PSA: Fuji Users – Lock Your SD Cards When Accessing Files On A Mac To Avoid Corruption

Justin Heyes

Apple can’t catch a break recently. First, there were/are issues with Photoshop and Lightroom with the newest macOs Sierra, and now there are issues appearing that are causing corruption and failure on SD cards used in Fuji cameras.

[REWIND: Mac OS Sierra Might Break Compatibility With Lightroom & Photoshop ]

I second-shot about 20 weddings this year with my Fuji system, and most went off without a hitch: Either I shot on the lead’s cards, dumped a copy on my laptop and gave them the cards at the end of the night, or I shot on my cards and the lead mailed them back (weird, I know). I haven’t had any issues with the dozen or so photographers that I have shot with save one of the last ones; I received my SD cards back completely toasted.

fujifilm-fuji-best-lenses-xt2-x100

Unbeknownst to me at the time, cards from Fuji cameras can have Issues with the files that Apple writes to all media drives. Granted it is not a specific issue with macOS Sierra as all OSX based systems write files like .DS_Store and ._AppleDouble that help with indexing and file retrieval. When these files are written to the card, Fuji cameras like the X100T see them as an error and Display “Card Error” on the screen, or even make the cards unmountable.

format-sd-cards-memory-photography

A simple solution to prevent theses files from being written to your SD cards is enabling the write protection switch before inserting them into your computer. Enabling the switch will allow you read the image file off the card and prevent macOS from indexing them. When you are done transferring, your files disable the write protection and format the cards in camera.

blueharvest610prefs

A second solution comes from Zerotwenty and their $15 app BlueHarvest. Die hard Star Wars fans will understand the reference, but what Blueharvest does is prevent the Empire macOS from writing .DS_Store files on your local and networked drives. If you work with Fuji cameras extensively, it is worth the free trial and peace of mind especially when working on a Mac.

lexar-64gb-sd

In my situation, luckily, the Lead got all the files she needs before the cards became corrupted. I was miffed that I lost two cards, but it gave me the opportunity to invest in the Lexar x1000 UHS-II I had been eyeing up on B&H.

RELATED POSTS

Profoto B20 & B30 Review | Cutting Edge Portable Studio Strobes

July 16, 2025

After more than 20 years of professional portrait & wedding photography, I...

7 Tips To Help You Conserve Battery Power

July 05, 2025

Someday, it will happen. You were absolutely certain that you've charged each of your camera batteries,...

Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 Review | The Best Value In the Nikkor Lineup?

June 17, 2025

A “superzoom” lens used to be scorned by serious photographers, because it...

Profoto Announces B20 and B30 | Portable Power, Maximized

June 10, 2025

The Profoto name is legendary for many reasons. For me after 20+...