Thanks Switch,

No worries, I've been at work for a few hours today but got home eager to have a go.

Tried the first method but I don't have a 'security' tab at the top so got stuck there on that one!
also attempting to format whilst still in Disk Management by right clicking and selecting "Format" gives the same error - 'card is write protected'.

When trying through the cmd prompt the disk isn't listed after the 'list disk' command, only the pc's hard drive is listed.

so, still stuck, still bemused and still trying!

Thanks for your efforts though, it is appreciated.


@ Flexxxv - Tried the panasonic one first, no joy i'm afraid.