Micro SD Card Size

[skipper20]

Is there any upward limit on the size of a micro SD card that can be used on a Mavic Pro? Mine came with a 16 MB card. Can I go to 64 MB without causing any problems?

 

[brett8883]

Is there any upward limit on the size of a micro SD card that can be used on a Mavic Pro? Mine came with a 16 MB card. Can I go to 64 MB without causing any problems?

Honestly I have had an issue with the 64 GB and above and I’ve been tracking the issue trying to figure it out. It doesn’t happen to everybody and it doesn’t start right away. My advice would be to just get a 32GB or two 32 GB and switch when the one is getting low. It also helps managing that much data and if something happens to the Mavic it limits the amount of footage you lose.

Whatever you do, don’t get the Sandisk Extreme Plus 64 GB. I have noticed this card in particular has the most issues. Extreme Plus 32 GB works fine but not the 64 GB.

Make sure you get a card that says V30.

 

[Meta4]

Is there any upward limit on the size of a micro SD card that can be used on a Mavic Pro? Mine came with a 16 MB card. Can I go to 64 MB without causing any problems?

Have you heard the expression putting all your eggs in one basket?
Think about how much of your videos and image files you are prepared to lose all at once in a single incident.
That's how big a card you should use.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

Plenty of people are using 128Gb cards without issue.

As the other people who replied have said the issue of whether it is a good idea for you to use a larger card is another matter. A lot of people like the convenience of not having to swap out their card all day so they go for a larger card.

From my perspective as a commercial operator it is as follows and I know a lot of professional or dedicated hobby videographers feel the same way.

For me the footage on my card is often of more value than the aircraft I am flying. Were I to go out on a big job and fly for 4 hours and on the last flight lose the aircraft I'd be as bummed over the footage as the aircraft. It would mean I'd have to reschedule and re fly the job, maybe have to reschedule any jobs I might have on following days causing a lot of hassle and unhappy clients which is never good.

For that reason I use 32Gb cards. A battery on my Mavic 2 or Phantom 4 P is good for 30 Min (give or take) and a 32Gb card is good for about 40min of 4K footage. I have as many cards as I have batteries and it has become part of my routine to swap out my card at the same time as I swap out the battery.

Of course everyone's needs are different.

Regards
Ari

 

[FoxhallGH]

I've had no problems with 64GB micro SD cards ... Contrary to opinions in post #2 above, the critical spec' to look for on the SD card is the small U with a 3 inside it (USC speed class 3). This logo indicates that the card is capable of a minumum sustained write speed of 30 MByte/sec (240 Mbit/s). Cards of this specification are able to sustain write speeds to record HD video without dropping frames etc. All other spec's and logo's on the card are largely irelevant - unless you want to get really picky about how fast you get the data off the card ...
[Edit - correction ... UHS speed class 3 - not USC ]
I do carry out the card-swaps as suggested, but still use 64GB cards ... My logic is that if I forget to format the card in pre-flight, I should still have storage capacity on it for this flight

 

[msinger]

Is there any upward limit on the size of a micro SD card that can be used on a Mavic Pro?

The Mavic Pro specs state the upper limit is 128 GB. That's likely larger than you'll need/want though.

A few 32 GB memory cards would be a good option if you're going to swap them out after landing. And make sure you check the price of the 64 GB memory cards before buying as they are sometimes cheaper or nearly the same price as 32 GB memory cards.

If interested, you can learn more about choosing the best memory card (for you) in this guide:

 

[crlmjohnson]

well...as for me...I own all 128Gb.(v30)...i got a good price for them...
I have them in my Crystal Sky (2), M2 Pro, and phone. and I have spares.

 

[skipper20]

Honestly I have had an issue with the 64 GB and above and I’ve been tracking the issue trying to figure it out. It doesn’t happen to everybody and it doesn’t start right away. My advice would be to just get a 32GB or two 32 GB and switch when the one is getting low. It also helps managing that much data and if something happens to the Mavic it limits the amount of footage you lose.

Whatever you do, don’t get the Sandisk Extreme Plus 64 GB. I have noticed this card in particular has the most issues. Extreme Plus 32 GB works fine but not the 64 GB.

Make sure you get a card that says V30.

I have a Sandisk Ultra Plus (not Extreme Plus) 64 GB Micro SDXC UHS-I card in my kit which is unused. Still in the wrapper. It's not marked V30. Any warnings on this one?

 

[msinger]

I have a Sandisk Ultra Plus (not Extreme Plus) 64 GB Micro SDXC UHS-I card in my kit which is unused

This memory card?



It should be fine if you're not shooting 4K video or using any photo modes that shoot photos back-to-back quickly.

If you want to shoot 4K video, you'll want a memory card with this symbol:

 

[brett8883]

I have a Sandisk Ultra Plus (not Extreme Plus) 64 GB Micro SDXC UHS-I card in my kit which is unused. Still in the wrapper. It's not marked V30. Any warnings on this one?

That isn’t an acceptable card to use with the Mavic. The V30 is the most important part which refers to the minimum write speed of the card. It’s the speed, when the card is taxed to its limit that it will still be able to write. So V30 is 30 mbps and V10 is 10mbps.

It may work for 1080P like @msinger said but I certainly would always be worried about it. If the card can’t write fast enough it will make the video look awful or make the camera restart during flight.

 

[crlmjohnson]

 

[FoxhallGH]

That isn’t an acceptable card to use with the Mavic. The V30 is the most important part which refers to the minimum write speed of the card. It’s the speed, when the card is taxed to its limit that it will still be able to write. So V30 is 30 mbps and V10 is 10mbps.

It may work for 1080P like @msinger said but I certainly would always be worried about it. If the card can’t write fast enough it will make the video look awful or make the camera restart during flight.

Just for your info @brett8883 - The Mavic 2 Pro (and Mavic Pro) has a UHS data transfer bus for interfacing the SD card to the camera system. This means that it can use the faster and more efficient 'buffer' available in the 'UHS speed class 3' data transfer specification. While both the U3 and the V30 spec' appear to state the same thing (i.e. 30 MByte/s sustained write speed), they are doing so in different interface / bus structures in the card - with the UHS bus being the newest and most effective.
For this reason, it's best to look for the U3 icon over the V30 icon - However, if you find a card with the U3 icon, it will most certainly be marked V30 as well.

 

[brett8883]

Just for your info @brett8883 - The Mavic 2 Pro (and Mavic Pro) has a UHS data transfer bus for interfacing the SD card to the camera system. This means that it can use the faster and more efficient 'buffer' available in the 'UHS speed class 3' data transfer specification. While both the U3 and the V30 spec' appear to state the same thing (i.e. 30 MByte/s sustained write speed), they are doing so in different interface / bus structures in the card - with the UHS bus being the newest and most effective.
For this reason, it's best to look for the U3 icon over the V30 icon - However, if you find a card with the U3 icon, it will most certainly be marked V30 as well.

I think we are saying the same thing different ways. V30 indicates the same thing as U3 including the UHS bus. The “V” classification stands for “video” minimum write speed and is a newer classification than U3 to account for cards that are capable of V60 and V90 speeds and combines the speed class, UHS class, and new Video class into one system so it’s easier to compare a class 10 card to a U3 card to a V90 card. There’s no such thing as U6 or U9 so they had to come up with a new scale. However, U3 and V30 mean exactly the same thing.

Class 6 is now called V6
U1 is now called V10
U3 is now called V30

This way you don’t have to ask yourself “what’s better a Class 6 or a U3?” The fact that a U3 is many times faster than a class 6 is incredibly confusing. Condensing it down to one system is much more logical.



A card with U3 but not V30 just means the card was manufactured before the new specifications were put in place and therefore an older card. That’s all the difference is.

 

[FoxhallGH]

I think we are saying the same thing different ways. V30 indicates the same thing as U3 including the UHS bus. The “V” classification stands for “video” minimum write speed and is a newer classification than U3 to account for cards that are capable of V60 and V90 speeds and combines the speed class, UHS class, and new Video class into one system so it’s easier to compare a class 10 card to a U3 card to a V90 card. There’s no such thing as U6 or U9 so they had to come up with a new scale. However, U3 and V30 mean exactly the same thing.

Class 6 is now called V6
U1 is now called V10
U3 is now called V30

This way you don’t have to ask yourself “what’s better a Class 6 or a U3?” The fact that a U3 is many times faster than a class 6 is incredibly confusing. Condensing it down to one system is much more logical.



A card with U3 but not V30 just means the card was manufactured before the new specifications were put in place and therefore an older card. That’s all the difference is.

We probably are saying the same thing as at the end of the day, a card with V30 on it will also have U3 ... It's just that my research shows a differentiation between earlier SD card standards that used a 'high-speed data bus' and the newer standards that use a UHS-I data bus. It is significant that DJI have made the Mavic Pro and 2 Pro compatible with the UHS-I data bus - as it would have been the cheap and easy option to remain with the 'standard' high-speed data bus.

 

[brett8883]

We probably are saying the same thing as at the end of the day, a card with V30 on it will also have U3 ... It's just that my research shows a differentiation between earlier SD card standards that used a 'high-speed data bus' and the newer standards that use a UHS-I data bus. It is significant that DJI have made the Mavic Pro and 2 Pro compatible with the UHS-I data bus - as it would have been the cheap and easy option to remain with the 'standard' high-speed data bus.

Right a V30 card indicates a UHS bus and only a UHS bus at this time. A “high-speed” bus card doesn’t meet the qualifications for a V30 class card.

To your original point though cards that says “U3” but not “V30” do exist they are just getting a little older now but they will work with the Mavic because they are exactly the same and maybe I’m just now understanding that’s what you were trying to say the whole time lol.

So anybody reading this thread that doesn’t want to read the entire thing, the Mavic Pro requires a card that says U3 or V30

 

[drsumitasofat]

sizes between 8 GB and 512 GB.

 

[Sunshynff]

I think we are saying the same thing different ways.

I think I can clear some of this up, because I was way confused until I did some research on it recently. There is an organization formed in the early 00's called The SD Association, that is responsible for "trying" to set standards for SD memory cards/readers. So far they've F-ed it up pretty bad..lol. Here is a list of most symbols and their meanings.....

- looks like letter "U" has either number 1 or 3 inside of it - This is the UHS speed class, it represents the minimum write speed, the number 1 = 10MB/s and 3 = 30MB/s

- This is the class rating, it is the exact same thing as the above UHS speed class, except it has class 2, 4 , 6, and 10. 2 representing 2MB/s, 4 representing 4MB/s and so forth. They might be phasing this one out.

Ⅰ Ⅱ - Roman numerals one and two - This again represents the UHS speed, but in this case, only with interface or BUS speed, Ⅱ is obviously faster than Ⅰ, but it only reflects the speed of data transfer to or from other hardware. The Ⅱ has a different pin layout, a second row. The two types are compatible with each other, but you will not see a speed improvement unless both reader and card are the Ⅱ protocol. (on a personal note, I think that might be the reason the Mavic sometimes has trouble with certain larger capacity cards, and why I'm on this forum. Finding the protocol for the reader in the actual Mavic has proven very hard to find)

- Large lettet V - This represents the same as the first two basically but refers to video write speed, apparently the wise ones at The SD Association thought videography wasn't being represented, so they created this rating symbol. The majority of info from tech experts say it's just marketing, and that a card capable of writing at 30MB/s is going to write that speed shooting pictures or recording video. The numbers on this rating are the literal MB/s rating.

SD** - Other than the early cards that were 128MB - 2GB which the symbol was just SD, It's now a four letter code always starting with SD, for "secure digital" and represents only the capacity of the card.
SDHC - high capacity 4GB - 32GB
SDXC - extended capacity 32GB - 2TB
SDUC - ultra capacity - 2TB - 128TB (Note - several articles mentioned as of Aug. 2019, these have not hit the market yet and are most likely in development or testing phase, but they are coming.)

MB/s vs SpeedX - The majority of the companies that do print the top speed of the card, do so using MB/s, so a 120MB/s will READ at 120 megabytes per second. The write speed of any card is always a certain percent slower, and manufactures can list this as a read/write speed, they are obviously use the larger number. Some companies though use the speed factor rating, left over from CD-ROM drives. It is listed simply as 1234X, Lexar is probably the biggest company that still does this. There's a conversion chart on link below, but for example 100X = 15MB/s and 1000X = 150MB/s.

MB/s vs Mb/s - This one I had no idea about, and I thought I was fairly computer/tech savvy...lol. The letter B makes all the difference, when it's capitalized, MB/s stands for Megabytes per second, when it is lowercase, Mb/s stands for Megabits per second. There are 8 megabits in a megabyte, and again, manufactures like the bigger numbers, so some of them will list the speeds as Mb/s which can be misleading. So you have to divide by 8 to get the Megabyte per second.... 200Mb/s = 25MB/s.

- This is a relatively new symbol and not on all cards yet, it stands for App Performance, it apparently rates the random read/write speed together when an application is running in the hardware the card is installed in. 1 is the only rating for now and I couldn't find any quantifiable numbers relating to it, but there's supposed to be a category A2 and A3 in the future.

That's all the symbols I could find info on, hope this helps clear up some of the confusion. If I missed something or my research led me to some false info, please let me know, won't be the first time I got something mixed up. The link below was one that I thought was the best at explaining it overall and has several graphs and charts. Happy flying!!

Understanding SD Card Naming, Speeds and Symbols

 

[DanMan32]

OP was asking about the M1P though, which didn't and I believe still doesn't have a 100Mbs throughput, even at 4K.

Interestingly enough and skewed topic, Mini specs state a U3 is needed yet the transfer speed is 40Mbs.

 

[DanMan32]

Something else to consider that could be OP's problem:
Cards 32GB or less are usually formatted FAT32. Cards greater than that are formatted ExFAT. I've heard sometimes the M1 can act up, particularly with gimbal resets when using ExFAT.
It is technically possible to format cards >32GB as FAT32, but you have to use third party tools to do it. MAC and Windows won't natively do it, even when using command line tools.

 

[FoxhallGH]

Something else to consider that could be OP's problem:
Cards 32GB or less are usually formatted FAT32. Cards greater than that are formatted ExFAT. I've heard sometimes the M1 can act up, particularly with gimbal resets when using ExFAT.
It is technically possible to format cards >32GB as FAT32, but you have to use third party tools to do it. MAC and Windows won't natively do it, even when using command line tools.

This is also a topic of much discussion, but personally, I'd recommend that you format the SD card in the Mavic itself (using the 'Format' command in the Go4 app), and that way, you know that you'll get the card formatted in the way that the Mavic likes to use it ... The only downside of the formats that the Mavic uses, is that it has a 4GB file size limit, and therefore 'long' video recordings will be split (but that's not an issue if you are editing).