T544T-ZE strange SD card behavior - causes and fixes?

[Perimeter]

Today I ran into the first real trouble. While testing locations, the 5442 suddenly stopped noticing my passing. It took me some time to figure out why, but the result is this:

The camera suddenly failed to write to a specific new SanDisk Extreme 256 GB SD card which contains very little data so far. The card was in the camera for a few days and had only recorded 9 GB of activated scenes. It can still read all the past recordings and it does not generate an error message in the logs when writing. The camera continously records (so far, fingers crossed) on a different smaller size SDcard at the moment for testing. So the cam can write to disk ok.

In order to sort out what was going wrong, I had a look at the camera log. (old IE11) I discovered that the camera does make hot swap log entries. There is one after the last working clip and before the first failed recording. But they also occur every time the camera is powered up. So I guess it is a normal procedure mounting an SD card?

I have secured all the test placement recording footage. No problems accessing the card for download of that footage.

Then I discovered that the camera is still using up new space on the card. With every minute, the used space on the card increases with nothing to show for! As I read some posts here about bugs were some apps don't display the files. It is likely there on the card, just not visible.

I have now formated the card to private file system and it is recording again. I let it run for a while.

I have read that I would need Dahua Toolbox for direct private file system access, but the download page is empty? Where to get it?

I also wonder if the data on the card is encrypted or otherwise protected against theft?

 

[wittaj]

Were you recording continuously? Many people have had issues with that.

I wouldn't hot swap, I would turn the camera off.

Some of the larger SD cards can be problematic. I have seen reported issues here with 256. I stay at 128GB because of these issues I have seen people have.

 

[Perimeter]

Were you recording continuously?

No, I was working with activation by human motion detection. It worked fine at first. Cam caught me and recorded a few seconds. Then suddenly, no recordings were to be found. But the motion was detected, as I could tell from log.

I wouldn't hot swap, I would turn the camera off.

I didn't hot swap. The camera seems to do this every time it is powered on or resets.

Some of the larger SD cards can be problematic. I have seen reported issues here with 256. I stay at 128GB because of these issues I have seen people have.

Given that I will only use the cards for detected motions, I'll probably settle for 64GB and have the cam purge older files after a week. I got the 256GB at a time when I wasn't sure how I would record 24/7 and to use during vacations.

Will the card recordings be encrypted or PW protected in any form?

 

[tigerwillow1]

I've had a few SD card problems, not your exact one, in a couple of fixed-focal 5442s, solved by just using a different card. One of the cameras didn't like a super-duper Samsung Pro card but is happy with a cheapie TeamGroup card. The rejections also changed with different firmware versions in the same camera with the same card. Without evidence, I'm chalking it up to boundary condition timing issues. To put an end to this I bought a half dozen 64 GB Adata cards, 4 of still unused, with all 9 of the 5442s currently happy. Because of all I've heard about counterfeit cards I'm buying only from Newegg (not online affiliates), hoping that they deal only in genuine merchandise.