💡 This article is written by humans, with all solutions and steps verified.
Nowadays, when we talk about drones, DJI is undoubtedly the top choice for most users due to its sturdiness and durability. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the videos and photos they take. These files are prone to being lost due to accidental operations or SD card damage. The good news is that it’s possible to recover them in any case. If you’re looking for a solution for DJI File Recovery, then you’re in the right place. Here, we'll detail almost all the available methods and things to keep in mind before you begin.
Everyone knows that there are many reasons for file loss in DJI drones, but few people know why it can be recovered. Understanding them is very helpful for avoiding the same mistakes and recovering lost data successfully in the future.
| File Loss Scenarios | What Happens Afterward |
|---|---|
| Accidentally deleted some files from the DJI drone's internal storage or its SD card | These deleted items will immediately disappear from your screen because the index information pointing to them has been removed. In fact, they are still in their original locations. |
| Formatted the storage device containing videos and photos taken by DJI drones |
Quick Format: It only resets the file system; the data within remains unaffected. Full Format: While erasing all contents, it will traverse each data block on the device and overwrite it with zeros. Though you can still try to recover the erased data, don't get your hopes up. |
| Error messages appear when trying to view captured footage, such as "Formatting required" or "File corrupted." | The error message will not cause file loss. It simply means the SD card or internal storage device file system is corrupted, making the files unreadable. |
| Some files are missing due to power outages or sudden interruptions during the shooting or transmission process. | Some files will be missing metadata, which will be stored as fragments. |
| Data lost due to DJI drone crashes or physical damage to the SD card. | These files remain as long as the flash memory chip is intact. |
As mentioned above, in most cases, your lost pictures and videos are still in their original location, but for some reason, they have become invisible or inaccessible. Therefore, you still have a good chance to get them back. To increase the recovery success rate, we suggest you follow the tips below.
The tips above will prevent your lost files from being overwritten or damaged. Once you are ready, you can choose a suitable solution according to your situation.
The following method is applicable when you don't have a backup of these files. Use professional tools to directly scan the storage device where the videos or photos are saved to restore them. In our tests, it was very effective regardless of whether you lost them due to accidental deletion, formatting, storage device failure, or even a drone crash.
While many programs on the market claim to support DJI file recovery, this is not the case. You should know that footage captured by DJI drones is high-resolution and stored as a series of fragmented files. This makes recovering them much more difficult than other file types.
Fortunately, iBeesoft Data Recovery has algorithms specially optimized for these types of files. Best of all, even if some fragments of the file are corrupted, it can repair them through interpolation and replacement. Additionally, it offers the following features to help you complete the recovery process easily.
Are there other software programs available? Of course! While iBeesoft Data Recovery can effectively recover deleted, lost, or inaccessible videos or photos captured by DJI drones, it is not the only option. Here are some we have verified:
If your drone has crashed, the SD card is physically damaged, or you simply prefer not to handle the data recovery process yourself, the best option is to hire professionals to recover footage from your DJI drone. They utilize the must-have equipment and techniques to extract raw data directly from the flash memory chips. While it offers a very high recovery success rate, the main downside is the cost, which can be several times higher than that of software-based solutions. If you think it's worth it, just search online to find a local data recovery service near you.
You might be wondering if there are ways to recover these lost DJI drone files without using software. In fact, there are. They sometimes work under specific conditions.
DJI Fly and DJI Go are flight control apps released by DJI at different times for recording and storing related data. If you find that some footage has gone missing or been deleted, you can locate and export the recently cached files from the following locations to restore them. However, their resolution is lower than that on the drone's SD card, and the cache is automatically cleared after 24 hours.
Some models of drones allow you to upload the videos or photos you have taken to DJI Cloud after shooting. If you previously enabled it, you may still find them here even if you accidentally deleted them locally.
Finishing the restoration of DJI files is an important step, but sometimes they may become unplayable. It happens when the data segments are severely corrupted, key frames of the video are missing, or new files have been saved in that location, resulting in an incomplete file structure. If you encounter this problem, the following tools should be able to fix these errors.
As you can see, this article has detailed almost all methods for DJI file recovery. However, these solutions cannot prevent data loss from occurring again. Therefore, to save your time and keep data safe, we strongly suggest you back up important footage promptly after every flight.
You can apply the guide to all DJI drones and the memory cards used in them. Different data loss scenarios require different data recovery methods. In most cases, the best way to recover deleted or lost footage is to use recovery software or services.
It's highly unlikely unless you backed it up or synced it beforehand.
Yes, it is possible. If a computer can recognize the SD card, you can use a program like iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac or Windows to retrieve them. If the files are unreadable due to physical damage to the SD card's internal components, you could seek professional data recovery services.
There are many excellent data recovery programs for both Windows and Mac, but we consistently recommend iBeesoft Data Recovery. Because its retrieval algorithms are optimized for how video files are stored in segments, it will offer better data recovery results. Of course, you might also try Disk Drill, R-Studio, or PhotoRec.
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