How to Use SD Card with Macbook Pro

The Macbook Pro laptop computer made by Apple Computers has select models that contain an SD card slot (which in some models takes the place of the ExpressCard slot). SD cards are multimedia data storage cards that can hold digital media such as photos, video, and other files. They are often found as removable memory in digital cameras, cell phones, handheld video game devices, and other electronic devices.

Before the inclusion of a built in SD card slot on the Macbook Pro, one would have to purchase a USB adapter to plug the SD card into or would have to connect the camera or digital device itself to the computer. Now the user can simply pop the card out of the device and slide it into the SD card slot.

Sizes accepted by the Macbook Pro SD card slot.

Apple says that the dimensions of the SD card slot can hold a card up to 32 mm by 24 mm by 2.1 mm which is a standard size of an SD card. MiniSD and MicroSD cards can be placed into a plastic adapter sleeve (that often comes with these smaller cards) and then the whole unit is slid into the slot. Cards or adapters that are greater than 2.1 mm thick can damage the card slot and should not be inserted.

Inserting the SD card.

The card should be placed face down and slide into the slot. Once the card is in place, the computer will recognize the card much like it would recognize a USB device or removable hard drive (Note: The card will protrude slightly from the slot). The metal contacts on the SD card should be facing down when inserting the card.

I have a Macbook Pro with the SD card slot and can attest to the quickness of card detection. Within a second or two the SD card was detected and showed up as a removable drive on my Mac OS X desktop.

Accessing the contents of the card.

The easiest way to access the contents is to double click on the removable drive icon that appears on your desktop when you insert the card. By default the icon will look like a white hard disk drive. If you have named the SD card or it was named by the device it was installed in, the name may appear under the icon.

Double click on the icon to open "Finder" and you can view the contents of the SD card. Clicking on an item will launch the appropriate program needed to view the file. You can drag and drop files to copy them onto the hard disk of the computer. You can also access files on the SD card by opening a relevant program and using the "Open" option found in the program's drop down "File" menu. An example would be opening iPhoto and accessing photos on the SD card that were taken with your digital camera.

Advanced Use of the SD Card.

If the SD card has a large enough capacity, you can create partitions on the SD card and use Disk Utility to partition and format the SD card. With the card inserted into the Mac's SD slot, launch Disk Utility and select the SD card drive from the left hand side menu. Select the options that you want to do such as format or partition and OSX will complete the task.

You can format the SD card to hold a copy of Mac OS X so that the SD card can act as a startup volume in case you lose your Mac OS X disc or the CD drive fails. Simply set the partition table to the GUID format in Disk Utility and use the Mac OS Extended file format when formatting the SD card.

Safe Removal.

It is a good idea to drag the removable drive icon from the desktop to the trash bin (which will turn to an Eject icon when the drive icon is placed over it) and drop the drive into the bin. This will safely ensure that transfers are done and the SD card will be safe for physical removal.

The SD card slot on the Macbook Pro is sure to make those who transfer digital files from digital devices to their Macs happy. Those who miss the Express Card slot can still get the slot built in on the 17 inch Macbook Pro models but all of the other Macbook Pro models come with the SD card slot.