Two Problems with Mini 0803

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zlzhao1104

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I purchased this Mini 0803 for my cross-country road trip two weeks ago. I have found two problems so far.

1) Most of the time it was reliable. However, it failed to start twice during my 9-day trip. When this happened, it kept beeping quickly, with the "E-Prance" logo on the screen. At the beginning I didn't know what to do. Later I learnt that I had to hold the power button for around 20 second to shut it down. It worked fine after restart.

I uploaded an video to Youtube. It was recorded when this happened for the first time:


2) Another problem was the memory card. I transferred video clips to my external hard disk every evening and then deleted those files on the Micro SD card (also the GPS files). However, sometimes deleting files did not free up space of the Micro SD card so on the second day there was no sufficient space for recording.

The SD card I use is a 64GB Samsung Evo Micro SDXC (not the Pro version recommended by many people) and I used SmartDisk_FAT32_tool to format it since formatting a 64GB micro SD card in the Mini 0803 was not supported.

The solution I used to this problem was to format it with SmartDisk_FAT32_tool again in order to free up space. Not sure if this problem was related with the dash cam, or it was an issue of the Micro SD card itself.
 
1. Maybe it lost power while booting because your power turns off when operating the starter? Give it a few seconds to boot before starting the engine, or wire it into a circuit which doesn't switch off.

2. Very odd, what are you using to delete the files and are you ejecting the card properly? - ie turn the device off or click eject before removing the card.
 
Nigel said:
1. Maybe it lost power while booting because your power turns off when operating the starter? Give it a few seconds to boot before starting the engine, or wire it into a circuit which doesn't switch off.

2. Very odd, what are you using to delete the files and are you ejecting the card properly? - ie turn the device off or click eject before removing the card.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

1. No. It was always plugged in. In the video I had unplugged it due to the start failure.

2. Yes I of course deleted files properly. The only thing was that I used Mac to delete those files stored in that FAT32-formatted Micro SD. Not sure if it was an issue.
 
I've noticed if a card has been in a Mac that it sometimes puts some other files on the card, I'm not a Mac user so don't know if they all do this or it's version dependent or whatever, not sure if this would trip it up but best to format the card in the camera after you've had it in the Mac and see how it goes then
 
jokiin said:
I've noticed if a card has been in a Mac that it sometimes puts some other files on the card, I'm not a Mac user so don't know if they all do this or it's version dependent or whatever, not sure if this would trip it up but best to format the card in the camera after you've had it in the Mac and see how it goes then
Click to expand...
The OP has a 64gb SD card so cant format it in the camera.
 
jokiin said:
Perhaps part of the problem as 64gb cards aren't supported, I'd try a 32 and see how it behaves
Click to expand...
64GB cards work fine in the camera apart from formatting, maybe they don't work in the Mac as that wont officially support 64GB FAT32 format SD cards?

Or maybe the Mac doesn't actually delete the files, does it have a trash can where they are kept for undelete?
 
Yes 64gb can work, it's a workaround in the SDK and not officially supported, it still could be a Mac thing though that is tripping things up
 
OSX does indeed have a trash can that needs emptying to really delete files - also there's a process to follow when ejecting cards just like in Windows, otherwise the filesystem can be flagged as unclean and the dirty bit will be set.

I've noticed that cards with the dirty bit set can cause all sorts of random problems in dashcams.

OSX also loves to create a load of metadata within hidden files and folders which maybe some of these cameras aren't too happy with which is what Rick refers to above which show up as the below in Windows:

upload_2014-8-29_22-12-49.png
 
Thanks for clarifying, I thought there may be something Mac related going on, had a feeling I'd come across this before at some time but wasn't sure
 
jokiin said:
Yes 64gb can work, it's a workaround in the SDK and not officially supported, it still could be a Mac thing though that is tripping things up
Click to expand...
As far as I can see it is not a workaround as the 64GB XC cards work in exactly the same way as 32GB HC cards. The reason that 64GB is not officially supported is that the SD HC specification specifically bans cards bigger than 32GB so to get 64GB you need to use an SD XC card and the XC specification mandates the use of exFAT instead of FAT32 so to say that you support 64GB you have to support exFAT and pay the licence fee that involves. It is only because of the wording of the specifications that there is an issue, the cards may be identical apart from the size, the filling system and the labelling.
 
Many of you posted a good point regarding the trash can in OSX. Right, I don't remember if I emptied the trash can after deleting the video clips and GPS files. I think in Windows you don't need to do it if you delete file from external storage? Not sure if this is a must-do in OSX.
 
zlzhao1104 said:
Many of you posted a good point regarding the trash can in OSX. Right, I don't remember if I emptied the trash can after deleting the video clips and GPS files. I think in Windows you don't need to do it if you delete file from external storage? Not sure if this is a must-do in OSX.
Click to expand...
In Windows you don't need to empty the recycle bin for an SD card, internal or external.

Personally I don't bother deleting the files, just leave them there and let the camera recycle them, I don't see a good reason not to let it do the recycling?

Back to your startup issue, I'm not sure if you understood what I wrote? I assume you have the camera plugged into an accessory socket that the accessory socket has no power until you put the key in the ignition, then the power turns on when you turn the key. What I was suggesting was that if you then start the engine while the camera is still booting then your accessory socket may loose power temporarily and it is that lose of power during boot that causes the problem, if you wait until it has booted before actually starting the engine then it may solve the problem...
 
Nigel said:
In Windows you don't need to empty the recycle bin for an SD card, internal or external.

Personally I don't bother deleting the files, just leave them there and let the camera recycle them, I don't see a good reason not to let it do the recycling?

Back to your startup issue, I'm not sure if you understood what I wrote? I assume you have the camera plugged into an accessory socket that the accessory socket has no power until you put the key in the ignition, then the power turns on when you turn the key. What I was suggesting was that if you then start the engine while the camera is still booting then your accessory socket may loose power temporarily and it is that lose of power during boot that causes the problem, if you wait until it has booted before actually starting the engine then it may solve the problem...
Click to expand...

I understand. Thank you for the suggestion!

The reason why I transferred files manually to an external hard disk was that I was planning to make a time lapse video of my road trip. I didn't want those files to be overwritten by camera.
 
zlzhao1104 said:
I understand. Thank you for the suggestion!

The reason why I transferred files manually to an external hard disk was that I was planning to make a time lapse video of my road trip. I didn't want those files to be overwritten by camera.
Click to expand...
Yes, I copy the files to hard disk too, but I leave the original copy on the card. It does mean that I have to copy them off the disk before it cycles around and overwrites them, but if your going to loose something because the card isn't big enough, does it really matter if you loose the oldest instead of the newest? If there is a section of journey which I want to ensure doesn't get overwritten then I can swap to the spare card.
 
On Mac, until you delete the files in the trash bin, it will still take up space on the memory card. That's one weird issue I always have with my Mac. Just delete them from your trash bin also and you'll get all the space back. Not sure why they programmed it like that.

Kelvin
 
BlackBoxed.ca said:
Just delete them from your trash bin also and you'll get all the space back. Not sure why they programmed it like that.
Click to expand...
It's a safety net - I know way too many people who have accidentally deleted something they wanted from a memory card on Windows and then it's been a pain in the ass getting it back (that's when they usually come crying to me!!)
 
reverend said:
It's a safety net - I know way too many people who have accidentally deleted something they wanted from a memory card on Windows and then it's been a pain in the ass getting it back (that's when they usually come crying to me!!)
Click to expand...


* "RESTORE"
 
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