I do not own a Mac, but for those that do, how do you format the SD Card properly ? Please only answer if you are  confident that you know  the correct process . Quite often I get e-mails and reminders  from members asking  questions regarding challenges updating and I can almost always tell from their level of frustration  that they  are using a Mac for the update process.   I am not trying to "Bash"  the product ( Mac's )  , but it seems  to make the formatting process difficult and does not seem to format AND  wipe off the previous data completely.


     From what I understand , as far as the Bin files on updates, the Mac unzips the file and has the Bin file exposed and ready to just drag and drop onto the device.  Is this correct ?


     So If a member could list a step by step Process of Formatting the SD card ( Or thumb drives , etc.  )  and how to get the Bin file installed to the  Card , I think it would be most helpful.  I for one would be grateful and then I wont keep bashing the Mac.

(Pictures would be a bonus !)


I for one have learned a lot on the forum and want to thank everyone for there contributions.  If we keep exchanging Hints and Tips we can make each of us better pilots and pay it forward to those new members in need.  


Thanks - donnie

Hi,
What's the goal of formating SD card on a Mac?
I format my microSD cards using a camera (X5), next place it into card reader and laptop, drag extracted bin file and drop onto a card and put card back into camera.

CMD+ spacebar type "disk utility"

Click the partition and select erase.

Format is recommended as MS-DOS (FAT) ((I've formated in mac journaled and had no problems also though)

Next open the card in finder and drop the bin file directly on the drive OUTSIDE of all folders if any (shouldn't be any after formating)

Then eject and place card in X5. turn on craft and cross your fingers. LOL eventually youll hear the infamous DDDD-DDDD-......

From experience you don't need to format the sd card for a firmware upgrade. But in answer to your question the easiest way to format the card is via the DJI go app. It's in the camera settings somewhere.

dopeytree Posted at 2016-5-19 18:27
the easiest way to format the card is via the DJI go app.

I would hardly call that the easy way. I could format cards at twice the rate someone could do it through the aircraft.

Hi,
If you really need to format your SD card on Mac you can use SD Card Formatter

AEROKAMERA Posted at 2016-5-19 12:35
Hi,
What's the goal of formating SD card on a Mac?
I format my microSD cards using a camera (X5), ne ...

Sometimes the  aircraft is not available for the SD card Format, therefore must use there Mac's.


donnie

AEROKAMERA Posted at 2016-5-20 02:12
Hi,
If you really need to format your SD card on Mac you can use SD Card Formatter

I think I am going to recommend this in the future, I have had more than on member tell me about this .

Thanks- donnie

GuyNamedLindsey Posted at 2016-5-19 14:00
CMD+ spacebar type "disk utility"

Click the partition and select erase.

You do not have any other  settings on the MAC that must be "enabled " for this to work do you ?

Why do you think so many members have trouble formatting and loading the Bin file on their machines ?

I appreciate the Help and Have Copied and Pasted your post for future reference.  

Thanks- donnie

dopeytree Posted at 2016-5-19 17:27
From experience you don't need to format the sd card for a firmware upgrade. But in answer to your q ...

The SD card format tab : It is in the "MENU" for Camera Settings on the Far right of the Main go app screen under the Tool icon toward the bottom of the sub menu.

donnie

Its much better to format in the aircraft.
This sets up a good habit for those who don't know that one should avoid individual file deletes as this results in fragmentation of contiguous sectors and to write problems eventually, if this is regular practice and the SD card becomes fragmented.

Mike-the-cat Posted at 2016-5-20 11:15
Its much better to format in the aircraft.
This sets up a good habit for those who don't know that  ...

Mike, I actually dont own a Mac but I help other forum  members  with their firmware problems, one big one  is when they use there Mac's to format the SD Card, for some reason it does not wipe the whole file and then there are problems . So I am trying to find an  easy way to help them.

donnie

Donnie Posted at 2016-5-21 03:03
Mike, I actually dont own a Mac but I help other forum  members  with their firmware problems, one  ...

I think the point is to tell your clients to format on the aircraft. That simply works best.

Mike-the-cat Posted at 2016-5-20 19:45
I think the point is to tell your clients to format on the aircraft. That simply works best.

They cant sometimes, that is the whole point.   


And "Clients"  would Infer some type of payment..........I dont get  Paid......believe me.  I am just a glutton for punishment.
  The ones that really get me is this , "Will youexplain the update process start to finish, and how do I turn this thing on .....this is really junk if you cant even turn it on  ..."  

Cheers- donnie

Please also remember when using a Mac and deleting files you must also empty the Trash Can before removing any Memory card, USB stick or external drive, especially if placing back into the Inspire camera.  

When I have had problems in the past or upgrading with memory cards, I simply
1.  Format memory card whilst in the camera ( Should not need to format every time )
2.  Remove card from camera;
3.  Place into Mac and copy Bin file onto card;
4.  Remove memory card from Mac by ejecting card properly and place back into camera -  then start the upgrade process;
5.  Once upgrade finished remove card and place back into Mac;
6.  Check Success is recorded on card files;
7.  Then personally I copy all update files and save onto my Mac as a record of successful upgrade;
8.  Once upgrade is success, delete all files from memory card;
9.  Empty Trash
10 Remove card and its ready to use again when next upgrading ( Personally I just keep the card that came with the Inspire for upgrading so once an upgrade is complete, I wipe the card so that it is empty and ready for future upgrades).

When using other memory cards to record images in flight etc.  following same principle when copying to Mac, remember to delete all files from the memory card and empty trash.  Then the card is ready to use again.

Donnie,

I use a MacBook Pro for all my editing and I've run into the same issue with formatting cards on a Mac. I understand that you are asking "how" to format a card on a Mac and I wish I could give you a better answer than format it on the craft but that's exactly what I do. If not the craft I just toss it in one of the PC laptops I've got laying around and format it quickly there. It's strange that formatting is much more difficult on a Mac but putting the bin file on the card is so much easier on a Mac than a PC (not using WinZip etc...)? Sorry I couldn't give you a better response or better instructions but that is just the "easiest" way to do it.

I think my honest answer to your "clients" is tell them to format it on a PC (if the craft isn't available). PC's "should" be easy to come by and it takes all of 5 secs to do. Then they can load the bin file from their Mac.
That reminds me... I've still got three batteries to update

RearViewMirror Posted at 2016-5-21 09:04
Donnie,

I use a MacBook Pro for all my editing and I've run into the same issue with formatting car ...

I appreciate the response, thank you !

Donnie

Donnie Posted at 2016-5-20 14:31
The SD card format tab : It is in the "MENU" for Camera Settings on the Far right of the Main go  ...

... and shorter: go to the Aircraft Status (tap top left next to dji logo), go to the bottom and forma.BTW. Always I fornatted my sd cards on Mac I get "SD card need to be formatted" on status screen.

Mike-the-cat Posted at 2016-5-20 12:15
Its much better to format in the aircraft.
This sets up a good habit for those who don't know that  ...

AFAIK there is no such thing as fragmentation with flash memory - it actually makes no difference how fragmented the data is - this is one reason flash is so much faster than a conventional old fashioned physical disk.  Flash memory controllers basically "spray" the data into the memory wherever it can go.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2 ... gging-your-ssd.html

I've used macs and PCs for decades and never had a problem using disk utility on the Mac to format MSDOS or FAT or even exFAT - I formatted a card for my first update in exFAT and it worked fine.  YMMV

Why are you formatting the cards anyway?

You just copy over the latest firmware & eject put into the craft & its updates. Simple.

Formatting just complicates things. If these people don't know how to format the cards - I imagine they also don't understand copying the video & photos stored on the cards...

dopeytree Posted at 2016-5-22 07:12
Why are you formatting the cards anyway?

You just copy over the latest firmware & eject put into th ...

     Dopeytree ,Many are new pilots and for some reason if they use a Mac, it does not properly format the Card so it can receive the Bin file.  I do not Own a Mac, but time and again when helping members, and they are having issues updating, I tell them to use a PC and not a Mac for updating and their problem  goes away.  I think I am going to recommend that they download the SD Formatter app for The MAC.  This seems like the best and easiest way to go.  

Thanks for the input, much appreciated.

Donnie

ocelot27 Posted at 2016-5-22 11:04
AFAIK there is no such thing as fragmentation with flash memory - it actually makes no difference  ...

Fragmentation: having a file in non contiguous locations on storage media. It exists by definition if a file cannot be written in a contiguous memory space.

Performance hit: less with SD cards than with a HDD, yes. However, there is a hit because the address table has to be queried to find where the next segment of data is. I used to think the way you did till I ran into problems using a slowish card on a P2 recording at 50fps for a long shot. No problem with smaller files.

See http://www.tech-faq.com/sd-card.html for a more wordy explanation.

disregard wrong question in this subject matter my apoligies.

If I'm not mistaken Rich53 uses Mac to format SD card and has provided advise in the past

Jim09 Posted at 2016-6-8 20:46
If I'm not mistaken Rich53 uses Mac to format SD card and has provided advise in the past

Thanks, the advise I have given lately is to download a program App for Macs called "SD card formatter."

also they need tomake sure it is defaulting at "Fat 32 "  The Mac's do not default to this for some reason .

So far seems to be working.

Thanks for the input

donnie

There is a section in the Mac Utilities folder called Disk Utility..... you can format it however you like in there......very simple

Yes, disk utility/ then select the sd card/ then choose erase/ then fat32...  That's it..

Donnie, question.  Does the bin file have to be on the card always, or just for updating.  I just updated my inspire pro (successfully) and the dji go app is telling me to reformat.  Can I just reformat in the aircraft, and not take the friggin sad card out to put the bin file back on it?

If you are just referring to the hidden files that are left sometimes after ejecting the SD from a mac, I use a program called "Blue Harvest" on my mac rather than formatting, it is a utility to delete the hidden trashy files that get left behind when deleting everything of an removable drive. Very handy for situations when you don't necessarily want to delete everything off the drive, only the trashy mac files.

For example I usually use it when I have video files on a usb and stick it straight into a tv. Even though the mac said there was only the video files, the TV will pick up the few extra hidden files left my the mac (I'm sure everyone has seen this at some point). Right click the drive when in the mac "Clean with Blue Harvest" (when blue harvest is installed) and all done. It gives you a quick log of the hidden files it deleted.

[url= https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/blueharvest/id739483376?mt=12]itunes store - Blue Harvest[/url]


Description

BlueHarvest will keep your non Mac formatted storage devices free of OS X metadata including ._ files, .DS_Store files, Thumbs.ini (from Windows), .AppleDouble folders, .Trashes and many many more. BlueHarvest automatically cleans these devices as you work without you needing to do a thing.

WorldOfRusty Posted at 2016-6-16 18:53
If you are just referring to the hidden files that are left sometimes after ejecting the SD from a m ...

No, the actual update file.

WorldOfRusty Posted at 2016-6-16 18:53
If you are just referring to the hidden files that are left sometimes after ejecting the SD from a m ...

No, the actual update file.  In other words, can you just use the app to format the card, and then leave it in the x5 without throwing anything else on the card after formatting

adam1 Posted at 2016-6-16 17:26
Yes, disk utility/ then select the sd card/ then choose erase/ then fat32...  That's it..

Donnie,  ...

    Adam , be sure to erase the bin file or use a different SD card, ( after an Update )  because what can happen is the Aircraft can begin a update sequence and if the RC is on it could corrupt the video transmission file.

I , personally keep my SD cards for recording and for Updating separate, and I always erase the SD card after an update ,   after all, the update is  loaded on to the Hard drive of my computer.

Yes , you can format on the aircraft any time, I always do it this way myself, and If you own a MAC I would always  format my SD card on the aircraft, Mac's for some reason do not wipe the "SD card of all old data and cause all kinds of mischief when trying to update.
l
donnie

Donnie Posted at 2016-6-17 07:25
Adam , be sure to erase the bin file or use a different SD card, ( after an Update )  because ...

Hey thanks Donnie!

ok, so I'm about to throw the inspire to the window! I can not format the card either in the aircraft (time out error) or on my MAC there is no FAT 32 option only MS DOS and EX FAT.
I can not upgrade the firmware, or even get an RC Link even though the controller is siting right next to the inspire.
Any help much appreciated

GG63 Posted at 2016-6-17 08:11
ok, so I'm about to throw the inspire to the window! I can not format the card either in the aircraf ...

Ok , when formatting go to the main screen ( far right  on main screen )  and under tools at the bottom it says format SD

or use Harbs idea :
There is a section in the Mac Utilities folder called Disk Utility..... you can format it however you like in there......very simple


Try it this way.  Then load the 1.9 update . ( Have you updated in the Past ? )

Dont start re-- linkin and all that , You will dig a deeper hole.

Why are you re -linking ? did you rollback the Firmware or something ?  

Do you have communication with the Aircraft and  RC transmitter  right Now ?  

donnie

GG63 Posted at 2016-6-17 21:11
ok, so I'm about to throw the inspire to the window! I can not format the card either in the aircraf ...

EX FAT works. However, it is preferable to format from the aircraft. Anytime you want to throw your Inspire out, give it to me....