recovering files form formatted SxS - am I right that there is no hope?

Larry Huntington · October 4th, 2009, 03:40 PM

I went through this scenario, trying to rescue a formatted P2 card for a friend. I was able to get most of the files back, but not without it's complications.

Turns out, the only way to recover formatted or deleted cards is using a pc application that can see fat32 file structures.

Try using a pc-based commercial data recovery application:
FileSalvage, Stellar Phoenix3, Data Rescue 2, Boomerang, UnDelete Plus,
Recover4all

If you are able to recover the movie files and they are damaged (i.e., blocking etc), I know a gentleman who writes a specific movie repair tool to fix the file(s). It's around $150 per repair tool (each repair tool only works with one format, i.e. 108060i DVCProHD.) If you have more than one format, frame rate, or size, you will need to purchase multiple repair tools. Once you have the repair tool, you can keep it, in case it ever happens again.

If you can get your files from a windows-based file recovery program and there are no issues with the files, you are in luck. If the files play but are damaged, then PM me and I will send you the contact of the man who writes the movie repair apps.

Larry

John Mitchell · October 4th, 2009, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig Terott

I ran the demo of Rescue Pro (just to try it out) and it seems to have successfully recognized every clip on the card after delete. That said, I tried coping one of the files and then opening the file with QT and no luck "this file is not a movie file." Even though it is a .mp4. XDcam transfer won't recognize the file either. There's obviously a lot going on during the transfer process. Perhaps if every file was copied and then that folder was targeted? I can't test this though because the demo limits the number of files that can be recovered.

You probably just have to re-wrap the files as .mxf usin gSony's mxf tool...

Marcus Durham · October 6th, 2009, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Mitchell

You probably just have to re-wrap the files as .mxf usin gSony's mxf tool...

These guys have solutions that enable Final Cut to be able to read the native mp4 files from an EX1/3.

Calibrated Software

Used their mp4 to Final Cut plugin the other week when I couldn't transfer a file and it worked a treat.

Craig Terott · October 6th, 2009, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcus Durham

These guys have solutions that enable Final Cut to be able to read the native mp4 files from an EX1/3.

Calibrated Software

Used their mp4 to Final Cut plugin the other week when I couldn't transfer a file and it worked a treat.

This looks great. The combo of Rescue Pro and the import plugin should fly. We just need a testimonial from someone willing to try or buy!

Marcus Durham · October 6th, 2009, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig Terott

This looks great. The combo of Rescue Pro and the import plugin should fly. We just need a testimonial from someone willing to try or buy!

The software will let you play the first 30 seconds without paying. I downloaded it, the software happily played the first 30 seconds (going blank after that) so I knew it would work so I purchased it.

That software saved my backside the other week. Be warned though, when you register it you can't transfer the licence to another computer. You are stuck with it where you install it.

David Arendt · October 6th, 2009, 10:33 PM

Hi,

ffmpeg might also be worth a try. Somtimes it does really good job on recovering damaged files.

At first I would try something like

ffmpeg -i damaged.mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec copy salvaged.m2t (I am choosing m2t as transport streams seem to be more fault tolerant than mp4. Data will only be wrapped in another container, so there will be no quality loss.)

If this is failing I would try:

ffmpeg -i damaged.mp4 -vcodec dnxhd -acodec pcm_s16le -b 185Mb salvaged.mov (This will convert video to a dnxhd compressed mov file.)

October 4th, 2009, 03:40 PM	#16
Larry Huntington Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Grass Valley, California Posts: 350	I went through this scenario, trying to rescue a formatted P2 card for a friend. I was able to get most of the files back, but not without it's complications. Turns out, the only way to recover formatted or deleted cards is using a pc application that can see fat32 file structures. Try using a pc-based commercial data recovery application: FileSalvage, Stellar Phoenix3, Data Rescue 2, Boomerang, UnDelete Plus, Recover4all If you are able to recover the movie files and they are damaged (i.e., blocking etc), I know a gentleman who writes a specific movie repair tool to fix the file(s). It's around $150 per repair tool (each repair tool only works with one format, i.e. 108060i DVCProHD.) If you have more than one format, frame rate, or size, you will need to purchase multiple repair tools. Once you have the repair tool, you can keep it, in case it ever happens again. If you can get your files from a windows-based file recovery program and there are no issues with the files, you are in luck. If the files play but are damaged, then PM me and I will send you the contact of the man who writes the movie repair apps. Larry

October 6th, 2009, 10:33 PM	#21
David Arendt Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Bereldange, Luxembourg Posts: 41	Hi, ffmpeg might also be worth a try. Somtimes it does really good job on recovering damaged files. At first I would try something like ffmpeg -i damaged.mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec copy salvaged.m2t (I am choosing m2t as transport streams seem to be more fault tolerant than mp4. Data will only be wrapped in another container, so there will be no quality loss.) If this is failing I would try: ffmpeg -i damaged.mp4 -vcodec dnxhd -acodec pcm_s16le -b 185Mb salvaged.mov (This will convert video to a dnxhd compressed mov file.)