One way to get past a broken MP4 file...

[Thmoore]

I was out shooting yesterday, and finally got the shot right with "DJI_0072." I then drove another three hours to my destination, secure in the knowledge that I had the footage.

But when I popped the memory card into my Mac, I got a file with this icon:



Every other file on the card was just fine. When I tried to open the file, I got this:

I panicked for only a few minutes. Googling the issue didn't help. I tried to fix the file using the handy "VLC" video-playing app. That did not work. I downloaded a video-file recovery program and tried the free sample fix it offered, and that did not work.

But here's what did work: I put the memory card back into the Mini and pulled the video file over to my iPhone using the Fly app. For whatever reason, that worked just fine.

Hope this helps!

 

[DanMan32]

Likely you powered off the Mini before stopping the recording, which leaves the recording unfinished.
The fix is to just power on the AC with the card installed. That will close the recording. It was probably your powering on the Mini and not the OTA transfer that fixed it.

 

[EricJT]

Likely you powered off the Mini before stopping the recording, which leaves the recording unfinished.
The fix is to just power on the AC with the card installed. That will close the recording. It was probably your powering on the Mini and not the OTA transfer that fixed it.

Yep, that has saved me a few times over the years.

 

[Thmoore]

Likely you powered off the Mini before stopping the recording, which leaves the recording unfinished.

Cool; thanks.

So, does that mean that the Mini has some internal storage for flight videos? I thought it wrote everything directly to the SD card.

 

[EricJT]

Cool; thanks.

So, does that mean that the Mini has some internal storage for flight videos? I thought it wrote everything directly to the SD card.

It writes it to the SD card but if you power down before you stop the recording, the file is left in an incomplete state. Reinserting the card and powering the drone back on allows the file to be closed and saved appropriately.

 

[DanMan32]

That's true.