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How to Repair DSLR .MOV on Corrupted SD Card

Posted on 1/24/2012 2:51:00 AM

It is miserable for any professional videographer dealing with corrupted memory cards of lost footage. We experienced the same this week with some lost wedding footage. If this happens to you, read on!

We filmed wedding footage with Canon 7D and T3i/600D DSLR. One of the SD cards from the last wedding prompted a "Format before Use" error message. While panicking, here's what we did to recover the files.

The corrupted media was Sandisk Extrrem HD 16 Class 6 memory card. Sandisk has replaced this card with the Sandisk Extreme 16GB Class 10 version.

We tried the following data recovery programs.

Recuva
Recuva by Piriform is a free data recovery program. We have successfully recovered audio files on SD card in the past. Unfortunately, since the SD card won't be mounted with a drive letter, Recuva refuses to carry any scanning. No luck!

RescuePro
RescuePro by LC-Technology is a professional data recovery program. The standard version can be obtained free for a one-year license when purchasing any Sandisk Extreme series memory card. We are able to recover 22 .MOV files. However, none of the recovered .mov files are playable.

Sandisk tech support refered us to LC-Technology for further troubleshooting. After talking LC-Tech support, it was determined the H.264 .MOV files cannot be recovered with RescuePro Standard version. Only the Deluxe version ($69.95) "might" be able to restore HD .MOV files. On top of that, they offers a mail-in media service program to have data recovery performed in their facility. For a 16GB memory card, the standard cost is $225.

Active@ File Recovery
Active@ File Recovery ($34.95) by LSoft Technologies Inc. successfully recovers 25 .MOV files from the same memory card. However, they were all not playable too.

BadCopy Pro
BadCopy Pro ($39.95) by Jufsoft successfully restores 31 .MOV files. But still, none of the file is playable.

EaseUS
EaseUS ($69.95) comes with a free trial allowing recover up to 1GB of data. We tried to recover one .MOV files but the file is yet also not playable.

Changing Recovery Strategy

Since we are very confident the movie content on the SD card were not overwritten, we started to think the issue is not the corrupted SD card. It might be the lost of the complex H.264 file structure that was needed to be recovered.

With a bit of google search, we found two DSLR MOV repair tools, one for Mac and one for PC.

Remo Repair MOV by Remo Software for Mac

HD Video Repair Utility ($128 US) by Grau GbR for PC

We tried HD Video Repair Utility. The demo version offers restoring half the length of the video file. A reference playable .MOV file is needed (or any .MOV file recorded by the same camera) in the process so it knows how to reconstruct the corrupted MOV files structure. BAM! It successfully recovers the wedding footage.

$128 is bit deep. However, it's priceless to restore valuable footage that cannot be reproduced.

Reading from other blog posts, earlier version 1.5 was actually a freeware/donateware. If you want to save some money, you can search really hard on the Internet to find any Ver 1.5 floating around. There is a trick in doubling the file size so restoring half actually means restoring the entire video.

Lesson Learned

It was a mistake we made at the beginning that we "move" the .mov files from SD card instead of copying. We should have locked the Write Protect tab on the card before all footages were successfully transferred.

Sandisk provides a lifetime warranty on their Extreme series media. We called Sandisk to arrange for a new replacement card.
 

 

Comments

Posted by DEvans on 1/24/2012 4:13:00 AM Thanks for posting that - invaluable help when a crisis may strike. Appreciated.

Replied by LA Color Online Thanks for your comment. I hope our experience can help some poor sole out there saving the day =)
Posted by Dave on 1/24/2012 4:42:00 AM Thanks so much for taking the time, Taky.

Please explain the difference between "move" and "copy." Thanks.

Replied by LA Color Online Dave, "Copy" means both the source and destination hold the same content. "Move" will copy the content from source to destination, then delete the files in the source.

It is best to first copy all content of memory card to computer. After making sure all files successfully transferred, then can reformat the memory card for best performance.

The mistake we made was we "move" the files instead of "copy". During the move process, computer updates the File Allocation Table (FAT) of the memory card. For some reason, an error occurred causing the disk becomes unreadable. Sadly, files were not all transferred yet at that point.
Posted by Dave on 1/24/2012 5:23:00 AM Ah, I see. That must be a Windows thing. I'm not aware of a "move" option for the Mac OS.
Posted by Elias on 1/24/2012 7:30:00 AM HD Video Repair Utility is for Mac also I tried on some old corrupted files and the demo worked. Remo did not!

Replied by LA Color Online Thanks for pointing that out. Yes HD Video Repair works for Mac too.
Posted by darryl bradford on 1/24/2012 9:47:00 AM wow what a scary time that was...glad you were able to solve the problem

great advice

God Bless!
Posted by Shakewell Studios on 1/24/2012 11:33:00 AM i've had multiple cards fail. If you can't get the card to connect to your computer, reformat it, then use Data Rescue Pro to recover all the files. Usually the last clip isn't playable so I send it to this guy: http://aeroquartet.com/movierepair/repair

and he has repaired 100% of all my corrupt files.

He once recovered 4 or 5 files which were speeches at the reception for about $60.

Replied by LA Color Online Thanks for sharing your info. We have came across this site offering repair service too. However, it seems paying a one time fee for HD Video Repair Utility is more cost effective if there're multiple card failures.
Posted by Marc Lehman on 1/24/2012 1:47:00 PM You Rock!

Thanks for taking the time to share this with everyone - very helpful! I am very impressed with you guys, your company and your products, I am singing your praises to anyone who has a need.

All the best,
Marc Lehman
Ashley Video Productions
Newport Beach, CA 92663
http://ashleyvideo.com

Replied by LA Color Online Thank you for your kind comment.
Posted by Maria on 1/25/2012 11:27:00 AM Something similar happened to me a few weeks ago, but with a HD, which actually lost the format, so no reading of the files was possible. But, luckly the data was still there. I found very useful a software called R-studio from R-Tools.
It would also work for SDs and it costs less.

The clue to use it is, try to look only for the video formats, not for all kind of files.

Hope this helps someone else, as I was completely scared!!

Replied by LA Color Online Maria, thanks for sharing your experience.
Posted by Burak Soysal on 2/8/2012 1:12:00 PM Very useful information, thaks a lot Taky!
Posted by Alan Lee on 4/15/2012 5:43:00 PM Taky, I am a band parent of our local High school band. I was asked to record a movie for one of the studen's Senior Flute Recital. I have a Nikon D3100 and was using a Sandisk Extreme Class 10 16 Gig SD card. It froze during the last piece of the performance. I purchased online recovery software to "recover" the files (mov files) but they are not playable. I assument that they are corrupt. I have downloaded the demo version of "HD Video Repair Utility" and have been only able to recover the 1/2 of each video file.

You mention that there is a way of "doubling the file size so restoring half actually means restoring the entire video". Can you explain how?

I am very desparate. I did not charge this student nor her parents for recording the recital, but I feel terrible for not being able to presnt her with anything complete.

Any help will be great.

Replied by LA Color Online Hi Alan Lee, thanks for your comment. I will send you a separate email regarding the method. Good luck.
Posted by Shannon on 4/25/2012 7:53:00 PM Hi there,

I am wondering the same about the "doubling file size" to restore the video. I just have a 5 second clip of doves flying at a wedding that I need to grab. But of course, its at the 2nd half of the file. I had 3 other cameras running for the ceremony, so I'm not sure finding one dove clip is worth buying the program! Could you send me your method as well?

Thanks a bunch!
Posted by Benoit Joossen on 5/10/2012 9:47:00 AM There's also a new approach to video repair: a web-based app called http://mp4repair.org

Advantage: no need to install software, everything happens in your browser.
Posted by Bill Peerson on 5/30/2012 3:42:00 PM LA Color,

My son's first at-bat in little league was lost when i pulled out the memory card from my canon camera before the file had finalized. Would you be able to tell me how to double the file size? I cannot afford at all the software right now and this video is special to us. thank you for your time,

Bill

Replied by LA Color Online Email sent
Posted by Chris Bonds on 6/1/2012 8:54:00 PM Hi bill im very interested in knowing how to double the file size cause i cant afford the full software!! Thanks and i will be looking forward to hearing from you
Posted by Tim Bradley on 6/1/2012 9:00:00 PM Hey i really appreciate you guys for this vital information!! I shot a wedding and while i was editing I made a mistake and erased the footage of the whole first half of the wedding!! Thanks to you guys i have hope that i didnt ruin my clients wedding! Im just still lost on how to duplicate my video so I can get the full clip? Please help!! Thanks in advance
Posted by Rodolfo Cesatti on 6/4/2012 10:57:00 AM Hi, I´m sorry to ask the same thing, but I would like to know how to double the file size you´ve mentioned on your post. Thanks in advance.
Rodolfo
Posted by dape on 6/5/2012 6:07:00 AM Hello, could xou pls tell a bit more about doubling the file size? Thanks!
Posted by Marcio on 6/5/2012 9:41:00 AM Hey I'm having the same problem with my sd card I filmed a wedding and when I tryed to put the footage on my computer I got an error. Then all the footage got lost and corrupted. What the best way to get all my hd video back by the way it was a 32 gb transcend sd card.
Posted by Rich on 6/11/2012 9:54:00 PM I am also sorry to ask the same thing, but I would like to know how to double the file size you´ve mentioned on your post. Thanks.

Rich
Posted by Max Andres on 6/14/2012 12:48:00 AM Rich, in order to double the file (under Windows) go to Command Prompt (CMD), access the folder where the target file resides, and use the COPY /B command.
Example, supposing folder lies on the Desktop, and you want to double file named "file001.mov" and name it "file002.mov":

c:
cd (SPACE) (BACKSLASH)users(BACKSLASH)rich(BACKSLASH)desktop
copy /b file001.mov + file001.mov file002.mov

I am doing this trick for nothing less than 270 files. I built a batch (.bat) file, using some CMD (DOS) tricks (like DIR > FILE.TXT) and some Excel editing. It works!
Posted by Michael on 7/29/2012 1:14:00 PM I have a 1.6GB h264 movie file that is corrupted. I am not certain how long the entire movie SHOULD be if it were uncorrupted.

I downloaded the HD Video Repair Utility, and repaired the .dat file (example: MVI_5000.dat). Once it was repaired, I changed the extension to .mov. I was then able to open that .mov file in VLC player. The video was 2:55 long, 0.8GB in file size, and looked great.

I then went through the above copy /b command in CMD, and output a 1.6GB mov file, which meant it doubled successfully. However, the new movie is still the same 2:55 in length. Did I do something wrong? I was expecting the new file would be 5:50 in length, but I may be wrong...any feedback is appreciated!
Posted by Michael on 7/29/2012 1:40:00 PM I will add, though, that I am VERY glad to have at least the 2:55 back - thank you so much for the detailed instructions on how to do that!

Replied by LA Color Online Glad we can help. :)
Posted by Giorgio Chiodi on 9/5/2012 4:04:00 PM It's a miracle. We got most of our footage back with Disk Drill. The remaining files (ironically, some of the most important ones) we repaired with HD Video Repair Utility from Grau.

Thanks for your guide, it was really useful for a bunch of broke film students!
Posted by Thiago Cursino on 1/8/2013 11:39:00 AM Hello. I have a .mov video of 9 minutesthatis not playable. I tried HD Video repair and it worked. But i really need the entire video. Pleeweeeeeeaaaaaaase send me the trick so I can recover the full file. I've been keeping this video for 2 years waiting for a free software to do this.

thiago-cursino@hotmail.com

Replied by LA Color Online Please read the response posted above. Someone already stated the instructions.
Posted by thiago cursino on 1/8/2013 1:23:00 PM Yeah. I saw it after i had posted. Tried to post again but the net went down. Nice method. I could see the part was missing finally. But the audio was bad. By the way i'm happy with the results, thanks to this sie. And it's strange that even in 2012 there are so few ways to do something that should be so simple.
Posted by Rob Gabriel on 1/20/2013 7:45:00 AM Hello,

I've doubled the corrupted .mov with a length of 10 minutes but only the first 4 minutes were repaired.
It's better than nothing but i would be glad to get the whole movie back.
I had filmed my first paragliding flight.
P.S. mp4repair.org did'nt the job either.
Any ideas would be very appreciated.
Posted by Maxx on 4/17/2013 4:06:00 AM Hello, I'm trying the double the file trick and I just can't seem to get it to work. I get all the way up to "copy /b file001.mov + file001.mov file002.mov" and it gives me back a "The system cannot find the file specified." I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong? I have put the file I need doubled on my desktop and even named it file001. If anyone could tell me what I'm doing wrong I would greatly appreciate it!
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