How to Recover Deleted Videos from DJI: Detailed Guide

How do I recover deleted videos from DJI? For DJI users, it might be disappointing to lose images or videos on a DJI drone due to an accident. But there is no need to worry. Please read this article and learn how to recover deleted videos from DJI.

One of the unquestionable leaders in aerial photography is the DJI. Its users often ask about methods for recovering deleted videos from DJI. If you use this video equipment, you will undoubtedly enjoy the drone's unmatched filming quality with the camera. However, you may occasionally run into file and video issues, such as not knowing how to recover deleted videos from DJI. The answers are right here. You will understand how your DJI drone camera recordings work and how to retrieve the videos.

Things You Need to Know About the Deleted Files on DJI

Although there is no security mechanism for DJI videos, users can restore lost DJI photos and videos with suitable data recovery software. The deleted photo and video have a possibility of being recovered as long as newly taken data didn't fill the data blocks. Besides, you should know two more things before returning your deleted files.

1. About the video/photo saving formats

We should first comprehend the photo and video formats that DJI collects.

• In contrast to iOS and macOS, which employ H.265 video encoding, DJI applies to H.264 video encoding and 10-bit D'Cinelike format.
• DJI Camera uses JPEG and DNG RAW formats for photo files.
• DJI Drones uses MP4 and MOV for video files (both of which have the same quality).

Thus, it might be one of the causes for some recovery programs' ability to retrieve improperly encoded video files.

2. The type of memory cards

We should know about the memory cards used by DJI drones, as they store deleted pictures and videos. Typically, DJI drones contain an external memory card and 8GB of onboard memory.

Memory cards smaller than 32GB use exFAT as the file system, whereas memory cards bigger than 32GB use FAT32. We need to recover the erased images and videos from the DJI drone's memory card.

3. Common causes of data loss on DJI drones

Accidental Deletion	Deleting files directly on the drone or via the DJI Fly app.
Card Corruption	Improper removal, power loss during writing, or full card errors.
Formatting the Wrong Card	Accidentally formatting while in the drone or on a computer.
Card Errors or Write Protection	SD card becomes read-only or unreadable.
App or Firmware Glitches	DJI Fly app crashes leading to incomplete file writes.
Physical Damage	Water exposure, impact, or overheating damaging the card or drone.
Virus or Malware Infection	Especially when connecting the card to unsecured computers.

[Step-By-Step] 3 Ways to Recover Deleted Videos from DJI

Here, we've provided several feasible options for finding your misplaced or deleted photos and videos from your DJI devices.

Method 1. Retrieve deleted files on DJI's SD card with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

Known that DJI drones and camcorders always store their videos and photos in the SD card inserted. SD card recovery always comes first when discussing DJI file recovery.

To restorer files from an SD card, you can utilize a third-party tool called EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. This software aims explicitly at deleted or lost file recovery from various digital data storage media, including CDs/DVDs, memory cards, SD cards, computer hard drives, etc.

If you usually deal with DJI videos on a MacBook, download the Mac version and perform SD card recovery on Mac. Here are the steps to using EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover your deleted videos from the SD card.

Step 1. Select the SD card to scan

• Download and install EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard on your Windows PC.
• Use the proper way to connect your SanDisk/Lexar/Transcend SD card to the computer. 
• Open EaseUS SD card recovery software and choose SD Card Recovery on the left panel. All connected drives will display here. Select your SD card and click "Scan for lost data".

Step 2. Check for scan results

• Wait for the scanning process to complete.
• Specify one or several file types to show up, like Pictures or Videos.
• Click "Preview" to check if they are the wanted files.

Step 3. Recover SD card data

• Preview the recovered files and click "Recover".
• Choose a different location to save the recovered files instead of the original SD card.

If you find this information helpful, please share it with others on social media to assist them in overcoming this common challenge.

Method 2. Restore deleted photos from DJI using DJI Go App

DJI Go is an app for Android phones and tablets, as well as iPhones and iPad. It may be used to record and distribute DJI flight logs. Photos and videos captured by the DJI drone camera will be transferred to the Go App on your mobile devices immediately. Therefore, this method may help if your DJI crashes and you lose all your recordings.

Step 1. Open "Settings" on the DJI Go app and hit "Video Cache".

Step 2. Click "Editor" at the bottom of the app display.

All of your most recent videos are now visible to you. You can get them back all with only one click.

Method 3. Perform CHKDSK to recover deleted photos and videos from DJI

SFC and CHKDSK are critical system detection utilities ensuring the volume file system's integrity. CHKDSK is mainly used to fix a broken external drive.

Your DJI drone's SD card may occasionally display the following notice if there is corruption: "The SD card is broken. Reformat it if you want to ". You can follow the steps below using CHKDSK to fix the issue and recover deleted videos and photos.

Step 1. Connect your DJI devices' USB drive or SD card.

Step 2. Type "cmd" into the start menu's search field and press Enter.

Step 3.Perform a right-click on "cmd. exe" to bring up a command window that recovers corrupted files.

Then you can access the photos and video on your DJI's memory drive.

Matters Need Attention and Prevent File Loss

Unexpectedly, the data loss problem occurs. You may take action to reduce the risk of file loss.

Instead of cutting the data, copy it to the computer.

When transferring data from an SD card to a computer, it is preferable to duplicate the data rather than cut it at the destination. Thus, there are always two groups of files on your devices. Either device can crack down, and the other can still save the recordings.

Use the DJI Go app to record the flight records

Additionally, if you want to record the flight logs, you need to employ the DJI Go app, which might add a second layer of security to the recordings and pictures.

Frequently make a backup of the files on the SD card

Always make an SD card backup of your DJI media files regularly. You can format the memory card to reset it because you've already made a copy of its media contents. A valid Windows backup software can be convenient.

Regular Backups

Use cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox) or external hard drives.

Automate backups using tools like Adobe Lightroom or WD My Cloud.

Use High-Quality SD Cards

Recommend UHS-I, V30 or higher (e.g., Sony TOUGH, Samsung EVO Plus).

Avoid no-name brands.

Final Thoughts

In this article, we have discussed DJI's deleted file and some attention to file recovery. More importantly, you could use the methods offered to restore any deleted photos or videos from your DJI device. Among the methods above, the third-party tool EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard may be easy and effective.

Something More About DJI Video Recovery

Here, we also included 3 questions you may be interested in. Check and find the answers here.

1. Where are DJI videos stored?

There are different ways to store your drone videos. You can find your DJI videos in these paths below.

• Internal drone storage
• External hard drive
• SD cards
• Cloud-based storage

2. How to repair corrupted DJI video files?

The solutions listed below make it simple to correct faulty video files.

• Repair with Command Prompt on CHKDSK.
• Utilize DJI fix software
• Repair DJI Videos with Video Repair Tool

3. How do I restore my DJI videos?

You can lose DJI app footage purposefully or unintentionally. If you've saved the films on your computer, recovering the files can be more accessible. However, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is one of the most popular data recovery tools for recovering your data if you haven't created a backup.

4. How do I recover deleted videos from my DJI app?

If you're using an Android smartphone, you can transfer the flight records to your computer by connecting the Android device to your computer with a USB wire.

If you're using an iOS device, you should first connect it to your computer, launch iTunes, select the iPhone icon, and then navigate File Sharing - DJI Go to find and download the flight logs.