Camera issue or SD Card issue?

[Genesis]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum and really enjoy all the info you guys give. Hope you can offer a solution to this issue.
I've been able to video and shoot photos just fine for several months now. But last week, I got this error message in the attached screenshot that I can't explain. It's occurred on 2 sd cards already. I've tried reformatting the cards several times (using the SD Formatting program suggested by Agustine here in the forum). I've used "overwrite format" and "quick format " to no avail. One card is a sandisk ultra 64 GB (came with the XPS) and the other is a sandisk extreme 64GB (brand new). I can record still pics just fine, but after 2 or 3 short videos, that error message pops up and recording stops. Any suggestions? I've got a big job this Saturday and I'd hate to get new cards that I don't really need yet. Thanks.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Seems strange that you get this with two seperate cards and you never had a problem till last week. I never had a problem with any of the SDcards I own but I did end up getting a Samsung PRO+ 32GB 95MB/s microSDHC Memory Card just in case I start recording in 4K more often.
So the question is have you switched to recording in 4K lately? This might explain the slow down on your two cards.
Autel CS might be your next move.

 

[Quadrotor]

@Genesis - Have you tried reformatting the SD cards in the aircraft, instead of using the program suggested by Agustine? I have no reason to think there is anything wrong with that program, but reformatting in the aircraft fixed a similar SD card problem I had several months ago. If you format in the aircraft, be sure to power-down before removing each card, because removing an SD card before powering down the aircraft is a fairly reliable way to cause the problem you currently have.

 

[Genesis]

Thank you for your responses. I've always recorded in 4K so I don't think that triggered this issue. Also, I've tried formatting in the aircraft once and that didn't work. But I just cleaned the contacts between the gimbal and camera, and the contacts on the cards. I'll try another round of formatting. I'll post how that works out. Thanks again.

 

[kroorda]

You might try reformatting them on your computer, rather than in the drone. When you do the reformat, do a FULL format, and not a quick format.
It looks like sectors may be fragmented. Doing a full format should correct it.

 

[HiloHawaiian]

I had this problem several times, even with SD cards from Autel! I always record in 4K, mp4.

It started out of nowhere, but it could have been the result of always reformatting in the aircraft. Their customer service said NOT to format in the aircraft, only on the computer, Mac or PC. I asked why, they simply said computer do a more thorough job...

To be honest, I’ve gotten that message from several cards, so I kept trying faster cards, returning “faulty” cards to Amazon.
These UH-1 speed SD have never given me that message:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012PLSFH6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[kroorda]

Faster cards won't help. Doing a full format, on a computer, will help.

 

[yrless]

Re-seat the gimbal.

 

[HiloHawaiian]

Faster cards won't help. Doing a full format, on a computer, will help.

You may be right, I don’t know. All I can say is I had this issue with every non-UH-1 card I tried recording in 4K mp4 after the firmware update. Even the early non-UH-1 SD cards Autel gave me with my first bird suddenly had this issue — inconsistently, but annoying. Autel sent me new cards, they were newer UH-1 cards. My only fix was using good, UH-1 cards and formatting them only on my Mac...

 

[Quadrotor]

Everyone here may already know this, but for the benefit of those who don't, it is important to select the correct file system when using a computer to format an SD card that will be used in a drone.

Microsoft developed a computer file system called the "New Technology File System (NTFS)" in 1995. It has been the default file system in all versions of Windows released since that time. However, NTFS is unique to Microsoft Windows. It is not used natively by any other operating system.

Apple also has a proprietary file system. The current version is called the "Apple File system (APFS)." It evolved from earlier proprietary file systems called HFS and HFS+ (also called Mac OS Extended). None of those Apple file systems are used natively by any other operating system.

Some version of a file system called the "File Allocation Table (FAT)" system is by far the most commonly-used file system on computerized devices other than Microsoft and Apple products; such as Android Smartphones, WiFi access points, digital TV's, home automation systems, automotive electronic devices, medical devices, and drones, but there are important differences between FAT versions.

The original FAT file system (now known as FAT8) was developed in 1977 to save small amounts of data on floppy disks.

FAT16 is an expanded version that accommodates up to 4GB of storage space.

FAT32 is an even larger version that accommodates up to 32GB of storage space.

exFAT is the latest version and has no storage limit.

The X-Star Premium supports exFAT, so that is the best one to use.

If you have a Linux computer that has a hard drive larger than 32GB it most-likely is already configured to use exFAT by default and you wont have to do anything special to format drone-compatible SD cards.

If you have an Apple computer with Mac OS X 10.6.5 or newer, or a Microsoft computer with Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7, or newer you can select to format an SD card using exFAT instead of the computer's proprietary file system. Depending on the operating system and version, there also may be selections for FAT32, FAT16, or merely FAT. Don't select any of them unless you have a small SD card. If you format a 64GB card with FAT32, it will have only 32GB of storage space, or with FAT16 will have only 4GB of storage space, regardless of what is printed on the label. Wrong file format selection is the most common reason that computer-formatted SD cards don't work correctly.

The formatting utility in the X-Star Premium uses exFAT and works fine for me. However, as mentioned in a previous post, it is very important to power-down the drone before removing the card. It also is very important to power-down using the battery-button, rather than pulling the battery, so the card file index will be saved before the power fails.

 

[Genesis]

Thanks for the suggestions. I did another round of formatting on both sd cards, using the SD Formatter program. I did an "overwrite format", followed by a "quick format". After flying and recording, I found that the original sd card from Autel (SanDisk ultra) had the same issues, but the newer SanDisk extreme card was now perfectly fine. One thing I noticed was I got a lot of "video link interference" warnings as this issue's been occurring. Possible link?

 

[Quadrotor]

It isn't likely that the video interference warnings are related to SD card issues.

 

[joshmentele]

If I were you, I would get a new SD card. I had the same problem and I found that the SanDisk 64 GB card was just shot. It still worked for low speed tasks so I stuck it into my phone for expandable storage.

 

[Tufargon]

Have you tried removing the gimbal and cleaning all the contacts?

 

[Genesis]

I agree, I will just get a new card. I was just trying to avoid it now because the cost seems to have gone up lately on them. I did clean the contacts on the camera and gimbal. My thoughts on the video interference was that it was occurring while video was being written to the card. Thought maybe that was causing the fragments on the card...

 

[kroorda]

As Tufargon mentioned, do make sure that the electrical connections on the gimble are clean (clean them with alcohol). Then, make sure that the gimble is fully 'Clicked' into place when you re-mount it.

 

[Neodre]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum and really enjoy all the info you guys give. Hope you can offer a solution to this issue.
I've been able to video and shoot photos just fine for several months now. But last week, I got this error message in the attached screenshot that I can't explain. It's occurred on 2 sd cards already. I've tried reformatting the cards several times (using the SD Formatting program suggested by Agustine here in the forum). I've used "overwrite format" and "quick format " to no avail. One card is a sandisk ultra 64 GB (came with the XPS) and the other is a sandisk extreme 64GB (brand new). I can record still pics just fine, but after 2 or 3 short videos, that error message pops up and recording stops. Any suggestions? I've got a big job this Saturday and I'd hate to get new cards that I don't really need yet. Thanks.
View attachment 1888

Anyone having this issue please format your sd card to exfat and try again. No need for fancy software.

 

[Tufargon]

You do realize this thread is nearly 2 years old?

 

[Neodre]

You do realize this thread is nearly 2 years old?

Yea. I had the same problem just yesterday. Searched And there was no definate answer to the problem. So just incase someone comes across it they wont have to stress too much

 

[Genesis]

Since my original post, I have been using that same SD card, inserted into an adapter, in my Canon DSLR. No issues. Maybe the card just couldn't handle the high speed writing anymore.