Corrupt ProRes File Help!

[SameSelf]

Last night I was recording a concert on my Atomos Ninja 2.0 in the ProRes 422 standard format. About 20 minutes into the recording, the Ninja stopped recording, no indications of an error, but refused to start recording again. So I shut the Ninja down. When I started it back up, the Ninja gave a message that it detected a broken file and asked if I wanted to recover. Unfortunately, when I choose "Yes", it doesn't do anything even though the Ninja is supposed to rebuild the lost frames.

So now, I am trying to move the file off the hdd, but Windows just complains about the file being corrupted and won't move it. So here is my question:

I can see the file on the hdd just fine. It is 19.6 GB so about 20 minutes in length. Media info does not pull up anything. I am wondering how I can get these frames back? Certainly the data can't be lost forever? Maybe some header problem? Maybe ffmpeg or ffmbc to the rescue?

Does anyone have any experience with dealing with corrupted MOV files?

[SameSelf]

Some good news!

I did a Windows 7 error-checking scan on the drive and that fixed the problem of moving the file off the Atomos hdd to my PC. Still can't play the file, but at least it is off the Atomos hdd. I can now try to troubleshoot from within ffmpeg, VLC, and other tools on my PC which I feel more comfortable about.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

[SameSelf]

ffmpeg, ffmbc, and VLC can't open the file. This is all the MediaInfo reports:

General
Complete name                            : E:\TakeA_Corrupt.MOV
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : QuickTime
Codec ID                                 : qt  
File size                                : 3.37 GiB

Oddly enough, the file size ended up being much smaller after Windows did the error-scan.

[SameSelf]

It seems there are some 3rd party tools for fixing MOV files but they are all Mac based. May have to find a friend with a Mac to overcome this problem

[Cornucopia]

You broke rule #1 in the data recovery troubleshooting methodology mantra: Do NOT make any changes to the original (corrupt) medium). Instead, do a 1:1 data image, and then work on the image.
My fear is that, having run the errorchecking scan, it has modified the disk to where full recovery is now impossible (certain handle links are now reset to 0000s).

**************

Maybe it wouldn't make economic/logistical sense at the time, but I hope that you would have considered the option of dual recording (both to ProRes on the Atomos and to the cam's internal media, in its more compressed format). That way, you always have a uncorrupted fallback, even if the quality takes a bit of a hit. Not sure if that's what you did, but it's a good suggestion for next time.

Scott

[SameSelf]

You broke rule #1 in the data recovery troubleshooting methodology mantra: Do NOT make any changes to the original (corrupt) medium). Instead, do a 1:1 data image, and then work on the image.
My fear is that, having run the errorchecking scan, it has modified the disk to where full recovery is now impossible (certain handle links are now reset to 0000s).

DOH! Well, I feel like a Homer Simpson. I fear that you are 100% right. I found a trial 3rd party package and it was able to recover frames from the "errorchecked" file but instead of 20 minutes of video it found only 3 minutes. I didn't even think of making an image of the disk. I will definitely keep that in mind for next time. But even if I made an image of the drive, I am not sure I could have dug my way out of this problem.

After thinking through this further, I am pretty certain my problem is related to bumping/moving the camera during filming. Looking into getting an SSD now.

Fortunately, I captured the audio separately from the video because the video was off center axis but the audio was center axis. And I have a few takes, so it is not the end of the world. I think with some creative editing I can actually make better video! Ah well, you live and you learn right?

[FireRouteR]

Hi SameSelf,

Maybe it's a little too late but if you still considering the repair of your damaged ProRes file I would suggest you to give a try (diagnose) using Treasured. Diagnostic is free and repair process guaranteed by the guys from Aero Quartet. Best of luck!

---Fire