Cautionary Tale - Loss of EX1 data

Peter Wright · February 25th, 2008, 05:59 PM

Thanks Peter - I have emailed Sandisk to see whether Rescue Pro works with SxS cards - it's not currently on their list, but here's hoping.

Ola Christoffersson · February 26th, 2008, 03:20 PM

Grrrrrrrrraaaaahhhhgh!

I have to admit that I was thinking to myself when I read this post - how can you be so stupid and delete your only copy.
Now - today I did just that! I was on a shoot and wanted to delete some images on my external drive to make room for a backup of the files I had just copied from my SxS-card. I used Clip Browser and I thought I had only selected the old clips. I hit the delete button and it trashed my new material instead. I don't know if I had made some mistake or if ClipBrowser does not care which of its two windows is active when you press the delete key. Anyway, I lost an 8 GB card of just recorded material. We rerecorded some of it but I have lost some very good pieces of interview and images.

I have tried Final recovery and I thought that I saw the clips for a while but after rescanning the card they disappeared before I could save them.

Peter - Have you had any success yet?

Anyway I am going to stop using clip browser on shoots. There is just to much risk for mistakes and not enough confirmations boxes before you do something stupid.

I realise that Clip Manager is needed to combine clips spanning over two cards but as long as I keep the BPAV-folders separated within different folders named 1, 2, 3 etc I will be fine and can combine them with Clip Manager when I get back from the shoot, right?

Peter Wright · February 26th, 2008, 07:09 PM

Sorry to hear of your experience Ola (but happy it's not just me!!).

I have currently left my card and reader with a professional data recovery service, who will charge me about $200 if successful, and $60 if not. I should know by tomorrow at the latest.

When I selected a single clip in the lower window to delete, I thought I was just taking it out of the project. The warning message "Are you sure you want to delete?" added nothing to my knowledge, whereas a more thoughtful design would have had it saying "Clicking Yes will delete the data from your removable media - do you want to proceed?"

I though I had read somewhere that it was possible to copy and convert to mxf all in one operation, but I'll never try that again!

Ola Christoffersson · February 27th, 2008, 03:08 AM

I have now managed to salvage most of my clips using Meetsoft Final Recovery 2.2. For some reason I could not find any data on my card when it was plugged into my laptop. However, when I put the card in my camera and connected it using USB I could see the lost content.

I recovered all the MP4-files. BUT when I play them back they have no audio. I have not yet tried importing them into my editor but I have a question: How can the audio be gone? Isn't the audio part of the MP4-file? That is all I am supposed to need isn't it? I tried importing one of the clips into Clip Browser as well but clip browser said it was an invalid clip. Could some kind of corruption lead to this? When I playback the file using M-mplayer (open source) it plays back fine but with no audio!!

I just tried converting one of the files to Avid DNxHD using an application called "XDCAM EX to Avid". During the conversion I got loads of error messages about missing I-frames and stuff. I don't know much about recovering files but is it possible that the recovered file is damaged and that is why I lost the audio? I thought it should be ok if I managed to recover it.

Peter Wright · February 27th, 2008, 03:28 AM

Yes, I hope things turn out well for you Ola.

I really hope that if my files are recoverable, they will include audio, because my footage is of my son, a friend and I, playing an open air charity concert last weekend - the first time I have performed publicly since I lost my beautiful wife two years ago.

I do thankfully have an audio recording of the concert using my Zoom H4 recorder, but if I can recover the EX1 footage of the same performance, I'll be even more happy .....

Ola Christoffersson · February 27th, 2008, 04:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Wright

Yes, I hope things turn out well for you Ola.

I really hope that if my files are recoverable, they will include audio, because my footage is of my son, a friend and I, playing an open air charity concert last weekend - the first time I have performed publicly since I lost my beautiful wife two years ago.

I do thankfully have an audio recording of the concert using my Zoom H4 recorder, but if I can recover the EX1 footage of the same performance, I'll be even more happy .....

I am very sorry to hear that it was such a memorable occation! I sympathize with you. Can't imagine the feeling in you gut when you realised that you had deleted the material. Anyway, since I could see my files using simple software downloaded from the net I am sure that the "pros" will find your material.

Peter Wright · February 27th, 2008, 05:07 AM

Thanks for those kind thoughts Ola - I'll let you know how it turns out ...

February 26th, 2008, 03:20 PM	#17
Ola Christoffersson Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 462	I did it too! Grrrrrrrrraaaaahhhhgh! I have to admit that I was thinking to myself when I read this post - how can you be so stupid and delete your only copy. Now - today I did just that! I was on a shoot and wanted to delete some images on my external drive to make room for a backup of the files I had just copied from my SxS-card. I used Clip Browser and I thought I had only selected the old clips. I hit the delete button and it trashed my new material instead. I don't know if I had made some mistake or if ClipBrowser does not care which of its two windows is active when you press the delete key. Anyway, I lost an 8 GB card of just recorded material. We rerecorded some of it but I have lost some very good pieces of interview and images. I have tried Final recovery and I thought that I saw the clips for a while but after rescanning the card they disappeared before I could save them. Peter - Have you had any success yet? Anyway I am going to stop using clip browser on shoots. There is just to much risk for mistakes and not enough confirmations boxes before you do something stupid. I realise that Clip Manager is needed to combine clips spanning over two cards but as long as I keep the BPAV-folders separated within different folders named 1, 2, 3 etc I will be fine and can combine them with Clip Manager when I get back from the shoot, right?

February 25th, 2008, 05:59 PM	#16
Peter Wright Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 193	Thanks Peter - I have emailed Sandisk to see whether Rescue Pro works with SxS cards - it's not currently on their list, but here's hoping.

February 26th, 2008, 07:09 PM	#18
Peter Wright Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 193	Sorry to hear of your experience Ola (but happy it's not just me!!). I have currently left my card and reader with a professional data recovery service, who will charge me about $200 if successful, and $60 if not. I should know by tomorrow at the latest. When I selected a single clip in the lower window to delete, I thought I was just taking it out of the project. The warning message "Are you sure you want to delete?" added nothing to my knowledge, whereas a more thoughtful design would have had it saying "Clicking Yes will delete the data from your removable media - do you want to proceed?" I though I had read somewhere that it was possible to copy and convert to mxf all in one operation, but I'll never try that again!

February 27th, 2008, 03:08 AM	#19
Ola Christoffersson Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 462	I have now managed to salvage most of my clips using Meetsoft Final Recovery 2.2. For some reason I could not find any data on my card when it was plugged into my laptop. However, when I put the card in my camera and connected it using USB I could see the lost content. I recovered all the MP4-files. BUT when I play them back they have no audio. I have not yet tried importing them into my editor but I have a question: How can the audio be gone? Isn't the audio part of the MP4-file? That is all I am supposed to need isn't it? I tried importing one of the clips into Clip Browser as well but clip browser said it was an invalid clip. Could some kind of corruption lead to this? When I playback the file using M-mplayer (open source) it plays back fine but with no audio!! I just tried converting one of the files to Avid DNxHD using an application called "XDCAM EX to Avid". During the conversion I got loads of error messages about missing I-frames and stuff. I don't know much about recovering files but is it possible that the recovered file is damaged and that is why I lost the audio? I thought it should be ok if I managed to recover it.

February 27th, 2008, 03:28 AM	#20
Peter Wright Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 193	Yes, I hope things turn out well for you Ola. I really hope that if my files are recoverable, they will include audio, because my footage is of my son, a friend and I, playing an open air charity concert last weekend - the first time I have performed publicly since I lost my beautiful wife two years ago. I do thankfully have an audio recording of the concert using my Zoom H4 recorder, but if I can recover the EX1 footage of the same performance, I'll be even more happy .....

February 27th, 2008, 05:07 AM	#22
Peter Wright Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 193	Thanks for those kind thoughts Ola - I'll let you know how it turns out ...