<p>I've no idea why 3D printers don't like SD cards formatted by operating system utilities, but they don't. Use <a href="https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SD Memory Card Formatter</a> to format your memory cards. Unfortunately, you have probably lost any data that was on the original SD card.</p>

<p>The SD cards that are supplied with 3D printers typically contain documentation, test files, and device drivers. However, these files do not need to be present for the correct operation of the printer. All that is needed is a correctly-formatted SD card containing the G-code files that you want to print.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-17T13:26:02.053Z
This addresses the formatting of the card (like the answer in the [linked question](/q/7845/), can you comment on the root files part of the question? I've never heard of such files for printers.
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-17T17:29:24.833Z
I'm skeptical -- my A8 clone  is perfectly happy with SD cards I've formatted FAT32 via MacOS
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-17T11:19:31.023Z
2019-06-17T16:21:54.107Z
2019-06-17T16:21:54.107Z
Mick
<p>My monoprice printer was working; I then tried to format the SD card on a Mac, then it stopped working. I have now tried three different SD cards after formatting on a Windows PC, and still nothing works. Are there supposed to be files on the SD card itself like some kind of root files?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-16T21:22:31.837Z
See the discussion at https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/7845/how-to-format-an-sd-card-for-monoprice-select-mini-v2 and see if it helps.
Perry Webb
<sd><monoprice-select-mini>
Monoprice printer: no files found on SD card
tony
# Monoprice printer: no files found on SD card

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-16)

My monoprice printer was working; I then tried to format the SD card on a Mac, then it stopped working. I have now tried three different SD cards after formatting on a Windows PC, and still nothing works. Are there supposed to be files on the SD card itself like some kind of root files?

**Tags:** sd, monoprice-select-mini
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See the discussion at https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/7845/how-to-format-an-sd-card-for-monoprice-select-mini-v2 and see if it helps.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-06-17. Score: 2

I've no idea why 3D printers don't like SD cards formatted by operating system utilities, but they don't. Use [SD Memory Card Formatter](https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/) to format your memory cards. Unfortunately, you have probably lost any data that was on the original SD card.

The SD cards that are supplied with 3D printers typically contain documentation, test files, and device drivers. However, these files do not need to be present for the correct operation of the printer. All that is needed is a correctly-formatted SD card containing the G-code files that you want to print.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: This addresses the formatting of the card (like the answer in the [linked question](/q/7845/), can you comment on the root files part of the question? I've never heard of such files for printers.  
> **username_4**: I'm skeptical -- my A8 clone  is perfectly happy with SD cards I've formatted FAT32 via MacOS  

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