A119 possible issue or just how they work?

[nafoibot]

I recently bought a a119 viofo and put in a lexar recommend 128gb card, set it all up properly mounted to the vehicle windshield. When I bring out the viofo camera inside with the card in it and read it off the pc it sees the files. But the minute I go back and power it back to the vehicle it overwrites the original folder and starts fresh. Is this normal or should I try formatting and updating the firmware.

I've also tried Loop recording versus continously recording without segments and gets the same results.

 

[borik]

I recently bought a a119 viofo and put in a lexar recommend 128gb card, set it all up properly mounted to the vehicle windshield. When I bring out the viofo camera inside with the card in it and read it off the pc it sees the files. But the minute I go back and power it back to the vehicle it overwrites the original folder and starts fresh. Is this normal or should I try formatting and updating the firmware.

I've also tried Loop recording versus continously recording without segments and gets the same results.

by design it should start overwriting the oldest files first when the memory card becomes full but you have to set a "Loop Recording" to anything except "Off".

 

[SawMaster]

Are you reading the card directly or while still in the cam? Also, powering a cam from a PC or laptop is not recommended as most cannot supply sufficient power. Doing this can cause all manner of weird things to happen.

Use the supplied PS (or a larger phone charger in the house), format the card in the cam, set cam to 'default', power down the cam, then start it again and select your preferred settings. This should restore normal operation. Also be aware that Lexar cards have changed recently and are not generally recommended for dashcam use any more. Perhaps @viofo should update this on his website and in user manuals?

And welcome to DCT
Phil

 

[Tractor]

It is VERY important that any SD Card over 32Gb is formatted in the A119. All SD cards over 32Gb are not in a format that the device will recognise and may cause all sorts of strange problems with the card.

 

[borik]

It is VERY important that any SD Card over 32Gb is formatted in the A119. All SD cards over 32Gb are not in a format that the device will recognise and may cause all sorts of strange problems with the card.

any sd card size formatted to a fat32 file system on any computer or any camera or using any utility that's designed to format a card to a fat32 has exactly the same fat32 file system. exactly the same.

 

[SawMaster]

It is still best practice to format the card in the cam itself. This goes for all dashcams, even if you just formatted it in another device. Maybe unnecessary with some cams but it's good insurance that the card is formatted correctly.

Phil

 

[borik]

It is still best practice to format the card in the cam itself.

it's not.
your "best practice" apply only to people how's primary electronic devices are a Tv and a smartphone.

 

[jokiin]

any sd card size formatted to a fat32 file system on any computer or any camera or using any utility that's designed to format a card to a fat32 has exactly the same fat32 file system. exactly the same.

that's not correct actually, cluster size is a variable and requirements can vary depending on the device, also Windows does not respect the reserved space on memory cards and will not format them according to the SD standard

 

[borik]

that's not correct actually, cluster size is a variable and requirements can vary depending on the device, also Windows does not respect the reserved space on memory cards and will not format them according to the SD standard

fat32 file system called fat32 because it uses File Allocation Table 32 (32768). if you use a (slightly) different File Allocation Table that's how you use Fat32 in your device, it might be required by your device and has nothing to do with a Fat32 file system itself.
provide some proof (links) to what you said.

 

[jokiin]

fat32 file system called fat32 because it uses File Allocation Table 32 (32768). if you use a (slightly) different File Allocation Table that's how you use Fat32 in your device, it might be required by your device and has nothing to do with a Fat32 file system itself.
provide some proof (links) to what you said.

you just contradicted your own statement by acknowledging that different devices can have different settings yet still be FAT32, in other words not all FAT32 is equal as you previously suggested

as to Windows not adhering to the standard you can see mention of that on the SD industry website https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/index.html

best practice as @SawMaster mentioned previously would be to format the cards in the device that they are being used in as they may use different settings

 

[SawMaster]

All I will add here is that the instructions with every cam which mentions it will tell you to format the card in the cam. None tell you to format it elsewhere then use it in the cam like that. I know they are smarter than me in this matter so I stand with their advice.

Phil

 

[borik]

you just contradicted your own statement by acknowledging that different devices can have different settings yet still be FAT32, in other words not all FAT32 is equal as you previously suggested

the A119 camera does not require a memory card to be formatted in a camera if you know how to do it on your computer. it uses simple Fat32 file system, nothing special.
the recommendations to format sd card in a camera are for those who have no idea about file system the A119 uses.

 

[jokiin]

the A119 camera does not require a memory card to be formatted in a camera if you know how to do it on your computer. it uses simple Fat32 file system, nothing special.
the recommendations to format sd card in a camera are for those who have no idea about file system the A119 uses.

this is the primary driver behind having people format the card in camera, plenty of people don't know how to do it, if they just work with default settings their PC offers for large cards it won't work

 

[borik]

All I will add here is that the instructions with every cam which mentions it will tell you to format the card in the cam. None tell you to format it elsewhere then use it in the cam like that. I know they are smarter than me in this matter so I stand with their advice.

Phil

because some operating systems do not support Fat32 format, like my WinXP. I just had to find a good utility to do it and I did - it's the same one Viofo provided on their support page.

 

[borik]

this is the primary driver behind having people format the card in camera, plenty of people don't know how to do it, if they just work with default settings their PC offers for large cards it won't work

and the "secondary driver" I mentioned above.
I use Microsoft operating systems since DOS 6.0 so I'm comfortable to use any utility that does a good job.
and the third reason I prefer to format a card on a computer is because 2 or 3 times I received the dead new cards. and if you put a dead card in a camera and try to format it and it doesn't work what should you do?! it might be the camera fault, or a bad cable or a bad weather. or your Lexar or sumsung card became "read only"?!

 

[jokiin]

I can tell you now we get people that format cards on their computers using commonly available tools that still get it wrong

 

[Tractor]

With NTFS, Fat32, ExFat and others it is no wonder people get it wrong and probably the reason for a lot SD Card problems, without taking into account the fake cards out there. The only sure fire way to make sure the SD-Card is formatted correctly for the device (be it dashcam, action camera etc) is to format in the device as recommended by most manufactures.