Users Reporting Some 2021 M1 MacBook Pro Not Working Properly With SD Cards

A number of 2021 MacBook Pro models are not working properly with some SD cards, according to user complaints surfaced online.

MacRumors explains that multiple people have posted to a thread in its forums to report that some SD cards don’t appear to work correctly when inserted into the MacBook Pro’s slot. Some cards reportedly cause Finder to crash, while others are able to transfer data but at a speed much slower than expected.

The thread was started by user 0071284, who explained that they have several SD cards that go unrecognized by their new MacBook Pro. However, when using Apple’s external USB-C to SD card reader, 0071284 says their Mac has no trouble reading their cards.

“Same issues with [14-inch] M1 Pro,” explains one user. “Just seems to be super flakey and inconsistent. Half the time it’ll recognize the card successfully (though it takes anywhere from 30s to 1m) and half the time it’ll throw an error. These are all Sandisk Ultra cards, both XC and HC, that were formatted in my camera. I tried reformatting them w/ the MBP and that didn’t seem to make a difference. All my cards work as expected in my 3 other USB card readers.”

The issue seems to affect different cards of the same capacity, too. Forum user wilberforce states that their 64GB Sony SD card works in the MacBook Pro, but their 64GB SanDisk SD card does not. They added that they have tried all manner of SD cards from different manufacturers and with different capacities, with the likelihood of success seeming to be “completely random.”

For some people, MacOS could take minutes to recognize the SD card and show its contents in Finder. Even so, that still resulted in Finder sometimes crashing. Some users tried formatting their cards, which did not help.

According to MacRumors, Apple has responded to some of the reported complaints and said that “the company is aware of the issue and that a fix is coming in a future software update.” However, at this stage, it’s hard to say whether the problem is hardware-related, considering some users were able to fix their issues by replacing their MacBook Pros.

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