Copy a camera card and know when it is safe to format

Insert a camera card and its window opens. Keep the card's label, such as SD Lumix, or type another, and press Analyze contents: Media Organizer reads every file on the card, which takes a minute or two, and the same window goes on as the card's window. Nothing is copied until you press Run.

The first time each stage of the window appears, a short tour shows what it is for; Help in the window shows it again.

Which camera body the files come from

When a card brings files that are not in your library yet, the window first asks which of your cameras they come from. It shows what the files report, a row for each maker, model and serial, with how many photos, videos or sound files report it. Every copy is filed under its camera body, so this answer is what your folders, filters and edit packs show as the camera.

• A camera body you already named: "This card appears to come from your camera body Sorin's ZS200", with Yes, Sorin's ZS200 and It's another camera body….
• Several bodies of the same model that report no serial: pick the one this card was in.
• A camera you have not named yet: type a name that tells it apart from your other cameras, above all another of the same model, such as "Helmet X4". The box starts with the model.
• Files that name no camera: choose one of your bodies, name a new one, or Keep them without a camera body.

Press Continue to go on. A card whose files are all in your library asks nothing.

A card with files from more than one camera gets a Camera body box on every row, each starting on our best guess, which you only check. A name that is not one of your bodies yet shows a small NEW tag; Continue makes it. Click a row's file count to open those files in the browser and set the camera body file by file, for example when one row mixes two cameras; files you set there keep what you gave them. Continue waits until every row has a body or Keep them without a camera body.

Documents, scripts and the camera's own files are not part of the question, and neither are empty (0-byte) recordings.

Review the card

The heading names the card and its camera bodies, such as SD3 · X4A, and says how many recordings are still only on this card. Under it, the first panel says what this run copies, such as 61 new recordings · 18.2 GB, and shows the drives it goes to, each saying what it gets and how full it will be. On a normal day you just press Run.

Only what needs you is shown: Slate and tags, and Damaged recordings only when the card holds recordings that can be repaired or empty (0-byte) ones. Everything else, such as what to copy and the card's other files, is under Options. The window remembers which parts you leave open for each camera model.

A card whose files are all in storage shows only how it stands: Everything on SD SONY is in storage · safe to format, with the number of copies, or how many files have fewer copies than you asked for, with Plan remaining copies…, which makes those copies from your drives without the card. The card window mentions formatting only when the card is safe to format.

Slate and tags

Slate and tags gives the card's recordings their Camera, Shoot, Scene, Shot, Take and Roll, and tags, without opening the browser. A row shows for each value your folders need, marked needed, and for each value the recordings already have; it says how many of the recordings being copied have none, such as 20 have none, or that all have one. When they all share a value the box shows it, so you can see and change it. Any other value waits as a button on the line Add a value:, such as + Scene; click it to add its row.

Type or choose a value in a box and press Apply, under the rows: the values go on the card's recordings that are still only on the card and have none yet. A value you set on a recording in the browser stays. Empty a box and press Apply to take the value it gave back off. Run applies anything you left in a box first.

Below the rows, type a tag and press Add: the list shows every matching tag with its kind, such as Norway · Location, and only a new name asks its kind. A tag goes on the recordings at once. Already on some of these recordings: lists the tags they have, with how many; × takes one off them. Set or review them per recording in the browser… opens all the recordings being copied, those missing a needed value first, to set values and tags one by one.

Every box has a ▾ button that lists the names used on this card and the most recent ones; typing searches them all. What you apply is on the recordings straight away, so the browser shows it, and closing the window loses nothing while the card is in the reader.

Several cards at once

Card windows open one at a time. When more cards wait, for example two cards inserted together or cards left in their readers when Media Organizer starts, the card window shows them all at its top under Cards waiting, the card shown marked and each other card with what is left to do, such as 20 not copied. The window title says where you are, such as SD3 · card 1 of 3. Click a card to work on it first; the card you leave waits as it was. Closing the window goes on to the next card, in the same place. A drive or card you plug in while the window is open joins the line too, and its own window comes when its turn does. Not now leaves the others for later: they stay in the Library, and Ingest beside a card opens its window.

Choose what to copy

What to copy, under Options, lists the card's media in one line per folder and file type, such as DCIM\DJI_001 MP4 or Copied INSV, with how many of its recordings are new and how many are copied already. It is the same on every card, whether it holds one camera's files laid out the way the camera writes them, files from several cameras, or folders you made yourself. New recordings start ticked; copied ones do not. Clicking a line's tick moves it from new only to all, to none, and back. Click the arrow to tick single recordings, or use Tick all, Tick only new and Untick all. A recording and its previews and sidecars, such as an LRV or SRT file, are one line, so they are always copied together. A preview that was renamed so it no longer matches its video is listed on its own.

Only the ticked recordings are copied into your library's folders. If you leave recordings unticked that exist nowhere else, the window says how many, because they are lost when you format the card.

Keep the card's other files

Below What to copy, Also keep the card's other files says how many files and how much room they take, such as 23 files · 8.5 MB. They are everything on the card that is not media: the camera's own index and database files, and anything else, such as a script you put there. What Windows or a Mac leaves on a card, such as System Volume Information or files starting with ._, is never kept or shown. The box is ticked unless you untick it, and the card remembers your choice for the next time.

Ticked, the files are copied as they are into the ingestion's own folder on every drive the card goes to, so the card can be shown as it was. The first panel's headline says so, such as 61 new recordings · 18.2 GB, with the card's 23 other files (8.5 MB). Unticked, they stay only on the card and are lost when you format it. Show them lists them. The part is not shown on a card that has no other files.

Values your folders need

If some recordings lack a value your folder structure uses, such as the camera or the scene, Run asks first. It shows one row for each missing value: how many recordings lack it and an example of where they would go, with the missing part in bold. Click the number to set the values in the browser; when you close it, the question counts again. Copy anyway puts those recordings in a folder named for what is missing, such as No camera or No scene. Tick Don’t ask again to always do that; you can turn the question back on in Settings › Copying from cards.

Where cards are copied

Settings › Copying from cards says where camera cards go: how many copies, the same number as in Settings › Copies of your footage, and the order your storage drives are used in, either the drives with most free space or drives in this order. For drives in this order, every storage drive is listed with its free space and whether it is connected; move them up and down with the arrows. A storage drive you add later comes at the end. Cards always go to storage drives, and a drive that is not connected or has no room is skipped for the next one. Until you save this page, cards go to the storage drives with most free space, and the first panel says so.

To use other drives for one card, choose Change drives in the first panel: the tiles turn into every storage drive, ticked as chosen, each with its free space and how much more it needs if it cannot take a whole copy. Show paths lists where each file will go. Done uses your ticks; Cancel keeps the drives as they were.

When no drives can each hold the whole card, the card is split by itself: each recording, with its companions, goes to as many drives as you want copies, each copy on another drive, and the panel says so, for example Split across WD 6, WD 8: no 2 drives can each hold the whole card. Each drive's tile says how much it gets.

A card copies only the recordings that exist only on it. A recording that already has a copy somewhere is not copied again from the card; bringing it up to the number of copies you want is the job of Plan remaining copies, beside the card in the Library. On a drive this run copies to, a file counts as a copy only when it is the same file, checked by its contents, in the place the run would put it, so a different file with the same name never stands in for your recording.

When there is not enough room

When even a split cannot hold every copy, a note under the drives says how much more room is needed, such as Not enough room for 2 copies: 40.1 GB more is needed, and Run waits for Copy as much as possible:

• One copy of everything fits: it is ticked for you. Every recording gets one copy now; once it is done, connect another drive and press Plan remaining copies beside the card in the Library for the second copy.
• Not even one copy fits: it is not ticked, and the note says how many recordings would stay only on the card until a drive with room is connected. Tick it to copy the others now.

Use one folder structure

Until you choose otherwise, Media Organizer uses the recommended structure: year, day, camera and card label, for example H:\MediaOrganizer\Media\2026\2026-10-04\Sony A6700\SD9\C0411.MP4. Each file goes into the last folder under its own name, not into the card's own folders. To change it, open Settings › Folders on your drives, type or choose a base folder (until footage has been copied into it), then choose the folder levels and their order, such as Year and Camera, or Shoot, Scene, Shot, Take and Roll. The same base folder is used on every drive. A ? beside the levels says what happens when a name is already taken, and the page warns when a level that keeps same-named recordings apart is missing (the day, the camera or the card label) and says how to add it. The card label is the label of the card a file was copied from; a file with no known card goes into No card, as a file with no camera goes into No camera. Remaining card contents and inventories go under the base's Ingestions folder.

Changes to the structure affect future copies; existing files stay where they are, and earlier ingestions keep their recorded locations. Finish or cancel copies in progress before changing it. A file that is not a recording has no camera or slate values, and a file without a recording time uses its modified date for its place.

Camera, Shoot, Scene, Shot, Take and Roll can name folders; tags such as a location do not.

Run and resolve conflicts

Run closes the window and starts one background copy per drive in the Activity panel. The values and tags you set are already on the recordings, and their copies carry them.

When a different file already has a recording's name in its folder, the recording is numbered, for example C0411 (2).MP4, and its companions get the same number. The plan does this for every drive that is connected. A drive that was not connected can still meet a taken name when its copy runs: other recordings go first, and a decision window then shows both files' paths, sizes and dates. Skip this group skips the whole recording and its companions. Keep both copies numbers the recording the same way. Nothing overwrites an existing file. Decide later leaves the activity incomplete; Resume brings back the decision.

Closing the window, and taking the card out

Close copies nothing and asks nothing. The card stays in the Library while it is in the reader, with what you set for its files, and Ingest beside it opens the window again. What you set is kept when you take the card out too (see below); only values typed in a Slate and tags box and not applied yet are left behind.

If you take the card out while its window is open, the window says so, such as SD Lumix was taken out. Put it back in to carry on., and keeps only Close. A file review opened from it stops taking changes.

Cards in the Library

While a card is in a reader it is listed in the Library under CAMERA CARDS, above your drives, with an SD-card icon that says whether you can format it:

• red with an exclamation mark: some recordings are only on this card, and are lost with it;
• amber with an exclamation mark: everything is copied, but some files have fewer copies than you want;
• green with a tick: safe to format;
• grey with dots: the card is still being read and checked.

The line under the card's name says the same in words, such as 79 only on this card, 128 files need more copies or Safe to format. While the card is read, its row is tinted and the line says so, Reading the card… and then, once the new files are counted, Reading 15 new files · 6 of 15, with a bar that fills. While a card is read, Media Organizer's own reading of your other drives waits, so the card is done sooner. Beside it, in the icon's colour, Ingest opens the card's window while any recording is only on the card, and Plan remaining copies plans the missing copies from your drives once everything has at least one copy.

In the browser you can look at a card's files and copy them elsewhere, but not change them: a blue band above the list says so, and Open the card opens its window, where camera bodies, slate values and tags are set.

Once you take a card out, it leaves the Library; what was copied off it stays, under Card ingestions. Media Organizer keeps what it knew about the card for 60 days: put it back and it is back at once, with what is only on it, the camera bodies you answered, slate values and tags, and asked nothing. It compares the card's list of files, sizes and times, without opening any file. It is then read again to take in anything new, which takes seconds, and its window opens when that is done if recordings are still only on it. A card that was in its reader when Media Organizer started is compared the same way.

A card you filmed on since is the same card too, as long as every recording Media Organizer read from it before, at least five, is still there unchanged; the new recordings are read and joined to it. A card changed any other way, with a recording deleted for instance, or with fewer than five recordings read before, is read in full as a new one, and its camera body question offers the bodies you named in one click. So is every card after 60 days away.

Past card ingestions

Each time files are copied off a card, the Library lists it under CARD INGESTIONS, by month, newest first: the day and time and the card's label, with the camera bodies its files came from. Older years fold into one line, such as 2025 · 41 ingestions.

Click one to see the card as it was, in the file list. Its line opens on the card's folders, and each folder lists the files it held, with the list's columns, sorting, search and Include subfolders. A band above the list says which card it was, when it was copied and to which drives.

A recording that was copied is its copy in the library, so its tags, slate values and camera name change that copy, as anywhere in the browser. A recording whose copies are no longer in the library, and one that was never copied, are greyed. The card's other files show whether they were kept with the ingestion. Hover over a file to see how it stands. Nothing is moved or deleted from here. Back returns to where you were.

Open a past card as a drive

To open a past card in the camera maker's program, such as Insta360 Studio or Lumix Sync, right-click its line under Card ingestions and choose Mount as a drive, or use the button on the band above its files. The card appears as a drive letter of its own, named after the card and read-only, with its folders, file names and times as they were. Its recordings are read from their copies in your library and the camera's own files from where they were kept with the card. Media Organizer does not treat it as a card to copy.

The line then says Mounted as M:, and its menu offers Open M: and Unmount. If some of the card's copies are on drives that are not connected, the card is not mounted and the message names those drives: connect them and mount it again. Files that were never copied or kept, or whose copies are gone from your library, cannot be on the drive; the band says how many.

The drive needs Dokan, as the Media Manager drive does. It goes when you unmount it, quit the drive program or sign out of Windows.

Where the card's other files are kept

Every ingestion keeps an inventory of the whole card on each receiving drive, under the base folder's Ingestions folder: original paths and dates, empty folders, and where each file went. When you keep the card's other files, they are saved there too, in the ingestion's own folder. Media and companions go to their usual folders.

The other files are checked by full contents. Changed files are saved; unchanged files can refer to an earlier ingestion, even on another drive. Keep those drives and ingestion folders.

Failures report affected files and keep the activity incomplete; Resume retries unfinished work and checks what was already copied. Keep the card unchanged by other applications while it is copied.

Copy-policy coverage

The card's icon in the Library reports when its media and companions meet your number of copies. Media Organizer never formats the card. See Keep enough copies of your recordings.

Previewing camera rules with a local AI agent

A local AI agent can explain how the manufacturer, series and model rules interpret a card that was read. The preview includes the files that supplied each value and can try customer overrides without saving them. It does not read the card again and does not change what the card window shows.

How card metadata is decided

Camera rules decide a card's new files once the card has been read. Each file's camera information is its own: files on a card never lend each other a serial or a model, and which camera body they come from is your answer to the card's question.

Open a file's Metadata window and expand How these values were decided to see the source files, fields and rules. Rescans keep existing decisions and your corrections. Copies made and checked by Media Organizer keep them too. A time zone the recording does not establish stays unknown.