Am I competely screwed?

[tigris649]

PSA: I am an idiot. Always read the manual.

So Santa's was kind to me this year and brought me a Kodak Playsport hd video camera. Two nights ago I took it for a test drive at this concert. Got home plugged the camera into my TV, and wow the sound and video quality were astounding(though not in hd).

So to make a long story short I started messing around with the settings and ended up formatting it. I then, again like an idiot, recorded a video after I formatted(just 4 seconds long if that changes anything).

I am desperate to get the videos back and willing to do almost anything. I've tried about 6 different freeware programs to try and restore the videos. Only one has found them but...
http://img574.imageshack.us/img574/4924/filerecovery.jpg

You have to buy the full version to actually restore the files, which I'm confused if the program will be able to.


And Are there any other options or is this a lost cause?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The good news is the camera is fine. You on the other hand...



What format does the camera save videos in?

 

[tigris649]

.MOV

 

[Fardringle]

If you recorded new video on to the camera's memory after formatting, it's unlikely that you'll be able to get the old data back. Even just a few seconds of new video can corrupt an old file if the new stuff is written to the same location as the old one.

 

[Modelworks]

You might be able to recover the data.
When you said you formatted the card , how long did that format take to complete ?
There are a couple ways to format a memory card and it really depends on the device doing the formatting. Some will just replace file tables and others will just issue a sector or block erase command to the card causing the cards controller to set the clear bits on the card for those sectors. The good news about the clear bit is it doesn't physically alter the data but instead clears the used bit in the controllers eeprom.

If it formatted the card in about 5 seconds then it used the clear bit or the replacing of file tables. If it took about a minute or two then it did at least a read check of each sector , hopefully not a write check.

Here is how to see if there is still data on the card that could be recovered. You will lose the overwritten parts but the rest of the frames are still playable.

Download Hxd.
http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

Install and run the program as administrator
Go to the extras menu, then open disk
Pick the memory card under Physical Disk , not local disk
Do not type anything in the window that appears with the data , doing so would alter it.
Scroll down using the scroll bars through the data , is there data in the majority of the screens or is it only a small part with the rest being a 00 or FF ?

If there is data in most screens then it can be recovered. A video file that is partially overwritten can still be recovered.

Inside Hxd go to File, Save as
Give it a name and save it to the hard drive
That will preserve the image in its current state . Now make a copy of the image you just saved and save it as image_backup.

If you get that far then reply back and we can talk about the next part which is a bit involved so I rather not explain it all if there is not data.

 

[tigris649]

There was indeed data in the majority of screens.

So what is the next step sir? -- btw thanks for taking the time out to help me with this!

 

[tigris649]

bump :/

 

[Modelworks]

Sorry for the late reply , too much going on .
To get the files back you will need to use the backup file from Hxd.

Follow the instructions here:
http://modmyi.com/forums/windows-sp...es-corrupt-cycorder-videos-3.html#post5158074

If that doesn't work all hope is not lost it is just going to take more work. As long as the bits are there some of it can be recovered.