What can I delete from my SD card?

[Steve M]

I don't take pictures often but I do want to empty my sd card of all of the previous stuff.
I have all of the pictures that I want to save, can I safely delete all of the folders or all of the sub folders now?
Will the software just create them all again if it needs them?
And specifically the GIS and THM subfolders in the Misc folder.

Thanks Steve

 

[WithTheBirds]

Everything.

Just format it in the bird is probably easiest.

 

[Meta4]

I have all of the pictures that I want to save, can I safely delete all of the folders or all of the sub folders now?

Once you have saved what you want to keep, it's safe to wipe the SD card clean by formatting it.

 

[brett8883]

Everything.

Just format it in the bird is probably easiest.

I think if you delete all the folders it might not recognize the card format and not be able to format it no?

 

[WithTheBirds]

I think if you delete all the folders it might not recognize the card format and not be able to format it no?

No. How do you suggest it might format a brand new card if that was the case?

 

[zocalo]

I think if you delete all the folders it might not recognize the card format and not be able to format it no?

No, the folders are essentially just a special kind of file. The actual "format" information is completely separate and not something that could be viewed without a specific utility.

It's the same with regular cameras; if all you want to do is clear the images, just remove the DCIM directory (lit. "Digital Camera IMages"). The camera (or drone in this case) will recreate the folder next time it starts and go from there without any issue. Any other files or directories are basically "temp" or working directories that would also be recreated on the fly, or maybe utilities provided by the card vendor. Sandisk often preloads a data recovery tool on their cards for instance.

Quickest option is usually just to format the card in the device though.

 

[brett8883]

No. How do you suggest it might format a brand new card if that was the case?

Well I’ve had a few instances where I formatted a card with my Mac and for some reason the drone was unable to recognize the card and couldn’t format it.

This guy is hard to watch if you are add but he’s having the same issue and fixed it the only way I was able to fix it as well. Couldn’t format it in the computer or the drone but was able to with my camera

 

[brett8883]

Don’t know if deleting all the folders would do the same thing I guess not but that’s why I was wondering.

 

[Former Member]

In the old days, the Phantom 3 series stored some firmware on the external SD card for updating. These days, thats all stored internally.

If an SD card wont format inside a Mavic, I would use a different card.

 

[Steve M]

Ok thanks guys.
Cheers Steve

 

[zocalo]

Don’t know if deleting all the folders would do the same thing I guess not but that’s why I was wondering.

In simple terms:

Deleting everything on a card removes all the entries from the directory that tells a device where to find files on the card [1]. The rest of the directory, including any errors or other info like volume labels, is left intact.

Formatting the card overwrites the entire directory with a new copy with no entries, will usually perform additional checks on the card's condition, and may optionally overwrite the contents of the card.

[1] In practice, it just marks the files as deleted and the space they were using as available for re-use (e.g. being overwritten by new files) but leaves all the metadata (date/time info etc.) and the file itself intact. This is how data recovery tools usually try and restore deleted files; they read the "deleted" file metadata, check the actual data hasn't been overwritten, and if possible try and restore it. More advanced tools will also have an option to scan all the data for recognisable file structures and, if all the data can be located, may also be able to recover a file even when its metadata has been overwritten.

 

[Former Member]

In simple terms:

Deleting everything on a card removes all the entries from the directory that tells a device where to find files on the card [1]. The rest of the directory, including any errors or other info like volume labels, is left intact.

Formatting the card overwrites the entire directory with a new copy with no entries, will usually perform additional checks on the card's condition, and may optionally overwrite the contents of the card.

[1] In practice, it just marks the files as deleted and the space they were using as available for re-use (e.g. being overwritten by new files) but leaves all the metadata (date/time info etc.) and the file itself intact. This is how data recovery tools usually try and restore deleted files; they read the "deleted" file metadata, check the actual data hasn't been overwritten, and if possible try and restore it. More advanced tools will also have an option to scan all the data for recognisable file structures and, if all the data can be located, may also be able to recover a file even when its metadata has been overwritten.

Did you footnote your post?[1] Ive never seen anyone do that before. Im impressed. Really! That is cool.


[1] Footnote - an ancillary piece of information printed at the bottom of a page.

 

[THE CYBORG]

I usually pop the SD card in the PC, transfer what I want to keep, format the card and replace in the drone.

 

[ff22]

So LOG and total statistics info is stored on the drone's internal memory? Or where?

 

[Meta4]

So LOG and total statistics info is stored on the drone's internal memory? Or where?

The app stores that information in your phone/tablet.
The drone also has some information stored onboard.
There is nothing useful on the SD card except your images and videos.

 

[ruggb]

The only issue that I know of is that the card must be a FAT format.
low capacity cards are FAT32, high capacity are ExFAT.
If you clean them off in a computer and format them anything else, I think you will have a problem.
They will fail, but if you can't format them on the AC, you must get them error free and formatted to one of the above on a computer. There are plenty of programs to clean and test SD cards.

 

[jwt873]

For the very rare times that I format my cards, I use the built in format utility in DJI Go. I do it just before I take off. It only takes a few seconds.

 

[Steve M]

What is the point of formating rather than just taking off the pics and vids?
Is it something that we should do every time, often or occasionly?

 

[brett8883]

What is the point of formating rather than just taking off the pics and vids?
Is it something that we should do every time, often or occasionly?

As a card is written and wiped there are files that accumulate on card that aren’t visible reducing the size of the card. This is very small and not a noticeable amount. However, it takes less time to format then it is to delete all the media files so it’s a good way the wipe the card and start a clean slate.

There’s no good reason NOT to do it

 

[Steve M]

Ok, fair enough, Thanks pal.