Max card size for mini 0803? 64GB or 128GB?

[POQbum]

I am successfully using a 64GB card formatted in FAT32. I was curious to know if we could 128GB cards in these dash cams?

Has anyone tried? I don't have one to test, so I would need to buy one, and that'd be a waste if it doesn't work.

 

[richcam]

If it's any help I'm using a 0801 dash cam and installed a 128GB SanDisk class 10 which formatted in FAT32, however, the partition size according to GET INFO on my Mac the micro SD card is showing as 24.77GB not 128GB so there is a lot of unused space on the card. I've asked the question tonight on the 0801 forum whether anyone knows how to increase this and am eagerly awaiting a reply.

Ought to mention that everything recorded OK, the older files were overwritten with the newer ones, it's just that the dash cam only sees and uses 24.77GB. The manufacturers do state 32GB is the max so I guess I was just hopeful to use a larger card.

To add insult to injury, the Mac doesn't seem to be able to format the card back to the original 128GB because the options to format it using Disk Utility are greyed out which is very unusual, yet it still works fine in the 0801. Very annoying to say the very least!!!

 

[POQbum]

according to GET INFO on my Mac the micro SD card is showing as 24.77GB not 128GB so there is a lot of unused space on the card.

I've had the unhappy experience to buying several counterfiet SD cards on eBay that were advertised as 64GB but were actually all less than 8GB. If you bought it on eBay or somewhere else that you might of gotten scammed, you should consider the card might actually be at fault.

I would still love to use a 128GB card in my dash cam, but haven't gone out to spend the extra $$ because I'm worried it won't work, then I'll end up with an expensive SD card sitting around.

 

[karg]

Here is working info for formatting >32GB card to FAT32 in Windows 7 environment:

I've just got a Transcend class 10 64GB card working with my 0803.

After formatting just copy the directory structure to the card. At least my Mini 0803 with Procam CX4 firmware cannot format 64GB card correctly. It formats the card to exFAT and doesn't add the necessary directories -> recording doesn't work. Also, a card with exFAT + directory structure doesn't work.

Here is the directory structure for 0803 in case someone needed it.

 

[CheckYourLights]

I've just got a Transcend class 10 64GB card working with my 0803.

I've had good luck with Transcend, but I currently have a Samsung 64 GB card in mine.
I used the SmartDisk tool and it works great.
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...32-format-formatter-tool-utility-how-to.3693/

 

[Rayman.Chan]

new Ambarella A7 SDK support 2T mass storage MAX.
but, there is only MAX 128G TF card on market, and the price is $120!

 

[mr_milo]

I'm using Transcend cards in both my Mini0803 and Mobius with good results.

 

[Magellan]

For those wishing to use a 64gb card and format using SmartDisc please be aware that you MUST NOT then format the card in-camera. This will render the card unusable.

 

[DAP]

I just bought two 128GB Lexar class 10 memory cards for my two dash cameras (E-PRANCE A7 mini-0803 varient aimed forward, and HD Black Box Car DVR G1W-C GXW varient aimed to the rear). I reformated the cards to FAT using the "Disk Utility" under Mint Linux (I did not repartition them, there is a small, 10s of MBs partition at the beginning). I stuck them in the cameras, recorded about a minute of video, and played it back on my computer. Both seem to be working fine.
I will report back if any issues show up.

 

[DAP]

I checked one of my 128GB cards today. 11 hours of driving recorded and 29GB memory free. It hasn't started overwriting old data yet, but that which it recorded looks fine.

 

[POQbum]

I checked one of my 128GB cards today. 11 hours of driving recorded and 29GB memory free. It hasn't started overwriting old data yet, but that which it recorded looks fine.

This is good to hear! I will have to pick up a 128GB for my dash cam.

I plan to be getting a new dash cam soon, and will use my 0803 for the rear

 

[Rayman.Chan]

128GB devide by 8GB to 10GB per hour, then you can get 12 to 15 hours recording time.
If dual 128GB cards on mini0806, you will get 24 hours recording before recover.
This good for the long trip driving cars.

 

[throrope]

To my knowledge 64gb SDXC and larger cards must be formatted to Microsoft's proprietary exFAT file system to access the full capacity. The device must also be compatible with exFAT. The FAT32 format is limited to 32gb.

I have a 64gb card formatted to FAT32, but only 32gb is available. I found discussions citing tools to partition larger cards into multiple 32gb "drives".

Since most dashcams list 32gb maximum capacity, I suspect they use FAT32 format, am not convinced the dashcams using the FAT32 format system can access more than 32gb regardless of the size used and suspect buying bigger is wasted money.

Update!! - Thanks to the crew here I used Fat32FormatterEN and guiformat.exe to format my 64 gb sandisk ultra to full capacity and loaded it into my GT680w. I used 4K allocation, but the dashcam didn't like that so I reformatted the card in the GT680w in about 5 seconds. I checked it again in the computer with a recording. The file played perfect and the card properties showed full capacity available.

 

[jokiin]

you need a 3rd party tool to format cards larger than 32GB FAT32, Windows won't do it

 

[DAP]

To my knowledge 64gb SDXC and larger cards must be formatted to Microsoft's proprietary exFAT file system to access the full capacity.

This is what Microsoft and the SD Association (https://www.sdcard.org) want you to believe, but it is not correct.
FAT32 supports partitions up to 2 TiB. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table
The reason that large SD cards are formatted using exFAT is that the SD Association requires SD cards larger than 32 GiB to be formatted in exFAT, not any technical reason.
exFAT has some technical advantages over FAT32, the primary one being that it supports files larger than 2 GiB, but it also has a major drawback: It is a proprietary Microsoft format, and anyone using this format must pay a license fee to use this format.
There are other formats that do not require a license fee to use and have the same or better features as exFAT, but the SD Association forbids their use.
I have sucessfuly formatted a 128 GB SD card using FAT32 on a 128 GB partition, and am using it in my Mini 0803.

 

[Nigel]

exFAT has some technical advantages over FAT32, the primary one being that it supports files larger than 2 GiB, but it also has a major drawback: It is a proprietary Microsoft format, and anyone using this format must pay a license fee to use this format.

For a card with the purpose of storing large video files, being able to store more than 2GB without causing errors seems a good idea! I think the SD Association was probably correct to insist on exFAT and the license requirement is also good if it ensures everything stays compatible.

I have used 64GB FAT32 format cards to store 64GB of video in both 0803 and 0806 without issue.

 

[DAP]

For a card with the purpose of storing large video files, being able to store more than 2GB without causing errors seems a good idea! I think the SD Association was probably correct to insist on exFAT and the license requirement is also good if it ensures everything stays compatible.

I have used 64GB FAT32 format cards to store 64GB of video in both 0803 and 0806 without issue.

The reason the mini-0803, and many other devices, do not support exFAT is precisely because of the license fee required to use it. If the SD association had allowed the use of any of the free to use open source formats, this would not have been a problem

 

[ShPioN]

why they don't use ext2/3/4 or any other open filesystem?

 

[DAP]

Another update:
While the 128 GB card in the mini-0803 is working fine, the one in the G1W-C reported that it could not read the superblock when I put it in the computer. The Disks utility showed the disk as entirely unpartitioned & unformatted. I am having difficulty getting it formatted again.

 

[Rayman.Chan]

only Ambarella A7 support bigger cards than 32GB for now. MAX 2TB