Detect if an SD card has been inserted via PowerShell

I would like to use PowerShell to detect if an SD card is there. After an SD card has been detected, a PowerShell script should automatically copy some files to the SD card.

I already found and tried a PS script, but it only detects USB sticks.

Register-WmiEvent -Class win32_VolumeChangeEvent -SourceIdentifier volumeChange
write-host (get-date -format s) " Beginning script..."
do{
    $newEvent = Wait-Event -SourceIdentifier volumeChange
    $eventType = $newEvent.SourceEventArgs.NewEvent.EventType
    $eventTypeName = switch($eventType)
    {
        1 {"Configuration changed"}
        2 {"Device arrival"}
        3 {"Device removal"}
        4 {"docking"}
    }
    write-host (get-date -format s) " Event detected = " $eventTypeName
    if ($eventType -eq 2)
    {
        $driveLetter = $newEvent.SourceEventArgs.NewEvent.DriveName
        $driveLabel = ([wmi]"Win32_LogicalDisk='$driveLetter'").VolumeName
        write-host (get-date -format s) " Drive name = " $driveLetter
        write-host (get-date -format s) " Drive label = " $driveLabel
        # Execute process if drive matches specified condition(s)
        if ($driveLetter -eq 'E:' -and $driveLabel -eq 'Test 1')
        {
            write-host (get-date -format s) " Starting task in 3 seconds..."
            start-sleep -seconds 3
            start-process "E:test.bat"
        }
    }
    Remove-Event -SourceIdentifier volumeChange
} while (1-eq1) #Loop until next event
Unregister-Event -SourceIdentifier volumeChange

saygon

Posted 2016-09-10T09:54:09.530

Reputation: 21

I have no SD card in handy so I cannot test my suggestion. But try to change if ($eventType -eq 2) to if ($eventType -eq 4). The script then does not watch for Device arrival (new drive letter added?) but rather for the docking of new hardware. I also assume that you already changed if ($driveLetter -eq 'E:' -and $driveLabel -eq 'Test 1') to your own needs? – nixda – 2016-09-10T10:52:09.797

Hi nixda and thank you for your reply. I have already modified script but it still doesn't detect SD card. The main reason (I think) why script doesn't work it is if you have an built-in SD card reader, and you eject the SD card, you are still able to find card reader under Disk Management with assigned letter. – saygon – 2016-09-10T11:39:43.880

I think you're right about the drive letter. That's why I thought Device arrival won't work. Now that I read MSDN again it says includes changes in the hardware configuration (docking and undocking). So docking will probably also not work. Hmmm

– nixda – 2016-09-10T12:17:02.677

Detect if an SD card has been inserted via PowerShell

Answers