Anyone having issues reading card media in MacOS 10.15 Catalina?

[steveblue]

After I upgraded my 2019 MacBook Pro to 10.15 Catalina the Finder and Image Capture both fail to read SDXC cards formatted by the XT-2. The cards are Lexar 128GB Professional 1000x UHS-II SDXC Memory Card. Disk Utility can't repair the card, every app that tries to read from the ExFat formatted cards ends up needing to be Force Quit. I can dual boot into Mohave and read the cards fine using Finder, any app works too in Mohave. I could understand incompatibility with third party apps, but this is ridiculous. I can read from Fat32 formatted Compact Flash fine, but the ExFat formatted SDXC cards fail every time. I am using a Sanyo Hyperdrive to connect the SD card to the MacBook Pro. I called Apple Support only to be put on hold for almost an hour trying to reach support personnel for Creative Professionals and then have Apple hang up on me. I have been a lifelong Apple user, but this is alarming. Anyone else having issues like this in Catalina?

Edited November 26, 2019 by steveblue

[Olaf W.]

Catalina has new security settings for the use of drives. Did you check these? I had some problems with various applications and it took me hours to figure out that a checkmark was missing giving the application access to the needed drive.

[steveblue]

This issue is not with a third party application, however those don't work either. Finder needs to be relaunched whenever I insert a card or Finder tries to read the card and fails, ejecting it. I checked and nothing seems out of the ordinary in System Preferences.

[Olaf W.]

Do you have another card which was not formatted in the camera? If yes, does this card work properly? 

[steveblue]

Yes. SD cards formatted with Fat32 work fine.

[Olaf W.]

I will test this when I‘m home again and report my results. Will take till the weekend, unfortunately

[rickmayberry]

I have had the problem with my 2012 MacBook Pro using the built-in card slot for cards from my X-T2, X-E2S, and X-E3. Using an external plug-in USB card reader solves the problem. For what it's worth, it read the cards from my Leica and Pentax cameras just fine.

[Olaf W.]

I've formatted an SD card with my X100F and took some test photos. No issues reading the card with Catalina. 

[steveblue]

What does the X100F format the card in? Fat32 or ExFat?

[steveblue]

Reading from either an external USB reader plugged into the Hyperdrive or the Hyperdrive itself I'm still able to reproduce the issue. Maybe it is time to purchase a USB-C reader and try again.

[Olaf W.]

Actually I‘ve used the built in card reader (iMac and Mac mini). Will check the format later.

[Olaf W.]

On 12/1/2019 at 2:22 AM, steveblue said:

What does the X100F format the card in? Fat32 or ExFat?

ExFat, it's a 200GB card

[umijin]

I recently have issues with at least one 64GB Lexar pro card on my Mac shot on my XT3. I've reformatted it a couple of times and it doesn't fix it. 

When I insert this card in my iMac's SD slot, the photos don't always show up in LightRoom in the import window. If I go to the MacOS finder, I don't see them either. And the card won't eject via LR or the finder - I have to force eject it. The remedy seems to be to insert the card into the camera again, look at a few images on the XT3 screen, then put it into the computer again. Then the images usually show up.

Not seen this with other cards of the same type, but have not used many recently. 

[disapo11]

Have you figured out how to remedy this?  I am not very computer savvy and have been losing my mind.  cards in both slots on my xt3, were not able to be read by the mac (recently updated to catalina).  Opened fine on an old PC; tried formatting the cards and few sample shots are obviously not working.  Thought maybe it was my sd cards somehow got damaged but came across these forum.  Please help a very non computer savvy person who just wants to be able to use my xt3 again and open my pics/video with my mac 

[HenrikB]

I'm having the same issue; 
Trying to read from a Sandisk Extreme PRO 256gb card with exfat formatting on OSX Catalina. Not working. 
Ordinary smaller SD cards (fat32) working fine on the same system. So it must be an issue with exfat, sdxc or card-size combined with Catalina. 
Any solutions? 

[RicMic]

I am having the same problem on my iMac upgraded to Catalina OS 10.15.2 using Lexar 64GB SDXCII 1000x. SD card is not seen or if try to import to Lightroom Classic get message "no photos found." I thought the problem was my new X-pro3, but same thing happens with card used in an XT2. This is driving me crazy. Any help or solutions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Rick

[Rixy]

Catalina introduced a new level of security. Try this:

System Preferences > Security & Privacy, Privacy Tab

Scroll down to Files and Folders and look for Lightroom

If removable Volumes is not ticked then this is the probable cause of the problem - tick it.

You MUST then click the lock (lower left) and put in your password else the change will not be registered.

(I may have to put this in my booklet Fujifilm X-T20 Tips, free from Apple store)

regards Rixy

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Rixy
Added the reminder to unlock changes

[RobM]

This problem isn't specific to Fuji. I have a Sony a6500 with the same problem on a 64G and a 128G flash cards. The flash card appears on the desktop. I drag the flash-drive folder with photos to my desktop. Finder shows a progress bar for the copy, creates the target folder on the desktop, then after successfully copying zero or more photos, reports that a file is unreadable and stops. Trying to copy the error photo alone also fails. Sometimes I can copy other photos, sometimes not. And as OP notes, I have to force eject.

Everything was working before Catalina. So something is gummed up in Catalina.

My workaround is to plug the camera in via USB. Catalina mounts the flash drive on the desktop, and copying works fine.

BTW, I was able to run Disk Utility on the card, and it finds no problems.

Rob

[Tomac]

Similar problem. SD card from Sony camera appears, and thumbnail s appear in photos, but when I click on the ones I want to import, the import selected button doesn’t respond. Mac is a late 2019 MacBook Pro running Catalina. Two different card readers. Same card does upload to iPhone. 

[Robr]

Just tested both a Lexar and a Transcend and both read fine on a MacBook pro 2011.

I feel Catalina is a very different OS then past ones and some apps aren’t compatible so I didn’t do an update but a 100% clean install of Catalina, then reinstalled software using the disc images or downloaded again from the supplier (not copied apps off the backup) then moved folders and such over.

 I did a 4K Final Cut Pro x project and Catalina preformed better then it ever has (I’ve used FC since version two). I think it just needs to start out on a clean fresh drive but I can only relate my experience.

While not a totally fresh install (old apps could still gum up things) It is possible to reinstall the os from Catalina recovery mode:

first backup then...

(Instructions borrowed)

The correct way to reinstall macOS Catalina is to use your Mac’s Recovery Mode:

1. Restart your Mac and then hold down ⌘ + R to activate Recovery Mode
2. In the first window, select Reinstall macOS ➙ Continue
3. Agree to the Terms & Conditions
4. Select the hard drive you’d like to reinstall mac OS Catalina to and click Install

The reinstallation process will start shortly and roughly take 30 minutes. When complete, your Mac will start up as usual. No files should be lost.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Robr
Clearer help offered

[WJohnston]

Just stumbled across this thread and thought I'd share my findings so far.

I have a strange scenario where my older SD cards - a 2017 Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB 95mb/s and a 2016 Sandisk Extreme 64GB 90mb/s - work perfectly in my internal iMac 5k SD reader (late 2015 running Catalina), but none of the 4 brand new cards I bought this week work in the internal reader, but DO work in my external USB 3 reader. 

I purchased 2x 64GB Extreme Pro 170mb/s cards (the updated model of the 95mb/s cards) and they work fine in my external reader, but when plugged into the internal reader, they always take 2-3 goes to show up, when they do, the finder crashes and images can't be dragged to desktop, it just gives an error -36 message. Then you have to force eject every time even though it's no longer in use. So I returned the 170mb/s cards on Amazon, got a next day delivery of 2x Lexar 128GB 633x - exact same problem - works in external reader but not on internal.

But it's not just these brand new cards - I have another 64GB Extreme Pro 95mb/s I bought back in 2018 that's never worked consistently but forgot to return in time - it's experiencing the exact same symptoms, and it looks IDENTICAL to my working 95mb/s card from 2017. 

All cards are exFAT, always formatted in camera, and it's only my old cards that can be read by the internal reader. 

If anyone wants to see the problem in action, I recorded a sped-up 3 minute video demonstrating the problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnXnUZFXY8M

Sandisk got back to me saying 'if the cards work in an external reader it's obviously not the card that's the problem', and Apple support got me to reset the various PRAM etc then run a fresh install of Catalina, all to no avail, then said next thing to try would be a complete erase and reinstall, and if that fails we know it's a 'hardware issue'. The million$ question for me is why do my older cards still work?

Also interestingly - the new cards also don't work in my 2012 15" Retina MacBook Pro with Mojave, last year's OS, so the problem could be more than Catalina in my case. 

I'll be following this thread carefully. For now I'll have to stick to using external card readers which I'd rather not have to do when travelling with my laptop because I'm bound to forget it one of these times, I'd also rather keep the extra USB port for other things, but at least I have a workaround just now.

Edited May 23, 2020 by WJohnston
Made a mistake with some dates

[theniggles]

Stumbled on this thread cos I had the same problem. I Force Quit and relaunch finder WITH the card in, then remove and insert again and it reads it. I take a pic or do something. And I stick it back in and it doesn't. And I have to do the above again! I think it's defo something with Catalina. And this only works SOMETIMES! Irritating!

If I plug the camera in USB, it's fine. 

I use a SonyRX100Vii and an Olympus EPL2...it works with my EPL2 sporadically. 

[Mihai Ditiu]

Dear members and visitors, I have the same problem with steveblue and after I read all of your posts I finally concluded. I just wrote a friendly table, so everyone can read and understand it, with real examples. I can't cover all combinations but those I have tried is enough to understand your needs for your case and to apply them for the best solution:

Apple Computers Memory Cards Compatibility

	Card Reader (internal or external) new + OS new	Card Reader (internal or external) old + OS new	Card Reader (internal or external) new + OS old	Card Reader (internal or external) old + OS old
SD card old	OK	OK	OK	OK
SD card new	OK	FAIL	OK	OK

 

SD card old is like 32 GB (FAT32) simple or less (<=2015)

SD card mid (old / new) is like 64 GB simple / 64 GB Pro&stuff (2015-2016)

SD card new is like 128 GB (ExFAT) Lexar 1000x Pro or better (>=2016)

Card Reader External old is like USB 2.0 (<=2015)

Card Reader Internal old is like iMac late 2013 or older

Card Reader External new is like USB 3.0 and newer or USB 2.0 but new chipset/generation (>=2016)

Card Reader Internal new is like Mac Book Pro Mid 2015 or newer

OS old is like El Capitan, maybe Sierra/High Sierra and older

OS new is like Majoave, Catalina, Big Sur and newer.

[George_P]

Dear Mihai, thanks for the write-up. I have no issues with cards but it can be useful for the ones who do. 

[Thomas Parb]

Hi all

I have the same problem with my 256GB Lexar card and Catalina, but I found a (bit unconventional) solution.

I installed home-brew (OS X Packagemanager) and gave Midnight-Commander a chance.. and it worked fine.

So install home-brew in Terminal (infos on hombres website, it's easy going) - install Midnight-Commander (brew install mc) - launch mc and copy your card... voila!

It's not the fine english art of copying files but it works ;-)

 

greetings Tom