SD card formatting on Hubsan 501s?

Ok Guys I know it is my own fault for buying a cheap ‘ish’ drone.

But does anyone know how to format an SD card within the Hubsan?

Menu show no format listing.

The Mavic has it in settings, but nothing in the Hubsan!!!

Here’s what I found on Google.

1.Plug-in the micro SD card in a Windows-based computer and format it with exFAT filesystem. exFAT is a lightweight file system, similar to FAT32 but without its limitations (e.g., 4GB max file size).
2.Perform safe eject/removal.
3.While the drone is powered off (disconnected battery), plug in the card.
4.Start the drone and calibrate. Capture videos.
5.Land the drone, wait 2–3 minutes and only then power it off. (Sometimes the videos take a few seconds (minutes?) to finish writing on the card after you stop recording).
6.Remove the card and view the videos on the computer.

I format the card each time before I plug it into the drone. Otherwise, it’s not recording. Plugging/removing the card while the drone is powered on also seems to occasionally leave the card empty.

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I don’t think you can format the memory card within the drone.

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That would be unusual, in my experience.

Since SD Cards first appeared (very expensive 16k cards for me! :scream:) I’ve had all sorts of devices, and they’ve all been capable of formatting a card.

Not saying it’s not the case … just that it’s highly unusual … and first I’ll have heard of.

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The first cheap drone I had could not format the sd card, it was a Syma I think. It wasn’t very good, it wouldn’t hover either, I spent more time walking around picking it up than it spent in the air.

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Thanks Chris,
Appreciate the research.

I’ll try that on Monday & might buy some smaller cards.

Thanks TassyWass,
Spent 2 hours trying to find a way and couldn’t.

So I think you are right!

Thanks Dave,
I tried, honestly I tried.

I thought I remembered formatting it in the drone, but it must be my age, as I couldn’t find any formatting command today!

Frustrating!

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Pinging @BogeyBlack and @james6belgravia in to this thread as they both have the 501 model too.

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:joy::joy::joy::joy:

Thank you for your honesty Phil.

Did I tell you I put the card in the wrong slot ( on transmitter, not drone ).
Thought I was recording and got NOTHING!
So embarrassing!

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Thanks Rich!

You dont need a smaller card as long as its under 64GB.

Format it on PC as per the link I posted on your other thread.

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Make sure you stop the recording of the video before turning off the drone. If you don’t, you lose the recording.

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I had a quick look in the manual and it says format the SD card in the transmitter but doesn’t tell you the procedure. Like TassyWass says, you must stop the recording before switching the drone off. All the replies are good answers. I have formatted my card on my Mac and had no problems. Sorry I can’t be of more help.

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Thanks Callum,
I did and it still didn’t work!!!

I appreciate the advice though.

Thanks Steve,

Like you, not sure what’s going on …so annoying.
Appreciate your concern.

Hi Rich,
I sent a message to them both.
We’ll see what happens.

Thanks for your interest.

What I will try is better quality cards, and see if that helps.
The other was old, and the new one cheap.