New Air 3 dusting sd cards

[nd4wmike]

I just got my new Air 3, when I format a sd card while it's in drone they get corrupted and are unreadable .
Can't be read and are not recognized by drone or computer.
I am using cards that I have had in drones , Go Pro etc. so it's not the card.
Anyone ever had this or have any ideas? Present card in my Air 3 formatted in computer and works in drone fine.

Thanks
Mike

 

[mavic3usa]

This has been known to happen before. Which card exactly is giving you trouble?

 

[nd4wmike]

Thanks for reply,
SanDisk Extreme +128 gb U3 A2 ,

SAMSUNG PRO Ultimate microSD Memory Card + Adapter, 256GB microSDXC, Up to 200 MB/s, 4K UHD, UHS-I, Class 10, U3,V30​

these are only 2 I tried , I didn't want to ruin any more cards .
I guess there is no real reason to format in the drone , but That's what I have always done for the past 10 years I have been flying , with no previous problems.

Thanks agin

Mike

 

[WanderLost]

I just got my new Air 3, when I format a sd card while it's in drone they get corrupted and are unreadable .
Can't be read and are not recognized by drone or computer.
I am using cards that I have had in drones , Go Pro etc. so it's not the card.
Anyone ever had this or have any ideas? Present card in my Air 3 formatted in computer and works in drone fine.

Thanks
Mike

I apologize if this is a dumb question - but is it possible that you have the card in upside down? I've had plenty of scrapes over the years like that since it seems every other piece of hardware I own it's a crap shoot which way they go.

 

[mavic3usa]

Yep, I have a Samsung Pro Plus that will not format in my Mavic 3 Pro. Process of formatting completes but if you record videos to the card, they cannot be viewed later. Have to format the card in a computer and everything works fine. It's a rather large card so I have to just deal with it I guess.

 

[nd4wmike]

Thanks for reply , no dumb questions , I have dealt with computers/memry cards for many years .
As far as my experience you ca't plug sd cards in upside down, the groves side won't allow that. you would have to really force it in and probably break the card .

Thanks again

Mike

 

[nd4wmike]

Yep, I have a Samsung Pro Plus that will not format in my Mavic 3 Pro. Process of formatting completes but if you record videos to the card, they cannot be viewed later. Have to format the card in a computer and everything works fine. It's a rather large card so I have to just deal with it I guess.

Thanks for replying .
After I format in the drone , the cards are unreadable in drones, controllers, Go Pro , computers any device that can access sd cards,

Thanks again

 

[Droning on and on...]

Thanks for reply,
SanDisk Extreme +128 gb U3 A2 ,

SAMSUNG PRO Ultimate microSD Memory Card + Adapter, 256GB microSDXC, Up to 200 MB/s, 4K UHD, UHS-I, Class 10, U3,V30​

these are only 2 I tried , I didn't want to ruin any more cards .

Wait... ruin? Are the cards damaged by formatting in the A3, or simply corrupted? If the latter you should be able to format them in you phone or PC/laptop, and they're fine.

If they're actually getting damaged, that's far more serious, and needs immediate attention by DJI!

 

[mobilehomer]

This may be a dumb statement, but make sure you format the cards to ExFat.

 

[sbunting]

When you format in the drone, you don't have a choice as to FAT or exFAT. DJI decides that for you based on card size.
You said you've used these cards before in other drones / computers. I'll spare you the technical issues, but to eliminate anything from the 'past', I'm going to suggest wiping it clean, not formatting, but a genuine wipe. Then you can let the drone format it and see if this solves your problems. Let me suggest using the tool in this link Guide on How to Wipe an SD Card to Completely Erase Everything and to use the MiniToolPartition Wizard. It's free and you want a total wipe of the entire physical device, not just the volume or letter drive. Many formats just reset the front end and leave data, but may also leave the card in a state where DJI may not like it. I like total wipes and then i know there's nothing left behind. At least that way you can be certain if the drone is at fault or not.

You've said it is ruining cards. I'm curious, as I'm do digital forensics and I have yet to see a format ruin a card to the point it is ruined and can't be used again. I'm not saying it can't happen and I'm not sure what would cause such, but I haven't seen it yet, but when it comes to computers, nothing surprises me either. So please tell me what messages you are getting that says your card is ruined, can't be read, needs to be formatted, etc? Are you using Winders or Mac?

That is asking to format, it is seeing the physical drive, just not the logical drive with a drive letter assigned to it. That said, the internal memory would appear to be corrupted. Before I'd try DJI or any recovery tools, I'd try a few things. One, with the drone on and attached via USB, I'd reboot the Windows machine and see if it can mount it during the boot process. If that doesn't work, I'd try a different USB port and reboot again. If this persists, you may attach it to a Mac if you know someone with one. If it fails to mount during reboot, then I'd download this free tool.https://accessdata.com/product-download/ftk-imager-version-4-7-1 You'll have to give them your email address, but it's a free tool worth having. Open the tool and go to File > Add Evidence Item and choose physical drive. I can't tell you which drive number is will be, but you'll be able to identify it by its size, which I believe is 8 GB. Once it mounts, you can drill down under partition, and then FAT32 or exfat, likely the latter, and then root. Under root, you should see your folder and files. You can right click on any folder or file and copy them out to your local computer. Once you recover your data, you can format the drive. Personally, I let the drone do the formatting as it knows best what it wants.

I posted the above once before for someone having issues reading their cards. It is just as applicable in your case, particularly the FTKImager part and it's free, but only for Windows. Just because your OS won't see the partition and mount it, this tool will, unless it is really hozed up. If it can see the partition and your files, then we can take the next step. There's a reason for everything, so let's work through it.

 

[Meta4]

I am using cards that I have had in drones , Go Pro etc. so it's not the card.

Not necessarily.
The latest model drones from DJI require faster cards than earlier models do.
Cards that were perfect in the Phantom 4 pro, refuse to work with the Mavic 3.

Get some new, faster cards and see how you go.

 

[nd4wmike]

Thanks for the response .
No device I put the card in even sees it, so I see no way to access it, I worked with computers for 30 years, so I do have experience with troublesome devices. I use an iMac but do do other pc's , nothing I do in either make computer lets me see the card,

I can't say that the actual format procedure is the culprit and it does seem to be something going on while in the Air 3 . I have a Samsung card it the Air 3 now that I formatter with my Go Pro, all seems OK, and when I need to access the card in the drone , I connect a USB from my iMac to the connector on the back of the drone. If I come up with some kind of solution if I get one , I will post results here.
Again thanks for your help.

Mike

 

[nd4wmike]

Not necessarily.
The latest model drones from DJI require faster cards than earlier models do.
Cards that were perfect in the Phantom 4 pro, refuse to work with the Mavic 3.

Get some new, faster cards and see how you go.

Same problem with a brand new never use Samsung:

SAMSUNG PRO Ultimate microSD Memory Card + Adapter, 256GB microSDXC, Up to 200 MB/s, 4K UHD, UHS-I, Class 10, U3,V30, A2 .​

Card that's completely unreadable:

 

[rickmurray1989]

I just got my new Air 3, when I format a sd card while it's in drone they get corrupted and are unreadable .
Can't be read and are not recognized by drone or computer.
I am using cards that I have had in drones , Go Pro etc. so it's not the card.
Anyone ever had this or have any ideas? Present card in my Air 3 formatted in computer and works in drone fine.

Thanks
Mike

I wish that I could offer any advice, but I have had no issues with my Air 3 and memory cards. I always format my cards in the drone. I am currently using a SanDisk 256 Gb Extreme Pro card.

 

[Meta4]

Thanks for the response .
No device I put the card in even sees it, so I see no way to access it, I worked with computers for 30 years, so I do have experience with troublesome devices. I use an iMac but do do other pc's , nothing I do in either make computer lets me see the card,

I don't know Macs, but most of the people who seem to have SD card problems are using Macs.
I've never had any problems at all with good fast cards ... format in the PC or in the drone and it makes no difference, .. it just works.
SOmetimes folks with card problems, solve them with a different adapter?

 

[WanderLost]

Thanks for the response .
No device I put the card in even sees it, so I see no way to access it, I worked with computers for 30 years, so I do have experience with troublesome devices. I use an iMac but do do other pc's , nothing I do in either make computer lets me see the card,

I can't say that the actual format procedure is the culprit and it does seem to be something going on while in the Air 3 . I have a Samsung card it the Air 3 now that I formatter with my Go Pro, all seems OK, and when I need to access the card in the drone , I connect a USB from my iMac to the connector on the back of the drone. If I come up with some kind of solution if I get one , I will post results here.
Again thanks for your help.

Mike

Have you tried using a low level computer management tool to see if the operating system can even detect the card?
On a Windows PC, go to search and type in Disk Management. It will open up a screen that shows all of your drives and partitions, including even an unformatted SD card.
The E: drive on my machine is a 400 GB SD card formatted to exFAT.
Like this:

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

V30 is not that fast of a card for the Air3. You need at least a v60, preferably a V90. I use Macs and have never had an issue with SD cards. I run V60 and V90 in my Air 2S. I usually don't format them that often, I will dump the media to my computer then trash the files on there and empty the trash. Goes back to full capacity and I haven't had any issues at all.
Also, maybe you should check the speed of the card, depending on where you got it, there are many counterfeit cards out there.

 

[nd4wmike]

Have you tried using a low level computer management tool to see if the operating system can even detect the card?
On a Windows PC, go to search and type in Disk Management. It will open up a screen that shows all of your drives and partitions, including even an unformatted SD card.
The E: drive on my machine is a 400 GB SD card formatted to exFAT.
Like this:
View attachment 168214

Yes I have done this in a windows PC , card not detected

Mike

 

[nd4wmike]

V30 is not that fast of a card for the Air3. You need at least a v60, preferably a V90. I use Macs and have never had an issue with SD cards. I run V60 and V90 in my Air 2S. I usually don't format them that often, I will dump the media to my computer then trash the files on there and empty the trash. Goes back to full capacity and I haven't had any issues at all.
Also, maybe you should check the speed of the card, depending on where you got it, there are many counterfeit cards out there.

Thanks for your reply

 

[PMF23]

One other suggestion, in case you try that low level format/wipe tool, and don’t get anywhere. It’s been a while, but some time ago I used a card in a different application that got hosed up and would not be recognized in the device or in my Mac. so I took the card and put it in my digital camera, then formatted it there. Lo and behold, once that was completed both Mac and the other device were able to recognize and use the card without any further issues. Don’t ask me why it worked, I was just very pleased that the issue was resolved.