Repairing "undeleted" MPG files

[jrrjr71]

Hi folks,

Quick question:

I had several MPG files stored on my Windows XP machine. I inadvertently deleted them and emptied the Recycle Bin.

My wife is going to kill me, as these were AVI->MPG conversions of my 6-month old son. I did not keep the original AVIs due to their size, and my father-in-law overwrote the DV tape they were originally recorded on.

So, I decided to use a file recovery tool I have used in the past - Fast File Recovery, to "undelete" these files. I successfully "found" and retrieved them. Their file sizes/names are correct, but when I try to open them, Media Player gives me an incorrect format error.

I have tried to use the software Tools mentioned on this site to repair these MPGs, but have had no luck as of yet.

Any ideas on what happened to them? How to fix them?

Thanks for any help,

Dad in big trouble

[naylad]

maybe it would help if you told us the tools you have tried so far?

[wee haggis]

You could try to Demuliplex and then muliplex it back together again.

[jrrjr71]

naylad,

I have tried to use the following apps to repair these MPGs:

TMPGEnc
MPEG Corrector
vcdgearGUI

None of them worked. As a matter of fact, TMPGEnc gave me an "invalid stream format" error when I pointed it to the MPGs as a source file. The other two apps didn't report errors, but the "fixed" MPG was only a few K, and unusable.


wee haggis,

I will attempt to demultiplex them and then re-multiplex them tonight.
I'll let you know what happens.


Thanks both of you for your help,

JR

[gll99]

Could they be MPEG2?

Try playing them with a DVD software player like PowerDVD or WinDVD.

[jrrjr71]

Well, I found a backup CDR I created that has the damaged MPGs on it.
I would still like to know what happened, so I will attempt demultiplexing and remultiplexing later today.

Thanks again for the help,

JR