One of the main highlights of the new 2021 MacBook Pro is the return of the SD card slot, which means you can finally use SD cards on your new machine. Unfortunately, some users have been experiencing slower file transfer speeds or even inaccessible files when they’re trying to use their SD card on their new MacBook Pro.
MacRumors report shared on the web suggests that there is a widespread issue regarding the SD card reader in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models introduced this year. Some users have said that they have experienced different issues with different SD cards, while others claim that the SD card reader works fine.
2021 MacBook Pro has SD card reader issues
Users report that the Macbook Pro with M1 Pro chip is super flaky and sometimes when reading SD cards the Finder will crash. Other users are complaining that the machines take about a minute to recognize the SD card and sometimes it shows an error.
“It’s very frustrating. I was hoping that import from SD card including preview of images would be quick on my new 14″ MBP. I have a fairly new 64GB SD card which had been working fine. But Photos on the MBP using the internal SD card slot takes minutes to show photos and sometimes crashes half way through. Sometimes the Finder crashes too.”
Even though formatting the SD card fixes the issue in many cases, this doesn’t work for everyone. It might work for the same SD card used in other devices but this isn’t always the case. The problem seems to come from something else or could be software-related.
“The only thing that is consistent is that if a card works, it always works, and if a card does not work properly it never works properly. Reformatting, even to all other possible formats, makes no difference. Sandisk, Sony, Samsung, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, UHS-I, UHS-II, micro-SD, FAT32, exFAT, makes no difference. 100% of my cards work perfectly via a dongle.”
