No automatic switching card when 1 is full

PedroN

PedroN

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Location
Haarlem
Country
Netherlands
Dash Cam
Viofo A119S front, Mini 0806 back, Viofo A119 V3
I made today a big trip with my new 0806. The 0806 is loaded with 2 x 32GB cards (1 Samsung EVO class 10 U 1 and 1 Maginon also U 1).
The card setting is set to Auto.
The recording starts, always, on card B (is this by default with 2 cards?)
At the end of the trip I saw that the recording was looped but only done on card B, the Samsung. So 1 card filled up and the first 19 files overwritten, the second card blank with only the DCIM, GPS and Player folder on that card.
Both cards were formatted in the camera and tested with H2testw. Both cards passed the test with the Samsung being slightly faster.

My settings in the camera:
Code: 
Video Resolution: 2560x1080 30fps 21:9
Video Quality: Super Fine
Photo Resolution: 13m 4301x2700 16.9
Photo Quality: Super Fine
Auto Exp Metering: Center
Exp Compensation: 0
White Balance: Auto
Flicker: 50HZ
Rotate Image 180: Off
Loop Recording: 3 min
LDWS Detection: Off
LDWS Calibration: - - -
Motion Detection: Off
Parking Guard: Off
AV/Out: Off
Green Indicator: GPS Status
G-Sensor Sensitivity: Off
Power off Delay: 1min
Screen off Delay: 30 sec
GPS Stamping: on
Speed Stamping: Off
Driver Number Stamping: Off
Driver Number: Reg Number
Date Stamping: YYMMDD
Time Stamping: 24Hrs
Date and Time: Added date and Time
Language: English
Choose Card: Auto
Format Card: No
Restor Defaults: No
Firmware Version: 0806 FW 20150128 V1.0

So anybody having an idea what is wrong?

If I use 1 card in whatever slot and whatever card inserted the recording is fine.
 
there maybe some logic chaos of the cards swiching. will ask engineer to check again.
 
SORRY A BIT LONG PART

I did some testing and this is what I found:
First I formatted both SD cards in the camera (2 x 32GB), set the looping for 3 minute segments.

Filled 1 card (which will be card B) with miscellaneous data so it has only a free capacity for about 1-2 segments of 3 minutes video.
Placed both cards in the camera, with the filled card in slot B.
Started the camera and waited to see the recording starting. As expected the recording starts on card B and after a about 4.5 minutes I saw that the camera switched to card A (hurray!).
Kept the recording going on for about 5 minutes and then stopped the recording.
Hooked the camera onto the computer and examined the cards.

Code: 
FOLDER             CARD/SLOT B                      CARD/SLOT A
ROOT               dat.txt with the content         dat.txt with the content
                   D:\DCIM\100MEDIA\AMBA0001.MOV    E:\DCIM\100MEDIA\AMBA0001.MOV

DCIM/100MEDIA      AMBA0001.MOV – 300MB             AMBA0001.MOV – 300MB
                   AMBA0002.MOV – 160MB             AMBA0002.MOV – 200MB

So far so good (I think)

I unhooked the camera and connected it again to the power, one should expect it would start recording, and it did, but it wasn't continuing on card A but again started recording on card B!

Again after a few minutes the camera switched over to card A. Kept it running for about 4 minutes and examined the files again. This was the content:
Code: 
FOLDER             CARD/SLOT B                      CARD/SLOT A
ROOT               dat.txt with the content         dat.txt with the content
                   D:\DCIM\100MEDIA\AMBA0002.MOV    E:\DCIM\100MEDIA\AMBA0002.MOV

DCIM/100MEDIA      AMBA0002.MOV – 160MB             AMBA0001.MOV – 300MB
                   AMBA0003.MOV – 300MB             AMBA0002.MOV – 200MB
                                                    AMBA0003.MOV – 300MB
                                                    AMBA0004.MOV – 200MB

As you can see the recording started on card b, erasing the file AMBA0001.MOV and adding AMBA0003.MOV. Then the recording switched to card A add completing the sequence with AMBA0003.MOV and AMBA0004.MOV. (but the real sequence is B2, A1, A2, B3, A3, A4)

So I think it is safe to say that the sequential recording is possible onto 2 disk as long as it is in one go without interruptions!. After a restart of the recording first card B is filled again with overwriting the files then switching to the other card and there completing the sequence.

I think the logic of the sequence numbering has to be reviewed and maybe it should be global, so sequential numbering over both disk, e.g. segments 1 – 80 on disk B and continuing on card a with 81 - ….
After a restart, thus starting recording, both slots have to be checked for the numbering and the numbering has to start with the last number+1


I hope it makes some sense and can help troubleshooting the recording sequence over 2 cards
 
Last edited:
I believe there are some files stored on the cards to help it decide which to record onto next, maybe looking at them can help you work out what is going wrong?

Sometimes the mini engineers need all the help you can give them to make something work logically!
 
I believe the file dat.txt in the root is used as a kind of bookmark, but each slot uses it owns numbering and recording always starts on card B when 2 cards are used.
Because I limited the free usable size for recording purposes to a couple of hundred MB it switches when the card is full, but I'm convinced if the card is filled with recordings, AMBAXXXX.MOV files, all these recordings are replaced before switching to another card, so first filling up again the 32GB before switching.
I'm now filling card A also with bogus data limiting the size to a couple of hundred MB. I'm expecting the recording will every few minutes alternating from A to B to A to B etc.
 
Sounds like B is default card to start recording in each camera start.
That should be fixed by firmware so not a defect but a software bug.
If one has two 128gb cards and on a long drive with stops, it needs to check both cards and overwrite oldest file regardless of where that file is otherwise one card will be always empty.
 
exactly what I'm thinking, that is why I'm not sending the camera back for now, I'm convinced this could be solved with a firmware update.
Will be running some test with 2 cards completely filled up (where are the old small micro SD cards when you need them, filling a 32GB card with bogus data takes a while!)
 
I don't know how it is trying to work, what I think it should be trying to do is:

On startup check the dat.txt on both cards and select the card that has the newest dat.txt as the current card.
If there is space for a new file on the current card then record a new file.
If there isn't space for a new file on the current card then find the oldest video file.
If the oldest video file on the current card is newer than the dat.txt on the current card then switch cards, otherwise delete the oldest video file and record the new one.
When switching cards first update the dat.txt file to contain the current date/time so that all the video files currently on the card are older than the dat.txt.
If there isn't a dat.txt on the card at start up then create one and that then becomes the current card.

Maybe there is something wrong with those rules but they seem simple enough to me and should even deal with people swapping cards about and putting the card from A back in B or an older card in B etc. The logic for finding the oldest file must already be there so it shouldn't be difficult to implement.
 
You're right, it shouldn't be difficult.

Ran some tests with 2 filled up cards and as I expected the recording is nicely switching from B to A to B to A etc.. On the cards there is room for about 2 segments.
As long there are no interruptions the switching of the recording media works fine, the interruptions/restarts are causing the problems
 
Rayman has confirmed this as a bug that they are working on.
 
Good to hear.
 
I'm glad to see that someone has taken the time to determine exactly what has been happening. I've got 2 64GB cards and haven't seen it roll over to the second card. I figured it would be a firmware fix but haven't had the chance to look into it.
 
I've got the exact problem with similar setup - 2x 32GB card, one Samsung EVO and one Toshiba EXCERIA. Recording always starts on slot B card no matter which card is inserted. I guess it's a logic issue but I haven't tried fill up one card without interruption to confirm. Thank @PedroN for the test! Now waiting for a firmware...
 
zeitgeb3r said:
Rayman, I guess the fix will be too late to make it to the 3rd batch, as 3rd batch is already out the door? Will the fix make it to the 3rd or 4th batch?
Click to expand...
The fix will be available on mini0806.com as a free firmware update for all mini 0806 cameras. If it gets fixed quickly then it may be in the 3rd batch anyway.
 
all the users can get new features and bug fix from the mini 0806 fimeware update.
 
grnbrg said:
Any idea when the next version will be released?



grnbrg.
Click to expand...
When it's available, it won't be hard to find and will be discussed here. ;)
 
grnbrg said:
Any idea when the next version will be released?
Click to expand...
Usually the firmware release day is friday. But I don't know if this will happen again.

enjoy,
Mtz
 
Firmware should be released when its tested and ready, not because of what day of the week it is, not sure how they came up with that idea
 
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