NEED HELP QUIKLY corrupted avi file, tried alot of things out already...

[insert random name here]

Ok, so

Hi,
I have some gameplay stuff recorded with fraps, split every 4GB enabled,
I got like 41 files from the session, and now, ONE is broken

And it just so happens to be the ONE i need... (the ONE something awesome happend)

As title says
Ive tried alot of different stff / solutions the inet sugested
=> nothign worked.

So now i turn to the internet myself to ask my exact problem:

how do i fix it?



I figured out sofar:

-its .avi yet avi rescue programms say its NOT an avi file "Unkown or unsuported file type" (unkown MIME type too btw (i gogole MIME, no idea what the f it means))
-the header / cointainer / whateevr / i opened the avi file in a hex editor says 00 00 00 00 ... nothing realy
=> inet says header is messed up.
-tried online methods of adding a header to it
=> nothign worked sofar...

I hope someone can help me,
I kinda rly need the video back...

Cheers
-Insert random name here (couldnt rly think of anything intellegent when signing up (signed up for this issue))

[DB83]

Apart from the header, does the hex editor report that actual data has been saved in the 'file' ? If you just have a file of zeros then there is nothing that can be recovered.

So assume you have data beyond where the header is. Compare the headers of known good files from the session. Are they identical ? If so just copy byte for byte from a good header to the bad file and save.

But why are you splitting every 4 gig ? All update file-systems beyond FAT allow large files. But I do not capture gameplay so this may be something that fraps suggests.

Just one thing. I hope you have been attempting recovery with a copy. If you used the original bad file, you may have already done un-recoverable damage to it.

[insert random name here]

Yes, i made several copies and experimented on those, the original has not been touched (exept copying it ofc)

I split every 4gigs so incase my drive runs full, or fraps crashes or my game crashes I dont loose too much...

Well the file is 3.93gb so there is definetly data, the size/videolengh ratio fits (4gb usualy is like 4-6mins, yet properties doesnt say anything about the lengh) and i did manage to restore the first 2 frames (somehow)

So id say i have more data than the empty header...

Copying over, i tried already, if i havent made a mistake, it didnt help, but ill retry tomorow to make sure! (German, its like 3am here)

[DB83]

Morgen !!

You can use that hex-editor to scroll down the file and see if there is anything other than zeros.

[insert random name here]

Well...

Scrolled down abit (alot) and i think its safe to say that there is no recovery... (f my life)

but where do the 3.93GB come from then?

[DB83]

^^ Schade !!

The saving program will write detail to the TOC (Table of Contents) which points to the actual first entry of the real location. If something happens to the file in the process of being written you can end up with a file that does not represent what it should.

Someone with more knowledge on File Systems may expand on that or even correct me.