# Compact Flash Card not recognized in Mac



## Caleb5995000 (Jun 20, 2013)

Help! My Mid 2012 Macbook Air (10.8.4) doesn't recognize the Compact Flash cards from my venerable 40D. I've been using these same SanDisk Extreme III cards with a firewire card reader on my dearly departed 2008 MacBook Pro for ages. I've tried two separate USB 3.0 card readers on the MBA with the same results... uh, no results.

Has anyone else had this issue? Any suggestions?


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## Drizzt321 (Jun 20, 2013)

Have you tried reformatting the card in the camera? Or in your Mac? Or is it just not detecting the card at all?

If you have photos you need to get off it, I recommend finding a friend who you can try the card reading off of.


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## ahab1372 (Jun 20, 2013)

Check the Preferences for the *Finder*. Maybe external drives are just not displayed where you expect them to show up. I find it most convenient to have see them in the sidebar (Finder - Preferences - Sidebar => under Devices, check _External disks_


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## RGF (Jun 20, 2013)

First time this has happened? Have you been able to read this card or other cards before? Are there images on the card?


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## dgatwood (Jun 21, 2013)

Caleb5995000 said:


> Help! My Mid 2012 Macbook Air (10.8.4) doesn't recognize the Compact Flash cards from my venerable 40D. I've been using these same SanDisk Extreme III cards with a firewire card reader on my dearly departed 2008 MacBook Pro for ages. I've tried two separate USB 3.0 card readers on the MBA with the same results... uh, no results.
> 
> Has anyone else had this issue? Any suggestions?



So you get an error, or does the card just not show up in the Finder sidebar/on the desktop? Do other cards work with those readers on that machine? Other FireWire/USB devices? Do the readers show up in System Profiler?


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## Caleb5995000 (Jun 21, 2013)

I have several cards and 2 card readers that are having the same issue. The cards reformat just fine in the camera. Some cards have images on them and others are empty. None of the cards can be reformated with my MacBook Air. The cards do NOT show up in finder. They do show up in disk utilities, but nothing I can't do anything with them there.

I have been using these cards without issue for years, but not with this new Mac.

I'm still stumped...


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## sjschall (Jun 21, 2013)

Sounds frustrating! What is disabling you from reformatting if you can see them in Disk Utility? You can't select the card and click 'erase'?

+1 for checking Finder prefs to make sure it's set to show external drives on the desktop.


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## RGF (Jun 21, 2013)

Not having this problem but the thread caused me to check new Mac can read my cards before I leave for major trip next week

Thanks


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 21, 2013)

RGF said:


> Not having this problem but the thread caused me to check new Mac can read my cards before I leave for major trip next week
> 
> Thanks


Take a spare reader if you have room, electronics tend to die young or last for a long time.


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## mrsfotografie (Jun 21, 2013)

Have you tried connecting your 40D to your mac with a usb cable and downloading your image data that way?


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## Caleb5995000 (Jun 24, 2013)

Thanks to all who have responded!!

Finder preferences are set to show everything.

I am unable to reformat, erase, partition or anything else in Disk Utility. Everything is greyed out.

When I connect the 40D to my Air, iPhoto pops up and I am only able to download into iPhoto. This kinda defeats the purpose of having USB 3.0. Plus, my prefered workflow uses bridge and photoshop, not iPhoto.

At least I am encouraged that others are NOT having this issue. That means that it should work and therefore there should be a fix.

My next move is to make a Genius Bar appointment and see if they can help.


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## Drizzt321 (Jun 24, 2013)

Caleb5995000 said:


> Thanks to all who have responded!!
> 
> Finder preferences are set to show everything.
> 
> ...



Well, the cameras are all USB2.0, but leaving that aside it's because the cameras usually connect in PTP, which Mac probably defaults to popping up iPhoto. At least on Windows, it also exposes the camera as a device I can simply copy all of the images off into a separate folder elsewhere, and then I can import from there.

However, if these CF cards are from 2008, they are starting to get somewhat old. They do eventually die, although it does take a lot of shooting to get them to die everything else being equal.


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## ahab1372 (Jun 24, 2013)

Caleb5995000 said:


> When I connect the 40D to my Air, iPhoto pops up and I am only able to download into iPhoto. This kinda defeats the purpose of having USB 3.0. Plus, my prefered workflow uses bridge and photoshop, not iPhoto.


With the camera connected, launch ImageCapture (in the Applications folder). In the window on the left you can elect what Application should start (or none) when you connect the camera. ImageCapture is also the tool you want to use to copy the files to disk when the camera is connected through the cable.


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## volpe94 (Oct 25, 2013)

I am having this same problem. I have tried two SanDisk readers and a Rocketfish reader. My Air 10.8.5 does not recognize any of the readers with my CF card. I don't know what to do...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Oct 26, 2013)

volpe94 said:


> I am having this same problem. I have tried two SanDisk readers and a Rocketfish reader. My Air 10.8.5 does not recognize any of the readers with my CF card. I don't know what to do...


 
Check for firmware updates for the card reader. Otherwise, buy a new card reader and see if it works. Quite a few people have similar issues, but I've never seen anyone actually solve it.


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