Files

The Files tab is a MAVLink-FTP file browser for the flight controller’s onboard filesystem. It lets you browse directories, download files to your computer, upload files to the board, and delete files — the same transport the Logs & Inspectors tab uses to pull logs, exposed as a general-purpose browser.

Two roots are visible:

  • ``@SYS`` — virtual status files served from RAM (crash-dump summaries, threads, memory, and other diagnostics). These are read-only.

  • The SD card under ``/APM`` — the real filesystem: /APM/LOGS (dataflash logs), /APM/TERRAIN (terrain tiles), /APM/scripts (Lua scripts), and more.

Note

Two real gotchas govern what you can reach:

  • ArduPilot blocks SD-card filesystem access while the vehicle is ARMED. This is a flight-timing safeguard on the firmware side — listing or opening anything under /APM fails until you disarm. @SYS still works while armed because it is RAM-backed, not on the card.

  • SD access needs a mounted FAT32 card. A missing, unformatted, or corrupt card makes every /APM operation fail, even disarmed. @SYS is unaffected.

Free storage

Free storage (the red button) is a fast one-shot cleanup: it deletes everything that is not needed for flight — /APM/LOGS, /APM/TERRAIN, and crash dumps — while keeping your configuration. Parameters are safe because they live in storage/FRAM, not in files; scripts and missions are kept too. It is the quick way to reclaim card space, or hand off or resell a board, without wiping the tune.

Warning

This is a normal file delete, not a secure wipe. The confirmation dialog says so explicitly: SD and flash wear-levelling can leave deleted data recoverable by forensic tools. If you need a guaranteed wipe — for a board leaving your control with sensitive mission data — pull the card and physically destroy it.