[Solved] Couldn’t Modify Partition Map SD Card

Couldn’t modify partition map SD card -  People often encounter this error while formatting or reformatting their SD cards with Disk utility on Mac machines. Usually, this problem occurs when the Mac system has done severe damage by corrupting the partition map of the SD card. Consequentially, people encounter data loss.Disk Utility Error Map

To fix this issue and recover data lost after partition map corruption on SD card, we provide you with most the reliable solution to fix the issue and safeguard your files on the SD card. To know how to, continue reading...!

What is Partition Map?

Before going for the solution, let’s understand what basically a partition map is? A partition map is a unique layout of any storage device that contains vital information of each Volume/partition.  It contains the source files that were used to create a partition, the function, and the global data which is included in a partition, etc.

Why does partition map get corrupted?

The most frequent reason behind the corruption of the partition map is severe virus attacks, formation of bad sectors, especially the boot sector. If the boot sector of the storage device gets damaged as a consequence of improper system shutdown, sudden power surge, etc., then the SD card will not be mounted with read and write mode, resulting in data loss. In such an instance, your SD card becomes unreadable. Luckily, here's a solution to fix unreadable SD cards with utmost ease.

Solutions to Fix “Couldn’t Modify Partition Map SD Card Error:

Since Disk Utility cannot repair a damaged partition map, you can only format the SD card to fix the corrupt partition map. However, to avoid data loss, data recovery from SD cards should be your first priority. So, utilize Remo SD Card Recovery, a trusted data recovery tool to recover data lost after partition map damage before fixing the corrupt partition map.

Solution #1 - Recover Data Lost after Partition Map Damage with Remo Recover Tool:

Remo SD Card Recovery software allows you to recover data lost or deleted from your SD card on Mac in just a few simple steps. In fact, it is capable of recovering files from formatted, unreadable, unmountable, and inaccessible SD cards too with utmost ease. The tool is compatible with macOS Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, and previous versions.

recover files from SD card saying empty recover and fix SD card is blank or has unsupported file system

Guidelines to recover lost data after corrupt partition map:

Step 1: Download, and install the free version of Remo Recover Software on your Mac system. After successful installation of the software, launch it. From the main screen, select “Recover Volumes/Drives” option.

Remo Recover Mac Main Screen

Step 2: Next, select “Volume Recovery” option as shown in Fig. 2

Remo Recover Volumes Recovery

Step 3: Now, choose the SD card drive from where you have to recover files, and click “Next” to continue, as illustrated in Fig 3.

Remo Recover Mac Select Volume

Step 4: Now, the software scans the selected SD Card drive. After the completion of scanning & recovery process, a list of recovered files from SD card are displayed in File Type View.

Remo Recover Mac Recovered Data

Step 5: At last, click “Save Recovery Session” option to save the entire recovery process, and if you are satisfied with the tool, then activate the license key and save the recovered files without re-scanning the SD card again. “Open Recovery Session” option helps you to continue the recovery process at the point where you left the recovery process.

Remo Recover Mac Save Recovery Session

Once you have successfully recovered all your data lost after partition map corruption, go ahead with a solution given below to fix damaged SD card partition map.

Solution #2 - Fixing “Couldn’t modify partition map SD card” error using Disk Utility:

Step 1: If the SD card is not completely damaged/corrupt, then the solution for this problem is to create a new partition map on the SD card. This is possible with the Disk Utility using the hidden option Show All Devices

Disk Utility All Devices

Step 2: Now, you will be able to select the device (SD Card). Here, make sure that you select the SD card and not the partition. Just right-click and click on Erase option

Disk Utility Erase Disk

 

Step 3: Once you click on Erase option, you will see a screen as shown in the figure below, and you will be able to use your SD card again.

Disk Utility Erase Disk Success

Solution #3 – Fixing “Couldn’t Modify Partition Map SD Card” Via Command Line

diskutil list

My SD Card is /dev/disk2, and following is the command to erase the SD card partition:

diskutil eraseDisk ExFAT USBNAME /dev/disk2

Conclusion:

Here, we have explained why the SD card partition map gets corrupt and provided free solutions on how to fix the “Couldn’t modify partition map SD card” error on your Mac machine. The recommended way would be to recover data from an SD cards before you try out these troubleshooting tips. We hope it helped you in resolving the issues with your SD card.

Make sure that you have a regular backup of the files on the SD card to avoid data loss problems on any occasions of SD card corruption.

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John Harris

Senior Editor, Content Analyst and a fan of exceptional customer service. John develops and publishes instructional and informational content regarding partition management, Windows hot-fixes, data management and computer troubleshooting.

As a tenured data recovery specialist, John shares exceptional insights and blog posts about data loss and data recovery across any storage device. With 8+ years’ experience in writing for Data Recovery for both Mac OS and Windows OS computers, he is an avid learner who always wants to polish and simplify the data recovery process. John passes his free time playing Chess and reading Science Fiction novels.

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