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If you are considering buying a dash cam for your vehicle, you will need to learn how to format a Micro SD card to use it with your dash cam.
If you've ever used a Micro SD card before, you may have been prompted to "format" it before using it. But what does that mean?
Put simply, formatting a Micro SD card erases every single file on it, including internal files that are usually hidden. This is the best way to reset or clear a Micro SD card, and should be the first step you take when using a new card.
Dashcams usually perform read/write tasks extensively, which is why memory card errors occur after lots of use. In theory, the smaller the capacity of the card, the easier it is to break. As long as the car is driven, it will be written and erased continuously.
The SD cards in Dash Cams are exposed to varying temperatures and humidity, vibrations, interruptions when turning the Dash Cam on and off, and hours of continuous writing and re-writing. Due to the complex driving conditions of the car, the shake of the dash cam can easily cause the memory card to be unstable, resulting in the dash cam becoming hot, unable to store, unable to record, crashing, and black screen, and may even directly burn the dash cam. So the card also needs maintenance.
In addition, when SD cards are freezing, restarting, not recording, or gaps in recordings. 9 out of 10 times a simple format of the SD card will rectify these issues. If not, you could be due for a new SD card or try a different brand.
Notice: Formatting a Micro SD card is permanent. Once a Micro SD card is deleted, there's no way to recover the erased files. As such, make sure to back up all the data you want to keep before formatting.
A Micro SD card is a tiny memory card that is often used for extra storage in dash camera. In most cases, you can format a micro SD card using commands built into your device. However, you can also format a micro SD card using your Windows or Mac computer.
The easiest, fastest, and most recommended method is in the Dash Cam itself. Mercylion mirror dash cam has an inbuilt format function that can be run via the camera menu. Formatting the card in the Dash Cam should take around 10 seconds.
For Mercylion's hidden OEM fit dash camera, we support wifi connection. You can format a Micro SD card with the Mercylion App. After connecting to the device's WIFI, enter the Mercylion App and click connect to the dash camera to get into the WIFI direct connection interface. The mobile phone can preview the recorder in real-time through the APP, device design, video and photo preview, and download and delete operations. If you need to format the Micro SD card, select "Format SD Card" in the settings menu, and then a warning will pop up on the App interface. The format command will clear all data on the SD card. Do you want to continue? Please click the OK button. Your SD card will complete the format command.
If your camera has frozen or won’t start up, then obviously you can’t access the menu to format the card. In this case, your SD card will then need to be formatted on your computer via the instructions below – either Apple or Windows. The required system file format for Mercylion Dash Cams is usually FAT32, allocation unit size is 64KB. Specifically according to the product manual. The instructions below will ensure your SD card is FAT32 formatted. Using a format not supported by your Dash Cam will cause functional problems and will not work in your Dash Cam.
1. Insert your micro SD card into a micro SD card adapter or reader compatible with your micro SD card. For example, if you own a SanDisk micro SD card, you should have a micro SD card adapter that came with it. The adapter looks like a regular SD card with a slot at the bottom where you insert your micro SD card.
2. Insert the SD card adaptor into your computer.
3. Open up DISK UTILITY. You can find Disk Utility in the search function at the top right of your Apple screen. This is what Disk Utility looks like once open:
4. Highlight your SD card from the devices list on the left. SD cards are generally named “no name” or “untitled” if you haven’t already given it a name. Note that most Micro SD cards that are 32 GB or less come formatted as FAT32. Cards above 64 GB are formatted to exFAT file system.
5. Once format has been selected, click“Erase” and if successful you should see this pop-up:
Your micro SD card is now formatted.
Its’ possible your SD card is not properly inserted or is physically damaged. Try by reinserting the SD card slot of the camera. If you still cannot format SD card in camera, try formatting it on PC.
You may face situations when your SD card won’t format and give unexpected errors, such as,‘Memory card not formatted. Operation failed.’ There can be many reasons for SD card won’t format error.
Its’ possible your SD card is not properly inserted or is physically damaged. In this case, you may need to get a new memory card.
There are some of the common causes of SD card format errors caused by non-physical damage:
Fortunately, computer systems has utilities that can format the storage drive. You can according the instruction of format Micro SD card by MAC、Windows above.
If your Micro SD card has bad sectors.Check and Repair Bad Sectors
Bad Sectors are undetectable on your storage device/disk, yet they will keep you from smoothly using your PC and opening the files. One of the most common fixes of bad sectors is to format the disk. Eliminate the bad sectors and format the card using any method of your choice.
Step 1: Using Windows key + R buttons, open the Run bar and type cmd in there. Press the Enter key to open the order prompt (cmd.exe).
Step 2: Input the command: chkdsk E:/f/r/x. Supplant E in the Command Prompt with your SD card's drive letter.
If your Micro SD card is write-protected,you can disabling write-protection.
Enabled write-protection puts your media storage in read-only mode, meaning that Windows is not capable of making any changes to the device. As a result, the micro SD card won’t format.
To provide users with a convenient way to write-protect data when needed, many storage media manufacturers equip their memory cards with a tiny switch located on the side of the device. It may have happened that you unknowingly enabled write protection — say, while removing or inserting the SD card into your phone or camera. In this case, just switch it back to disable write protection.
But, if your SD card doesn’t have the switch, write-protection can be disabled manually in the following way:
Step 1: Open Command Prompt by pressing the Windows + R key combination.
Step 2: Type devmgmt.msc in the command box and hit OK.
Step 3: Expand the Disk Drivers item to locate your memory card in the device list.
Step 4: Right-click on the SD card and pick Properties.
Step 5: On the General or Policy tab, look for the option related to writing a policy. Turn the tab off and press OK.
You can continue using your SD card.
Hoping this easy-to-follow guide was helpful to you. If not, you can contact Mercylion support hotline, so that we can get started resolving your problem as soon as possible.
1: Never use the same Micro SD card on multiple devices.
2: Always format the new SD card before using.
3: Turn off the camera before removing a Micro SD card.
4: Always use ‘Eject’ to remove SD card from computer, no violent removal.
5: Regularly format SD card instead of ‘Deleting’.
