repair missing SD-card lock

Hi this is my first instructable and i'm not sooo good at english, please be nice.

Today I wanted to save data on my SD card, but the lock (this grey thing you pull down to make the card write protected) was missing.
So i googled and found out that there is a button in the card reader. if open, the Lock pushes that button. but if its not pushed the card is protected, so i just have to push the button.
here i show you how to get your card to push that button.

Ingedients:
SD with missing lock
straw (dry grass, etc)
aluminium foil.
scotch tape

Step 1 Cover SD with alu and tape

get a piece of the aluminium foil and stick it onto a piece of tape.

then put it on SD like in pic 2.

Comments

[waterlubber]

There is no button, although this will still work. In every SD reader there's an Optical Sensor, which checks for the switch. If the switch is in the unlocked position, it will trip the sensor. Putting the straw in blocks the sensor, so you can write to it again.

[fhszfsfs]

it worked, but maybe i put the foil too fat, as the microSD-adapter got stuck in the SD card-reader (which happens to be in-built in my laptop). So i had to force pull it out using a nailcutter (i did not have a tweezer, luckily by adjusting the angle of the nail-cutter i was able to get a hold). So i have now taken out the tape-foil and am going to try to superglue a little bit of plastic to the top part of the locking mechanism. basically there is nothing electrical/optical about the lock, it is just a piece of plastic which can slide to the on and off position. if the slider is on the top position, it is on, there is no lock. if you slide it to the bottom, it is off, and you write-protection is on, hence locked. even superglue-ing a little plastic to the top/unlock position will be risky, what if it comes off and gets jammed in the card reader? best thing is to use this adapter as a read-only stand-by and by a new adapter if you want both read-write functions. which idiot at Sony Digital designed this flimsy lock in the SD-Card/microSD-adapter? did they not consider that such a delicate lock, whose job is to push some little button in the card-reader, will frequently get broken? oh yeah, that's what his bosses wanted, so they could sell more cards. anyway thanks for your idea, it does work, i was able to write to the card with the tape on, but the card jammed and thus for me this is not a feasible solution.

[kongbits]

Good Job!! thank you and thank you instructables!

[b_arirachmanto]

thanks..... my card can work normally.... :o

[pilif12p]

Yesh! It worked. I had an 8 GB card that i couldn't lose, had some really important pictures on it. Thank you SO much!

[stoopidification]

 don't know if you'll get this, but it's worth a try.

just saying thanks, this worked perfectly for my microSD card reader, looks exactly the same as the SD card you used in the pictures, saved me from going out and buying a new one.

thanks

[computerwiz_222]

My trans-flash adapter did this too, but I have like 5 or 6 cards, so I just tossed it. This is a cool fix though!

[zimmemic25]

tips on making i9nstructables welcome.

[alex-sharetskiy]

you got a nine in your comment!

[reedz]

You got a comment in my nine!

[zimmemic25]

"Hey flie! There's a soup in my wayter

[ac1D]

You got a nine in your comment! So do I?

[zimmemic25]

ok i didn't mean tips on writing comments but on writing Instructables :-P

[i make shooting things]

This would have helped me out a lot a month ago the exact thing happened to me with the same adapter. Instead of putting effort into fixing it i just got a new Micro Sd card (2g) with adapter for $15 a year or so ago i got a 1g micro sd card with the kit and it cost $40 the prices are dropping so much.

[zimmemic25]

i "invented" this repair method when i was frustrated cause myy SD&Adaptor didn't work and i just put all things in that **************** switch i could find.

somehow i had a piece of straw in my room (there is a piece of everything in my room, mostly on the floor) and i broke it in2 parts and put it in the card and it worked. then i thought it would be better with a piece of scotchtape on it and so i made this.

[panstar1]

(removed by author or community request)

[zimmemic25]

ok i have 2 problems: 1) i'm german and dont know so many product names (i had to babelfish "scotch tape") 2) it's 8:30 PN here and i'm tired, maybe i can understand what u say tomorrow ;-)