trouble in extracting logs from crashed drone

[inca]

After a crash, DJI had asked me to send in my logs to evaluate the case. Logs from the phone were inconclusive as the recording stops when the signal was lost between the drone and the RC.
DJI guided me to use Assistant 2 to recover logs from the crashed drone for further inspection.
When I plug in the drone to my Mac, the software just searches for logs but finds nothing. I cannot do any 'save to local'.

Is there another way to extract the data out of the drone or from the SD card? I want to better understand what happened why.
DJI has been very very slow in responding to my inquiries.

I do not understand why the drone missed a huge building. I accept my mistake of not setting up the return to home height properly, but I also think that the drone is advertised as to have the ability to avoid obstacles and Smart RTH's very description is to avoid situations like mine. If it's not going to work why make it a strong selling point, without any warnings at least?

 

[Kilrah]

Might want to try a PC, many people have issues with the Assistant on Macs.

I also think that the drone is advertised as to have the ability to avoid obstacles

Yes but that's not a 100%.
You should always consider these things as "there's a chance it might save my *ç% if I mess up" but never expect them to do so. Visual recognition of an object depends on so many things that it won't work all the time.
If anything there's half a page of conditions needed for it to be expected to work in the manual, should make it quite obvious that you don't want to count on it and that it's merely a "best effort".

 

[Cyberpower678]

After a crash, DJI had asked me to send in my logs to evaluate the case. Logs from the phone were inconclusive as the recording stops when the signal was lost between the drone and the RC.
DJI guided me to use Assistant 2 to recover logs from the crashed drone for further inspection.
When I plug in the drone to my Mac, the software just searches for logs but finds nothing. I cannot do any 'save to local'.

Is there another way to extract the data out of the drone or from the SD card? I want to better understand what happened why.
DJI has been very very slow in responding to my inquiries.

I do not understand why the drone missed a huge building. I accept my mistake of not setting up the return to home height properly, but I also think that the drone is advertised as to have the ability to avoid obstacles and Smart RTH's very description is to avoid situations like mine. If it's not going to work why make it a strong selling point, without any warnings at least?

It sounds like OA was disabled for RTH. This is documented in the 10 most common pilot mistakes video from DJI.

How to retrieve a .DAT will guide you on retrieving the dat. If you are curious for a quick answer I and a few others can look at the file as well and give you an answer.

 

[inca]

It sounds like OA was disabled for RTH. This is documented in the 10 most common pilot mistakes video from DJI.

How to retrieve a .DAT will guide you on retrieving the dat. If you are curious for a quick answer I and a few others can look at the file as well and give you an answer.

Thanks for the link. However, it has instructions for other drones and I couldn't find the 'enter flight data mode' in the mavic's menu settings.
I tried creating a disk image from the SD card directly and also from the drone being attached to the laptop by USB, in both cases the operation only copied the images from the SD card and nothing like flight logs.
I tried Assistant 2 again and it's also not working, I notice it gets the turning wheel on pretty much anything like Firmware Update, Flight Record, etc.

I'll try to find a PC as suggested by others and try the assistant there, however, I am about to leave on a work trip for a month and cannot carry a broken with me
Will feed back when I have some development.

And for what it's worth, I checked the drone to be sure about OA for RTH, it is/was on.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Thanks for the link. However, it has instructions for other drones and I couldn't find the 'enter flight data mode' in the mavic's menu settings.
I tried creating a disk image from the SD card directly and also from the drone being attached to the laptop by USB, in both cases the operation only copied the images from the SD card and nothing like flight logs.
I tried Assistant 2 again and it's also not working, I notice it gets the turning wheel on pretty much anything like Firmware Update, Flight Record, etc.

I'll try to find a PC as suggested by others and try the assistant there, however, I am about to leave on a work trip for a month and cannot carry a broken with me
Will feed back when I have some development.

And for what it's worth, I checked the drone to be sure about OA for RTH, it is/was on.

Sorry, How to retrieve a .DAT is the correct link.

 

[inca]

Sorry, How to retrieve a .DAT is the correct link.

Thanks Cyberpower678. The instructions are pretty much the same as those from DJI. To add to what I had said earlier, the Assistant recognizes the Mavic, then when I go into Flight Record section, after confirming to enter the Flight Data Mode, I see no flight records. It would automatically start the spinning wheel as if about to show me the flights. Now I need to initiate the process but the outcome is the same: a spinning wheel and no matter how long I wait, nothing coming up.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Thanks Cyberpower678. The instructions are pretty much the same as those from DJI. To add to what I had said earlier, the Assistant recognizes the Mavic, then when I go into Flight Record section, after confirming to enter the Flight Data Mode, I see no flight records. It would automatically start the spinning wheel as if about to show me the flights. Now I need to initiate the process but the outcome is the same: a spinning wheel and no matter how long I wait, nothing coming up.

Actually it should mount as a disk and show up on your desktop.

 

[inca]

Actually it should mount as a disk and show up on your desktop.

I will have to check when I return home. The instructions that DJI sent me didn't have this detail, but I now see in your link that the newer version of Assistant 2 is supposed to do what you say.

Today I got a rather surprizing email from DJI support:
I sent them the photos of the drone saying that I found it and the photos show its condition. I added that the Assistant 2 process, which they asked me to do when I find the drone, did not work. I asked them how to proceed. I did this twice, as the phone line told me DJI faced a 2-day system down and it's possible they everyone's my messages.
Now after 5 emails since they asked me to use Assistant 2, we go back to the beginning of the process with them still asking me if I found the drone and added this:
"Per our colleagues, the aircraft was recovered, correct? May i know if you need to send it back for diagnostic? If you want to claim for warranty repair service, please kindly do below:
1. Please don't power on the aircraft and send it back directly;
2. Or please power it on once, then export the flight log which recorded the incident and send to us. Attached is a PDF instruction. Google Drive is recommended for the file transfer.

It is not advised to power it on the off several times as the flight log which recorded the incident will be overwritten."

I am flubberbusted that they treat this case as if we just started and only now warn me about not powering on the drone. I can understand if they really had a system problem (if it's true at all) but they should have warned me about overwriting much earlier. I probably overwrote the logs by now.

 

[inca]

Actually it should mount as a disk and show up on your desktop.

A skilled friend managed to get the .DAT files out of the drone, but they have something strange.
The earliest .DAT is from April 11 but the crash happened on April 4. It seems like in my attempts to extract the logs, I had overwritten the logs as the DJI tech support said I would, after they forgot to warn me about it in the first place.
The strange thing is that the earliest log is still close to 900mb. I don't know what causes the size to be so big.

Where can I get this .DAT file read so I take a look at what happened?

 

[Cyberpower678]

Upload it to a dropbox, and I can take a look. But it's not likely going to be useful.

 

[inca]

pm sent.

 

[Robbyg]

A skilled friend managed to get the .DAT files out of the drone, but they have something strange.
The earliest .DAT is from April 11 but the crash happened on April 4. It seems like in my attempts to extract the logs, I had overwritten the logs as the DJI tech support said I would, after they forgot to warn me about it in the first place.
The strange thing is that the earliest log is still close to 900mb. I don't know what causes the size to be so big.

Where can I get this .DAT file read so I take a look at what happened?

Every time you power up the Drone a new DAT file is created but the file will typically be small. The 3GB SD card that holds the DAT files can hold a lot of DAT files. You should still see one that is from the date the you had the crash, it will probably be lot bigger like 400MB+


Rob

 

[inca]

Every time you power up the Drone a new DAT file is created but the file will typically be small. The 3GB SD card that holds the DAT files can hold a lot of DAT files. You should still see one that is from the date the you had the crash, it will probably be lot bigger like 400MB+


Rob

Yes, you are right. There are many DAT files created, and as I explained, the date of the earliest one is 7 days after the crash and as you said it is 400mb+.
Sent the file's dropbox link to Cyberpower678.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Yes, you are right. There are many DAT files created, and as I explained, the date of the earliest one is 7 days after the crash and as you said it is 400mb+.
Sent the file's dropbox link to Cyberpower678.

I will take a look later tonight. My internet is crap, so large logs take a bit for me to look at.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Yea, sorry. There's no meaningful data in there. However, those are records from the 14th, not the 11th.

 

[inca]

Yea, sorry. There's no meaningful data in there. However, those are records from the 14th, not the 11th.

Thanks for taking the time to check them.
I must have tried using the Assistant 2 to extract the data, or check how the gimbal reacts when turned on at least 15-20 times. I also tested once whether the drone flies, which it did. These were all before I learned that I could overwrite old logs even if I don't fly. What you saw are probably the logs from my drone sitting there on a desk while I was waiting for the software to find the logs.
The remaining 20+ logs all had dates later than the one I sent you. My friend extracted 6-7 of them. I suppose the dating works chronologically and me sending you other logs won't do much help, right?

 

[Cyberpower678]

Thanks for taking the time to check them.
I must have tried using the Assistant 2 to extract the data, or check how the gimbal reacts when turned on at least 15-20 times. I also tested once whether the drone flies, which it did. These were all before I learned that I could overwrite old logs even if I don't fly. What you saw are probably the logs from my drone sitting there on a desk while I was waiting for the software to find the logs.
The remaining 20+ logs all had dates later than the one I sent you. My friend extracted 6-7 of them. I suppose the dating works chronologically and me sending you other logs won't do much help, right?

Probably not. Sorry.

 

[rowsley]

I'm new to the MP and want to download the dat files. I've view the videos on how to do it but when I go to the MC Setting/ Advanced setting I don't get a enter flight mode option. Is there something wrong with my controller or is it me?

 

[Cyberpower678]

I'm new to the MP and want to download the dat files. I've view the videos on how to do it but when I go to the MC Setting/ Advanced setting I don't get a enter flight mode option. Is there something wrong with my controller or is it me?

How to retrieve a .DAT

 

[rowsley]

How to retrieve a .DAT

I followed those instructions but when I got to the Advanced Settings screen the Enter Flight Mode option wasn't listed.