SD Card Recovery?
 

HELP! I accidentally formatted one of my SD cards in my t3i that still had footage on it!

As soon as I formatted it, I realized the mistake I had made and immediately put the card aside and didn't record anything with it.

Once I got home I purchased the Stellar Mac Photo Recovery Program and gave that a shot. It didn't really work. It downloaded the videos as m4a, but they didn't have video - only audio...and the audio goes to static after about 3 seconds.

Anyone have any suggestions? It's not the end of the world if I can't get this footage back, but I would really like to have it if possible.

Thanks

Re: SD Card Recovery?
 

Its been a long time since I've done it, and I can't name any software names. But one thing is sure - It is recoverable as long as you don't add anything new to the card.

Do a bit of googling. You may have to pay up for the best software.

Re: SD Card Recovery?
 

I have never heard of Stellar Mac Photo Recovery Program so the fact that it doesn't work doesn't surprise me.

The program that is endorsed by SanDisk as they give a free licence with each Extreme Pro SD or CF card is RescuePro SanDisk RescuePRO® and RescuePRO® Deluxe Recovery Software | LC Technology International, Inc. & I know from personal experience that this will recover video files after the card has been accidentally formatted.

Re: SD Card Recovery?
 

Hi Jeremy,

I had the exact same situation happen. I'm on a Mac:

After recovering the files with Disk Drill (Free Mac data recovery software > Recover lost data with Disk Drill!) this app was able to fix the broken files:

Grau GmbH Hardware & Software Solutions - HD Video Repair Utility

It allows you to recover 50% of the file to make sure its working then pay to get the entire file.

Re: SD Card Recovery?
 

I've used Stellar Recovery when my hard drive crashed once. My hard drive crashed during the BURNING process of an entire wedding! I literally sat there for 10 minutes in shock. I was about to restart my entire edit when I decided to try Stellar and it worked for me. I obviously had the raw files backed up but it was the project file that I wanted. Stellar found it and saved me about 5 days of work. It was free to find and $99 bucks to buy so I could recover the files...well worth it in my case. However, this was a hard drive and not a SD card. But I figured I'd chime in since that company did work for my situation. Best of luck with the other options people are suggesting to you.

Let us know what ends up working for you.

Re: SD Card Recovery?
 

I hear R-Studio is great with many file recovery options.

R-Studio Data Recovery Software - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Re: SD Card Recovery?
 

Hello Jeremy,

To recover videos from a formatted SD card, you can use aero Quartet: Video Apps and Repair Service. You will be able to see a free preview of your videos.

There are flat rates for wedding videographers.

Movie Repair Service - Wedding Package

Kind Regards,
Javier

Re: SD Card Recovery?
 

It happened to me before. So i put together in my blog how to deal with it. Basically it's a two step process. First use any kind of recovery program to restore the physical file. Then use another tool to restore the video file structure.

How to Repair DSLR .MOV on Corrupted SD Card | L.A. Color Pros Blog

Re: SD Card Recovery?
 

i've used R-Studio in the past, worked really good too.