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Will I need to reformat SD every time it’s full?

Rick0504N

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After recording, I remove the 16gb card that came with my MPP and use a card reader to connect to my MacBook Air and copy the files to my Mac and then delete the files from the card.

I filled up the card for the first time. Deleted the files from the card. Put it back into the Mavic but saw the SD Full message still showing on RC. So I reformatted the card and all is well.

Is reformatting the card the only to ensure that all of the files ( I guess they are hidden) are removed? I’ve been working with SD cards from my camcorders with a Mac for years and have never had to reformat them after deleting the files.
 
You should not have to reformat the card. Are you 100% positive the files were no longer showing up in the directory after deleting them?
 
No. But macs don't delete from the card when you put in the trash, they just put them in a hidden trash folder. You need to empty the trash before ejecting the card for them to be deleted for real.
 
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No. But macs don't delete from the card when you put in the trash, they just put them in a hidden trash folder. You need to empty the trash before ejecting the card for them to be deleted for real.
Are you saying that when I move the file from the SD card to my laptop’s Trash, that I then have to empty the Trash in order to actually empty the SD card?
 
You should not have to reformat the card. Are you 100% positive the files were no longer showing up in the directory after deleting them?
When I remove card from AC and read on my laptop, I get the DCIM folder and then 100MEDIA folder , where my files are. After copying files to laptop, I move them to laptop’s Trash and they definitely no longer show anywhere on the card. Yet, when I install the card back into AC, it shows as full until I format it. Not a big deal, but like I said, I’ve never had to do this before when working with my camcorders and cameras.
 
It's easy enough to format while it's finding GPS at start up, you may as well do it reduces the risk of file remnants and hidden items gradually taking up space or even causing an unreadable file.
 
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When I remove card from AC and read on my laptop, I get the DCIM folder and then 100MEDIA folder , where my files are. After copying files to laptop, I move them to laptop’s Trash and they definitely no longer show anywhere on the card.

Are you familiar with the command line, as in how to access it and where the SD card gets mounted?
 
After recording, I remove the 16gb card that came with my MPP and use a card reader to connect to my MacBook Air and copy the files to my Mac and then delete the files from the card.

I filled up the card for the first time. Deleted the files from the card. Put it back into the Mavic but saw the SD Full message still showing on RC. So I reformatted the card and all is well.

Is reformatting the card the only to ensure that all of the files ( I guess they are hidden) are removed? I’ve been working with SD cards from my camcorders with a Mac for years and have never had to reformat them after deleting the files.
I have found that by letting the device that is writing the data( Mavic, GoPro, etc) do the formatting there are fewer issues later. So I format my SD card in the Mavic after removing what I want. Very quick, for future considerations.
 
I suspect the quickest solution might be to move rather than copy?
Hopefully, Mac's handle moves differently than PC's. On a Windows PC, you can cut or copy. When you cut you then can paste to a new location, removing the file from the original location at the same time. Strangely enough, Windows does not ensure the quality of the paste. I had a whole day's data lost when some unknown problem occurred during a cut and paste operation. Both the original and copy became corrupted. Hopefully they have corrected the problem by now but I do not take the chance. I always confirm the quality of the copied file before deleting the original (at least by comparing file sizes).

And I agree with the prior posts about formatting inside the Mavic. It is easy to do and would insure that it is formatted correctly for the Mavic to communicate with it.
 
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I do now, thanks to you and Google...

Next time you fill up the SD card, after you do your usual delete operation (but before you reformat the card), run the command ls lah (put a dash in front of "lah", the forum won't let me post that for some reason) in the 100MEDIA directory and post the output. That will give a lower level view that may help point to what is going on.
 
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Nooooo. Easy peasy.

Just copy to Mac from SD card, when copied to Mac, delete from card, whilst card/drone is still connected, empty trash. Boom!! Gone. No need for command line, as it’s so simple.

Same for all external drives on a Mac. Only way to be sure it’s gone. Try it and look at the space available at the bottom of the finder window, if that option is on. If you don’t empty trash, the space available doesn’t change.

Plus, format in Mavic, if you need to, as the others have said.
 
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