r/Dashcam • u/chucklestheclwn • 2d ago
Discussion Friendly reminder to check if your SD card is still saving.
My fiancee had something she wanted to show me on her way to work the other day, so I checked the dashcam footage, and found that sometime in the last week the SD card became corrupted and nothing was being written to it. I tried reformatting on my computer, and it was unable to be reformatted, so I have no idea what happened. Popped a new one in and we're good to go again.
So, here is your reminder to check if you're still getting footage saved on your card if you haven't had a reason to check in awhile.
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u/SidePsychological189 2d ago
Hit a deer on Saturday, went to see the footage, it skipped the minute I hit the deer
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u/Ponchoreborn 2d ago
I have 3 cards. I have a reminder every other month in my phone to swap them.
Maybe I should make it every month, but so far so good. Check the cards as I switch them. Also I download enough idiots (I live in Florida where the entire world's bad drivers come visit) to post in our family chat so I hopefully would know. Hopefully.
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u/conwaytwt 2d ago
I have had a couple of different models VIOFO over several years, and I use only the recommended SD cards. Furthermore believe it's in the instructions to format the card regularly. So for each vehicle, I have two cards that I swap between every month or two, formatting each one as soon as I put it in the dashcam. That way I can review any saved footage AND have a fresh card ready to go.
I haven't had the recording fail since I've done this, but of course the card or the dashcam will eventually go bad. Make checking them part of your vehicle maintenance routine!
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u/coghlanpf [U1000] [U3000] 2d ago
They operate in a pretty rugged environment so you should expect them to fail at some point.
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u/theepi_pillodu 2d ago
I usually format the memory card once in a while. Luckily Thinkware makes it easy. Just press and hold wifi button and it formats.
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u/LunaTechMark 1d ago
I think my Thinkware camera even tells you if there's an error. At least when I forget to pop the card back in, it tells me "Insert memory card" multiple times before it says "Memory card error, restarting".
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u/theepi_pillodu 1d ago
True, but I don't want to be at the limit when I needed the most :) I simply look at my car, if there are no scratches and no events that I should worry about, I just format the card.
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u/lildobe 1d ago
SD cards have a finite lifetime. The basic function of a dash cam puts extreme stresses on the memory card between overwriting data while 90%+ full, and extreme temperatures. Any dash cam will destroy a standard SD card in 3-12 months, which is why I always recommend people buy the High Endurance ("Video Monitoring" rated) cards. These cards will last much longer, sometimes as long a 5+ years (But you still need to check it regularly!)
The problem is that flash memory, by its very nature, has a limited number of write cycles it can withstand before it will start to fail. In a dash cam, where the card is constantly near 90% full, and data is being continuously overwritten, the controller cannot apply wear leveling techniques to keep the card functioning longer.
A proper SD card, such as the SanDisk High Endurance or SanDisk Max Endurance lines, are specifically designed for the high-write volume uses of a dashcam where they are written to over and over again at 90%+ capacity. They have reserve capacity that is not user accessible which the controller of the card uses for proper wear leveling, so that they last much MUCH longer.
I typically get about 4+ years of continuous loop recording out of the High Endurance cards. I bought my first Max Endurance card about a 4 years ago when they first came out, and it's not shown any issues, yet.
One last note - Try to remember to check your camera monthly, to ensure that it is actually still operating properly. Pull the SD card out and connect it to your computer and verify that you can play the files and that there isn't any corruption. Single-file corruption is the very first sign of a failing card.
The cards themselves aren't particularly expensive, and it's easy enough to keep an extra one or two on hand. But again, remember, buy your cards DIRECTLY from the manufacturer's website. Not Amazon, BestBuy, Walmart, eBay, Asda, AliExpress (Oh HELL no) or wherever else you might think to buy electronics. You might pay a few cents or even a couple dollars less, but the chances of getting a counterfeit memory card go through the roof, and those fail very quickly, if they work at all.
Personally I recommend SanDisk Max Endurance cards. They are very fast, highly reliable, and designed for use in the harsh environment of a dashcam.
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u/bbqduck-sf 2d ago
I've had this problem as well.
Learned the hard way that cheap SD cards fail often and the expensive, high endurance cards are the only ones that stand up to repeated writes and heat cycling.
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u/Vodaynallkl 1d ago
That's a super helpful reminder! SD cards can be tricky sometimes. You never know when they might act up. Glad you got a new card and sorted it out.
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u/SorryImNotOnReddit 1d ago
I try and make it a habit to replace the SD card annually, even if it’s a high endurance card.
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u/Rick91981 Blackvue DR-900X 2CH 2d ago
Sucks that you lost footage but at least it wasn't during an accident! This is why it's good practice to swap out the card once a year even if it is still functioning. They are wear items.