Mavic Air only supports 32 GB SD Card?

[Rmag]

I was comparing the Mavic Air and the Mavic Pro at Consumer Drones Comparison- DJI

I had a 128GB SD Card on order from Amazon, but I just read under supported file system:

Mavic Air: FAT32

Mavic Pro: FAT32 (≤ 32 GB) or exFAT (> 32 GB)

If Mavic Air only supports FAT32 then the largest SD card it can support is 32GB.

I wonder why they did this especially if the Mavic Pro already supported exFAT.

 

[ChopSticks]

Not exactly sure the answer/limit, but it's better to have a few smaller SD cards than one big one, just in case something catastrophic happens to the drone or the card at least all is not loss. Not to mention the price/space the extra cards take up is insignificant to say the least

 

[BlakPhoenix]

Further down the page they mention:

SUPPORTED SD CARDS
Supported SD Cards microSD
Class 10 or UHS-1 rating required
Recommended microSD Cards 16G
Sandisk Extreme
Kingston 16GB SDHC-I SDCAC/16GB
32G
Sandisk Extreme V30
Sandisk Extreme V30 A1
Sandisk Extreme V30 Pro A1
64G
Sandisk Extreme V30 A1
Sandisk Extreme Pro V30 A1
128G
Sandisk Extreme V30 A1
Sandisk Extreme Plus V30 A1

DJI - The World Leader in Camera Drones/Quadcopters for Aerial Photography

I should mention that recording from take off to touch down, assuming the full 21 minute flight time will use up 15.75GB of space (recording in 4k @100Mbps).

 

[Rmag]

Now I am confused. Why recommend 64G or 128G with a FAT 32 format limitation?

 

[DefaultIT]

I'd guess it has the same volume handling as the MP/MPP and will allow exFAT, and that someone hit copy/paste a little too early while putting that page together. FAT32 only would be...surprising.

 

[twitchyzero]

likely a non-issue, id be surprised if it can't support 64/128

 

[Sentinel5P]

Further down the page they mention:

SUPPORTED SD CARDS
Supported SD Cards microSD
Class 10 or UHS-1 rating required
Recommended microSD Cards 16G
Sandisk Extreme
Kingston 16GB SDHC-I SDCAC/16GB
32G
Sandisk Extreme V30
Sandisk Extreme V30 A1
Sandisk Extreme V30 Pro A1
64G
Sandisk Extreme V30 A1
Sandisk Extreme Pro V30 A1
128G
Sandisk Extreme V30 A1
Sandisk Extreme Plus V30 A1

DJI - The World Leader in Camera Drones/Quadcopters for Aerial Photography

I should mention that recording from take off to touch down, assuming the full 21 minute flight time will use up 15.75GB of space (recording in 4k @100Mbps).

I'm a bit confused here - if one want to make use of the full 4k/100Mbits should the write speed of the sd card not at least support 100Mbits writing? None of the above mentioned cards support that!?

 

[dcpmark]

I'm a bit confused here - if one want to make use of the full 4k/100Mbits should the write speed of the sd card not at least support 100Mbits writing? None of the above mentioned cards support that!?

I think you are confusing Mbits with Mbytes.....all those cards can easily handle 4k@100Mbits with a write speed of 90 Mbytes.

 

[msinger]

if one want to make use of the full 4k/100Mbits should the write speed of the sd card not at least support 100Mbits writing?

Memory cards are usually advertised in MB/s. 100 Mbps is 12.5 MB/s. That means you'll want a memory card that is able to consistently write at 12.5 MB/s (at the bare minimum).

 

[Sentinel5P]

I think you are confusing Mbits with Mbytes.....all those cards can easily handle 4k@100Mbits with a write speed of 90 Mbytes.

Thank you for the clarification!

 

[anticipate]

I dunno. I tried two SDXC U3 cards (that worked fine in Mavic Pro, and work fine in the P4P which is 100 Mbit), and I got "slow SD" card warnings and couldn't use them. I ordered another SDXC U3 card to try, and a Panasonic 16GB one I had lying around works. But something's fishy about the Air's support.

 

[bluskies99]

My 64GB Sandisk Extreme Pro V30 A1 that I formatted in the Mavic Air turns out to be formatted as ExFat - Not Fat32 - as you would expect for this capacity of card. Must be a misprint in the specs. It's one of the recommended cards. I figure if you're going to spend $1000 on a drone a few more bucks for a quality card is worth it. As you would also expect it handles the Air's 4K video without problems.

 

[Pduncan]

I was comparing the Mavic Air and the Mavic Pro at Consumer Drones Comparison- DJI

I had a 128GB SD Card on order from Amazon, but I just read under supported file system:

Mavic Air: FAT32

Mavic Pro: FAT32 (≤ 32 GB) or exFAT (> 32 GB)

If Mavic Air only supports FAT32 then the largest SD card it can support is 32GB.

I wonder why they did this especially if the Mavic Pro already supported exFAT.

I have a 64 GB in mine

 

[Gotters]

I have 128gb card in mine, which it formatted and uses just fine - popped it out into a reader into my iMac several times too with no issue so whatever formatting its doing is working just fine

 

[MavicAirMike]

I was comparing the Mavic Air and the Mavic Pro at Consumer Drones Comparison- DJI

I had a 128GB SD Card on order from Amazon, but I just read under supported file system:

Mavic Air: FAT32

Mavic Pro: FAT32 (≤ 32 GB) or exFAT (> 32 GB)

If Mavic Air only supports FAT32 then the largest SD card it can support is 32GB.

I wonder why they did this especially if the Mavic Pro already supported exFAT.

FAT32 has more to do with how the file is parceled on the card. Like, 32 bits of information per parcel. I'm no tech guy for sure, but that's how I understood it.

I just looked it up, what I was just saying ...

A version of the file allocation table (FAT) available in Windows 95 OSR 2 and Windows 98. FAT32 increases the number of bits used to address clusters and also reduces the size of each cluster. The result is that it can support larger disks (up to 2 terabytes) and better storage efficiency (less slack space).

 

[Eaglevmp]

FAT32 maximum file size is 4GB and 2TB partition, I think you are OK with your 128GB SD card.

 

[griffinhart]

Yep, sounds like some confusion. FAT32 is not limited to 32GB of space. If you put in a 128GB SD card, you will be able to use all 128GB of storage. I think the partition size limit for FAT32 is about 2TB. The only notable limitation you'll find is with File Sizes. I think a single file can max out around 3GB, so expect multiple files for your videos. That said, When I stitch together the files to make a longer video, I can't tell where one file ends and the next begins.

I have been using the Samsung 128GB card:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XFHQGB9/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is handling the high bit rate 4K video without any issues.

 

[Advexure]

We've used this SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB Micro SD in the Mavic Air. 128 is quite a lot of footage to risk. IMHO you're better off reducing risk with the amount of media you have in the air by going with a 64GB Micro SD Card. On the Inspire 2 we run and always recommend multiple 240 SSDs as opposed to 480G when media is money and time it's a safe bet to swap media to preserve previous takes.