How do you remove write protection on a compact flash card?

Answer 1

Removing Write Protection from a Flashcard Look on the card, somewhere there sound be a little "lock" slide, much like on a floppy disk, make sure this "lock" is on the side where the card can be written on. This is hard to explain with no pictures.

If this does not work, here you go: This slider slides on its own when you put it in the computer sometimes. You may slide it again and again into the unlocked position and keep getting the "this disk is write protected" error. In this case, if you don't want to purchase a new one, try this:

Using your fingernail, or something similar, slide the fingernail along the side with the slider of the cards crease where it closes, popping it open somewhat. The write protection slider should fall out, if not, open the card enough to just pull it out. It is NOT firmly attached to the inside of the card, so this should be easy. THEN, here's where oldschool meets "NEWschool" get a piece of tape (semi-transparent scotch tape is good, it has to be really thin tape) and wrap it around the area you just made devoid of the write protection slider, carefully not putting the tape on the metal contacts. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, ask someone who used to record their own cassette tapes. You're removing the write protection and making it recordable again. HOWEVER, this is a last resort to buying a new card reader, because you ARE making it possible to delete stuff with no problem.....which for some can be a problem.

Answer 2

The vast majority of CompactFlash cards to not have an internal write-protection feature since write protection is not part of the CompactFlash specification. If you do have one of the few that offers this feature, the write-protect switch is most likely located on the edge of the card opposite the connecting pins, though this may vary by manufacturer.

Chances are, however, that if you have a write-protected flash memory card, it is more likely of some other flash memory technology such as SD memory (for which write-protection is an optional part of the specification).