Stupid video tip that only gets casually mentioned to avoid file corruption

[vindibona1]

If you watch beginning tutorials often you'll heard the presenter reminding us to make sure we have an SD card installed and not to forget to push the record button. I've taken that to heart and once my Mini is fired up I make sure I push the record button, even though it may not be in the air yet. I don't want to miss that important shot because I'd forgotten to push the button. However, there have been a few times when I've gotten home and found files "corrupted" and unreadable.

What I failed to do was push the STOP RECORD before turning off my Mini. I never thought to think that the file has to be finalized and that happens when you hit the stop record. I mistakenly thought the file would finalize if you simply powered down the Mini. But that's not the case. I know now that I have to be as diligent to stop the recording as to stop it to avoid footage that I can't use. I wish I'd seen this advice earlier from someone else.

Just thought I'd put that out there to save some consternation and aggrevation.

 

[Dronernator]

The solution to fixing the unusable footage is to turn on the mini. It finalises the "corrupt" video on startup. You can't copy a corrupt video back to the card to fix and it only fixes the latest video. If you've already put the card back in and turned it on, check again and see if the mini has worked it's magic.

Why it closes it on boot & not shutdown, who knows!

 

[dirkclod]

It’s been that way since I started flying Phantoms. Where I mess up
is I will be taking pictures and switch over to video by clicking the record button on the controller and forget that just switch’s it to video.
You have to press it again to start. Have missed some good videos
like that. Is easy to get preoccupied with what your trying todo and
miss the little things.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Forgotten the card, forgotten to press record and forgotten to stop recording properly lol, they are all quite common mistakes I think.
There are credit card sized mSD card holders, carrying some spare mSD's in such a thing in your wallet might be a idea.

JJC Micro SD Card Case Carrying Lightweight Slim Holder: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Free delivery and returns on eligible orders. Buy JJC Micro SD Card Case Carrying Lightweight Slim Holder Storage for 10 MSD Micro SD Memory Cards at Amazon UK.

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There are probably cheaper sellers.

 

[ATP]

It would to be easy for DJI to modify the on-board software to automatically bookend the file once it detects the power-off command has been activated or the video has changed to still pictures. Perhaps if enough users were to send a request to them......

 

[Rupuze]

If you watch beginning tutorials often you'll heard the presenter reminding us to make sure we have an SD card installed and not to forget to push the record button. I've taken that to heart and once my Mini is fired up I make sure I push the record button, even though it may not be in the air yet. I don't want to miss that important shot because I'd forgotten to push the button. However, there have been a few times when I've gotten home and found files "corrupted" and unreadable.

What I failed to do was push the STOP RECORD before turning off my Mini. I never thought to think that the file has to be finalized and that happens when you hit the stop record. I mistakenly thought the file would finalize if you simply powered down the Mini. But that's not the case. I know now that I have to be as diligent to stop the recording as to stop it to avoid footage that I can't use. I wish I'd seen this advice earlier from someone else.

Just thought I'd put that out there to save some consternation and aggrevation.

I'm so glad you posted this. I'm a newbie and I had this problem --- I thought I may have had a defective SD card, so I bought a new one. I had the same problem, so I knew it wasn't the card. Now I know that it was Pilot Error. Never again, thanks to your post.

 

[vindibona1]

I'm so glad you posted this. I'm a newbie and I had this problem --- I thought I may have had a defective SD card, so I bought a new one. I had the same problem, so I knew it wasn't the card. Now I know that it was Pilot Error. Never again, thanks to your post.

I'm glad it could help. I'm only about a month in with the drone thing and am totally bitten. I was perplexed because the first time it happened I made sure I'd powered off my drone in the proper sequence... but then it happened again- and I figured it out. And then one more time I forgot to hit the stop button and got a corrupt video. I did learn how to recover the file with a mystic method, but the video drifted in and out and while I could see what was on it it was still unuseable. I guess we have to be as diligent in the power-down sequence as with the power up and start-record.

 

[DanMan32]

The raw video is still there even if you forgot to press stop before powering off, however the header isn't written to identify the video details.

If even after returning the SD card and powering up it isn't corrected, there is a process you can go through to restore the video. I don't have the details but it can be found by googling restoring corrupted DJI video. It's a two step process.

I agree after all these years, DJI hadn't added a finalize routine to the power off process. I get having a corrupted video after an abrupt power loss, but having this occur on a graceful shutdown is inexcusable.