How To Repair an SD I/O Device Error

By Greyson Ferguson

Easily fix most I/O problems on an SD card.
i sd cards image by timur1970 from Fotolia.com

A Secure Digital or SD memory card is a small, portable storage device typically used on a digital camera or camcorder, cell phone or computer system. When using the card, you may occasionally encounter an I/O error. The term "I/O" refers to an input/output error and may involve the SD card itself or the card reader you are using. Most I/O errors can be easily corrected with just a few moments of your time.

Eject the SD card from the card reader and inspect the write protection tab on the side. This tab needs to be in the up position; otherwise, you won't be able to write any data to the card.

Insert the SD card into the card reader, then click "Start," "(My) Computer" and right-click the removable device icon. Choose "Properties" from the pull-down menu. A window opens showing the specs on your SD card. Notice the amount of available disk space. If you are out of storage space, you will encounter error messages when you try to save information to the card. Delete old files on the SD card that you no longer need to free up some disk space and resolve this issue.

Check the connection between the SD card reader and the computer. If the card reader is not properly connected to the computer, you'll receive errors messages when attempting to use the SD card or your computer simply won't recognize the card.

Reformat the card, if you suspect that files on the card may have been corrupted by a virus or write error. Click "Start," "(My) Computer," then right-click the removable device icon and choose "Format." Click "OK" and wait while the SD card is reformatted.

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