Recover deleted Mpeg2 VIDEO from DVDRAM disk-Is it possible?

[logger]

Whilst my question involves a DVD camera it really relates to DVD Recorders and MPEG2 so I am not sure where to post it.

I recently bought a Hitachi DZ-MV350 Video camera that records to 3" DVD RAM disks (Same unit as the Panasonic VDR-M30). It connects to PC by USB 2 with a UDF file structure. The video files all show up as my F: drive under XP as follows:

MX80 (F:)
DCIM
100HPNX1
DVD_RTAV
VR_MANGR.BUP < Backup Info file
VR_MANGR.IFO < Info file
VR_MOVIE.VRO <- Movie file.
RTR_EXTN
RX.DAT
VR_STDUM.000


Using the included "DVD-Movie AlbumSE 3" software I inadvertently deleted some important Video that I wish to keep from the DVD-RAM disk:-( Stupid mistake assisted by less than intuitive software!

As far as I can see, all the video on the 30 min DVD-RAM disks is stored in a single "VRO" MPEG2 file. The camera terms all the video shot on a given day as a "Program" and I accidentally deleted the program corresponding to Xmas day and associated 15 min of video. The rest of the video remains on the disk within the VRO file. I instantly realized my mistake and removed the DVR RAM from the camera. So it has not been written to since this action. I also know the exact time and date of this action.

So to get the video back?
Is it possible that the missing video is still residing on the DVD RAM but within an area outside that mapped to the VRO file. And if so can anyone suggest a way to get some or all of it back? By the nature of the way the video is stored I have not actually deleted any of the files. I have obviously deleted some of the video contained within the VR_MOVIE.VRO file though. So it is not a file undelete operation I need, but some method to read the video from an area of the disk that is not currently mapped as being part of the VR_MOVIE.VRO file.

Please excuse the non technical nature of my query as I only have a rudimentary understanding of how Digital video works. Although I am happy to have a go with any software that will bring it back.

I would be grateful for any assistance you guys could give me. If it is a lost cause let me know and I will try and explain the good news to my family.

Thnx, Ted.

[robb7979]

Ted,
I did the same thing last Christmas with my digital camera. I searched around for days until I found "Bad Copy Pro" It worked like a charm. It will allow you to open that F drive (your camera or it's memory card) and you'll see evrything still "written" there, mapped or not. I don't think it's freeware though. Google should help you find it. Good luck.

-Rob

[logger]

Rob,
Thanks for the suggestion but no joy with BadCopy Pro either. All it does is allow creation of a copy of the existing VR_MOVIE.VRO file which is not corrupted in any way and is already accessible. My current version of VR_MOVIE.VRO on the disk is 250 mb whereas prior to me deleteing the video indavertantely it was nearly 1 GB. So my theory is that the missing 3/4 Gig of video is still on hte DVDram disk but I cannot work out how to get it back. One of the other file recovery tools that I tried unsuccesfully elluded to the fact that some file systems may over write a disk with zeros on deletion rendering data un-revoverable? But I would have thought that would only apply in security critical situations and not recording video to a UDF formatted DVDRam disk?
It also seems that UDF DVDRAMs don't use "sessions" like some other formats do so it is not a matter of recovering to a previous session

Does anyone know what actually happens to discarded portions of a VR_MOVIE.VRO file or even a MPEG for that matter, when you trim it. Are the contents of the file re mapped so to speak leaving the unwanted portions on the disk but outside of assigned area or is it actually overwritten somehow?
Any other suggestions on how I might recover my lost video much appreciated..