Don't Forget to Check Your Memory Card......

[2000rpm]

I wondered if my rear cam (Transcend DP100 with Transcend 32GB class 10 card <the black one>) captured something of interest earlier today.
When I got home I pulled the card, only to find that the last recording was two days and several hours driving previous. The cam had apparently stopped mid-journey with a corrupted file.

I tested the cam and its card using a wall charger and it just sat there with a solid red LED but wouldn't record (flashing LED). Unfortunately I hadn't noticed the lack of flashing red LED in my rear-view mirror due to bright sunshine and making a long journey on roads I had rarely used.

I tried a different card (formatted in the cam) and it worked fine.

I estimate the card had completed around 100 overwrite cycles when it failed.

H2testw on the suspected card showed this:

The media is likely to be defective.
0 KByte OK (0 sectors)
29.7 GByte DATA LOST (62308352 sectors)
Details:0 KByte overwritten (0 sectors)
0 KByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 0 sectors)
29.7 GByte corrupted (62308352 sectors)
0 KByte aliased memory (0 sectors)
First error at offset: 0x0000000000000000
Expected: 0x0000000000000000
Found: 0x202020202020202e
H2testw version 1.3
Writing speed: 19.3 MByte/s
Reading speed: 21.4 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

 

[Module 79L]

I never let my card get overwritten. Let's see how long it will last. It's been working non-stop for 16 months now.

 

[2000rpm]

I never let my card get overwritten. Let's see how long it will last. It's been working non-stop for 16 months now.

Is there evidence to show that formatting instead of overwriting will prolong the lifespan of the card?
With a 32GB card (cost £7.60 last year) that's only about four hours of recording before an overwrite occurs, so would be a hassle to have to manually format the card every couple of days (we run two front plus one rear cam in each car).

Interestingly, this particular failed card seems to have gone into a 'read only' mode

 

[Module 79L]

Overwriting will probably wear the card faster than formatting but I'm not the right person to answer that question. There may be other drawbacks from constant formatting.

I'm conducting an ongoing experiment to see how long it lasts the way I'm using it, since I'm one of the probably very few persons in the whole entire dashcam world who empties the card every day. I know most people let the card(s) be overwritten for a number of reasons but there's already lots of information about what happens when they are used that way and not a lot about different types of usage.
I've formatted the card randomly 17 times during this period (and I'll only format it again if I need to), instead of on a regular basis, also as part of the experiment.

 

[viofo]

So I thought our A119 new idea recording solution is good.
1. Continuous beep while not recording and red LED blinking.
2. Format warning after specific days you set in the menu.

I also saw such situation from other users, after a long time recording and then check the files, they found nothing, or stop recording many days ago.

 

[Module 79L]

Still we need to know if formatting periodically is better, longevity wise, than overwriting and if the formatting intervals depend on the amount of data that is written on the card or not.

 

[jokiin]

Still we need to know if formatting periodically is better, longevity wise, than overwriting and if the formatting intervals depend on the amount of data that is written on the card or not.

the camera just does a quick format of the allocation table, it wouldn't have any measurable effect on longevity but does help to keep things in check

 

[Module 79L]

the camera just does a quick format of the allocation table, it wouldn't have any measurable effect on longevity but does help to keep things in check

So it means that formatting the card in the camera can prevent sector damage in the long run or can it happen nevertheless?

All the cameras I've used so far create the same folder structure in the card: a DCIM folder with a 100, 101, etc sub-folder inside for each day. I thought the camera only created the folders when the card was formatted in there but I remember that when I formatted the card in the computer and put it empty in the camera (in this case, the G1W-H) without re-formatting it in the camera, it created the folders the same.
When I empty the card I only remove the video files and leave the empty sub-folder inside the DCIM folder, because if I remove the sub-folder the next day the camera tells me the card needs to be formatted. One thing I noticed since the beginning was that the camera deletes that empty sub-folder and creates a new one for the day. I know this isn't formatting (unless the camera does it automatically) but can this folder arrangement that the camera does be what keeps things in check to avoid corrupting some of the card's sectors? Or one thing has nothing to do with th other?

 

[jokiin]

the folders are created when the camera boots or on exiting the menu prior to writing any files, not related to formatting as such, you'll find if you format the card and pull power without exiting the menu the card won't have any files on it, if you exit the menu or restart the camera it will create whatever folders it needs then, it doesn't have anything to do with card health though, it's just creating the folder structure it needs

 

[Ralph2]

I doubt there is a difference between formatting and letting the system overwrite. Once the card is "full" data has been written to all sectors, formatting only removes the designation.. the data is still there. Overwriting does the same thing but uses the date to essentially do a format on individual sectors.

 

[kamkar]

I see overwriting as a slow incremental format, but i think you still have to format the card now ad then to reset the FAT.

I think i format the card once every month, but then again i only drive 3 - 4 houres every week.
If you drive 1 - 2 houres every day i would recomend a in camera format every 2 weeks or so, and after all its pretty quick to do so no excuse not to do it.

And offcourse remember to spot check files for playabillety and time date stamp on files if its in synch with your latest drives as you remember them.

Buts lets all hope er get better storage in the future with error correction and what not, im still praying hard for regular harddrives or SSD in the dashcams.

 

[warsaws]

I never let my card get overwritten. Let's see how long it will last. It's been working non-stop for 16 months now.

Why would someone do this much work for no benefit?

 

[Kip]

I would guess a cards wear leveling algorithms would benefit from an occasional quick format. I usually format mine in the camera after I've archived any footage of interest to a HDD.

Edit: I usualy do this before the card starts to overwrite itself due to short event files which don't always capture everything (30 seconds, can't adjust). However, since I can get 12 hours footage (about a weeks driving for me) before this happens, it's not a lot of effort to do.

 

[Module 79L]

Why would someone do this much work for no benefit?

I never leave the card in the camera overnight, so as long as I have it at home why not remove the files and start every day with an empty card? Sorry, but I don't see how a couple of minutes can be considered "that much work".

 

[Module 79L]

Once the card is "full" data has been written to all sectors, formatting only removes the designation.. the data is still there.

I'm not so sure about that. Once I tried to recover some files from the card (with Recuva and other softwares) after formatting and there was nothing there. Maybe it's because whenever I formatted the card it was with Partition Magic.

 

[-Pizdys-]

depends on memory cart type, lifespan will be shorter or longer...

there is 3 types of memory memory card:

TLC - up to 5 000 times read/write single cell (recommended for smartphones etc),

MLC - up to 10 000 times read/write single cell (perfect for dash cams...),

SLC - up to 100 000 times read/write single cell (industrial grade, very expensive memory cards, and also not big capacity, recommended for devices which cannot fail, like servers... etc)

and of course, bigger memory card will use single cell less than smaller memory card.

 

[DT MI]

I'm not so sure about that. Once I tried to recover some files from the card (with Recuva and other softwares) after formatting and there was nothing there. Maybe it's because whenever I formatted the card it was with Partition Magic.

There are two types of formatting - quick and full. Quick format just resets the FAT and leaves data intact and is very fast. Full formatting will overwrite every sector destroying whatever was there and takes considerably longer.

 

[thancam]

depends on memory cart type, lifespan will be shorter or longer...

there is 3 types of memory memory card:

TLC - up to 5 000 times read/write single cell (recommended for smartphones etc),

MLC - up to 10 000 times read/write single cell (perfect for dash cams...),

SLC - up to 100 000 times read/write single cell (industrial grade, very expensive memory cards, and also not big capacity, recommended for devices which cannot fail, like servers... etc)

and of course, bigger memory card will use single cell less than smaller memory card.

interesting information. But I have a question:
How to define 1 time read/write ? if sdcard has 300 videos, every video is 100 Mb. So when I erase 1 video, then can I count it a 1 time read/write ? or i have to erase all 300 videos ?

 

[Module 79L]

There are two types of formatting - quick and full. Quick format just resets the FAT and leaves data intact and is very fast. Full formatting will overwrite every sector destroying whatever was there and takes considerably longer.

Then Partition Magic doesn't do quick formatting but I don't remember it taking very long, if we take into account that it's a 32GB card.

I also did a partition delete/partition creation before I used the card in the Mobius and the Matego. I've always wondered if done once in a while, this procedure will affect the card negatively or if it brings any benefits.

 

[kamkar]

Yeah a full format is a pain to wait for.

I am not sure its needed cuz resetting the FAT then the data that is on the cars is just treated as if it isent there anyway, but offcourse if you are selling your old harddrives on you better wipe them real good.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3089...-are-often-still-ripe-with-leftover-data.html