OT: Nextbase 612GW dash can

[Scott]

I had an incident this week that was not recorded, apparently because
the memory was full. I understood that a dash cam automatically
deletes the oldest file to create space for the newest. This one
recorded nothing at all since 13 March. I have now reformatted the
card and will monitor.

However, there is no point in having emergency equipment that cannot
be relied on in an emergency. The unit is Nextbase 512GW, which
reviews very well. However, I am wondering if an upgrade to 612GW
would provide any useful benefit (it seems to be different firmware)
of if another manufacturer would be better, maybe Garmin. Any
comments?

[Indy Jess John]

I don't know the unit so you will have to check the manual for it.
But I am familiar with CCTV recorders, and those I have used have an
option to automatically record over the oldest entries when the disc is
full or to stop recording when the disc fills. It is a yes/no choice
that has to be set up and the defaults vary.

Have a check to see if your dashcam does have reusing old recording
space as a set-up parameter. It is possible that it defaults to "No" if
you have used it straight out of the box, or else you might have
accidentally set to "No" during your setting up; or if you applied a
firmware update that might have reset it.

The on-line reviews are pretty good. You should be able to configure it
as you want it to behave rather than replacing it.

Jim

[alan_m]

On 04/04/2021 12:30, Scott wrote:

> I had an incident this week that was not recorded, apparently because
> the memory was full. I understood that a dash cam automatically
> deletes the oldest file to create space for the newest. This one
> recorded nothing at all since 13 March. I have now reformatted the
> card and will monitor.

I've found that if there is an incident such as an accident OR the
camera falling off the windscreen OR the car disappearing down a pothole
the shock causes the accident record mode to be triggered. This write
protects the previous X minutes and possibly a future Y minutes.

When you next use the dash cam it continues to delete old and record new
UNTIL it hits this write protected boundary. It then stops deleting and
recording. On my dash cam the only way over this is to reformat the card
to remove the write protected section.



--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

[williamwright]

On 04/04/2021 12:30, Scott wrote:

It'll be a write-protect problem.

Bill

[Brian Gaff (Sofa)]

How can that be though as it must not be write protected to record in the
first place, more likely to be a software switch somewhere or its knackered,
and increasing the size would just put the same problem off for a bit
longer.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
bri...@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"williamwright" <wrights...@f2s.com> wrote in message
news:icttf2...@mid.individual.net...

[Scott]

On Sun, 4 Apr 2021 15:47:05 +0100, "Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)"
<bri...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>How can that be though as it must not be write protected to record in the
>first place, more likely to be a software switch somewhere or its knackered,
>and increasing the size would just put the same problem off for a bit
>longer.
> Brian

I'm sorry to say that's my thinking which for safety related equipment
is not good. Do you think it is the device or the SD card that is
knackered? Is there a reliable way to test the SD card?

[alan_m]

On 04/04/2021 15:47, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
> How can that be though as it must not be write protected to record in the
> first place, more likely to be a software switch somewhere or its knackered,
> and increasing the size would just put the same problem off for a bit
> longer.

The cameras have an inbuilt G-shock sensor which is used to trigger a
write protect of the segment of the recording when you have an accident.
It has no knowledge of the reason for the "shock" which may not be
accident related. Usually there is a user configurable sensitivity
adjustment for this sensor to help prevent false triggering.

[alan_m]

On 04/04/2021 15:58, Scott wrote:
> On Sun, 4 Apr 2021 15:47:05 +0100, "Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)"
> <bri...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> How can that be though as it must not be write protected to record in the
>> first place, more likely to be a software switch somewhere or its knackered,
>> and increasing the size would just put the same problem off for a bit
>> longer.
>> Brian
>
> I'm sorry to say that's my thinking which for safety related equipment
> is not good.

It is NOT safety related equipment. It can be used to establish
liability in the event of an accident etc. It forms no safety function
in your car.

Do you think it is the device or the SD card that is
> knackered? Is there a reliable way to test the SD card?
>

If after re-formatting the card it still works it suggests that there
was a previous "shock" event that triggered the write protect of a
segment of the recording. From memory, there is a paragraph in the
instruction manual recommending occasional reformat of a card.

[Scott]

On Sun, 4 Apr 2021 20:30:48 +0100, alan_m <ju...@admac.myzen.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 04/04/2021 15:58, Scott wrote:
>> On Sun, 4 Apr 2021 15:47:05 +0100, "Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)"
>> <bri...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> How can that be though as it must not be write protected to record in the
>>> first place, more likely to be a software switch somewhere or its knackered,
>>> and increasing the size would just put the same problem off for a bit
>>> longer.
>>> Brian
>>
>> I'm sorry to say that's my thinking which for safety related equipment
>> is not good.
>
>It is NOT safety related equipment. It can be used to establish
>liability in the event of an accident etc. It forms no safety function
>in your car.
>

Okay, so the guy who stole my mobile phone presented no risk to my
safety. I'm glad you know better than the police, who asked if there
was dashcam footage.

>
> Do you think it is the device or the SD card that is
>> knackered? Is there a reliable way to test the SD card?
>>
>If after re-formatting the card it still works it suggests that there
>was a previous "shock" event that triggered the write protect of a
>segment of the recording. From memory, there is a paragraph in the
>instruction manual recommending occasional reformat of a card.

I did check that aspect. I think only six segments were protected.
Otherwise the memory was full with the final recording on 13 March.
You are correct that I forgot to reformat, but I don't see why that
should stop overwriting.

[alan_m]

On 04/04/2021 20:38, Scott wrote:

>>
> Okay, so the guy who stole my mobile phone presented no risk to my
> safety. I'm glad you know better than the police, who asked if there
> was dashcam footage.

How would a dash cam recording of the event have improved your safety?
Would it have resulted in you not being threatened and your phone not
being stolen?

[Scott]

On Sun, 4 Apr 2021 21:24:51 +0100, alan_m <ju...@admac.myzen.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 04/04/2021 20:38, Scott wrote:
>
>>>
>> Okay, so the guy who stole my mobile phone presented no risk to my
>> safety. I'm glad you know better than the police, who asked if there
>> was dashcam footage.
>
>How would a dash cam recording of the event have improved your safety?
>Would it have resulted in you not being threatened and your phone not
>being stolen?

I did not say anything about my safety, smart ass. I said
'safety-related'. And to answer your question I think the police line
was that if they caught the perpetrator it would avoid the same thing
happening to anyone else, possibly risking their safety. Traditional
policing really.

[Adrian Caspersz]

On 04/04/2021 12:30, Scott wrote:

> I had an incident this week that was not recorded, apparently because
> the memory was full. I understood that a dash cam automatically
> deletes the oldest file to create space for the newest. This one
> recorded nothing at all since 13 March. I have now reformatted the
> card and will monitor.

Could the storage card be a fake?

--
Adrian C

[Scott]

Most unlikely:
1. It came from Halfords
2. It has worked for nearly 2 years

I assume I can test the card using my PC if I can find the correct
sized adapter. Is this a reliable test? Should an SD card be
replaced after two years anyway?

[Jeff Layman]

Nope. I've been using the same SDHC card (Kingston I think) in my
dashcam for over 4.5 years. I haven't checked if it's still at full
capacity (32GB) for several months, but I assume it's still working as
there's no error message appearing on the dashcam display screen.

Was your reformatting successful? On rare occasions when I have viewed
the card's contents on my laptop using an adapter (which was supplied
with the card), I have taken the opportunity to reformat the card using
the laptop.

--

Jeff

[Scott]

Thanks very much. I had no error message that I am aware of when the
device stopped making any new recordings. The reformatting seems to
be successful as the dash cam is working again. I have now found the
adapter.

I take it I am now free to do a full reformat. What file system would
you recommend? At the moment it is FAT-32. I believe NTFS is a
better system but FAT is more versatile. Is there any diagnostic
checking I can run?

[Jeff Layman]

I'd reformat with FAT32. I use Linux so tend to stay with FAT32 as other
devices generally seem happy with it. Whether you use Windows or Linux
there are memory utilities which should tell you if all the SD card's
memory is accessible or not.

--

Jeff

[Woody]

NO - you must use the same format, in this case FAT32, or it may become
unreadable. They use FAT32 because that is common to all operating
systems, whereas NTFS is proprietary so Apple would not be able to use
it. Agreed NTFS is better because the filing system is kept tidy by the
Windows operating system, but it is doubtful that a dashcam will be
running any form of Windoze.

You do NOT need to reformat the card on a PC, the dashcam can do it
quite effectively itself. Formatting will erase locked files, whereas
deleting will not.

[Roger Mills]

On 06/04/2021 10:15, Scott wrote:

The instructions for that model do recommend reformatting the memory
card every two weeks in order to ensure stable operation. Have you read
them?
--
Cheers,
Roger

[Scott]

On Wed, 07 Apr 2021 07:31:01 +0100, Charlie+ <cha...@xxx.net> wrote:

>On Tue, 06 Apr 2021 14:01:28 +0100, Scott
><newsg...@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote as underneath :

>Standard Test for cards is h2testw.exe it writes/reads/verifies every
>segment, takes some time on large cards and spots fakes without fail! C+

Good man. Thank you. Windows says it cannot complete the formatting
so I think I should be investigating.

[Scott]

On Wed, 7 Apr 2021 20:46:53 +0100, Roger Mills <watt....@gmail.com>
wrote:

Yes I did read them at the time but with Christmas and the lockdown
and other stuff going on I forgot.

[Jim Lesurf]

In article <ictt6g...@mid.individual.net>, alan_m

<ju...@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> I've found that if there is an incident such as an accident OR the
> camera falling off the windscreen OR the car disappearing down a pothole
> the shock causes the accident record mode to be triggered. This write
> protects the previous X minutes and possibly a future Y minutes.

> When you next use the dash cam it continues to delete old and record new
> UNTIL it hits this write protected boundary. It then stops deleting and
> recording. On my dash cam the only way over this is to reformat the
> card to remove the write protected section.

Puzzled that it can't simply skip the protected section and continue. And
why you then have to reformat it rather than uset the write protection.
Does the camera do something weird that a standard computer can't resolve?

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/intro/electron.htm
biog http://jcgl.orpheusweb.co.uk/history/ups_and_downs.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

[Scott]

On Wed, 07 Apr 2021 09:45:30 +0100, Jim Lesurf <no...@audiomisc.co.uk>
wrote:

>In article <ictt6g...@mid.individual.net>, alan_m
><ju...@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>> I've found that if there is an incident such as an accident OR the
>> camera falling off the windscreen OR the car disappearing down a pothole
>> the shock causes the accident record mode to be triggered. This write
>> protects the previous X minutes and possibly a future Y minutes.
>
>> When you next use the dash cam it continues to delete old and record new
>> UNTIL it hits this write protected boundary. It then stops deleting and
>> recording. On my dash cam the only way over this is to reformat the
>> card to remove the write protected section.
>
>Puzzled that it can't simply skip the protected section and continue. And
>why you then have to reformat it rather than uset the write protection.
>Does the camera do something weird that a standard computer can't resolve?
>

That is exactly my thinking. I know I should have reformatted every
two weeks but I don't see why this stops it working.. There were only
six protected files in total nd the memory was showing as full, so I
cannot see the protected files being the issue.

Has anyone tried an alternative to Nextbase? Garmin seems to review
disappointingly.

[Brian Gregory]

On 04/04/2021 20:22, alan_m wrote:
> The cameras have an inbuilt G-shock sensor which is used to trigger a
> write protect of the segment of the recording when you have an accident.
> It has no knowledge of the reason for the "shock" which may not be
> accident related. Usually there is a user configurable sensitivity
> adjustment for this sensor to help prevent false triggering.

Surely if you need the recording you're going to download it well before
another complete cycle though all available recording space.

--
Brian Gregory (in England).

[Brian Gregory]

On 06/04/2021 15:21, Woody wrote:
> You do NOT need to reformat the card on a PC, the dashcam can do it
> quite effectively itself.

Always use the device itself to format it's storage unless you have a
very definite and well researched reason not to.
Using anything else might cause problems.

[williamwright]

On 08/04/2021 10:48, Scott wrote:

>>> When you next use the dash cam it continues to delete old and record new
>>> UNTIL it hits this write protected boundary. It then stops deleting and
>>> recording. On my dash cam the only way over this is to reformat the
>>> card to remove the write protected section.
>>
>> Puzzled that it can't simply skip the protected section and continue. And
>> why you then have to reformat it rather than uset the write protection.
>> Does the camera do something weird that a standard computer can't resolve?
>>
> That is exactly my thinking. I know I should have reformatted every
> two weeks but I don't see why this stops it working..

I've never done that. I have three of the things and I don't have any
problems with them.

There were only
> six protected files in total nd the memory was showing as full, so I
> cannot see the protected files being the issue.
>
> Has anyone tried an alternative to Nextbase? Garmin seems to review
> disappointingly.
>

Oh, don't abandon Nextbase for Garmin. Nextbase is far better.

Bill

[Jeff Layman]

Why? How many recent storage devices have you come across which can't
use or don't recognise FAT32?

--

Jeff

[Scott]

Thanks. I'll go with your advice and check more often.

[alan_m]

I think the problem is the fitting of such cameras and false triggering
therefore the user not realising that there is a protected recording to
watch or copy. The OP did indicate that there were multiple protected
areas on his card, presumably many (all?) of which he didn't previously
know about.

[alan_m]

Every PVR - usually formatted Ext3/4

[Jeff Layman]

Many PVRs can use an external HD via USB. My Panasonic PVR can make use
of an external HDD formatted FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, or NTFS. It can also
read SD cards formatted with FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT.

Even the service manual does not say what the internal HD file system
is, and I would not be surprised if it is Ext3. But that's not the point
- external memory devices it uses are FAT/NTFS in the main.

--

Jeff

[Roderick Stewart]

That's Linux for you. It can speak everybody else's language as well
as its own, whereas Windows can only speak Windows.

Rod.

[Jeff Layman]

That was true, but I think to be fair Windows 10 can now mount Ext4
drives. But it isn't exactly simple:
<https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-now-lets-you-mount-linux-ext4-filesystems-in-wsl-2/>

--

Jeff

[Jim Lesurf]

In article <s4n0dg$t00$1...@dont-email.me>, Jeff Layman

I'm wondering if the specific 'dash cam' in question can't! - or at least
only has a partial implimentation of the filer. Hence its inability to work
in a standard manner.

[#Paul]

Jeff Layman <jmla...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> Why? How many recent storage devices have you come across
> which can't use or don't recognise FAT32?

I've found that Android phones are quite keen on claiming that
cards not formatted by Android phones are corrupt or require
(re)formatting - even e.g. when I used dd to clone one Android-
formatted card's info over onto a fresh one. This is probably
more of a "wont" than a "cant" or "dont", though.


#Paul

[Brian Gregory]

On 08/04/2021 14:28, Jeff Layman wrote:

How many of your devices have you checked thoroughly for weird bugs when
using FAT32 with non-standard directory and allocation block sizes on SD
cards?

Note: Windows defaults to really unsuitable allocation block sizes when
formatting SD cards.

[Scott]

In that case, when you buy an SD card it is usually formatted. Are
you saying that the card could be in an unsuitable format *and* the
device would not immediately correct this?

[Jeff Layman]

On 09/04/2021 16:38, Brian Gregory wrote:
> On 08/04/2021 14:28, Jeff Layman wrote:
>> On 08/04/2021 13:46, Brian Gregory wrote:
>>> On 06/04/2021 15:21, Woody wrote:
>>>> You do NOT need to reformat the card on a PC, the dashcam can do it
>>>> quite effectively itself.
>>>
>>> Always use the device itself to format it's storage unless you have a
>>> very definite and well researched reason not to.
>>> Using anything else might cause problems.
>>
>> Why? How many recent storage devices have you come across which can't
>> use or don't recognise FAT32?
>>
>
> How many of your devices have you checked thoroughly for weird bugs when
> using FAT32 with non-standard directory and allocation block sizes on SD
> cards?

None. First of all I use Linux. Secondly, I've never seen a problem when
using an SD card FAT32 formatted with my dashcam, compact cameras (HP,
Ricoh, Canon), TV (two Panasonics), and Android phone. What "weird bugs"
were you referring to?

>
> Note: Windows defaults to really unsuitable allocation block sizes when
> formatting SD cards.

From
<https://superuser.com/questions/1286135/what-allocation-unit-size-to-use-when-formatting-a-usb-flash-drive-in-fat32/1287093>:

"In today's world, it makes no noticeable difference as it did decades
ago. Feel free to use the pre-selected cluster size, which is usually 4
KB (4096 Bytes)."

--

Jeff

[Jim Lesurf]

In article <s4q2f9$tkk$2...@dont-email.me>, Jeff Layman

<jmla...@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> None. First of all I use Linux. Secondly, I've never seen a problem when
> using an SD card FAT32 formatted with my dashcam, compact cameras (HP,
> Ricoh, Canon), TV (two Panasonics), and Android phone. What "weird bugs"
> were you referring to?

These days I tend to transfer files between my Linux and RISC OS machines
via the NAS. But I've also used fat SD cards. Handy also for cards of music
which also go into my DAP. Seems OK. As do cards from my camera.

Don't have any 'Windows' systems at all and not used one for well over a
decade.

[alan_m]

On 07/04/2021 21:35, Scott wrote:

>
> Yes I did read them at the time but with Christmas and the lockdown
> and other stuff going on I forgot.
>

https://www.nextbase.com/en-gb/hub/which-sd-card-do-i-use-in-my-dash-cam/

[Jeff Layman]

On 11/04/2021 08:59, alan_m wrote:
> On 07/04/2021 21:35, Scott wrote:
>
>>
>> Yes I did read them at the time but with Christmas and the lockdown
>> and other stuff going on I forgot.
>>
>
> https://www.nextbase.com/en-gb/hub/which-sd-card-do-i-use-in-my-dash-cam/

"Q) Why are Nextbase SD cards more expensive than other brands SD cards?

A) Years of research and development have led to the creation of an SD
card that has superior capabilities to ensure it works with a Dash Cam,
where other SD cards don’t have such capabilities. Dash Cams have
greater technological requirements from an SD card than a mobile phone
or computer, for example, thus the larger price tag.”

Is it a Russ Andrews company? ;-)

--

Jeff

[alan_m]

I doubt if nextbase have done any development work on any sd cards. I
guess they have just chosen the best card in the current market place
for their application. Put your own brand on a card and you can charge
as much as you like, especially if you give the impression that your
cards have unique features - which is unlikely. Perhaps they have chosen
cards with an appropriate wear levelling regime for their cameras?

[Indy Jess John]

On 12/04/2021 07:18, Charlie+ wrote:
> On Sun, 11 Apr 2021 13:30:19 +0100, alan_m<ju...@admac.myzen.co.uk>
> wrote as underneath :

>
>> I doubt if nextbase have done any development work on any sd cards. I
>> guess they have just chosen the best card in the current market place
>> for their application. Put your own brand on a card and you can charge
>> as much as you like, especially if you give the impression that your
>> cards have unique features - which is unlikely. Perhaps they have chosen
>> cards with an appropriate wear levelling regime for their cameras?
>

> Not sure if any uSD cards have wear levelling, - many SSDs do of course.
> C+

A dashcam records until the SD card is full, then overwrites the oldest
recordings. That equalises wear without anything clever in the SD or
the SD driver.

Jim

[alan_m]

On 12/04/2021 07:54, Indy Jess John wrote:

> A dashcam records until the SD card is full, then overwrites the oldest
> recordings.  That equalises wear without anything clever in the SD or
> the SD driver.

Equalising wear where the videos are stored maybe but not necessarily
for the file to where the the current location is stored. It may be more
writes to the "admin/FAT" files that are the potential cause of problems.

[Scott]

On Mon, 12 Apr 2021 09:33:36 +0100, alan_m <ju...@admac.myzen.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 12/04/2021 07:54, Indy Jess John wrote:
>
>> A dashcam records until the SD card is full, then overwrites the oldest
>> recordings.  That equalises wear without anything clever in the SD or
>> the SD driver.
>
>Equalising wear where the videos are stored maybe but not necessarily
>for the file to where the the current location is stored. It may be more
>writes to the "admin/FAT" files that are the potential cause of problems.

What is the consensus here?

I am facing a situation where there was a failure due to 'memory
full'. I would not be averse to buying a new card if it could make a
difference but I don't want to spend money for no good reason.

Could it be that the issue has more to do with specification than
brand?

[gareth evans]

On 12/04/2021 07:54, Indy Jess John wrote:

Except for the wear in the file directory, which gets written to on
every access?

[Scott]

Is the directory always in the same place in an SD card? I thought
these cards were random access and used any available memory unlike a
hard drive. .

[Mike]

In article <E8ScI.138473$tDk2....@fx06.ams4>,

Indy Jess John <jimw...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

>A dashcam records until the SD card is full, then overwrites the oldest
>recordings. That equalises wear without anything clever in the SD or
>the SD driver.

Apart from the repeated writing on the FAT/directory structures. That
might need a little bit of wear levelling to move it around?

--
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mike Brown: mjb[-at-]signal11.org.uk | http://www.signal11.org.uk

[Jeff Layman]

I doubt it has anything to do with the SD card, more likely a failure in
the camera's software. If it was a connectivity issue between the card
and camera, I would have expected a "no memory card" warning, rather
than that the card was full. Similarly, if somehow you'd got a really
old and slow card, I'd not expect it to work at all, or at least give
some sort of error message relating to its write speed. I have come
across dodgy cards which have only half their marked capacity, but they
work up to that capacity.

If you have another SD card, try it to see what happens.

--

Jeff

[Colum Mylod]

On Wed, 07 Apr 2021 09:45:30 +0100, Jim Lesurf <no...@audiomisc.co.uk>
wrote:

>In article <ictt6g...@mid.individual.net>, alan_m
><ju...@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>> I've found that if there is an incident such as an accident OR the
>> camera falling off the windscreen OR the car disappearing down a pothole
>> the shock causes the accident record mode to be triggered. This write
>> protects the previous X minutes and possibly a future Y minutes.

>
>> When you next use the dash cam it continues to delete old and record new
>> UNTIL it hits this write protected boundary. It then stops deleting and
>> recording. On my dash cam the only way over this is to reformat the
>> card to remove the write protected section.
>
>Puzzled that it can't simply skip the protected section and continue. And
>why you then have to reformat it rather than uset the write protection.
>Does the camera do something weird that a standard computer can't resolve?

I can delete the 'protected' files if the SD card is mounted on a
'pooter. They're in a folder named Protected under the usual DCIM top
folder. Why the dashcam could not do that is odd, it's just a software
decision. There's no actual protection (ACL) on the files or folder.

But they do accumulate over time. Nextbase excuse is to format the
whole card which takes ages and often freezes on mine (128GB). Far
faster on a laptop.

--
Old anti-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com appears broke
So back to cmylod at bigfoot dot com

[Scott]

On Wed, 14 Apr 2021 11:39:10 +0100, Colum Mylod
<cmy...@bigfoot.comREMOVE> wrote:

>On Wed, 07 Apr 2021 09:45:30 +0100, Jim Lesurf <no...@audiomisc.co.uk>
>wrote:
>
>>In article <ictt6g...@mid.individual.net>, alan_m
>><ju...@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>>> I've found that if there is an incident such as an accident OR the
>>> camera falling off the windscreen OR the car disappearing down a pothole
>>> the shock causes the accident record mode to be triggered. This write
>>> protects the previous X minutes and possibly a future Y minutes.
>>
>>> When you next use the dash cam it continues to delete old and record new
>>> UNTIL it hits this write protected boundary. It then stops deleting and
>>> recording. On my dash cam the only way over this is to reformat the
>>> card to remove the write protected section.
>>
>>Puzzled that it can't simply skip the protected section and continue. And
>>why you then have to reformat it rather than uset the write protection.
>>Does the camera do something weird that a standard computer can't resolve?
>
>I can delete the 'protected' files if the SD card is mounted on a
>'pooter. They're in a folder named Protected under the usual DCIM top
>folder. Why the dashcam could not do that is odd, it's just a software
>decision. There's no actual protection (ACL) on the files or folder.

My PC does not delete individual files but can of course format the
card.

>
>But they do accumulate over time. Nextbase excuse is to format the
>whole card which takes ages and often freezes on mine (128GB). Far
>faster on a laptop.

My Nextbase reformats almost instantaeously. Could your card be
incompatible or faulty?

[NY]

"Scott" <newsg...@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7lod7gli2m3s3sqao...@4ax.com...

>>>> I've found that if there is an incident such as an accident OR the
>>>> camera falling off the windscreen OR the car disappearing down a
>>>> pothole
>>>> the shock causes the accident record mode to be triggered. This write
>>>> protects the previous X minutes and possibly a future Y minutes.

A very useful feature.

>>>> When you next use the dash cam it continues to delete old and record
>>>> new
>>>> UNTIL it hits this write protected boundary. It then stops deleting and
>>>> recording. On my dash cam the only way over this is to reformat the
>>>> card to remove the write protected section.
>>>
>>>Puzzled that it can't simply skip the protected section and continue. And

>>>why you then have to reformat it rather than unset the write protection.

>>>Does the camera do something weird that a standard computer can't
>>>resolve?

Our Transcend dashcam writes the normal files to one folder and the
emergency auto-triggered ones to another folder. None of the files are
write-protected, in that they can all be deleted as normal if the card is
read in a PC (without needing an "attrib -r filename"), but the software
knows that it can only delete oldest files from the "normal" folder and not
from the "protected" folder. I presume emergency writing also deletes oldest
normal files if necessary.

It also has a button for manually triggering the emergency recording if you
spot something dangerous. Either with a manual or auto trigger, it's been
constantly logging the last 30 seconds and simply preserves that buffer,
plus the 30 seconds after the trigger.

Every so often I remove the card, delete (and maybe copy off) any 1-minute
protected files (usually generated as a false alarm by a pothole). The space
that is freed up will then be used for normal files. I could delete the
normal files (*) as well and/or format the card, but I tend not to bother
because I know the camera's software will do it.


(*) Which are always broken into 5-minute chunks. Unfortunately if I'm using
the dashcam to record a long journey (for interest rather than for evidence
of an accident) it always misses out a few frames between the end of one
5-min file and the start of the next one, so when they are joined together,
there's a brief jump every 5 mins. We use the dedicated dashcam in my wife's
car, and I use a GoPro type camera in my car which records in seamless 4 GB
chunks (4 GB limit on FAT32 files for Windows compatibility) but needs to be
turned on manually every time I stop the engine and therefore cut the
camera's power.

[Colum Mylod]

On Wed, 14 Apr 2021 13:42:17 +0100, Scott
<newsg...@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:

>On Wed, 14 Apr 2021 11:39:10 +0100, Colum Mylod
><cmy...@bigfoot.comREMOVE> wrote:
>

...

>>I can delete the 'protected' files if the SD card is mounted on a
>>'pooter. They're in a folder named Protected under the usual DCIM top
>>folder. Why the dashcam could not do that is odd, it's just a software
>>decision. There's no actual protection (ACL) on the files or folder.
>
>My PC does not delete individual files but can of course format the
>card.

Open in Explorer, select and hard-delete?

>My Nextbase reformats almost instantaeously. Could your card be
>incompatible or faulty?

I've got a set of cards I rotate. Useful for long journeys
(pre-Covid).