Sandisk 8GB SDHC card gets write-protected

Hi everyone, I am really struggling with this one and would really need help. My new Sandisk 8GB card would get write-protected after I format it in my Nikonn D3100 camera. I have changed two cards already but everytime I format it from Camera "format" option it write-protects all my pictures. I can still delete those pictures from Camera but not from my SD card reader on my laptop. I have tried different SD card readers but they all say "disk is write-proctected". I know there is small lock latch but it is at "unlock" position. I have moved latch up/down as well quite a few times but my laptop says "write-protected" which means I can copy files from the card but cannot delete them! This is very annoying as I am use to delete files from my laptop. Has anyone got any clue why these cards are getting write-protected? I have not set any protection on my pictures as I know there is a protected AE-L key near viewfinder. I don't think card is faulty as this is my 3rd card in 2 weeks!

Hello, Can someone help me with this please?

I think you have locked them within the camera, have a look at the images on the rear LCD screen, if you see a little image of a key, the images are locked and can only be deleted by formatting the card, if you use Nikon NX2 software they can be unlocked from there, To remove protection from all images in the folder or folders currently selected in the Playback folder menu, press the AE-L/AF-L and the button with the trash bin on it, hold the two buttons together for about two secondsduring playback.

Let me check..

Sorry it didn't help I pressed the two buttons and it askd me do I want to un-protect all and I pressed OK but still the SD card is write-protected. I cannot delete images or copy any file in it from SD card reader

I have formatted it again from Camera and still the same...do you think it could be a camera fault? this is my new D3100!

I opened the file from Nikon NX2 and I can see that "protect key" there with the image but there is no option to "un-protect" it!! Also, I did not protect this image in Camera so don't know why all images are getting protected by default.

hxxp://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/imageprotect.jpg/

Well the only way to protect images in camera is to press the AE-L/AF-L button, when you have taken a photo and have it up on the rear LCD screen is there the key image on there ?? if all else fails, try doing a reset on the camera, which will put it back to factory settings

Nikon Photographer said:

Well the only way to protect images in camera is to press the AE-L/AF-L button, when you have taken a photo and have it up on the rear LCD screen is there the key image on there ?? if all else fails, try doing a reset on the camera, which will put it back to factory settings

Click to expand...

Tried it by doing reset and then doing format of the card ..no joy
In my laptop if I want to copy something on the card or delete something from it - it says " the disc is write-protected" ... Can it be a card problem? remember this is my 2nd SDHC card.. can two new cards be faulty?

Nikon Photographer said:

Well the only way to protect images in camera is to press the AE-L/AF-L button, when you have taken a photo and have it up on the rear LCD screen is there the key image on there ?? if all else fails, try doing a reset on the camera, which will put it back to factory settings

Click to expand...

No there is no "key" image on there..I have not protected any images..

dadageer said:

Can it be a card problem? remember this is my 2nd SDHC card.. can two new cards be faulty?

Click to expand...

Is the card genuine ?? there's a lot of fake Sandisk cards going around, check the serial number with them, I would try a different card to just be sure, if not, I would take the camera back to the dealer for them to check it out.

Nikon Photographer said:

Is the card genuine ?? there's a lot of fake Sandisk cards going around, check the serial number with them, I would try a different card to just be sure, if not, I would take the camera back to the dealer for them to check it out.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't think Jessops selling dodgy cards

Thanks for your help mate. I have bought 3-year extended cover with this Camera so will take it this weekend to see what they say.

dadageer said:

I wouldn't think Jessops selling dodgy cards

Click to expand...

I would hope not, but something is going on, hope you get it sorted, as I can't thunk what might be causing your problem ...

Is it possibly the card reader that is at fault? Do you have a differernt reader you can test?

I went to Jessops today and to my utter surprise she was able to delete the pictures using her laptop SD card reader! I was a bit annoyed as I spent whole week trying to sort this out and it turned out that it's neither Camera nor the card which was faulty..has to be my Card reader then. So I came back and tried the card on my office Dell Laptop and I can delete the pictures. I later searched and found that HP Pavillion DV6000 Card reader has this problem of reading High Speed (Class 10) SDHC cards and sometimes they cannot read at all and even if they can read they may have various issues (write-protected could be one of them). I have now ordered a USB SDHC card reader from Amazon and hopefully that will resolve the issue. I am glad that finally found the issue and it is not my Camera which was faulty.

@Seanm - Thanks mate, I read your reply just now but you were spot on..

I have just resolved this problem with 2 x Sandisk SDHC memory cards, one 4G and the other 16G
They both say "write protected" when I try and copy and paste image folders to them
I am using an image mate card reader by Sandisk and a windows 7 desktop.
Surprisingly I found if I mount the card in the reader and open the image folder I want to transfer to the card and RIGHT CLICK on the image folder and use the SEND TO function, that the Image Folder WILL write to the memory card.
A standard copy and paste fails every time.
Why the subtle difference works I dont know, but this latter method does.
I used the SEND TO method to write the last correct Image File to a memory card to update the camera file/image numbering system, having accidentially zero'd it.