Cant View .Mov Files

[Dfsproductions]

I recovered a Lost SD card and the .mov files cant be read by any software. is there something i need to do to make them readable?

[cgrenier]

For some camera, PhotoRec recovers 2 files for each video. If you have a succession of a big file followed by a short one, try to concat the second one with the first one:
- under Windows, run "cmd" to start a terminal, use "cd directory_name" to go where your files are, and run

Code: Select all

type file2.mov file1.mov > test.mov

- under Mac OS X and Linux, start a terminal/console, use "cd directory_name" to go where your files are, and run

Code: Select all

cat file2.mov file1.mov > test.mov

Play the resulting test.mov file

[SanskritFritz]

I hope necrobumping is ok in this forum, but my question directly follows this topic. I do have recovered a bunch of mov files from my SD card. There is indeed small and big files, peeking into them reveals the small ones are some header info. My problem is I don't know which files belong together so I can concatenate them. I tried concatenating some, but no success so far, all I get is white noise at best. Can you tell me how do I find the corresponding pairs maybe based on their contents? Thanks in advance.

[gantoris]

I am also unable to determine which 2 mov files should be matching up. Several files are very large and others are much smaller. I am getting white noise when trying to cat them as well. Can you provide any feed back cg? It would be greatly appreciated.

On another note, just seeing these files appear was such a relief! Hopefully I can get them sewn back together.

Thanks!!

[cgrenier]

Sort the recovered files by filename, this way for each video, you will have the data file followed by the header file

[gantoris]

Thanks cg! So I sorted the filenames and then used the provided cmd command ('type file1.mov file2.mov > test1.mov on windows'). However, after trying to play them I'm getting a black screen with white noise. Is there anything that can be done at this point? Or am I still combining the wrong files?

Thanks again for all your help.

[Psyringe]

This is a popular issue when recovering .mov's from DSLR Cameras. I've made several recoveries from SD cards (Accidental Formats, Data Loss on the Filesystem/Needing to pull the SD Data Back, etc.) and generally a large quantity return in Black + White Noise, Jumpy/Frozen Image + White Noise - it's common in any recovery software, the header on the .mov file becomes corrupt.

My preferred tool in recovering .mov's specifically (other filetypes have stronger cheaper programs) is GrauGBR. The new version only recovers half the file, and is a pricey full version buy, but if your lucky you may uncover the beta - version 1.5. If you have a large number of files, there is a method of using a Windows Batch File. I lost a time-laps with 1400 shots once and using a batch recovered them all. Newer versions have batch convert built into the program. After it's all said an done, assuming you have two files from photorec, you can just merge them together in your editing software.

Playback errors aren't necessarily photorec related.
Good luck!
-Psyringe

[gerhard]

Thank you for the solution. In my case It works - in most of the cases - excellent. Maybe you also have an idea about the cases where it does not work.

Cases in which the solution works very well:
First there is a data-file e.g. named anynumber.mov with a considerable filesize of usually hundreds of MB.
This is (in the sort order) immediately followed by a header-file e.g. named anothernumber_ftyp.mov of exactly 96 KB.
I merge the header file with the data file using the type command as described and get a perfectly playing videofile.

Now to the Cases in which I cannot apply the solution:
In some cases I find three files which in the sort order by filename seem to belong together.
First there is - as usual - the data-file e.g. named anynumber.mov with a considerable filesize of usually hundreds of MB.
But as second file, there is a file e.g. named anothernumber_ftyp with again a considerable filesize. It has the "_ftyp" part of the filename, which I usually can only find in header-files, but it has a filesize that I usually only can find in data-files.
And as third file, there is a file e.g. named anothernumber_ftyp with the 96 KB, which indeed now seems to be a header file.
I have tried to merge all three files together, I have tried to merge each of the data-files seperately with the header-file. But in non of the cases I have ended up with a regular videofile.
What could be the solution in this case?

[lakonis]

Thank Gerhard for specifying the problem. I encounter the same 3 files configuration.
Have you found out a solution since june 2014 ?
thanks in advance.
lakonis.