How Lose Footage

[Lister]

I found an easy way to make video SD card files unreadable on the Mini 2. Turn off the drone without stopping the video recording. It's easy to do if you're distracted immediately after landing.

The file is still there (and visible in File Manager) but it's unreadable. The Mini 2 won't close the file for you if you turn off the drone abruptly. I did it twice to confirm that's the issue.

There may be a software tool that will later "close" a file, but I'm not aware of it. Fortunately, I've lost nothing valuable with these "experiments".

 

[WooZie]

put the card back in the drone and turn the drone on, after that the file will be closed and readable

 

[Lister]

Good to know, WooZie. Thanks! A good Christmas Prezzie!

I just tried to test that function, but I'd deleted everything off the card.

I'll try that whole procedure next time I fly.

Merry Christmas!

 

[DanMan32]

If you've messed with the card or had turned on AC with no or different card then quick fix may not work.

In that case follow this: Repairing Corrupt DJI Video Files

 

[Lister]

Thanks, DanMan32. Several options exist for what I thought was a fatal error. Fatal to the file, that is. Not me.

Interesting that video from a crash would fall into this category as well as from my user error. Also interesting that crash video may not be recoverable since the drone may buffer video data before it writes it to the card.

There's more to this biz than photography and flying!

 

[DanMan32]

I've gone through the process with my P3A, M2Z, and MM1. Its not perfect but better than nothing. You seem to lose the subtitle but adding parameters to FFMPEG might recover that too.

 

[hchen]

Thanks for sharing the tip, a extremely useful tip to recover bad image file! I just experienced the same problem yesterday. I was able to recover it with the tip. Thanks!

 

[Bobell69]

put the card back in the drone and turn the drone on, after that the file will be closed and readable

I tried this and it worked. I wish I had known this fix before because there are one or two flights that I erased because I couldn't access the corrupt file. Your suggestion solved the issue. Thanks for this.