SD Card’s Explained.

[THE CYBORG]

My computer magazine ran an article explaining SD cards so I thought I would pass on the relevant information for our Mavic’s, I think this covers anything a Mavic user may want to know but I didn’t want to waffle on.
The SD Association founded by SanDisk, Panasonic & Toshiba set the symbols on the cards.

All SD cards have a maximum & minimum write speed.

The V is the video speed V30 being the best for 4k & 8k √

U3 cards have a minimum write speed of 30MB/s √

The Roman numeral I have a transfer speed of 104 MB/s √
Equivalent to 10 GB of photos in around 90 seconds.

Cards with II have a maximum speed of 312 MB/s but few devices fully support them usually high end DSLR cameras (unsure if our Mavics do) they will still work but at the slower speed of 104 MB/s.

The A symbol indicates the data transfer demanded by apps on your device, A 2 being the fastest. √

GB indicates the storage capacity, although you can get TB the largest at the moment is 1TB but it’s £261

Finally a picture showing the symbols.

 

[Johnmcl7]

I can't find anything official on mavic support for UHS-II cards apart from one of the DJI staff recommending against them (Mavic Pro support for UHS-II sd card ?, not concrete though as I don't think their point is correct), in the manual and specs they recommend a UHS-I card but don't mention UHS-II. I think it's a safe bet the Mavics don't support UHS-II though as it's not just a faster standard but the cards/readers are physically different with an extra row of pins.

I'd also add not to trust the read/write speeds manufacturers provide which will usually be grossly inflated so it's crucial to understand the different logos and numbers since the card must be able to sustain the speeds for that rating to be badged with them.

 

[DanMan32]

The UHS-I and II has to do with the bus and it's speed and not the media. Think of I and II as the cable connecting the SD card to the device. Sure USB 2 is capable of 480Mb, you won't get that speed if the storage can only supply 100Mb.

Concentrate on the V or U rating, which has to do with what the media can do.
Class 10 without U3 is too slow for Mavics since original Air.
Well, Mini probably doesn't need U3 since it only goes up to 2.7, even though DJI says to use U3.

 

[Laborous]

Nice job Cyborg!
This covers all parameters.

 

[BikerBuster]

Thanks for that. A really useful bit of info. [emoji106][emoji106]

 

[Dubewe]

Very helpful. What is the easiest way to erase the SD card after computer download?

 

[THE CYBORG]

After transferring the files I want I format my SD card as exFAT on my PC then insert back in my Mavic.
You can also format in your drone but old habits die hard.

 

[RobertR]

Magazine: Computeractive?

 

[Johnmcl7]

I prefer to format cards in the device they're going to be used with as I had a couple of cameras that were quite fussy about it and were less reliable if the card hadn't been formatted by them.

 

[Laborous]

I find that to be true with my mini. Sometimes it doesn’t recognize a card that has been formatted on my pc so I’m in the habit of formatting the card In all my drones before I fly. My wife is an amateur photographer and tells me that she was told you should always format the card in the camera.

 

[wco81]

I've been using a Samsung EVO 64 GB Select card, which is UHS-I and U3.

It is SLOW on my Mac, which has a USB card reader. I don't know if it's the card reader or the card.

What are some other brands/models people are using for their M2P?