Why the drama with updating firmware with a 64Gb card?

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murcod

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Dash Cam
Mobius, A119v2, A119v3
(I did a quick search and couldn't find anything on this.)

So I decided to update to 1.13 after reading about all the improvements and decided to "quickly" do it before going out yesterday. What a mistake!

The GUI refuses to update the firmware if you have any card larger than 32Gb installed.mobius error v1_13.png
So I then tried with a 2Gb card and had a firmware update failure and a unresponsive Mobius with the orange LED permanently one. Nothing I tried (on/off button, unplugging USB lead etc) would get it to come back to life or turn the LED off!

I ended up having to open the case and disconnect the battery to "reset" it. (Of course I remember today that there is a "reset" hole in the rear of the case.... :rolleyes: ) So thankfully it "recovered" and was useable.

Today I've managed to update it, but why isn't that possible with the 64Gb card installed?
 
I think this is fairly common with any camera when using an unsupported card, I'm not that familiar with the nuances of the Novatek platform but I'd assume there should be some type of file integrity check as part of the firmware update process, I'd guess it would fall over at that point
 
Maybe because it's not officially supported? (exFat that is)
 
From the operation manual:
Cards
At the time of writing you may use any micro SD, micro SDHC or Micro SDXC card with a capacity of up to 64GB with this camera. Larger cards are most likely also supported but not yet available. To avoid card compatibility problems, always use quality cards with a speed rating of Class 4 or greater. The camera supports cards formatted with FAT, FAT32 or exFAT. Due to technical reasons, you cannot update the firmware if your card is formatted as exFAT. When using the In-Camera formatting routine (see below) cards with a capacity greater than 32GB will be formatted with exFAT. All other cards will be formatted as FAT/FAT32. Older operating systems, for example XP 64-Bit and Windows 2003, do not support exFAT file systems unless you install additional drivers. A list of exFAT drivers can be found at http://search.microsoft.com/en-us/DownloadResults.aspx?q=KB955704.

►You should always use cards from well known brands. Low quality and no-name cards, as well as some class 2 (or less) cards, may draw more than 20mA current than quality cards. This can result in unwanted electrical noise such as clicks, chirps, hum and buzzing in the audio recording.
Click to expand...

So, it does support 64Gb cards officially- but the bit in bold is what I had issues with.
 
Okay, from some research it appears possible to format a 64Gb card with FAT32. I'm attempting that now....
 
Success. I found these two programs are capable of doing the job http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm or this http://download.cnet.com/EaseUS-Partition-Master-Free-Edition/3000-2248_4-10863346.html - both free (the first program is dedicated to the job, the second more partition orientated.)

If you get errors then check your card reader is SDXC compatible - my generic card reader wouldn't do the FAT32 format (but can read/ format the card in exFAT.)

Hopefully, next update I won't have any dramas.
 
:) I tested the new 64Gb FAT32 formatted card. It's recognised as a 64Gb (not 32Gb) card, the Mobius records perfectly to it and I did a "downgrade" from V1.13 to V0.47 and then back to V1.13 using the GUI with no errors. :)

It would be good to get this program http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm added into the instruction manual as a workaround to using the GUI for updates with cards > 32Gb.
 
There you go. The work around found. The technically out-of-spec 64 Gig card is born. :)
 
I've been using 64GB cards formatted as FAT32 in my #16 ever since they came on the market and have posted this information many times in various RC threads. Luckily the Mobius supports exFAT so there's no need to re-format these large cards.
However, the tiny bootloader used by the Mobius to update the firmware does not support exFAT. I believe this is a very minor inconvenience and expect that if someone can afford a 64GB card they can also afford a 2GB card or the smallest card they can find in order to update the firmware. If the bootloader would also support exFAT it would be larger and it would also take longer for the Mobius to load the firmware each time it is started. I am not in favor of sacrificing short boot times for a bootloader capable of recognizing exFAT. Get the cheapest card you can find and be done with it!
 
should just move to NTFS file system. lowering the possibility for corrupted data as well as capacity limits.
 
Isoprop said:
I've been using 64GB cards formatted as FAT32 in my #16 ever since they came on the market and have posted this information many times in various RC threads. Luckily the Mobius supports exFAT so there's no need to re-format these large cards.
However, the tiny bootloader used by the Mobius to update the firmware does not support exFAT. I believe this is a very minor inconvenience and expect that if someone can afford a 64GB card they can also afford a 2GB card or the smallest card they can find in order to update the firmware. If the bootloader would also support exFAT it would be larger and it would also take longer for the Mobius to load the firmware each time it is started. I am not in favor of sacrificing short boot times for a bootloader capable of recognizing exFAT. Get the cheapest card you can find and be done with it!
Click to expand...

That's fantastic news, but strangely enough not every Mobius user frequents every RC forum on the internet!? Nor does every Mobius user understand the intricacies of the different card formatting protocols. Would it be that hard to add that information regarding FAT32 working into a small paragraph in the Help instructions? Afterall,
Due to technical reasons, you cannot update the firmware if your card is formatted as exFAT.
Click to expand...
isn't really helpful or even suggest there is a way around the problem!

PS: I'd sort of hope that as a developer for the Mobius you'd try to make it as user friendly as possible - not come across with the answer "if you can afford this then...." o_O
 
murcod said:
That's fantastic news, but strangely enough not every Mobius user frequents every RC forum on the internet!? Nor does every Mobius user understand the intricacies of the different card formatting protocols. Would it be that hard to add that information regarding FAT32 working into a small paragraph in the Help instructions? Afterall, isn't really helpful or even suggest there is a way around the problem!

PS: I'd sort of hope that as a developer for the Mobius you'd try to make it as user friendly as possible - not come across with the answer "if you can afford this then...." o_O
Click to expand...
To put the record straight, I am not the developer of the Mobius! I have written the GUI and manuals, with the developer's approval, in my free time and without any payment in the hope they will be useful to someone.
For the Mobius, it is totally unnecessary to format a 64GB card to FAT32 and this is one of the reasons the manual won't tell you how to do it. I also don't consider the manual to be the correct place to encourage 'hacking' that may invalidate your card's guarantee*. Encouraging people to use non-approved formats has nothing to do with 'user friendly' and has no place in a manual.
All tools capable of formatting cards with a capacity greater than 32GB with FAT32 are, IMO, hacking tools since the FAT32 specification ends at 32GB.
If someone is so desperate to format their cards to an out-of-spec format then it doesn't require much research to find the various tools that will do so. But what's the point?

*Last year I had to replace one of my 64GB FAT32 cards which my #18 had bricked. Sandisk very clearly told me that my FAT32 formatted card was no longer covered by warranty because I had used non-approved third-party tools to reformat it. After a few more telephone calls they did, in the end, replace the card free of charge, but it was a big hassle which I wouldn't want to go thru again.
 
Actually I think the camera does quite well to read exFat, most can't and need to be formatted to Fat32 to be able to be used at all
 
I mean its a journaling file system which means less prominant for errors, and i think it doesnt require licence...although im no expert...
 
I understand the file systems, I've used Linux for about 15 years, just don't think the cameras recognise it
 
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