Each card has a different endurance rating. For example my Samsung Pro Endurance 128GB cards I calculated should last 14 years of continuous recording at the rates that Wyze writes at. a 256GB card will last twice as long (each cell writes half as many times when you double the capacity). And a 32GB would be like 3.5 years (again these are all 24x7 continuous recording numbers, motion-only recording increases that exponentially).
What capacity you should get depends on your needs. If you are not writing continuously, 32GB (or even less) is probably plenty, just get whatever capacity keeps the amount of history you want. But you should still get at least a middle of the road brand like Lexar or possibly PNY (though PNY has gone downhill somewhat). People actually seem to have good luck with the Wyze cards and I suspect they are either Lexar or possibly Kioxia as both of them do a lot of “white label” cards for other companies. Both are pretty decent for non-harsh non-continuous writing. I actually have a couple 8GB cards that came with my very old dash cams (generic cards with the korean cam’s name on them) that I use motion only on a couple cams that rarely see motion, they’ve been going 2 years without problems.
Unfortunately SD cards are at the most expensive they’ve ever been so finding a budget friendly option can be tough. Resist the urge to use Adata, Team Group, etc, unless they’re a really good deal and you don’t mind the fact that they’ll probably die on you at some point and it may not be very long. Even PNY is a crap shoot.
Non-endurance rated cards in “motion only” mode can last quite a while, but not all cards are created equal. Environmental factors, power outages, etc can impact their lifespan as well. I’ve seen a power outage take out a dozen SD cards at once (or more like the surge when it came back on).
I prefer the sdcard.org formatter as it basically resets the card back to factory default with all the proper offsets etc. But if you can’t run that, using the Mac’s built in formatter and doing a “full overwrite” or “non quick” format is probably second best. I’m not sure why it wouldn’t work on your Mac though, it should have pretty broad support.
Then put it in the cam and if it is at least recognized, try the internal cam format (just to wipe off anything the mac may have put on it, sometimes it likes to toss a couple mac related files or directories on there).
Which cards are you using?
While it is unlikely putting a working card into a non working cam will harm the card, it is not impossible. Of course the same could happen with a new or spare card so not sure there is really more or less risk either way.
Depending how advanced you want to get, the v3 now supports RTSP streaming where you can send the video feed to a NAS or PC and record the footage to a hard drive - far more reliable and you can get lots of capacity. Reviewing the files can be much easier that way too. But that’s obviously a bit of an undertaking and requires some tech knowledge.
