A successful file recovery scenario

R

RoadandDirt.com

Member
We just had a baby and were still at the hospital. Using a hmc150. I feel like an idiot. I went to delete one clip. Well as my parents were coming in I started deleting all the footage I shot of the birth instead of just that one clip that needed to go (1st time in 10 years I deleted anything).
I asked Barry Green for some advice he said "Uh... do NOT shoot any additional footage on that card, and don't delete anything else! Write-protect that card right now. Okay, I just looked up the AVCCAM Restorer program and it specifically says it is not useful for recovering deleted data. So I'd say your best bet is to use a file recovery program and hope you can pull something back. Now, I doubt you'll be able to play it in the camera, but if it can recover the .mts file, that's all you need for most things."
I downloaded Rescue Pro trial, it found a few .mts clips, so I purchased the full version for $40 via a online download. Ran it, saw clips went to save the files and could not. This was on a PC/vista. That’s a whole nother story (they are still working on that) I took the card to the makers of Rescue Pro LC-Tech that was ironically 20 miles away. They called me today and after running a program they have in house all night they were able to recover all 22 clips from the birth of our 2nd son. They are sending me the .mts and converted to mp4 files on a dvd today.

I am able to take a raw .mts file of a sdhc card and drag into Toast 9. pick convert tab an export it in many different file types and settings.

So if you delete files by mistake they are recoverable.

Also Barry said "You can "protect" files from being deleted, you can go into the thumbnails and set a protection key icon on them so that you can't erase them. Might help next time you have such irreplaceable footage (but, be aware, formatting the card will still delete even those files)."

I feel confident that this will never happen again, but it's good to know that it's possible to recover deleted files from my HMC150 which I Love!
 
Just wanted to add, the card and DVD came today. They recovered the ENTIRE file structure from the card, NOT just the mts files.
 
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While using FCP 6.0.6 tried to log and transfer files from DVD. Log and transfer did not see the .mts files I also drug one to an HD to see if that would make a difference it did not. So letting Toast do the work. U can drag all the mts files at once choose setting and away it goes.

BTW anyone using FCP 7 with their hmc150. Is it worth it to upgrade, or should I let Apple develop it some more. Had major issues with Snow leopard back to leopard (thank you Time Machine). Apple guy called it snow kitty and told me to wait for updates on the OS.
 
BTW anyone using FCP 7 with their hmc150. Is it worth it to upgrade, or should I let Apple develop it some more. Had major issues with Snow leopard back to leopard (thank you Time Machine). Apple guy called it snow kitty and told me to wait for updates on the OS.
Click to expand...

I'm not using FCP7 100%, but i do have it running on one of my systems... I don't know what kind of work you do, or your system but it does has some nice features! one of them being able to transcode to different ProRess files (a big help if you're on a laptop on the go) i also like the new changes they made to the "Speed" feature, it allows to speed and slow things gradually. I also like the changes they made to compressor.

All in all it has some great features. Is it worth the upgrade? well i guess that's up to your needs!
 
Using it to shoot MX primarily. I have a Mac Pro Quad. What OS are u running, did u move to Snow Kitty yet? U know u can ajust speed gradually in FCP 6 now too, using key frames.
 
I have FCP7 on a MBP 17" 2.4Ghz with 10.5.7...
also got an Intel Quad 2.5Ghz running FCP6.0.5 with 10.5.6,
and a G5 dual 2.5Ghz with FCP6.0.5 on 10.5.7

I know you can adjust speed by key framing (but is a pain you know where) with FCP7 it's just a click away. I read you had problems with Snow-Leopard, Could you explain more on that?!?!?!

I'm about to upgrade my MBP to 10.6.1 and would like to know any issues in advance if possible, but then again my laptop is NOT my main system, so i can afford to mess with it! =)
 
Hell, I posted my findings with Snow Leopard on the Apple Forum, they booted it off. I didn't really have any problems till I went to look at the exported file from Quicktime X or 7 or whatever they want to call it to an internet video. About halfway the frames would drop. I got on the phone with Apple since I did buy the upgrade and DO have 90 day support. I tell u right now ask for a level 2 tech in Dallas if possible. They levels 1's are guessing. Long story short after deleting pref., repairing disk, and lastly formatting my main HD and reinstalling Snow Kitty it was still the same but now none of my other apps would work. So I time machined back. tech told me to wait for 10.6.5. He also told me about something called snow leopard cache cleaner that's I get at Apple that he thinks would have solved my original problem of droppong frames on export. link to it http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/snowleopardcachecleaner.html
 
Glad you got your clips back (and I'm also glad to hear about your new son!).

Your recovery story gives hope to any fears I ever had about using SD cards. My paranoia has prevented me from ever deleting anything in the field. The only method I ever use is the "delete last clip" on the user button, and sometimes I'm reluctant to even use that!

I wonder if this utility will work on damaged clips. I've read about people getting error messages in the middle of a recording session.
 
I wonder if this utility will work on damaged clips. I've read about people getting error messages in the middle of a recording session.
Click to expand...

I had that problem before, and was able to recover everything. Even the last clip up to the moment that it stopped working... On FCP you can see all the clips except the last one, but Toast will see it and transcode it!!!
 
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