PAID MISSION - .MOV video recovery

[Floripin]

Hello guys,

I made some vids with a DJI Mavic Pro, but the micro-SD card I used seems to have some trouble.

All the .mov vids are corrupted. They still take between 100Mo and 2Go, but I can not read them.

As those vids are of a wedding and a super trip, I am desperate and I am willing to offer some remuneration to the person who will be able to repair those file. Anyone up?

Thank you in advance!

[transporterfan]

It would be better if you could post a small one. Experts here can have a look at it.
A cheap way to try and recover them using VLC player (ignore the ads I don't know any of the products): https://www.stellarinfo.com/blog/repair-corrupt-video-file-vlc-media-player/

[Floripin]

I already have tried all regular ways, like vlc or free recovery softwares... :/

I will put all corrupted files on this dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k42s1lwfy2z64fu/AABV_NFqKY-QDaL4r0_kV-f0a?dl=0

Just wait a little bit, it will take time to transfer all files in the dropbox folder

[transporterfan]

In a hex editor, the files are completely empty, containing only zeros, not even a video header to describe the previous contents.
There is nothing to rescue. They're GONE, forever. Sorry. There is nothing to recover.

[Floripin]

And why do you think this happened? And how to explain the size of the files? Bad news... :/

[transporterfan]

Presumably these are recovered files (that is to say, you have used 'a' software package to try and recover them and these are the results, yes?)
Well,

1) you have a bad memory card
2) you have saved to the memory card previous to trying to rescue these files, resetting the file allocation table (this records the files location, track, sector).
3) The files went corrupt (although I am more inclined to think the FAT is corrupt) taking out the memory card while the device was on/writing.

The chances are the information is still on the card but finding it without the allocation table would test the expertise of a forensic programmer.

[Floripin]

I did not use a software package, then I suppose it is the memory card...

Thank you very much for your answers!

[lordsmurf]

The main reason? SD cards are a terrible type of flash media.
The problem is very, very common.

[abolibibelot]

Old thread but it could be useful to someone, somewhere, someday...

The main reason? SD cards are a terrible type of flash media.
The problem is very, very common.

It is more likely that this particular SD card was counterfeit. I don't know how common this is, but I've had one (purchased used from a local seller) : a fake Kingston SD card with a reported capacity of 32GB (both on the label and in the computer), which had in fact only about 3.5GB of actual available capacity. Luckily I realized it right away so I didn't lose any important file (only the 25€ I paid that s**t, since the seller, a young woman who denied any knowledge of the problem — which seemed hard to believe since she had left some downloaded movies on it, some of which were corrupted —, refused my request of a refund, and complained to her mom that I was harassing her, then I went to the police to file a complaint, but they kept the counterfeit card while I never got the money back, I only got a call from the mom chastising me for inflicting stress on her poor daugther who did nothing wrong except selling couterfeit stuff on the Internet... oh well...)

For more details, I'll quote myself from another thread :
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/397885-Hey-guys-Go-Pro-Hero-3-Corrupted-files-Help...-(#post2588535

Another possibility is that... you've got a corrupted / counterfeit memory card. In this case, unfortunately, let's say it right off the bat, there's no hope for recovery. [...] A counterfeit memory card can have, for instance, a size of 4GB, but a tweaked controller which makes it report (to the computer or the camera) a size of 32GB. And when files are recorded onto the card, they're all fine before the 4GB mark, but anything beyond will be written to a “ghost” space, and the copied files will either appear empty, or appear like parts of the valid space, repeated over and over until the reported size is reached (for instance, the beginning of file 160 could be actually the middle of file 123).
There are tools which can identify counterfeit memory cards, one I used long ago was “h2testw”, I don't know if it's still developped and available somewhere. That kind of tool would definitely be a welcome addition to VideoHelp's software library, if there aren't already.

[lordsmurf]

It is more likely that this particular SD card was counterfeit.

This card? Maybe.
All SD cards with issues? No.

I recently had a not-cheap Lexar card fail on me, photos got corrupted. Thankfully, I had already moved moved over 99%+ images. It was not a fake card. It came from Adorama.

Q: Why else do you think pro cameras still use CompactFlash, and now XQD?
A: Because SD sucks, totally unreliable.

[Cornucopia]

Whenever working on suspect flash cards of any make or size, it is best to do a bit-for-bit transfer (ignoring/leaving alone errors) using something like ISOBuster to arrive at an ISO drive image file on your HDD. Then you make a safety backup of it, and ONLY work on the copy, thus being able to apply multiple different types of restoration algorithms to it without having to mess with the original. But I fear that is all too late now.


Scott