I got my new Air 3 about 2 weeks ago. When I format the SD memory card in my drone , it makes the card unreadable . Also after the format the drone no longer sees the card.
I put the card in my computer to format and it doesn't see it either .
I have " destroyed" 2 cards trying to format them while installed in the drone .

Thanks

Mike

I would recommend  getting a sandisk U2/ A3 micro SD card. You may not need to format the micro SD card in the drone, I think it will just write on any open space.  but you do need to format the card in the controller. The only other thing I can think of is that you deleted files on the micro SD card that were for the SD card, and maybe that makes them un-usable.

msmoker37a Posted at 9-14 08:07
I would recommend  getting a sandisk U2/ A3 micro SD card. You may not need to format the micro SD card in the drone, I think it will just write on any open space.  but you do need to format the card in the controller. The only other thing I can think of is that you deleted files on the micro SD card that were for the SD card, and maybe that makes them un-usable.

Thanks , I didn't delete anything manually on the card , since it did the exact same thing to 2 separate cards , seems like a problem with the drone or firmware. I have 3 other DJI drones and have never had any trouble with them , also I don't use cheap cards .I won't format any card in any drone from now own, just put them in one of my computers and format there .
Mike

you may not need to format the card that goes into your drone.  

What kind of cards are you using and are they the U2/A3?

Hi there, Mike. Thank you for reaching out and we're deeply sorry for the trouble. Can you please confirm what specific SD cards are you referring to? You may reformat your SD cards using your computer but please make sure to back up the remaining files first before formatting. Thank you.

msmoker37a Posted at 9-14 08:26
you may not need to format the card that goes into your drone.  

What kind of cards are you using and are they the U2/A3?

Thanks for reply, I have used the 2 that where used in other drones and Go Pro's.
SanDisk Extreme +128 gb U3 A2

DJI Paladin Posted at 9-14 19:49
Hi there, Mike. Thank you for reaching out and we're deeply sorry for the trouble. Can you please confirm what specific SD cards are you referring to? You may reformat your SD cards using your computer but please make sure to back up the remaining files first before formatting. Thank you.

SanDisk Extreme +128 gb U3 A2, after formatting in Air 3 this card is unreadable by any gf my drones or computers.

Try the formatter available here to see if it can revive your cards:

https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/

I use it for all my SD media, rather than using the utility that comes with Windows or my drones/cameras.

BamaDrones Posted at 9-15 06:58
SanDisk Extreme +128 gb U3 A2, after formatting in Air 3 this card is unreadable by any gf my drones or computers.

Thank you for your response and we're sorry for the trouble. Please use a different working SD card to insert into your unit. We will coordinate this issue with our relevant team for clarification. We will keep you posted. Thank you.

BamaDrones Posted at 9-15 06:58
SanDisk Extreme +128 gb U3 A2, after formatting in Air 3 this card is unreadable by any gf my drones or computers.

Hi Mike,
The card cannot be destroyed by format...is probably a malfunctioning unit and is not writing properly, as the partition and headers should be written to be read the card.
I advice you to send the unit back, this will generate loss of data and images in time.
The cards can be salvaged with Paragon partition manager or any Disk manager you have, just erase the partition as is probably corrupted and create another fresh one.

UPDATE:
Seems that two Sandisk Extreme Pro cards were corrupted by Air 3...Was salvaged only after I have restored the partition.
I have switched to Kingston Go Plus V2, as this was always a very good brand and without issues.
Take care at Sandisk, even official stores seems to have fake products now.

Geo_Drone Posted at 12-5 05:47
UPDATE:
Seems that two Sandisk Extreme Pro cards were corrupted by Air 3...Was salvaged only after I have restored the partition.
I have switched to Kingston Go Plus V2, as this was always a very good brand and without issues.

Why format the card in the drone? The ONLY 'place' I have ever formatted a card is in Windows on a computer.
After you had problems with the first one WHY did you try a second ? "once bitten, twice shy" and all that. If you have a windows computer I'd empty each card and run Hh2testw on both of them, it is slow but......

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 12-5 06:33
Why format the card in the drone? The ONLY 'place' I have ever formatted a card is in Windows on a computer.
After you had problems with the first one WHY did you try a second ? "once bitten, twice shy" and all that. If you have a windows computer I'd empty each card and run Hh2testw on both of them, it is slow but......

Where is saying that I have format the card in drone????
I have written that was corrupted in drone and salvaged on computer...

Geo_Drone Posted at 12-5 06:41
Where is saying that I have format the card in drone????
I have written that was corrupted in drone and salvaged on computer...

Oops, quoted the wrong person, sorry  !
I got you mixed up with being the OP, who did format two cards in the drone.

Never had a card fail in my drone or regular cameras for that matter and been flying since 2016. Sandisk or other high quality

BrianKushner Posted at 12-5 23:16
Never had a card fail in my drone or regular cameras for that matter and been flying since 2016. Sandisk or other high quality

Well, neither until Air 3.... Seems that sometime is just corrupting the allocation table when is writing the files, very rare indeed, but happens.
The Paragon soft found the issue and corrected it, then was again corrupted.
Can be a fake card? Cannot say, as Sandisk is faked massively.
On Kingston happened only once in 4 years to give me an error, was reformatted and all was fine...
So may be from chineze fakes that entered on market, as this fake cards cannot keep up the burst mode (works on continuous sustained video most times) and appears corrupted data.
Cheers.

You can sometimes gain access to the SD card file system by running windows chkdsk against the card drive letter with the /F option enabled. This must be done under a windows system administrator account. You should always try this before formatting the card. It can often save your data. Open a command prompt under Administrator account, then type chkdsk and hit enter. The use the following command but substitute your SD card drive letter for the X -

chkdsk X: /F

Go back to windows explorer to see if you can now read the card.

100% Cheap fake cards. I hope you did not buy on Amazon or Aliexpress.