Greetings, I am having a hair-pulling time with SD cards, I'm hoping that someone has come across this before and can help:

I have 2 Macs, both running 10.7.4, one a MBP and the other an iMac. The iMac will not let me trash photos from an SD card. After right-clicking on a particular photo (or group of photos) there is no "Move to Trash" option in the dialogue box. When I select "Get Info" for either the card itself or anything that it contains, I find that in the 'Permissions' field, that I can only READ.

I am the only account holder on this iMac and of course, the administrator.

I have tried creating a test account and the result is the same - 'Read Only'. This applies to all and any SD card(s).

I am baffled, as the MBP allows me permission to trash from the same card(s) whether I use the administrator account or another account.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

in Get Info can you not add yourself in the Sharing & Permissions tab to give yourself permissions to delete the files?

Thanks for your reply Iggy.

The short answer is: No.

I know what you are talking about, normally there would be a padlock at the bottom of the Get Info pane and a way to change the permission privileges for different users. However, there is nothing there in the case of SD cards (on either Mac).

Thanks again for your reply, any other ideas?

P.S. Here is a screenshot of the Get Info pane just to be clear: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/51254269/Screen ... 9%20PM.png

Have you tried to see how it is mounted with Disk Utility or from the command line? If the volume is mounted in read-only mode, I don't think you can do anything with it until you unmount and remount it as read/write.

They aren't called Secure Digital for nothing! Make sure the little lock switch on the side of the card is pushed all the way up toward the pins.

I considered the read only switch but if they work in a different mac I would assume the OP is not flicking the switch in between trying.

I would try getting the data off them, and formatting them in a mac, see if that helps

Thank you for your suggestions.

Talmy, thanks, the lock switch is always left in the un-locked position. The problem persists with each-and-every SD card, no particular card.

Michael, thank you, Disk Utility is something that I know very little about. I have used it to repair permissions for the HD, that's all. I am willing to try to check the items that you have suggested, I simply don't know how.

It occurred to me (perhaps erroneously), that we are focussing on the SD cards when the problem seems to be with my iMac. After all, the cards allow me Read and Write permission on my MBP - no problem.

Hello again Iggy, formatting or reformatting the cards is something that I am willing to try, once again, I don't know how. I wonder why it should be necessary, but would like to reformat at least one card as a test case. Could you describe the process please?

Again, thank you.

Presumably the cards are formatted in the camera? I'd go and reformat a suspect card in camera, take a picture, and see if you can delete the image on the iMac. Personally, I never delete individual files on these cards but reformat in camera to erase them.

Otherwise it sounds like a defective/dirty SD connector in the iMac or the card controller is defective.

Talmy, it seems that you are correct about the problem being either a poor connection at the SD slot itself or, that the card controller is defective.

With your comments in mind, I found an old multi-card reader that I have and tried my cards in that. They now allow me Read and Write permission.

I am relieved to have tracked down the problem with your help - thank you.

My iMac is well out of warranty, and given that it is no great inconvenience to use the external card reader, I don't think that I will bother having the iMac repaired.

Thanks again Michael, Iggy and Talmy.