How to get a 64GB+ MicroSD to work with Macs (Mac OSX, 10.11.6, El Capitan)

The world of tech is always changing, creating new systems all the time to make things easier. This can make old ways of getting things done inefficient or ineffective. One such change can be found with the New Mac OS, OSX El Capitan. There are some minor changes to the way formatting SD cards works on the new OS, but if you are any bit familiar with the previous method, it's very similar.

Our team is primarily Windows based and so we have to give a big thanks to our customer Robin L. for notifying us of the differences between the old way and this new way.

Note: Always remember to unplug the camera power cord before removing a microSD card.

First thing to keep in mind is that the micro SD card and it's manufacturer are very important. We've found that some 3rd party SD cards can be quite finicky.

As Robin put it, "I first tried a 64gb card made by SanDisk and although it appeared to work, upon viewing entire video files, there were large gaps of blank video although the audio was consistent."

The ADATA card we used to provide worked well, though we're now providing Lexar SD cards with our units instead. For the purpose of this tutorial we will be focusing on formatting the SD card for the BlackSys CH-100B, but we will also make note of where some differences would be as well.

Run a Quick Format of the SD Card

• Download from Blacksys.co.kr the Mac formatting app
• Plug your Dash cam's SD card into your Mac
• Install the program if needed, and then open the Blacksys Formatting app
• Run a quick format through this program for the micro SD card
• Changing the name of the card would be unnecessary as the process involves resetting the SD card a few times, removing the name.

Open the Mac system app “Disk Utility”

The following screen should appear.

Highlight the icon for the adaptor of your SD card. It should be in the same area as “Apple SD Card Reader Media” would be in the screenshot above.

Once selected click on "Erase", seen on the menu on top of the SD card's details.

Follow these steps to format the card properly:

• On the second option-box (Format), choose either “MS-DOS(FAT)” or "ExFAT".
• Most units function in “MS-DOS(FAT)”, but Thinkware units are special in that they function in the "ExFAT" format.
• The most important part of this process is found on the third option-box (Scheme). Choose “Master Boot Record” for these SD cards.
• With all of this setup, you should be good to go and click Erase.

When Disk Utility is done with formatting the SD card, place the newly formatted card in your BlackSys CH-100B Dash cam and the voice notification system may say to push the left button to proceed with formatting. If prompted to, press the left button as the voice asks to begin formatting the SD card.

And that should be everything!

Final thoughts

The Dashcam will name the SD card when the card is ran through the system. Of course, it is always important to verify that the process is complete by viewing the recorded files.

If you have a Mac and were looking to view the video files, you would need to download Blacksys' the viewer program. This is because the BlackSys records in .AVI format.

If you have any questions or need some assistance with the process, let us know!