"Humpty Dumpty Scenario": File names-how to fix and match

O

objective1

New member
My Firestore crashed and I had the files recovered through a disk recovery company. They found all the data but when they sent it back to me on another hard drive all the file names had been changed except for the last 3 letters/numbers. Now they all have 18 digit names ending in .mxf (like 20071109-153331j01.mxf)

Problem 1: Separating the audio and video files and putting them in their own folder under Contents. I looked at the file size and noticed that most video files had the letter "J" in them and a size of 1.83 Gb or at least larger than 31MB. So I think I did this correctly.

Problem 2: Getting back the original file names so FCP can match up the audio and video files and whatever it needs to do to an "Import P2".

This is where I need your help. Thank you in advance.
 
Do you still have the Firestore with its files in whatever state they were in? I would call Focus Enhancements and see if they could recover the files.

Best,

Jan
 
Yes, I sent it back to Focus and they said the hard drive was bad. They put in a new one and sent me back the old one. Then I sent the old one to OnTrack Data Recovery and they found all the files (except the .bmp files) but because the file names have changed I can't import them into FCP. I need to figure out which video files are paired with which audio files then give them similar names so FCP realizes that they go together.
 
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Wow. I love this forum. Fast help from the very top people! Jan-Thanks. Barry-Thanks. Barry, I think you gave me the Rosetta Stone. I'll try it out tomorrow and let you know as soon as I have some results.
 
SUCCESS!

The footage has been recovered! Here's how.

1. Firestore (Focus Enhancements) took out the bad drive and installed a new drive and sent both back to me. The Firestore was still under warranty. Thanks Focus!

2. I sent the bad drive to OnTrack Data Recovery (the best in the nation). For $1,773 they recovered the data. Before OnTrack I tried a company near my house who failed to recover anything.

3. I got back scrambled files but following Barry Green's advice found here...
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=95792
I reloaded the scrambled files back into the Firestore (with the new HD) and selected "organize P2". I then successfully imported the clips into Final Cut Pro!

I was prepared to manually fix and match the file names following Barry's P2 file name Rosetta Stone but I'm glad reloading them into the Firestore worked because doing it manually could have taken all day.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

Oh, and one product suggestion for Focus Enhancements. Design the power cord so it doesn't fall out so easily. Haven't you wondered why everyone puts a rubber band over their Firestore? (It's to hold the power cord) Jan- could you pass this on to your counterpart at Focus?
 
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