PNY 128MB micro XC1 Fail

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stoenjes

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Firmware SG20160323.v2, windows 10
Started using the mSD card in May; initial samples looked good.
Just took it out to check footage - last file is from two weeks ago with half the card empty. Could see the files but could not play or copy on my PC. The unit indicates proper operation:
"When you start your vehicle the DVR is automatically started and the
recording commences, the REC indicator on the screen will blink and
the REC, POWER, MIC LED’s will indicate their status." (both my REC indicator on the screen and the REC LED blink)
but no file is created.

I tried formatting the mSD card in the unit (first time since initial use), but the old files remain; and I could not format on my PC. The mSD card appears to have failed.

Do newer firmware versions provide some visual indication when files are not being created?
 
Looks like your PNY card have died ( read only mode ) :( i just had one replaced as it was having bad sectors after a fjew months use ( and i dont drive much )

Dont know is there is updates in regard to this ( important issue ) in the beta FW releases.

I think its very important that the camera have some form of indication if there is problems with the memory card.
 
stoenjes said:
The Transcend 32MB mSD that came with the camera works fine.
Click to expand...

As I suspected the PNY has failed. Hopefully you can return or replace your PNY card under warranty depending on where you bought it.

PNY is average quality. Not the best but not the worst.
 
kamkar1 said:
Looks like your PNY card have died ( read only mode ) :( i just had one replaced as it was having bad sectors after a fjew months use ( and i dont drive much )

Dont know is there is updates in regard to this ( important issue ) in the beta FW releases.

I think its very important that the camera have some form of indication if there is problems with the memory card.
Click to expand...
One of my card was died with the same symptoms (R/O). As a possible solution, the dashcam must write sometimes a small piece of random data and then read it to check at the time of loading or when going to standby on park mode. Of course, it does not help when certain bad blocks.
 
My card i sent back to Amazon still worked perfect, but when i ran H2testw on it the card was 6.2MB smaller due to things not working some places.

But the card still worked perfect in the dashcam, but Amazon was allright with me sending it back, and they got a new one to me in no time.

Good thing cuz its one of my favorite U3 cards, it and the simmilar classed Kingston both have the same +70 MB/s write speeds ( and read speeds too offcourse )

Not that i really need the high write speeds, cuz after all its not me that have to put stuff on the card, the camera do that in its own time/speed.

70MB/s write is more than 10 X faster than any current dashcam need to write data.

But its a crapshoot i had just about all brands i ever had fail me, some even before i ever got to fill the sd card once.

Only brands i have that have not failed ( yet ) is Trancend and Toshiba, but i am sure its just a matter of time.
 
Cheap and mid-class memory cards may last longer if manually format them once per week inside dashcam.
 
I dont do it once every week, but i think in general i do it once before the memory card fill up 2 times, or at least 3 times.
And even with a 64Gb card thats weeks ( plural ) with the ammmount i drive.

I assume on average i log about 3.5 - 4 houres of driving every week. pretty sad but i cant afford to drive more than that, and im affraid soon it will be even less even if i by then will be living in my little Suzuki.
 
Of interesting note, while you guys say Transcend cards are the best (and I took it at face value), I bought a Transcend for my Mobius, and it has that dreaded buzzing noise they blame on "bad cards", yet both work fine in my SG...go figure. Sounds like they have a hardware problem to me vs it being all these cards.
 
azchrisf said:
Of interesting note, while you guys say Transcend cards are the best (and I took it at face value), I bought a Transcend for my Mobius, and it has that dreaded buzzing noise they blame on "bad cards", yet both work fine in my SG...go figure. Sounds like they have a hardware problem to me vs it being all these cards.
Click to expand...

Transcend cards are good for our products as that's what we use for development and testing, the Mobius uses a different chipset but not sure if that has any impact on their results
 
Just a note on cards and warranty support. Some manufacturers are explicitly voiding the warranty if they determine they were used in constantly-recording devices - and even explicitly call out dash cameras. SanDisk is one of them. When the cards fail, they fail as read-only, meaning you cannot edit or delete the content of the card. Thus, if you have a warranty claim, and you return the card, it will will be very easy for the manufacturer to determine it was used in a verboten device.

While I'm not encouraging anyone to lie, realize that the data on the card is yours, and MAY be subject to privacy concerns. I had a SanDisk fail (128GB) on my wife's Note 2 smart phone. When I contacted support, they specifically asked me if the card was used in a constantly-recording device. It hadn't, so I didn't fib. But, since my wife is an ER doctor, and her card potentially contains patient data, I told the agent that the contents may fall under HIPPA restrictions, and the data must be wiped before surrendering the card for replacement. The agent immediately suggested I snap the card into several pieces before returning it - which I did. A week or two later, I had a new card.

For SanDisk reference:

This warranty does not cover use of the Product in connection with the following uses or devices (as determined by SanDisk): (i) normal wear and tear, (ii) video monitoring, security, and surveillance devices, (iii) internet protocol/network cameras, (iv) in-car recording devices/dashboard cameras/black box cameras, (v) display devices that loop video, (vi) continuous recording set top box devices, (vii) continuous data logging devices like servers, or (viii) other excessive uses that exceed normal use in accordance with published instructions.
Click to expand...

To be fair, SanDisk now makes higher end cards that are, in fact, advertised specifically for use in dash cameras.
 
Trancend do the same, advertised with ther own dashcam in the background on pics

RC-633-feature-003.png


And http://www.transcend-info.com/Products/No-727


Ill still argue we gotta move on to more reliable storage as soon as possible.
 
erkme73 said:
Just a note on cards and warranty support. Some manufacturers are explicitly voiding the warranty if they determine they were used in constantly-recording devices - and even explicitly call out dash cameras. SanDisk is one of them. When the cards fail, they fail as read-only, meaning you cannot edit or delete the content of the card. Thus, if you have a warranty claim, and you return the card, it will will be very easy for the manufacturer to determine it was used in a verboten device.
Click to expand...
never had this problem, when I first started with dashcams I had 3 sandisks in a row fail in very short time, never had any warranty issues, all replaced. I will never touch sandisk again though.
 
will never touch sandisk again

Yeah I think we could all have guessed that you're kind of anal about that :p.
 
So PNY memory cards are not recommended for dashcams? I thought that generally only applied to Sandisk (non high endurance) cards. I recently ran into problems with Sandisk cards becoming read only in a couple A118C dashcams. Found out that no new video was being recorded for several months and that the last video file recorded was corrupted and couldn't be played back. When I tried testing adding or deleting files to the card from a Windows computer, it would seem to work fine initially, but when re-connecting the card to the computer, no changes had actually been made to the card. Also, the Windows computer couldn't reformat the card.

I replaced the Sandisk cards with these 32GB PNY cards, https://www.amazon.com/gp/B00W77CIZ4. Now I'm wondering if I mde a mistake and should not have used PNY as well. I'm not sure if PNY makes their own memory cards. Could they possibly be sourcing them from Sandisk?

In general, I'm wondering now if I should be avoiding Sandisk cards (or those from other brands) for use in my phones and tablets too. Couldn't the same read only problem happen when recording video on such devices?
 
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PNY cards have normally been ok, trouble with brands like PNY is you don't know who makes the cards for them and it can change, I prefer to use a top tier manufacturer for this reason
 
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