Hey guys! I'm super new to the drone scene so pardon my lack of knowledge! I know this has been a question before in the forum, but mine is a little more unique.

When I was out flying my P4P this morning and recording video, I got an "SD Full" message. I thought I could delete some old stuff that was on my SD through the GO app and continue recording. I did exactly that, and it seemed to be happy and let me record again. I got 2 videos in after I deleted some junk and then shortly after my P4P died.

Then, when I went to upload the SD to my Mac computer later in the day, the last two videos are not on the SD card although they show up in the GO app. Something special I noticed, all the videos I have taken prior to the last 2 videos say "download original" in the GO app. The last two videos do not have that option. So I'm assuming they only got saved to my phone and therefore compressed in resolution and there's no way to retrieve the hi-res versions.

Am I right to assume this? What happened? Did the SD get full so it automatically started saving to my phone? Also, does deleting material through the GO app not actually erase it from the SD? Because stuff I thought I deleted was there when I uploaded to the computer later.

Sorry I know this is novice stuff but I'm really trying to understand everything fully! Any input would be much appreciated!!

Unless you take steps to disable it, the video that is linked from the aircraft to the RC unit is always saved on your phone or tablet. This copy is only 720p resolution and is subject to any glitches or problems in reception.

The real video is saved to the SD card. If you got an 'SD Card Full' message, then just removing a couple of files is not the best course of action. The aircraft creates a lot of files that you are probably not interested in, and some of these are in hidden directories/folders.

You won't even know they are there, so you should get into the habit of periodically copying off the files you want to keep to your computer and then formatting the card in the aircraft. This erases all the junk files in hidden folders and restores the full capacity of the card.

The files that do not appear on the SD card were probably not finalised properly because the aircraft stopped recording them due to the full card.

Geebax Posted at 2017-7-2 16:29
Unless you take steps to disable it, the video that is linked from the aircraft to the RC unit is always saved on your phone or tablet. This copy is only 720p resolution and is subject to any glitches or problems in reception.

The real video is saved to the SD card. If you got an 'SD Card Full' message, then just removing a couple of files is not the best course of action. The aircraft creates a lot of files that you are probably not interested in, and some of these are in hidden directories/folders.

Awesome, thanks for the advice. I will be sure to do this to avoid future complications!

Lexi_Micaela Posted at 2017-7-2 16:54
Awesome, thanks for the advice. I will be sure to do this to avoid future complications!

Hi. Geebax's advice is brilliant. I'd add to that by suggesting that you buy a 64Gb SD card to replace the standard 16GB card. It's a good investment to give you more recording headroom, as the 16Gb card doesn't go far if you're recording videos in full Ultra 4K, for example. But make sure you buy a card of the right spec - the ones I bought are the Samsung 64GB EVO plus UHS-I Class 10 Memory Card, but there are numerous other brands.

And after each flight, get into the habit of downloading your files to your PC for post-processing, and then re-format the card on the P4P as part of your pre-flight actions.

Also, set your app video cache to a reasonable size (I set mine to 8Gb, with 'auto overwrite') to keep a reasonable store of your in-flight video stream. It's those videos which the DJI GO app Editor uses to create nice little videos on-the-fly. The Editor by default doesn't access the full-quality videos stored on the P4P itself.

I have the exact same issue with my Spark, with one key difference: my SD card is not full. Still has 10gb of free space. Yes the last 4 videos I shot are not saved on the SD card.

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-7-2 17:09
Hi. Geebax's advice is brilliant. I'd add to that by suggesting that you buy a 64Gb SD card to replace the standard 16GB card. It's a good investment to give you more recording headroom, as the 16Gb card doesn't go far if you're recording videos in full Ultra 4K, for example. But make sure you buy a card of the right spec - the ones I bought are the Samsung 64GB EVO plus UHS-I Class 10 Memory Card, but there are numerous other brands.

And after each flight, get into the habit of downloading your files to your PC for post-processing, and then re-format the card on the P4P as part of your pre-flight actions.

I believe I have a 32GB card right now but I am quickly realizing that investing in a bigger one is really worth it. They fill up so fast! I've been reformatting the SD card each time now and it seems to be good! I will update my video cache as well, that's a good idea. Thanks so much!