mean the 'lock' switch? - yes

How old are the cards? Do the contacts look worn?
• some old, some newer, no noticeable contact wear

Have you cleaned the SD reader entrance? Either vacuum or canned air might help eliminate household 'stuff'. Do you have a cat?!
• no cat - used canned air, shined flashlight into slot-looks very clean

Have any of them been used in a camera? Do you have a camera that can 'see' them?
• do not try to write to to them -too detrimental to pictures

At least if you can read them you can save the data. After that a Erase might help.
• can't erase - I can read them quite fine, no problem

Addn'l info-they don't show locked in the Command-I window, they just simple say you can not write. - bummer!

[Xairbusdriver]

Have any of them been used in a camera? Do you have a camera that can 'see' them?
• do not try to write to to them -too detrimental to pictures

1. I am assuming that the camera did 'see' the card(s). Is that correct?

I assume that cards used with cameras are the ones you are trying to 'read' to transfer the data/images to the Mac? Most cameras use the Windows "FAT" file format scheme. However, I think the Mac OS has been able to recognize that and alert you to that fact.

2. Can you connect that camera directly to the Mac and download the images?
When I last used real cameras, I was able to do that rather than remove/replace the cards; saving wear and tear on the card/camera contacts (the cable is cheaper to replace). I then reformatted the card in the camera. Also took care of any file system corruption.

Lastly, if you have a spare (empty) SD card, you might try formatting it in the Mac. That should eliminate the Mac's reader from the list of possible problems.

[Jack W]

Jim - the camera works fine.
The problem is NOT with the camera.
It's a hardware problem with the iMac.
Let's put this thread to sleep.
Jack