FAT32 vs exFAT

[plowak]

Bought a tablet to preview captured videos in the field (new Pixel C on eBay at a very good price). When viewing an SD card formated exFAT via a USB OTG dongle with videos captured with an EVO 1 discovered the card couldn't be read. Funny, because I could go on line to my PC with my tablet and read files stored in both exFAT and NTFS partitions. Did a little searching and found that cards formatted in both NTFS and exFAT were not readable via a USB port - well Paragon does make an app that sorta does the job but not cleanly. The popular lore is that exFAT is go to format for SD cards used for drone captures. Did some exploring and found this, "When writing a small number of large files to a USB3 disk, the mature FAT32 file system outperforms the exFAT file system by 2%" - www.flexense.com. I'm back in the game, FAT32 cards are readable with USB OTG dongles.

 

[herein2021]

Bought a tablet to preview captured videos in the field (new Pixel C on eBay at a very good price). When viewing an SD card formated exFAT via a USB OTG dongle with videos captured with an EVO 1 discovered the card couldn't be read. Funny, because I could go on line to my PC with my tablet and read files stored in both exFAT and NTFS partitions. Did a little searching and found that cards formatted in both NTFS and exFAT were not readable via a USB port - well Paragon does make an app that sorta does the job but not cleanly. The popular lore is that exFAT is go to format for SD cards used for drone captures. Did some exploring and found this, "When writing a small number of large files to a USB3 disk, the mature FAT32 file system outperforms the exFAT file system by 2%" - www.flexense.com. I'm back in the game, FAT32 cards are readable with USB OTG dongles.

I am not sure where you read that exFAT is preferred for drone storage devices. If you format the microSD card in the drone (which is the only device that should be used to format it if you are going to use it to store drone footage shot by the drone) then you will see that it will format it as FAT32 not exFAT. This is also the reason why every drone I've ever used limits individual video file sizes to 4GB since this is a limitation of the FAT32 file system.

I have tested it and the EVO II can read and use exFAT formatted microSD cards (not sure about the EVO I), but there's no real benefit to using exFAT in a drone since it will still limit individual video file sizes to 4GB regardless of file system.

 

[GeoDrone SRL]

I am not sure where you read that exFAT is preferred for drone storage devices. If you format the microSD card in the drone (which is the only device that should be used to format it if you are going to use it to store drone footage shot by the drone) then you will see that it will format it as FAT32 not exFAT. This is also the reason why every drone I've ever used limits individual video file sizes to 4GB since this is a limitation of the FAT32 file system.

I have tested it and the EVO II can read and use exFAT formatted microSD cards (not sure about the EVO I), but there's no real benefit to using exFAT in a drone since it will still limit individual video file sizes to 4GB regardless of file system.

All MicroSD we have formated inside the Evo2Pro drones are eXFat...none is Fat32.

 

[herein2021]

All MicroSD we have formated inside the Evo2Pro drones are eXFat...none is Fat32.

That is odd, my EVO 2 6K formats it as FAT32. I am running an almost original version of the firmware though, possibly they changed file systems in a later firmware version. This could also mean that with the later firmware video files are longer than 4GB.

 

[GeoDrone SRL]

That is odd, my EVO 2 6K formats it as FAT32. I am running an almost original version of the firmware though, possibly they changed file systems in a later firmware version. This could also mean that with the later firmware video files are longer than 4GB.

I have last official firmware (not switched to beta FW..yet), but with Beta Autel Explorer as the last "official" one is freezing on Android 11. The Beta AE seems to be fine, but have bugs.

 

[gschulzuio]

I format via PC (after each use) and for the 64GB microsd (e.g. Sandisk ExtremePro v30/u3 will default to exFAT which gives you support for large device, as well as larger files than FAT or FAT32 as mentioned above. Not sure what the ios limits are reading fat vs fat32 vs exfat, however routinely read the microsd formatted exfat and offload them after removing from aircraft using andorid (use a vogek or similar adapter). Normally try to shoot shorter video segments, however now and then get client request to just let the camera roll, not to stop start, thus have ended up with files larger than 4GB in the past (particular 4K @ 60 FPS).

 

[GeoDrone SRL]

I format via PC (after each use) and for the 64GB microsd (e.g. Sandisk ExtremePro v30/u3 will default to exFAT which gives you support for large device, as well as larger files than FAT or FAT32 as mentioned above. Not sure what the ios limits are reading fat vs fat32 vs exfat, however routinely read the microsd formatted exfat and offload them after removing from aircraft using andorid (use a vogek or similar adapter). Normally try to shoot shorter video segments, however now and then get client request to just let the camera roll, not to stop start, thus have ended up with files larger than 4GB in the past (particular 4K @ 60 FPS).

The drone is formating it in ExFAT.
Now, to have one video or 10 videos is not a problem, as you need to download it and edit...so you can stick it together without effort to one giant video file if you need...

 

[gschulzuio]

The drone is formating it in ExFAT.
Now, to have one video or 10 videos is not a problem, as you need to download it and edit...so you can stick it together without effort to one giant video file if you need...

Yup, you can format exfat via drone or windows (or extern device), likewise can do short small files or long large files, no right or wrong method, just what ones preferences or experiences or requirements are .