Downloading flight data using a Mac.

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I also posted this on the DJI Forum - So far no answer

When connecting the Phantom 3 Pro to the "aircraft micro USB port", not the camera port, in order to download flight data, my iMac does not "see" the aircraft. When I connect it to my PC it does and I can download the .dat files. I noticed that the PC installed a driver for the aircraft before the connection worked. I also know the aircraft looks like an external USB drive to the computer.

With all this said, has anyone else had trouble connecting to a MAC and if so did you resolve the issue?

Also let me ask the question a little differently. Has or is anyone sucessfuly connected to a mac to download the flight data? If so what type of Mac and what version of the OS?

Some of my system info
OS X Yosemite Version 10.10.5
iMac 27 inch mid 2011

Thank You
Tom
 
i have the same problem. i even have this problem when I try to connect my Samsung Tab A to my Imac.
 
Both of you start here.

DJI Phantom Accessories & Tips - Phantom Help

The flight logs that I have retrieved is on the mobile device, anyways try the link. I have a P3S.

Added: I see two of the links go to Healthy Drones. Anyways the flight log's I am talking about can be played back in the Go-App or you can upload to Healthy Drones, but I think the third link will help out some confusion.

Added: Here is log of mine on Healthy Drones if this what your trying to get to.

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
 
Last edited:
Both of you start here.

DJI Phantom Accessories & Tips - Phantom Help

The flight logs that I have retrieved is on the mobile device, anyways try the link. I have a P3S.

Added: I see two of the links go to Healthy Drones. Anyways the flight log's I am talking about can be played back in the Go-App or you can upload to Healthy Drones, but I think the third link will help out some confusion.

Added: Here is log of mine on Healthy Drones if this what your trying to get to.

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
Both of you start here.

DJI Phantom Accessories & Tips - Phantom Help

The flight logs that I have retrieved is on the mobile device, anyways try the link. I have a P3S.

Added: I see two of the links go to Healthy Drones. Anyways the flight log's I am talking about can be played back in the Go-App or you can upload to Healthy Drones, but I think the third link will help out some confusion.

Added: Here is log of mine on Healthy Drones if this what your trying to get to.

HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters
Thanks for the info. I now have downloaded the data from my iPad. Although that was very helpful, I was trying to download the .dat files from the Phantom. As I said in the first note I was able to get them on one of my PC's but my iMac did not see the files. Right now it does not matter Phantom is going in for repairs as soon as I get a RMA from DJI.
 
Yeah, that sucks, I didn't understand why you needed the .Dat, until now.
 
I am assuming you are trying to copy the .DAT logs found on the Phantom's hidden internal micro SD card.
My Mac also does not "see" the Phantom as an available disk when connected in Flight Data Mode.
To solve this what I did was:
While in Flight Data Mode with everything connected, I opened the Disk Utility application on the Mac. There the Phantom showed as an unmounted disk, but was grayed out and I could not mount it.
What I was able to do though was create a Disk Image of the entire Phantom SD card and save it to my Desktop. After completing this I could open the Disk Image and save the .DAT files to a folder. However, it takes a long time for the Mac to create the sizable disk image of the entire SD card. (The Phantom battery does get run down in the process. I would start with the battery at least 50% charged).
 
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I am assuming you are trying to copy the .DAT logs found on the Phantom's hidden internal micro SD card.
My Mac also does not "see" the Phantom as an available disk when connected in Flight Data Mode.
To solve this what I did was:
While in Flight Data Mode with everything connected, I opened the Disk Utility application on the Mac. There the Phantom showed as an unmounted disk, but was grayed out and I could not mount it.
What I was able to do though was create a Disk Image of the entire Phantom SD card and save it to my Desktop. After completing this I could open the Disk Image and save the .DAT files to a folder. However, it takes a long time for the Mac to create the sizable disk image of the entire SD card. (The Phantom battery does get run down in the process. I would start with the battery at least 50% charged).
Thanks, thats just the problem I was having. I think it will be easer just to unload the .DAT logs on one of my pc's. I guess there is a problem for those that only have a Mac. I have both so a PC it is. I wonder if DJI knows about this? I do know that the PC downloaded a driver for the Phantom to access it as a drive. Next time I try I will look and see what driver loaded. There were already drivers loaded for most of the external drives and memory cards but it loaded a new one.
 
I think this'll help...

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That's a good video for uploading the .txt files from your iOS device (iPhone or iPad). However what we're trying to copy is the .DAT files or DJI FLYLOGs which reside on the hidden SD card inside the Phantom. Note this is a different SD card than the one found on the camera. It is a second SD card and not easily
accessible to the user. The way to connect to this card is to have everything up and powered on, then turn on Flight Data Mode in the DJI GO app. Then connect the USB cable from the USB port on the front of the Phantom's shell body to the computer. This works fine with PCs, but Mac users have a hard time getting the Phantom (now seen as an ordinary memory card) to mount to the Mac desktop.
 
That's a good video for uploading the .txt files from your iOS device (iPhone or iPad). However what we're trying to copy is the .DAT files or DJI FLYLOGs which reside on the hidden SD card inside the Phantom. Note this is a different SD card than the one found on the camera. It is a second SD card and not easily
accessible to the user. The way to connect to this card is to have everything up and powered on, then turn on Flight Data Mode in the DJI GO app. Then connect the USB cable from the USB port on the front of the Phantom's shell body to the computer. This works fine with PCs, but Mac users have a hard time getting the Phantom (now seen as an ordinary memory card) to mount to the Mac desktop.

Thanks for clearing that end of this mystery for me.

T- noob
 
That's a good video for uploading the .txt files from your iOS device (iPhone or iPad). However what we're trying to copy is the .DAT files or DJI FLYLOGs which reside on the hidden SD card inside the Phantom. Note this is a different SD card than the one found on the camera. It is a second SD card and not easily
accessible to the user. The way to connect to this card is to have everything up and powered on, then turn on Flight Data Mode in the DJI GO app. Then connect the USB cable from the USB port on the front of the Phantom's shell body to the computer. This works fine with PCs, but Mac users have a hard time getting the Phantom (now seen as an ordinary memory card) to mount to the Mac desktop.
DroneTone
Thanks for giving a more clear description of the problem. As I have said, I am able to get the files from one of my PC's. It's not a show stopper for me. I am interested in finding out if others have this problem or better yet if anyone can successfully connect and download on a Mac without going through what you did.

What is it about the Mac file system that it cannot see the "drive", or what is it about the formatimg of the memory card that the Mac cannot see it? Also there is something about how the DJI GO app "opens" the memory card up for access. Again this is not a show stopper for me but it would be s lot easier for me to not have to move files between my Mac and PC.

My phantom is in for repair so I cannot play with this stuff right now. When I get it back I will take a better look at what's going on the Mac and the PC.
 
Again, assuming you are trying to copy the .DAT logs found on the Phantom's hidden internal micro SD card-
My Mac also does not mount the Phantom internal SD card as an available disk when connected in Flight Data Mode.

To solve this what I did was:
While in Flight Data Mode with everything connected, I opened the Disk Utility application on the Mac.
There the internal Phantom SD card is displayed as an unmounted disk, but was grayed out and I could not mount it.
Then using Disk Utility, I selected the SD card and created a Disk Image of the entire Phantom SD card saving it to my computer hard drive.
After it completed I was able to open the Disk Image as any other one and saved the enclosed .DAT files to a new folder for viewing.
However, depending on how many .DAT files (flights) there are, it can take a long time to create the rather sizable disk image of the entire SD card.
(My Phantom battery definitely got run down in the process. I would start with the battery at least 50% charged).
 
Again, assuming you are trying to copy the .DAT logs found on the Phantom's hidden internal micro SD card-
My Mac also does not mount the Phantom internal SD card as an available disk when connected in Flight Data Mode.

To solve this what I did was:
While in Flight Data Mode with everything connected, I opened the Disk Utility application on the Mac.
There the internal Phantom SD card is displayed as an unmounted disk, but was grayed out and I could not mount it.
Then using Disk Utility, I selected the SD card and created a Disk Image of the entire Phantom SD card saving it to my computer hard drive.
After it completed I was able to open the Disk Image as any other one and saved the enclosed .DAT files to a new folder for viewing.
However, depending on how many .DAT files (flights) there are, it can take a long time to create the rather sizable disk image of the entire SD card.
(My Phantom battery definitely got run down in the process. I would start with the battery at least 50% charged).
 
Thanks DroneTone

When I get a chance I will try that. From what you have said I think it will be much easier to just read the files from my PC.
 
What's in the .dat files that isn't in the flight logs on the device?

S
It is my understanding that the .dat files have more data than the DJI GO app .txt files, I may be wrong. Also the .dat files are recorded on the aircraft so if you loose your connection and the aircraft crashes you may be able to find out why from the aircraft .dat file.

Anyone else with more info on why would anyone else would want the .dat file data? I'm still a bit of a newbie with this. There must be something to the data, enough that DJI set up the DJI GO app to down load the data to a computer.
 
Then using Disk Utility, I selected the SD card and created a Disk Image of the entire Phantom SD card saving it to my computer hard drive.
After it completed I was able to open the Disk Image as any other one and saved the enclosed .DAT files to a new folder

Ok. No idea how you created a disc image using disc utility. I get partition, repair, erase, mount (does nothing) or info. No other options. Sorry if this is a stupid question. Fairly new to macs!
 
Okay Using an iMac, here are the steps to access the .DAT files stored on the hidden SD card permanently mounted inside the Phantom 3.
Also see the attached photos for a clearer viewpoint.

These first four steps below are from the "Drones Made Easy" website… support.dronesmadeeasy.com/hc/en-us/articles/206171443

1. Power up everything with the Phantom 3 as if you were going to fly (except the props), and launch the DJI GO App.
Enter the camera view.

2. In the MC Settings menu, choose Advanced Settings. You can find the MC Settings on the top leftcorner of the screen,
directly to the right of the Home icon.

3. Scroll down, and select Enter flight data mode.

4. The DJI GO app will prompt you to connect the drone to a PC or Mac via the USB to mini-USB cable included with your drone package.
The mini-USB port on the Phantom 3 is located on the front or nose of the drone, (and not the camera gimbal frame).
Plug the regular USB plug directly into your Mac (not a USB extension port box).
Note: This was done using a 2013 iMac running OSX 10.8.5, there may be some differences with different models and OSX versions.

5. Once you connect the drone to your computer wait to see if by chance it does mount to your desktop.
When it doesn't, open the application Disk Utility.

6. Select the disk DJI DATA LOG. It will show listed in the left column of disks in Disk Utility.
You can select it even though it is not mounted to the desktop.
(Be sure to choose the root disk DJI DATA LOG file and not the DJI FLY LOG file).

7. When the disk DJI DATA LOG is highlighted, select the New Image icon in the top row.
This will present the dialog box shown, asking what to name it, where to save it and what format.
(I've chosen compressed with no encryption).

8. Be prepared to wait along time… The amount of time depends on how many .DAT files there are.
The entire SD card could be full. The Phantom records a .DAT file every time it is powered on,
regardless of flight or not. It only erases them when space is needed for newer files.
(I wouldn't start with the Phantom battery less than 50% charged).

9. Once the Disk Image is created on your Mac, double-click it, it will uncompress to a new window
(in temporary RAM memory only). Drag the files you want from there to a newly created folder on your computer.
That's it!

10. The FLYxx.DAT files will have considerably more recorded flight information than the
DJIFlightRecord text files that are copied from the DJI GO app.
The FLYxx.DAT files can now be analyzed for content, but how to do that is a whole different topic…
 

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