Somehow I formatted a Card in a Canon Camera that had an entire music video on it.
The card was put aside and has not been touched since.
Is it possible to recover these video files? The card was actually formatted in the Canon DSLR (not just deleted).
I can see there are lots of software advertised online that claim to do this, but all the testimonials seem like advertorials.
Does anyone have specific experience using any of these recovery programs with success? Any advice appreciated!

If it's formatted incamera it's normally not retrievable anymore but you can always try the recovery software I have used before with great success (but only if the data was deleted, not formatted) from ZAR (Data Recovery Software, Solutions, Tutorials - ZAR Data Recovery (http://www.z-a-recovery.com/default.aspx))

If it's formatted incamera it's normally not retrievable anymore but you can always try the recovery software I have used before with great success (but only if the data was deleted, not formatted)

Sorry, but this is not true. If you think of a Memory Card as a Written Novel, where each file is a Chapter
Deleting a file is like finding a book chapter in the table of contents and erasing its entry
Formatting the memory card is like removing the entire table of contents

In either case, your data is still on the memory card, it just takes more work to get to it.
Essentially you start at the beginning of the memory card(Book), and look for the first page of a chapter.
When you find that page, at the "bottom" will be a link to the next "page", and so on.
You keep finding the next page, until you get to the end of the chapter,

Sorry, but this is not true.

I am only saying this based on own experience as I have tested it and tried to recover with different recovery software, if it was just deleted I managed to get it back, if it was formatted I only get small fragments back which are unusable when trying to put them together again. But lets hope for Simon that is not the case which is why I send a link to recovery software to try.

I am only saying this based on own experience as I have tested it and tried to recover with different recovery software

The fact that you cannot get it done doesn't mean it's not recoverable.

I've had some success with this, Data Recovery for Windows & Mac,Specialized in Photo, Video and Music Recovery (http://www.wondershare.net/ad/data-recovery/?gclid=CjwKEAjwmf6-BRDi9fSN7Ijt1wUSJAASawcjT6CUZKraeEUs59o9BZhLK08wPWmZBudN0Z_5oISLPRoC7KTw_wcB)

You can download and use it, see if it recovers the files, then buy it if it does.

Recuva is free and works very well.

Andrew

Recuva is free and works very well.

Andrew

Another vote for Recuva. I've used it and managed to recover a few files from a formatted card. Most were lost but a lot of work produced a few useable useable clips. It could also be worth going to a company that specialises in file recovery. It will cost quite a bit, but if the files are valuable it might be worth it.

Roger

Is the card is readable it is salvageable. Look for recovery software. Yes it will recover even multiple formats.

I've had success both with the free recovery software that came with ( I think ) Sandisk cards , and with
Data Rescue - a paid for utility , which I first downloaded as a free trial then purchased .

Normally , formatting in camera just erases the file directory and the files are still recoverable . Only if the card has been overwritten is the data lost .