Editing SD card (section)

====Write-protect notch====
[[File:SD card unlocked and locked.svg|thumb|Diagram showing an orange sliding write-protect switch in both the unlocked and locked positions]]
[[File:Vorderseite Sony Tough SF-M64T SDUHSII011CORRklein.png|thumb|upright|Sony Tough Series SD card, one of the few cards on the market without a sliding tab on the write protect notch]]

Most full-size SD cards have a mechanical write-protect switch, a sliding tab over a notch on the left side (viewed from the top, with the beveled corner on the right), that signals to the device to treat the card as read-only. Sliding the tab up (toward the contacts) sets the card to read/write; sliding it down sets it to read-only. However, the switch position is not detected by the card’s internal circuitry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/pls/index.html|title=Simplified Specifications – SD Association, version 3.10, Part 1, Physical Layer, section 4.3.6" Write Protect Management"|website=sdcard.org|access-date=2019-04-11|archive-date=2019-04-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411015937/https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/pls/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Therefore, some devices ignore it, while others allow overrides.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

MiniSD and microSD cards lack a built-in notch but can be used with adapters that include one. Cards without a notch are always writable; cards with preloaded content have a notch but no sliding tab.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}