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A few beginner questions

semmelbroesel

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Age
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Hi.

I've had my Pro 2 for a few weeks and am loving it! It's amazing how well it handles no matter how much wind gets thrown at it!

I have a few questions that I haven't found answers for yet:

1. Is it normal when I connect the drone via USB cable to my computer that the internal drone memory shows up as corrupted in Windows 8 to the point where I can't even read the files on it? Interestingly, a few days later, I was able to mount it again although it still showed up as corrupted.
2. Is it safe to format the drone internal storage without losing any settings or other important information? I took the few pix/videos off and set the SD chip as default storage. I want to see if I can get the Windows corruption warning gone.
3. When I use the Gallery in the DJI remote control app to download pictures and videos, are they downloaded in full quality?
4. Is there a way to mass-download all videos from the drone to my phone through the app?
5. I noticed that the Asteroid video plays backwards when I download it through the app and forward if I look at the video on the SD card on my computer. Is that normal?

Thanks!
 
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No, it's not normal that the internal memory shows as corrupted. Format it from within DJI Go app, you will not lose any settings. (You can also format the memory from Windows, but until you get a good state, use the controller app as DJI recommends.)

Yes, use the SD card as default. Myself and many others take the SD card out to download the images/video to a computer using a card reader. I do not download images by connecting the drone itself to a computer via USB -- that would be slow and cumbersome.

If the images downloaded from the gallery are coming from the cache on the remote controller, then they are a lower, preview quality. Only the SD card an Internal Memory contains full quality.

I do not download images/videos from the drone to a phone. I'm not sure why you would want to do that. I trust you know that the cheapest way to have more storage / backup for your shots is to have more SD cards. If you want to backup in the field, you can use an external, portable hard drive (with an SD slot or a USB slot for a card reader) or a laptop.

I have no idea about the Asteroid playback issue.

Chris
 
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Thanks for your reply.

Some of my questions are me trying to think ahead to the possibility of the drone crashing somewhere i can't reach and me wanting to retrieve the video before the battery dies. But knowing that the gallery quality is inferior, that answered that.

Thanks!
 
Windows ALWAYS says my SD card has issues. Even after a fresh format. I don't trust Windows to format it since it is formatted by the drone to work in the drone. Just ignore it.....I do and it works fine for transferring files. A format of the internal storage shouldn't affect the settings, not that I've cared to notice anyway. A firmware upgrade...different story. I didn't transfer my files once before flying a second time and when the card filled up, it just asked me if I wanted to switch to internal storage. THEN the settings have to be put back to SD storage. Downloading full quality videos to your phone will fill it up quickly, and things will start slowing or shutting down. Not a good idea. Either get a bigger or second SD card. My SD card gets downloaded to my computer after every session. I USED to pull the card and insert it in a reader to download, but for some reason, my reader doesn't work on ANYTHING anymore. I just connect it to the drone directly through a USB 3.0 rated cable and port and it plugs along just fine. Happy Flying!
 
My phone actually has a bigger SD chip than the one that came with the drone :) I always delete videos/pix from the drone after transferring them to my computer.

The idea behind the question about transferring to my phone was about what to do if the drone should crash into a tree where I can't get to it anymore and if I could transfer the videos full quality while the drone is still running. And it sounds like the Gallery transfer is NOT the way to go.

Your post sounds like the drone settings are stored on the SD card! Are you sure? I'm not sure that makes any sense at all - if you replace the SD card with a bigger one, all your settings would be gone...
 
Are there not two 'internal' memories in the drone?
One being the mSD card, which is obviously removable and used for photo and video storage and the other being for flight 'stuff' and permanently 'built in'.
I recollect that the latter is not liked by Windows 7 without the assistance of the "assistant" software but it is several months since I last had an M2P/Z connected to the computer so I could be mistaken.

Like others, to transfer images from the card I ALWAYS remove it and put it in a reader connected to the computer.
My reasons being
1) it is probably faster,
2) I HATE un-necessary connections to the drone's USB port and finally
3) the drone does not need to be powered up to transfer the images.

One of my mSD cards quite often causes the computer to ask if I want to format the card but I always say no and the transfer is problem free
 
My phone actually has a bigger SD chip than the one that came with the drone :) I always delete videos/pix from the drone after transferring them to my computer.

The idea behind the question about transferring to my phone was about what to do if the drone should crash into a tree where I can't get to it anymore and if I could transfer the videos full quality while the drone is still running. And it sounds like the Gallery transfer is NOT the way to go.

Your post sounds like the drone settings are stored on the SD card! Are you sure? I'm not sure that makes any sense at all - if you replace the SD card with a bigger one, all your settings would be gone...
Nope...haven't had to reset my settings after changing SD card. They are not stored on the card. I've always assumed that since you change the settings in the app, that and on the bird are where they are stored. Maybe someone can confirm that or not. You can see everything on the card when you transfer and all I see are the media I've created and the text file with my info on it in case I do lose it and some good samaratin finds it. Don't bother with internal storage as 8 gig is pretty well useless when recording HD video. I use a 64G SD and it wont take two outings worth of video. Not aware of whether you could D/L the videos to your phone directly. If it was stuck in a tree...recovering my videos would be the last thing on my mind.
 
PhiliusFoggg:

When I plug the drone into the computer via USB, I get two drives mounted in Windows - one is what I am fairly certain is the drone's internal video memory, and the other is the SD card. Most of the time, I CAN access the internal memory through Windows, but there were a few days in a row where it refused to mount - go figure, I wasn't using it at the time...

Ol' Sparky:

Thanks for confirming there are no settings stored on the SD card. So I'll format the internal memory at some point and see what happens. Who knows, Windows might be complaining because its hidden files (Recycle Bin, System Restore) are not there :)

And the video transfer from a tree is more about the theory than anything else - I just like to know these things.

Thanks, all!
 
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