We had this happen to our 6D and it was the circuit board. Sent to Canon for repair and $400 - $600 later it came back working. I believe on this occasion they should have ate the cost, but it wasn't my camera and I didn't handle the return.

Here are some things we checked before sending in for repair:

Check that the card is formatted properly [WARNING!]

• Check that the card is formatted properly for your camera. Some cards come formatted differently [FAT32, exFAT, etc]. Generally I would use a computer to check the card for anything i needed first then format in the camera using the low level format option. Don't format your stuff dude, that would suck.

Check that the card isn't damaged or in locked mode

• I understand locked mode shouldn't do anything, but why not check. Also, if you wrote on the card with a pen, or it is damaged then it might be the card.

Check another card

• Plop in another card that is compatible with your camera.

Make sure the card is compatible with your camera

• Cameras and cards are not all created equal. Some cameras can not use cards if they are 'too good' for your camera, and some cameras can not read or see cards that are 'too basic' for your camera bus.
  • Here are some basic guidelines for choosing a card that matches your camera:
  • Sandisk SD Card Recommendations
  • SD and Compact Flash Card Numbers Explained
  • [I will convert this to static content soon and set a reference, can't right now]

Check that you are using a Canon battery

• I know this sounds strange, but I recall we had problems with non-Canon batteries [el cheapo] and card read errors. Not sure why.

Power down the camera, pull the battery

• Power down the camera, pull the battery and wait a minute then reinsert

Check the card contacts and clean them

• The contacts can have bad contact with the camera contacts for a number of reasons. Clean the contacts properly and try again. Also, check the camera contacts in the slot using a flashlight to ensure there isn't anything like fuzz stuck in the port or damaged pins.

Call Canon Tech Support, Send for Repair

• Although there might be more things to check, at this point we thought it was time to get the manufacturer involved. So we called, then sent it in. Now it works.

Hope you get good luck and it is simple. Last note. Check the video record after you think it is fixed. Even after we got ours working temporarily we noticed it would have a write error in a short amount of time while recording video.

What does it mean when your Canon camera says sd card cannot be accessed with the error message 'Err 02 Card cannot be accessed. Reinsert/change card or format card with camera'? How to fix card2 cannot be accessed error on Canon?

The Case - Canon camera not reading sd card

Why does my Canon camera says card cannot be accessed? My sd card reported 'card cannot be accessed' on canon 7d all of sudden. How do you fix card cannot be accessed error in Canon camera and recover data? Please help me.

Resolution: when digital camera Canon won't read sd card or cf card, there are four scenarios that may need your attention.

1. The sd card is logically damaged that can be fixed by sd card repair tools -> the following part includes some sd card repair ways&tools.
2. The sd card has bad chips or other physical damages -> clean it with swab or do some other cleaning
3. The digital camera memory card slot is spotted -> clean it, or it's dead
4. The camera canon has physical damages -> ask Canon support for help

Solution: here are some free fixes for fixing the error card cannot be accessed on your canon camera.

6 Fixes for Canon Card Cannot Be Accessed Error

Required: if your sd/cf card can still be recognized on a computer, do make a backup for all files on the sd card to a computer at first and then try the rest fixes to make data safe and secure.

SD card damaged? Try the following fixes.

Fix

1 - Recover data from Canon inaccessible sd/cf card with iCare Pro Free

As free damaged sd card recovery tool, iCare Recovery Pro Free would let you recover images, videos from Canon memory card for free when you insert your sd/cf card to a computer with a card reader and then run iCare, scan memory card, and save data.

Download iCare Pro Fee

Note: if you do not care information on the memory card used on your Canon camera, you may simply ignore this fixing

1 and directly go to the

2 fix.

Fix

2 - Format SD Card on Camera [Highly Recommended, key to repair logical damages]

As the best way to fix the Canon camera card cannot be accessed error, formatting the sd card with Canon camera would make an end to this error immediately!

If a simple formatting failed to fix the card cannot be accessed error, you may come back to this screen photo and get 'low level format' selected in the format card option.

Note: Formatting would erase every image and video on the camera memory card, please do restore files from inaccessible sd card in advance, or backup sd card photos, videos to somewhere else if you could still get other device or computer to read the sd card when it is just not reading on Canon camera.

Fix

3 - Format SD/CF Card in Windows 11/10/8/7 Computer

Formatting a Canon memory card would be easy if you insert it to a computer, right click the sd card, go to its format option and a window like the following image would show up for a memory card formatting.

You may try to format sd card fat32 at first, and if it does not work, format it to exfat.

Logical errors between a camera and memory card may happen when they have different file system, for example when camera could recognize a fat32 memory card, it won't recognize your FAT sd card.

Fix

4 - Format SD/CF Card under disk management

Connect memory card to computer, open disk management, right click sd card in disk management -> Format, to get it formatted and see whether it could work.

Still Failed and sd card not working on Canon camera? Try the following methods.

Fix

5 - Clean memory card SD/CF with a swab

An old memory card may get spotted that would prevent it from being recognized or detected, you may firstly try cleanning it with a swab, and insert it back to camera to see whether it would work.

Fix

6 - Repair corrupted sd card by chkdsk

Chkdsk is able to repair damaged sd card if it has logical errors. Command prompt 'chkdsk /f' or 'chkdsk /f /r' or 'chkdsk /f /r /x' would work for you if you need to repair the memory card. See how to operate the chkdsk repairing canon sd card in the following video.

Video - Repair damaged sd card on computer

Note: chkdsk failed? See solution: chkdsk is not available for raw drives sd card fix

Fix

7 - Repair damaged Canon camera

The error from the camera canon itself could be another cause if it reports sd card reading error. You may check if it's the damage from the digital camera. Or you may turn to a Canon support for help to see whether the camera is damaged.

How to tell which is damaged, the sd card or the canon camera?

If the memory card is dead, it could not be fixed by neither way. You may use another memory card to test whether it would work good on Canon to see whether it's the error from the memory card or the camera.

Tips: If the sd card reports raw file system, cannot be formatted, or chkdsk failed to repair the sd card, it has high possibility that the sd card is damaged instead of the damage from the digital camera canon.

Also read: how to format raw sd card, or 7 free sd card repair tools

FAQs

Question: card cannot be accessed canon t1i

Answer: It's the same solution for card cannot be accessed canon t1i or canon eos 7d/10d 'card cannot be accessed' since this error may happen to many kinds of memory card on different types of canon cameras of different types. Canon card cannot be accessed could be fixed easily if it's the logical damages.