Hi,

I use SanDisk Extreme 128GB.
The new card was formatted in Mavic Air 2.

I used it for several weeks without any issues.
Yesterday, when trying to transfer videos to my PC, my PC started to complain that card is unreadable and needs to be formatted.

When I put it back to AC and connected AC to RC and RC to my mobile, I could play videos from AC directly on my mobile - they are apparently recognizable by MA2.
However, since videaos are in H.265, I cannot download them from AC to mobile (to transfer later from mobile to PC). DJI does not support downloading H.265 files to mobile.

Did you experience similar problem (files not readable on PC but readable from AC)? This ssems like somne SD card corruption caoused by MA2 which is small enough so that it does not bother MA2 but big enough so that card is not readable on Windows 10 PC.

Mirek

I have not had my Windows PC say that the card is unreadable and needs to be formatted, but almost every time I put the card in my PC, WIndows says there are filesystem errors that it needs to scan and fix. I let it do so, and it doesn't find any errors, and everything seems fine. But the message is annoying and unnerving.

I wonder if we should do full formatting of the SD card in PC instead of in MA2 to avoid these types of issues.
While MA2 has a format option, perhaps it is just a quick format which, later, can lead to issues described above?

Interestingly though, why files are readable by MA2 but not recognized by Windows 10? What little non-standard tricks are DJI using?
Or perhaps a random bug in MA2 firmware which switches some bits on SD card which cause the card to be unreadable by PC but are ignored by MA2 firmware?

Mirek

FWIW, i've never had this issue when reading the SD card on my Mac. I remember from my Windows days that it likes to complain a lot about errors on removable drives that it needs to scan for and fix... also, did you try a different card reader?

In my case, I can only transfer the files to my PC through the USB cable and MA2. If I remove the card to a card reader I get an error message and cant' transfer to the PC (Win10)

ssylca44 Posted at 6-15 06:03
In my case, I can only transfer the files to my PC through the USB cable and MA2. If I remove the card to a card reader I get an error message and cant' transfer to the PC (Win10)

Yeah - I can't do that either.
When I cannocet MA2 using USB cable to my PC, I get the same message as when I insert SD card to card reader.

First message is that the card needs to be formatted.
When I do not want to format, second message is as follows:

P:\ is not accessible
The volume does not contain a recognized file system.
Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.

Mirek

One possible explanation for the errors is that the card reader doesn’t support SDXC cards. It may only support SDHC, which tops out at 32 GB.
Try the SD Card Formatter and see if that works or provides a more detailed message: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/

MisterFrag Posted at 6-15 07:00
One possible explanation for the errors is that the card reader doesn’t support SDXC cards. It may only support SDHC, which tops out at 32 GB.
Try the SD Card Formatter and see if that works or provides a more detailed message: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/

Thank you for the info. Cheers

mph6563 Posted at 6-15 05:51
I have not had my Windows PC say that the card is unreadable and needs to be formatted, but almost every time I put the card in my PC, WIndows says there are filesystem errors that it needs to scan and fix. I let it do so, and it doesn't find any errors, and everything seems fine. But the message is annoying and unnerving.

I also get this exact same message just about every time I put the card in my Windows PC, with the same outcome.

And yes, I totally agree that it is irritating and somewhat unnerving!

same for me (PC) but no problems to reading the card

FWIW, I use a 256 GB Sandisk Extreme card with my Mavic Air 2 and I access the card using a Transcend USB 3.0 card reader under Windows 10. I haven't had any issues getting my footage off the card or received any messages about corruption.

MisterFrag Posted at 6-15 12:45
FWIW, I use a 256 GB Sandisk Extreme card with my Mavic Air 2 and I access the card using a Transcend USB 3.0 card reader under Windows 10. I haven't had any issues getting my footage off the card or received any messages about corruption.

Thank you MisterFrag.
I will definitely try a different reader and I will use SD card format utilities after I am successful in recovering my footage from the card.


Mirek

Mirek L Posted at 6-15 06:00
I wonder if we should do full formatting of the SD card in PC instead of in MA2 to avoid these types of issues.
While MA2 has a format option, perhaps it is just a quick format which, later, can lead to issues described above?

First of all, the BEST place to format an SD card is in the camera device that is going to be using it. Formatting in a PC, or worse, a Mac, is more likely to give you troubles. Secondly, formatting is not a complex procedure technically, and there is little that can go wrong. The problem in formatting in any kind of computer is that it usually gives you a choice of formatting options, and the user may select the wrong option, whereas the camera (or drone) knows EXACTLY which options it needs, and will do it properly.

Files not recognised by Windows 10 - par for the course. And iOS is no better. Window still has not caught up with H265, so it still does not handle these files properly.

And your process of transferring files from the aircraft to a mobile and then to a PC is a bad practice. Mobiles, having limited memory space, often convert the files to a low resolution format in order to make the files smaller during the import process. The recommended method for getting files from the aircraft to a PC is to remove the SD card from the aircraft, put it in a card reader, plug it into the PC and copy the files.

And as MisterFrag says, the problem is more likely the SD card reader, not the card.

Geebax Posted at 6-15 14:40
First of all, the BEST place to format an SD card is in the camera device that is going to be using it. Formatting in a PC, or worse, a Mac, is more likely to give you troubles. Secondly, formatting is not a complex procedure technically, and there is little that can go wrong. The problem in formatting in any kind of computer is that it usually gives you a choice of formatting options, and the user may select the wrong option, whereas the camera (or drone) knows EXACTLY which options it needs, and will do it properly.

Files not recognised by Windows 10 - par for the course. And iOS is no better. Window still has not caught up with H265, so it still does not handle these files properly.

Excellent information and exactly what I do.

mph6563 Posted at 6-15 05:51
I have not had my Windows PC say that the card is unreadable and needs to be formatted, but almost every time I put the card in my PC, WIndows says there are filesystem errors that it needs to scan and fix. I let it do so, and it doesn't find any errors, and everything seems fine. But the message is annoying and unnerving.

Hi. I have been getting the same " WIndows says there are file system errors on the drive and that it needs to scan and fix." with my Windows 10. After a few seconds the file folder for the SD card is displayed fine.

Geebax Posted at 6-15 14:40
First of all, the BEST place to format an SD card is in the camera device that is going to be using it. Formatting in a PC, or worse, a Mac, is more likely to give you troubles. Secondly, formatting is not a complex procedure technically, and there is little that can go wrong. The problem in formatting in any kind of computer is that it usually gives you a choice of formatting options, and the user may select the wrong option, whereas the camera (or drone) knows EXACTLY which options it needs, and will do it properly.

Files not recognised by Windows 10 - par for the course. And iOS is no better. Window still has not caught up with H265, so it still does not handle these files properly.

Geebax,

Thanks for your input but, unfortunately, it is not it.

I did format my card in MA2, not in PC. I always do it this way. For the same reasons you mentioned.
I always transfer files from SD card inserted into the PC reader, not transferring from MA2 to mobile.

The reason why I attempted the AC->mobile transfer was that my PC suddenly stopped recognizing my SD card and wanted to format it while I could still play my videos from the card when card was insterted to AC.
Hence my workaround - attempt to recover files from AC by downloading to mobile (and than to PC), Which, as I explained, did not work since DJI does not support H.265 download.

My reader may be at fault - I will certainly check that (although it did work just fine with this SD card). However, when I connect my MA2 directly to PC via USB, I get exactly the same message - my PC suggests that card is not formatted and asks me if I want to format it. Which means that both the PC reader which I was using, and connecting AC to PC via USB does not work. Which leads me to believe that it is not reader after all but the card may have been corrupted and my files need recovery using one of the third-party recovery tools.

The only thing which is interesting in this scenario, is that MA2 still recognizes the videos and can play them (when I connect AC to RC and RC to mobile, I can click play button in Camera View of DJI FLy, see all my videos, and play them successfully). But how can I transfer them to PC?

Mirek

Geebax Posted at 6-15 14:40
First of all, the BEST place to format an SD card is in the camera device that is going to be using it. Formatting in a PC, or worse, a Mac, is more likely to give you troubles. Secondly, formatting is not a complex procedure technically, and there is little that can go wrong. The problem in formatting in any kind of computer is that it usually gives you a choice of formatting options, and the user may select the wrong option, whereas the camera (or drone) knows EXACTLY which options it needs, and will do it properly.

Files not recognised by Windows 10 - par for the course. And iOS is no better. Window still has not caught up with H265, so it still does not handle these files properly.

Regarding Windows 10 not being able to open and play H.265 files, my system has no trouble doing that. By default the files play using the Movies & TV app, but Windows Media Player also works. The difference may be that I record the files in a MP4 container rather than MOV.
MOV is Apple's QuickTime container format, and Apple abandoned the Windows version of QuickTime and their media player years ago and probably never updated it to support HEVC/H.265. I'm not a fan of proprietary technology, especially Apple's -- they have a long history of stranding users and not caring about the problems.

Mirek L Posted at 6-15 15:21
Geebax,

Thanks for your input but, unfortunately, it is not it.

Starting from the end and going back, when you play your videos from within DJI Fly, it is not playing back the high resolution video files on the SD cad, but a low resolution copy of them, and is selecting either the cached version on your phone, or the low-res version on the SD card. If you want to transfer the videos directly from the aircraft to your PC, then connect the USB port on your PC to the USB port on the aircraft.

I mentioned not copying to your phone because you said you tried that, and as I said, it is not a good idea because the 'import' function of the phone modifies the files if it considerws them too large. Apple phones are notorious for doing this.

That thing of the PC suggesting the SD card is not formatted is a well known bug in Windows, and happens all the time. Just ignore it.

MisterFrag Posted at 6-15 17:53
Regarding Windows 10 not being able to open and play H.265 files, my system has no trouble doing that. By default the files play using the Movies & TV app, but Windows Media Player also works. The difference may be that I record the files in a MP4 container rather than MOV.
MOV is Apple's QuickTime container format, and Apple abandoned the Windows version of QuickTime and their media player years ago and probably never updated it to support HEVC/H.265. I'm not a fan of proprietary technology, especially Apple's -- they have a long history of stranding users and not caring about the problems.

Yes, I don't even try to use the Windows players, since using VLCPlayer I dont bother any longer with the Microsoft versions. And I agree about Apple, and you can put Adobe in that category too as far as I am concerned.

Geebax Posted at 6-15 17:59
Starting from the end and going back, when you play your videos from within DJI Fly, it is not playing back the high resolution video files on the SD cad, but a low resolution copy of them, and is selecting either the cached version on your phone, or the low-res version on the SD card. If you want to transfer the videos directly from the aircraft to your PC, then connect the USB port on your PC to the USB port on the aircraft.

I mentioned not copying to your phone because you said you tried that, and as I said, it is not a good idea because the 'import' function of the phone modifies the files if it considerws them too large. Apple phones are notorious for doing this.

Geebax,

You said: "I mentioned not copying to your phone because you said you tried that, and as I said, it is not a good idea because the 'import' function of the phone modifies the files if it considers them too large. Apple phones are notorious for doing this".


This is not true in my case (Android). I was successful in downloading H.264 video file from my corrupted SD card inserted to AC using DJI Fly app into my mobile. The file was downloaded in original format without any changes or loss to quality (I happened to download the same file few days ago directly from SD to PC, while my SD was still not corrupted, and I compared the two - identical).


This is a painful and manual process but saved my butt in this case. I have plenty of H.264 videos on this SD which are unreadable on my PC now and when recovered using CardRecovery s/w also do not work. Since MA2 is somehow able to read them and downloading to mobile works for H.264, I am mostly OK.


Mirek

Have you figured out the solution? I have the same issue with my Mavic Air 2 SD Cards.

Hey I'm also using sand disk extreme 128gb micro sd card for the mavic air 2, I haven't had the drone for long but I've started to notice some colour casting, banding, pixel type decolonisation in my footage and still images, for the video attached, look closely at the lake, you see moving misplaced colours looking pixelated and also banding as well... for the still image, if you look at the bottom left at the lake, you can see quite a bit if distortion of the colours in the lake, I've been trying again and again and yet I'm getting those distortions especially over lakes, not sure if it's the camera itself which might be faulty or rather it's the sd card which is faulty and is causing those distortions... please have a look and advice will be highly appreciated

Magicdroner Posted at 2020-6-15 15:03
Hi. I have been getting the same " WIndows says there are file system errors on the drive and that it needs to scan and fix." with my Windows 10. After a few seconds the file folder for the SD card is displayed fine.

I get that just about every time as well, but the quick scan and fix errors ends very quickly and no issues with any files or corruptions of any kind.  I used the same SD card and reader and plugged it into my Smart TV.  I noticed the TV treated it as a "Mass Storage Device" added several default folders the the root of the SD.  But when installed back in the MA2 it worked just fine.  When inserting in the W10 PC it again tells me there are errors, and recommends the scan.  The scan completes quickly fixes "mysterious reoccurring errors" and everything is happy again no files corruptions at all or issues with H.256, unless I try to view them, I needed to download a program that recognized the encoding method for viewing, but never a file transfer issue.  I was surprised the TV had no issue with the encoding format, but was annoyed the TV decided to add several folders to the card, but they are easily removed as well.  (Pc running Windows 10, Fly App Vs 1.2.1, Mavic Air 2 with FW 01.01.0610, Samsung TV.  

We experienced this issue and recovered the files using Wondershare RecoverIt software: https://recoverit.wondershare.com/.  It's $90 with a coupon code. There may be cheaper options but RecoverIt it was easy, relatively fast, and completely effective on MP4 H.265 & DNG files.  We have no affiliation with Wondershare and only want to help others who experience this horrific problem by sharing our experience.
We were flying a DJI Mavic Air II and had not updated the firmware. We are not sure what version we were on or if the firmware update fixes the problem and we have not flown since we updated. We were using a SanDisk 128GB Ultra MicroSDXC UHS-I Memory Card. We fully tested the drone and downloaded the video and stills earlier that day. We then recorded video and stills for 3 hours and found the files unreadable on a computer. They were still fully functional on the DJI Fly app on an Android phone.  
The file types were not downloadable to the phone through the Fly app. We tried multiple card readers, 2 windows laptops & one Mac. We also tried connecting the drone directly with a USB cable to these computers.: nothing worked. We got the unreadable drive, please format messages on every computer using every reader.  
I did not try this but I later saw a  video on corrupt drone files that recommended putting the card back in the drone, turning it on, and waiting 5 minutes.  Apparently, the DJI software in the drone looks for corrupt files and repairs them. I do not think this will work for this corrupt file system issue, but it might fix corrupt individual files.
I sincerely hope this information helps fellow drone pilots who are experiencing this prevalent and terrible problem. if you find a better solution, look us up at Stewart Photographic Services and let us know.

Did you format in FAT 32

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For what it's worth, I got corrupted SD card errors when using in drone DJI format. So I switched to old faithful SDFormatter. No corrupted messages since then. I do get SD needs to be repaired and it never finds an issue. Win 7 and 10. I use SDFormatter for just about anything and it always works ---- except for the "needs fix" issue with DJI data.

Having the same problem. Come on DJI, FIX the PROBLEM PLEASE

Same issue here! SanDisk 128gb Exreme. Works fine in my Mini2 I decided to get a MA2 and my Win 10 PC doesn't like it! I think I originally went with H.264 and my PC said it had errors. So I let it scan and fix errors. Everything was fine.

I switched to H.265 and the footage is useless! Like it's in slow motion at 5 FPS! Plus I had to download the new CODEC for H.265. I did run VideoPad stabilization which fixes it but takes FOREVER!

Really disappointed in this MA2! Although everything else about the MA2 is great with the exception of not being able to fly backwards upon RTH.

I guess I will stick with H.264 and let Win10 fix errors until this is fixed. I see that H.265 is superior but not for me at this point.

Do we have a Win10 issue or a MA2 issue?

RM

djiuser_IbNLZXDZJyxA Posted at 2021-8-27 14:53
Same issue here! SanDisk 128gb Exreme. Works fine in my Mini2 I decided to get a MA2 and my Win 10 PC doesn't like it! I think I originally went with H.264 and my PC said it had errors. So I let it scan and fix errors. Everything was fine.

I switched to H.265 and the footage is useless! Like it's in slow motion at 5 FPS! Plus I had to download the new CODEC for H.265. I did run VideoPad stabilization which fixes it but takes FOREVER!

H265 issue is usually a PC Hardware problem you need a decent new series processor to run the files due to the more advanced compression.  i5 series 8 or above