Better to have one or two large storage cards or several smaller storage cards?

[BSauce955]

Do you think it's better to have one or two large storage cards or several smaller storage cards? I'm wondering because I'm thinking it might be a nice way to organize shoots. Let's say, you're shooting a wedding, and then later, you go shoot a real estate job. It might be convenient to have each footage from each shoot on different cards to make it easier in editing or just general organization. However, it might be nicer to have one large card and when you get home, you can organize each shoot in separate files on the SD card. What does everyone think? Which is more convenient?

 

[DoomMeister]

Post #1 was moved here from another thread where it was off topic.

While it may be convenient to use one large card when shooting recreationally, most that do this as a business use smaller cards and swap them out at the end of each battery. As good as today’s sUAS aircraft are, there is always a chance of something going awry. If the cards are not swapped out and the aircraft crashes or flies off then you have lost the video/image captured up to that point.

 

[zeusfl]

For videographers' or photographers' perspectives for example, after taking a good video from a risky shot, most of the videographers change the card to secure that footage (risky footage) before taking another shot. In that way, they do not risk the data in a possible crash.

This is exactly the reason why DJI has been heavily criticized for the Mavic 3 Cine not having a removable SSD.
Videographers after taking a risky shot, the only way to secure the data is transferring the data from the drone to a computer and this is time-consuming or impossible when you are at the field making the Mavic Cine a non-professional tool.

I maybe went off topic but to answer the question, I prefer to have multiples 64GB SD Cards than a large 256GB in my opinion for that reason, and also for organizing jobs as well.

 

[vindibona1]

Relatively speaking, SD cards are cheap. UHS 3 rated, 128 GB cards are only around $20 each. Now, if you need to jump up to a v90 rated card at $100 you probably need bigger cards because the file size will be bigger which is why DJI put a 1TB drive in the M3 Cine. Let me put it in historical perspective: Back in the early 2000's a ONE MEGABYTE CF microdrive cost $300 each! Us early digital pro photographers would carry three or four of these on our jobs. [But was way better than changing film backs every 24 shots!]

My perspective is, that you should have both size and some quantity. You'll never regret having too much storage space and the 30 seconds after you write the check you'll forget about the cost. And, a good rule of thumb is to keep a spare SD card in the case at all times. Raise your hand if you haven't forgotten to put a card in your drone before leaving home, at least once. [I'm sure I won't see many hands.]

Metaphorically, if you can't afford $4/gallon gasoline or have enough gas to get where you're going you're driving the wrong car.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Ditto the above, many 'smaller' cards are safer than one huge card but 'small' cards are becoming rare and or relatively expensive. I find it funny to think of 32Gb as "small" but that's the way of it 'today'. Recent purchases have been 128G.

 

[vindibona1]

Ditto the above, many 'smaller' cards are safer than one huge card but 'small' cards are becoming rare and or relatively expensive. I find it funny to think of 32Gb as "small" but that's the way of it 'today'. Recent purchases have been 128G.

How do you figure they are "safer". Perhaps I don't understand the context of what you're saying. Since the development of solid state cards I have never had a single one fail, even one that I ran over with an office chair.

 

[BigAl07]

We learned the HARD (aka expensive way) to not use large cards for multiple shoots.

Back in October 2015 we shot a one-off shoot for a client. We then moved to another project and put those images/video on the card in the aircraft. Then it was lunch time and we took lunch at a local lake that was in full fall BLOOM. While shooting some amazing b-roll footage I got a Battery Critical Error (at approx 70%) followed by a Landing Now message. Unfortunately I was over WATER and could not get it back to land before "Splash down". Drone and DATA from 2 previous shoots were gone. The first shoot was for a marathon that we couldn't' just got back and re-shoot it.

We lost over $1000K in revenue because the whole morning's work was on that one SD card. Since that painful lesson we change the SD card with EVERY battery change unless we are mapping.

I see the benefit and ease of a single large card but that doesn't work for redundancy in UAS operations. Also we empty every card once back in the office and have a confirmed copy on the NAS drive to work with.

 

[akdrone]

If I were shooting professionally I would also change each card with each battery change, but I'm not. I shoot with an iPad and use a FPV and Mavic 3. I may dump my shots into my phone to share, or my iPad or my computer and I may do that right after shooting or several days later. I do dump everything to my computer after shooting but it's convenient for me to leave my images on my micro-sd card. I got a couple of 400GB cards on sale at Costco and keep them in each of my drones with a 128 in my goggles. I clear them all off at some point but don't worry much about it. I absolutely agree that anyone shooting professionally should be using smaller cards that get pulled after each battery change but for others there may be more convenient workflows.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

How do you figure they are "safer". Perh...........

Less likely to lose huge amounts of irreplaceable footage if the drone is lost.

 

[db4476]

Cards do fail, drones are lost. My "comfort level" is to change the card after the drone returns. The returned cards go into a SD card case upside down, so I know which card has been used.

Cheers!

 

[RobertR]

Cards do fail, drones are lost. My "comfort level" is to change the card after the drone returns. The returned cards go into a SD card case upside down, so I know which card has been used.

Cheers!

Same here. I'd rather lose 32Gb or 64Gb than 128Gb or higher. I number the cases on my SD's with a Dymo, and rotate them in use.

 

[Vic Moss]

I have 5 64g cards in each of my drone cases. When I change the battery, I change the card.

 

[Robert Prior]

If the data is important to you, having it flying around is less safe than sitting in your bag. So multiple cards is the way to go.

If you don't care about losing the data if you lose the drone, go with what's cheapest or easiest.

 

[zeusfl]

These ones are my favorite SD Cards 128GB and are inexpensive.

Amazon.com

$21.79 is not a bad price, however, i seen amazon selling this on sales for $16 in the past (black Friday)

 

[RobW01]

I use nothing but 64GB cards. I change to a fresh one each time I change a battery. That way I’ve never come near to filling a card (shooting 4K/25FPS) and I minimise the chance of losing valuable footage if the drone doesn’t make it back. The content of two or three cards can be quickly copied to my iPad Pro for viewing in the car or when I get home.

 

[BigAl07]

I use nothing but 64GB cards. I change to a fresh one each time I change a battery. That way I’ve never come near to filling a card (shooting 4K/25FPS) and I minimise the chance of losing valuable footage if the drone doesn’t make it back. The content of two or three cards can be quickly copied to my iPad Pro for viewing in the car or when I get home.

What card reader/adapter do you use for MicroSD to lightning? I bought one recently and it was complete junk. Can't remember the name but I'd recognize it if I saw it. I took it back to Staples and the clerk said that's the 2nd one of those returned that day . . . . maybe just a bad batch??

 

[MS Coast]

These ones are my favorite SD Cards 128GB and are inexpensive.

Amazon.com

$21.79 is not a bad price, however, i seen amazon selling this on sales for $16 in the past (black Friday)

Here's a slightly faster Sandisk 128 GB card for $23. Rated at 90 MB/sec compared to 70 MB/sec.

Amazon.com

 

[RobW01]

What card reader/adapter do you use for MicroSD to lightning? I bought one recently and it was complete junk. Can't remember the name but I'd recognize it if I saw it. I took it back to Staples and the clerk said that's the 2nd one of those returned that day . . . . maybe just a bad batch??

The original Apple one. Works a treat.

 

[zeusfl]

Here's a slightly faster Sandisk 128 GB card for $23. Rated at 90 MB/sec compared to 70 MB/sec.

Amazon.com

Thanks for the link. i may buy one for the M3 and M2P.

 

[offtheback]

Do you think it's better to have one or two large storage cards or several smaller storage cards? I'm wondering because I'm thinking it might be a nice way to organize shoots. Let's say, you're shooting a wedding, and then later, you go shoot a real estate job. It might be convenient to have each footage from each shoot on different cards to make it easier in editing or just general organization. However, it might be nicer to have one large card and when you get home, you can organize each shoot in separate files on the SD card. What does everyone think? Which is more convenient?

Sure is safer to change cards but when it's cold and in a hurry to get back up,that little speck of a card is hard to handle,he whined.