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  1. Member
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    Nov 2013
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    Columbus
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    Hello all,

    Some months ago I posted on this forum about a corrupt SD Card that was given to me to try and retrieve some videos from. We weren't that successful with it initially so we sent it off to a data recovery firm. They were able to retrieve some raw data out of it, including what looks like full sections of AVI files, but nothing will play in VLC. I have tried a few of the repair tools on the site, but haven't had any luck.

    These videos are very important to the family and have some school and social events of their children. Of course they would want to pay for your time and effort if you think a recovery is possible.

    There are only about 4 or 5 events that need recovery and it appears like the events have been snipped and broken up into 10 or 12 files each. In the screenshot you can see some sample files.

    Please let me know if you would like to help or would like to see some of the files as they will be available to share once they finish uploading to Google Drive.

    You may reply to this thread, message me, or send me the contact info of an acquaintance that might be able to assist.

    Thank you and I am hoping for the best here!
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  2. Member
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    As a quick update. Someone pointed something out we didn't think of. Because most of these were public events, we should start by reaching out to the school and other families regarding recordings that that someone else could provide a copy of. However, there is still one other video taken at the house so that would still be of interest if possible.
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  3. What does MediaInfo or GSpot say about them? Can you open them in VirtualDub?
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  4. Member
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    Mar 2008
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    Has the SD card changed (been written to) since you started the recovery?
    Did you ever try PhotoRec ?
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
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  5. Member 2Bdecided's Avatar
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    United Kingdom
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    What was the camcorder? Video format? (exact information - just saying "AVI" isn't helpful).

    If you upload one of the smaller recovered files somewhere, I'm sure someone will take a look at it. No honest person can commit to doing anything without knowing what the actual damage (and quality of recovery) is, and what format they'll have to deal with.

    Cheers,
    David.
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  6. Member
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    Hi sorry all, I thought I was subscribed to the thread but wasn't so I didn't get notifications on replies.

    I am on a Mac right now so when I get to the office tomorrow I will give GSpot and VirtualDub a try. I think I remember doing VirtualDub but wasn't able to make sense of it. Plus that's what I'm having with MediaInfo. It tells me the video is AVC and about 3 minutes, but I'm not sure what to interpret from it.

    About the SD card, the original one is not in use anymore. I first ran testdisk to make a dd image of it and work from that. I was able to recover a bunch of files but nothing really played except for the .MTS files. That was about the extent of what I could do since I'm more desktop/server support not data recovery. I considered DriveSavers but they were a bit pricey so I contacted MicroCenter who partners with DataTech labs and we sent it to them. After some work one their end they showed us what they recovered (which was similar to what I got) but no AVI files played. I had them send it back anyway on new media so that's what I am uploading now.

    Thought I uploaded it before but guess not. I am sending up 7 of the largest files and a couple small ones. They will be here in a couple hours.
    https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7V37vgfypR5VXdBaTh2VXc3VFk&usp=sharing

    I returned everything back to the owner already so in the morning I will contact her and get the make and model of the camcorder. I didn't realize "AVI" was a generic term.

    So thank you for the replies I apologize again I didn't see them sooner.
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  7. Member 2Bdecided's Avatar
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    I haven't downloaded them, but have you noticed that google drive has managed to extract thumbnails and (broken) video footage from some of them?

    The good news is that what's been recovered is not all zeros, but the bad news is that (at least according to google drive's decoding and re-encoding) the errors are throughout the files.

    Cheers,
    David.
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  8. The frame corruption is extensive. Just to add to your woes: I can't find a soundtrack in the largest file.
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  9. Member
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    I got in touch with the Owner. The original camcorder was a Toshiba Camileo X100. They have also arranged the files into different folders as best they could. For example, even though the file is corrupt you could usually get a quick glimpse of what was in there. So the owner created separate folders for the different events and moved each chunk into an appropriate folder.

    I think their best solution is try and get copies of the public events from other parents that were there and then maybe try to work only on the private event that was at the house.

    But lastly, from 2Bdecided and transporterfan say, are these beyond repair. Is the "extensive damage" too much for someone to be able to do anything with?

    Thank you.
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  10. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    Oct 2001
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    Deep in the Heart of Texas
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    Tried "File0028.AVI". It has a combined Filesize of 58MB and a reported Video Stream size of 330MB! So either the reporting is off, the file is split into segments (with later segments not showing up with proper headers?), or the file got broken and the remainder is lopped off and gone.
    Not good at all.

    You could try this app: http://grauonline.de/cms2/?page_id=5. The app is "crippleware" where it only repairs the 1st half of any given file (though there are ways around that). If it can work its magic on some of those that DON'T even have thumbnails, I suggest you go ahead and buy it, as it would be worth it to you (or your "owner" client).

    Scott
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