What is the best method of removing your SD Card, and putting it into your computer to retrieve video files?

[Warren Chrol]

Hello all,

I've recently had some issues with video files corrupting enmasse and want to get to the bottom of it. (only files in the PROTECTED folder get corrupted)

As it stands I'm not sure if it's my process of handling the card, the dashcam, or the equipment I use.

Here is my set-up:

Dashcam: Nextbase 512GW
SD Card: SanDisk Ultra 128GB
Equipment:
All in 1 SD Card reader (my computer doesn't have a card reader),
USB Extension Cable (My computer doesn't have USB slots on the front, so this reaches around to the back)

Usually I will turn off my car, stop recording on the dashcam, wait a couple of seconds and remove the card, I can't do this while the Dashcam is off because as soon as I touch it, parking mode activates and turns on recording, so I simply stop recording and take the card out, then I plug it into my Card Reader, and just copy over or watch the videos from the Card.

Also note that these corruptions have happened 3 times over the past 5 months. Once, as soon as I opened the C:/Card it was already corrupted straight away. The second time, it corrupted while I was watching videos from the card, I had watched about 15 out of 35'ish clips and suddenly "VLC Has stopped responding" I close the window and they're all bunched into 1 file (file type: file) called "USBCÇ;½n"

Now, I have tried the card in multiple dash cams (all working) and I know that the issue is with one of the following:

1. My handling process
2. My Card to PC set-up
3. My Dashcam

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as reliability of retaining my clips is extremely important to me.

Thank you.

 

[jokiin]

trying a different card reader is always a good idea, extension cables can be an issue also

memory cards aren't hot swappable, camera should be powered off when removing or inserting the card, just stopping recording isn't the same

 

[Warren Chrol]

trying a different card reader is always a good idea, extension cables can be an issue also

memory cards aren't hot swappable, camera should be powered off when removing or inserting the card, just stopping recording isn't the same

Any tips on how to do this when it's hardwired in?

 

[jokiin]

Any tips on how to do this when it's hardwired in?

has it got a power button?

 

[kamkar]

I think you can turn off all cameras by long pressing the power button to make it shut down and not go into parking mode when hard wires.
Camera need to be off when ejecting memory card, on PC selece eject before taking card out of reader.

 

[Warren Chrol]

Yes it has got a power button. I will give the long press a go and see if that works, thanks.

 

[Error7]

If it doesn't have a power button then unplugging the power cable should be safe, but wait until all indicators on the camera go off. When connecting the card reader to the PC, plug the SD card into the reader before connecting the USB cable. Also, when removing the card reader from the PC., if it's a Window's PC, make sure you use the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" button and wait for the message "Safe to Remove Hardware".

And as jokiin said, card readers, USB cables and even the micro SD/SD card adaptors can also give problems.

 

[kamkar]

Micro slot on my kingston reader have become bad, so i now use a adapter in the regular SD slot, will probably have to pick up a new reader when i upgrade my GFX card in a few months.

 

[Nigel]

Probably the safest method is to plug the camera into your computer and use the camera as the card reader. I don't know how convenient that is with your camera but with some cameras I find it easier than removing the card from the camera. It does make for a slow card reader, but fast enough to play the videos off the card.

 

[Warren Chrol]

Probably the safest method is to plug the camera into your computer and use the camera as the card reader. I don't know how convenient that is with your camera but with some cameras I find it easier than removing the card from the camera. It does make for a slow card reader, but fast enough to play the videos off the card.

funnily enough i did consider that today! it simply slides off the mounting and unplugs