Mavic air is recording straight to iPhone and not to SD card

4WheelingInNSW · Jun 21, 2023

Save to SD card and not to iPhone memory

The problem I'm having is I filmed several video clips last week and more today and whilst the videos from last week will play off SD card in my PC and from within the DJI GO 4 app's "album" section, the clips I shot today will ONLY play on my iPhone, from within the GO 4 app .... they're not showing up on the drones internal storage nor on the drones SD card, which is only new and fully functional.
It's like they've recorded large cache files which do say I can download .... but from where if they're not on my SD card ?

All of today's videos show up in the DJI GO 4 app, under the "editor" tab then in the "album" collection and all play no drama on my iPhone yet those same files are nowhere to be found on my SD card or on the Mavic Air internal memory space.
It's like they wrote purely and ONLY to the iPhone .... ? It's got me absolutely stumped !!!

The clips aren't in my default iPhone video folder anywhere either as I haven't downloaded the clips yet - I literally can only view these files on my iPhone within the DJI GO 4 app.

I have the cache set relatively high on my iPhone in case I ever have issues but has that made the drone record only to my phone and not to the SD card for some reason ?

I've even tried suggestions like plugging the drone directly into my PC with the USB-C cord however that has done nothing either as the files seem to be only saved on my iPhone.

I even double checked in the storage section within the app with my drone powered on and that shows my chosen recording method as "SD card" too .... so I can't understand why all of todays files have saved to my iPhone and not the SD card - I did push record on the phone each time - this "shouldn't" matter I wouldn't think as that is how I've always started / stopped my recordings.

Someone online said you should hit record on the actual remote and NOT the phone otherwise it will save to your phone and not your drones' SD card but that doesn't seem right, it's never been an issue before.

P L E A S E HELP !!!!

Tufargon · Jun 21, 2023

I would say that you don't have it set to record to SD card and if you do then you may have faulty card or maybe not inserted all the way.
Have you tried checking your settings to see if it's set to record to SD card? Did you try formatting it? If so, try another card. If that fails it sounds like it may have a faulty SD port on the drone.

Cafguy · Jun 21, 2023

Welcome which files are you trying to play the drone makes 2 one is mp4 witch plays on the device the other is your actual recording.

MAvic_South_Oz · Jun 21, 2023

4WheelingInNSW said:
they're not showing up on the drones internal storage nor on the drones SD card, which is only new and fully functional.

As this is the recent change and things have been abnormal since, I would try another card, and make deadset sure it's a very high grade card suitable for drone use.

Sandisk Extreme is my pick, but other lesser will work ok . . . as long as it's minimum U3 / V30, and don't go too large, some drones don't 'like' big cards.
I do think I have a few 128mb cards, but 64mb is fine, have a few in case one goes (rare) on you on a trip, they hold a lot of 1080 or 4k (more than 4hrs possible at 25fps).

Turn off cache in Go4 settings if you really don't need low res photos / video, it just takes up X room, whatever you set in cache size.

4WheelingInNSW · Jun 21, 2023

Tufargon said:
I would say that you don't have it set to record to SD card and if you do then you may have faulty card or maybe not inserted all the way.
Have you tried checking your settings to see if it's set to record to SD card? Did you try formatting it? If so, try another card. If that fails it sounds like it may have a faulty SD port on the drone.

Yeah that's the weird bit, I went into the app and double checked, there's only two options on the list which is "internal" or "SD" and it is currently set to SD which I always have it set to.
If the card wasn't inserted properly, I would've thought these super high tech gadgets would record it to the internal first as a default and then maybe to the phone secondly.

I definitely shoved it in as far as I usually do but, who knows. It does seem like it's jammed in there good and hard.

It shouldn't be a dodgy card as it is literally only 3 weeks old and worked a week ago, still has over 40GB of free space and all my clips from last week work perfectly ... it seems to have recorded perfect clips, just straight to my iPhone for some reason. Is there any truth in pushing record on the remote control and not the record button on your phone within the app ? because it's never been an issue before so just not sure why it's only just started now.

And the port literally would've had to stop or becoming faulty in the last 2 days or so ... why ? that just seems really odd if that were the case.

I've got to try to get the full clips off my iPhone now and back onto the card / drone so I'll have a play around with it tonight ...

4WheelingInNSW · Jun 21, 2023

MAvic_South_Oz said:
As this is the recent change and things have been abnormal since, I would try another card, and make deadset sure it's a very high grade card suitable for drone use.

Sandisk Extreme is my pick, but other lesser will work ok . . . as long as it's minimum U3 / V30, and don't go too large, some drones don't 'like' big cards.
I do think I have a few 128mb cards, but 64mb is fine, have a few in case one goes (rare) on you on a trip, they hold a lot of 1080 or 4k (more than 4hrs possible at 25fps).

Turn off cache in Go4 settings if you really don't need low res photos / video, it just takes up X room, whatever you set in cache size.

Yes I learnt about dodgy cards years ago and only use the one you mention and it's 64GB. I've found memory cards to be like a large garage at home - the bigger it is, the more you store in it and more hassle to sort out later

I thought the cache was a safety net for when your card doesn't work ( for whatever reason - like mine has done ), then at least you still have a copy - maybe I misunderstood the real purpose of a cache file.
It did help me when my last drone went bat **** crazy and flew itself into a tree and then a dam. I lost all footage off the card yet through the cache files and flight log, I was able to get a brand spanking newie from DJI so always thought it was best to leave it running ... but if you're saying it's pointless, I might switch it off and see what happens ... it certainly did suck up a heap of my limited iPhone storage space ...

4WheelingInNSW · Jun 21, 2023

Cafguy said:
Welcome which files are you trying to play the drone makes 2 one is mp4 witch plays on the device the other is your actual recording.

Thank you for the welcome ... cheers

I removed the SD card from the drone and put that into my PC - no files on the card, not corrupt or otherwise, just nothing from yesterdays filming.

Tried plugging the drone in directly with the USB-C cord from the drone to my PC and it shows only 2 very old clips on the internal space, from ages ago.

Tried plugging the drone in directly with the USB-C cord from the drone to my PC - this time with the SD card back in the drone and again, it will only show the previous older files that are on the SD card and whatever is stored internally.

It is as if the flights and files from yesterdays filming just don't exist yet I can watch them on my iPhone.
The only files / clips that will play are the files that went straight into the ALBUMS section within the GO 4 app itself ... they all play just fine in there.

Cafguy · Jun 21, 2023

check your file naming setting under the Camera Settings/Setup/File Index Mode and make sure it is set for Continuous.

MAvic_South_Oz · Jun 22, 2023

4WheelingInNSW said:
purpose of a cache file.
It did help me when my last drone went bat **** crazy and flew itself into a tree and then a dam. I lost all footage off the card yet through the cache files and flight log, I was able to get a brand spanking newie from DJI so always thought it was best to leave it running ... but if you're saying it's pointless, I might switch it off and see what happens ...

That's one point to having the low res cache, but the flight logs on your device (phone, ipad, tablet etc) are usually more useful for determining crash type info.
That's what DJI usually go by.

Hopeful you can sort that issue out, sounds very odd.

Dave Maine · Jun 22, 2023

Try formatting the Ed card in the drone and make sure that works as a starting point.

GFields · Jun 22, 2023

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!

Gagey52 · Jul 11, 2023

Greetings mate, did you get your files of the iPhone.
Regards

4WheelingInNSW · Aug 3, 2023

Gagey52 said:
Greetings mate, did you get your files of the iPhone.
Regards

Hi mate
Yes I did but I had to go through itunes and it was a lot of friggin' around .... it's still doing it and I've done a bit of a test this morning and it appears that when you push record on the phone's screen, it records only to my iPhone directly which you then have to either view just on the phone or "download the original file" from within the DJI Go 4 app ....
yet if I push record on the remote control itself, it seems to store it on the SD card although I'm still trying to find it on the SD card.

What's weird is I only ever hit record on the phone screen ( well, from memory that is ) because you're usually changing exposure settings etc as you fly ...

I double checked in the settings and I have it set to "continuous" file indexing like someone suggested earlier and I also double checked and my recording preference is definitely 100% set to SD card as opposed to internal storage so not sure what the go is ........

How do you all start recording - do you push the record button on your phone's screen or do you hit record on the physical remote control itself ? Just curious

dozzn · Aug 3, 2023

4WheelingInNSW said:
Hi mate
Yes I did but I had to go through itunes and it was a lot of friggin' around .... it's still doing it and I've done a bit of a test this morning and it appears that when you push record on the phone's screen, it records only to my iPhone directly which you then have to either view just on the phone or "download the original file" from within the DJI Go 4 app ....
yet if I push record on the remote control itself, it seems to store it on the SD card although I'm still trying to find it on the SD card.

What's weird is I only ever hit record on the phone screen ( well, from memory that is ) because you're usually changing exposure settings etc as you fly ...

I double checked in the settings and I have it set to "continuous" file indexing like someone suggested earlier and I also double checked and my recording preference is definitely 100% set to SD card as opposed to internal storage so not sure what the go is ........

How do you all start recording - do you push the record button on your phone's screen or do you hit record on the physical remote control itself ? Just curious