Catastrophic ERROR!!

C

creative1

New member
I'm always good about transferring and backing up footage, but recently we just had a bad weekend where if one thing was changed, I wouldn't be experiencing this problem. Essentially my crew photographed and filmed a wedding, transferred everything to a small maxtor 250g USB drive, a few weeks ago. The other night I was thinking I needed to make space on this drive for another wedding, and so I went to delete one folder which I knew was backed up on another drive, but instead (using my wife's pc laptop, not my mac), a different folder with the above wedding was deleted. Ctrl Z did not undo this, and the files were NOT inthe recycle bin. Not knowing what to do, and being too tired or stupid or possessed by some evil demon, I didn't even bother looking up how to fix the issue. So STUPIDLY i used the drive again for wedding photos, which only took up 23 gigs on the drive, about 80-100 gigs were deleted.

Free recovery softwares are not showing me the files I want, so I'm going to a recovery service. This one guy is reasonable, but I know there are much more expensive services out there. Even if files are recovered, I'm afraid it won't be in the file structure AVCHD requires, or some pertinent files will have been overwritten. Again, KICKING MYSELF IN THE ASS over this. Does ANYONE have an experience similar to this, or know how to salvage these files?? The photos are backed up by the photographers, but the video may be lost. I'm always soo careful, this was totally a freak thing, I was in SHOCK when it happened, and now I'm in SHOCK over how stupid I was to use the drive again. DAMNIT!!!

Any advice is SUPER appreciated. I see Panasonic has some tools, so I'm hoping something works, but before I go to specialist, anyone know of anything. Is there a log file on the PC where it was deleted that has some info that can help with recovery, or some file on the DRIVE? Had I been using my mac at that time, this again would not be an issue, simple UNDO would have saved the day. That DID NOT WORK on the PC (DAMN U BILL GATES). Again, any super techie info on how to navigate this crisis would be helpful, software suggestions. I know if it doesn't work it's a FULL refund and then some, and maybe some sort of reshooting. Right now though, just focused on the truly important, saving this person's wedding. Please don't waste time criticizing what I know was a mistake, help me out with productive suggestions. I appreciate it. Thanks.
 
Seriously, no sage advice from anyone?? No software anyone has used to save files? Excuse me if the message is frantic, but it's a rough situation I've NEVER had to deal with before. Absolute fluke of a mistake, compounded by poor judgement on my behalf, so c'mon guys, yes I know double-triple backup from now on, but any advice on THIS situation would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Sorry for the lack of response, but I was hoping that someone with more experience with this exact situation could comment first and leave open some hope that your files could be recovered. Until the point that you copied the additional 25 GB of files back onto the disk after deleting the video clips, it probably would have been possible to recover everything. After doing that, though, many of the sectors that were once used by your clips have now been physically rewritten with new data -- making it extremely unlikely you'll be able to recover more than short bits and pieces of your original files. (And these could be really short -- like 4K or 8K bytes each of data.) And since the directories were similarly overwritten, finding even those bits would be a tedious, manual process with a disk sector editor. I think a commercial data recovery service that has every kind of tool known to hard drive technology is your best hope, but these are very expensive and still can't promise certain results. You might lose a lot less money by just sucking up the loss of the job and re-shooting as you can. If it's worth a few thousand bucks to save your reputation, though (and I can well understand why it might be), then I'd send the disk off and hope for the best.

We've all done dumb stuff and are totally sympathetic.

- Greg
 
The definition of the word "backup" is to make a copy of your existing data to another location so you, in effect, now have two copies...You copied your data to the hard drive and then, through what is most likely a lack of experience in using computers, you deleted the files. So, some points to consider:

-You should still have the original footage somewhere, since copying it to another device and then deleting the original source is not backing it up.
-The reason the files were not in the Recycle Bin is because they were most likely too big.
-As mentioned above, you probably would be ok if not for the fact that you OVERWROTE the location of the deleted files with other data....you're basically screwed on that one.
-Hard drives are so ridiculously cheap these days that there's just no excuse to not have multiple backups of critical data. A 1TB drive costs $60!
-You MAY be able to use recovery software which can possibly undelete the data that was not overwritten, but the 25GB you overwrote is most likely gone.

For your reference, here's how I backup my weddings:

Copy the RAW AVCHD files to one of my internal drives.
Copy the RAW AVCHD files to an external USB 3.0 drive which is normally off/unplugged.
Transcode the AVCHD to DNxHD to another physical internal drive for editing.

Result: 3 copies of the data, with one of those copies being on a drive that's disconnected from the computer (in case of power spike, lightning strike, etc etc)...
 
original cards were reformatted, and reused for another event, which is the purpose of the cards. This happened 2 weeks after the event, so if anyone can tell me something can be salvaged from the cards even after filming on them again, 3 times, I'm all ears. I understand about backup protocol, and we're very good at it, but this past month has been busy and stressful, and normal procedures for literally this ONE job were not followed. The drive it was on was an external usb drive, just used when my crew is on a job without me, to get the photographers files. My video guys used it as well, which is unusual, but we were trying to save time in meeting during the week to transfer everything over properly. NOW I've made it so they must back up the footage as well, which the photographers always did. Our methods till now have served us well, but this was a freak mistake. The folder that was deleted was NOT the one I intended to delete. A WHOLE DIFFERENT folder was selected, and somehow this one went. I work on Macs pretty exclusively, I understand about PCs, from years of experience, but on my mac Ctrl Z would have worked, or the files would have been in the Recycle bin. I made several mistakes, including not immediately looking up how to recover files, and perhaps I can blame being a little burned out after a busy busy season, a busy month, etc, but it was a freak mistake. Not my usual way of backing up, or doing things. I appreciate the input though. I own SEVERAL external G-raid drives, and Several smaller usb drives for additional backup, and I'm purchasing more of EVERYTHing, because Pro-res takes up a lot. I do want to ask though what is DNxHD. This works in Final Cut, or what program do you use for editing? Might switch to Premiere, as I here it does AVCHD natively, which will save a lot of space, I think. Thanks again. Anyone with software or pro service suggestions that have had success, your feedback would be appreciated.
 
So you only had one copy of the data, you deleted the folder by accident, and then when "CTRL+Z" didn't work, you decided to overwrite part of the drive with new data?



I'll just be blunt: the footage you overwrote is lost forever and you're not going to get it back. The 1's and 0's that were your old data have been rearranged and are now the new data -- there's nothing you can do to change them back. The rest of the footage should be undelete-able if nothing else was written to those sectors.
 
This is why, honestly, you should never delete stuff off of a hard drive unless it's over 3 years old or so. Hard drives are so cheap now, drive to your local Best Buy and pick up 500GB drive for $50. You could even get 2TB for about $80.
 
I feel bad for you man, I wouldnt wish a situation like this on anyone. Unless you have been there you can't imagine the sinking feeling in the pit of you stomach, it's nausiating. Hopefully you will be ble to get some clips from the sectors that are not overwritten, At least that way you can try to cut something together. You can also ad stills to your footage, ad movement to the stills, like slow pans and zooms here and there, this will give the perception of movement. You could also call the client and tell them you want to ad a little (how we met, and proposal vid, for free) this will give it some more length and possibly enable you to get away with using less material for the parts that are lost.

Cut what you have in a creative way to give the impression you wanted it cut that way. Maybe it won't work, but i'm just trying to brain storm to come up with some ideas that cluld help the situation.
Let us know how you make out
 
Believe me I've got stuff on some drives OVER 3 years old, but you know what, back then it was all tape, so I've got tapes from over 7 years. Again, fluke accident, don't know what I was thinking USING the drive again after the accidental deletion, sorry to everyone that it wasn't backed up (yes I understand meaning a 2nd copy exists somewhere), however while using this Stellar Photo Recovery software it seems to have found quite a bit. I had known that after formatting a card, data could still be recovered, and so I apologize about not understanding that formatting, and deletion are perhaps not the same as Overwriting. Again, in my years of business, this hasn't happened, and in the past there was a tape backup, and now there are digital backups. It was on a drive a rarely use, except for my photographers. It wasn't backed up as we usually do, because of a hectic schedule, and the fact again that it's not the normal drive I use for backing up. It just was for that particular wedding. Had I given my same day editor, who had my mac laptop and a different drive, my G-raid as I should have, I could have used the drive he had for my photographers for this other wedding, not having to delete anything, etc. A chain of events I'm again STILL kicking myself over.

Fortunately it looks as though quite a bit is salvageable. I'm not sure how the drives work, in what order they write new material, but this software seems to have gotten quite a bit of at least my 2nd cam shooter's footage (Canon 60d dslr - .mov files). I've been praying that recovery of most of not all is possible, and let me say I'm praying for the couple, as much as I'm worried about the reputation of my business, because I care that they have this, they came to me to do this, and I would hate for them to have nothing (besides the photos). I've got drives all over the place, and I'm getting more, but again this was a really weird situation that I've never had happen in the HUNDREDS of weddings I've filmed, and the 60 or so I've done on SD cards using my hmc150. I do appreciate everyone's input. The recovery took 4 or 5 hours to be 1 percent complete, after the first part where it looked up files for over 24 hours. It's a slow process, and even when it's done, and I've hopefully recovered quite a bit, I'm STILL sending it out to a recovery specialist to see what he can recover, if anything more. Unfortunately my clients expect Raw Footage within a certain time frame, rarely an issue, and a third backup with the ProRes files, although I've heard many use XDCam (as it takes up less space). That's for another forum though. I'll see what happens, I'm just thankful there's something there for them. Way better than nothing.
 
I'm glad you're getting something! But to also be blunt, this is not a freak accident. This is the inevitable result of inadequate backup practices. You've got to put yourself together a bulletproof backup strategy that you never deviate from. Just because you haven't had problems over a long period of time doesn't mean that your approach is good… luckily these days equipment failures are pretty rare, so one can easily be lulled into a sense if false security. But your backup procedures should be strong enough to handle equipment failures, miscommunications, human error, and cosmic rays. It must be strict and mechanical and second nature to everyone on your crew. It disturbs me that you keep describing this as a freak accident. Stop focusing on "how this kind if thing never happens" and focus on policies that make things like this impossible. Stop buying USB drives, get some sort of dock for bare drives, and buy three drives for each wedding so you never share drives between projects and find yourself needing to clear space on a "live project" drive. Keep three copies of original materials until the project is completed. Back the original material to the three drives immediately after the event, then put two drives away and don't touch them until the project is finished. Gave a plan for redundantly archiving whatever you keep after a project is closed, and reuse the original material drives after the project is closed and archived.
 
Listen guys, everything everyone is saying about backing up is absolutely correct. The system should be bullet proof with several backups handled like clockwork at the end of each job or at least the end of the weekend (seeing as I have sufficient cards now, VERY CHEAP also, to cover multiple weddings without immediately having to offload the cards at 2am when i get home after a 15 hour day with travel and I'm f'ing tired). I have an office and I have a home, and I have a couple of huge G-RAID drives at each to backup the same data, in case one of those locations catches fire, which I hope never happens, especially to the home which doesn't have the sprinkler system the office does.

The title of this thread was catastrophic error. I understand that what happened was Human Error, because yes I didn't follow through with normal backup procedures. Totally my fault. USB drive works fine, my brain did not that day. We all slip up occasionally, even ROBOTS break down. I have my off days on shooting, although the job still gets done really well. A card error could be an issue in the future, but that would likely be due to manufacturer defects, and once detected, new card goes into camera, hopefully minimizing issues. If camera is issue, I have backup of same camera. I've got backup equipment of everything. I know you don't know me, but I've been doing this for over 10 years, I'm good at it, and have not had issues besides perhaps running late finishing edits during busy periods. Never lost a wedding before, and with proper planning never will again, so to ME, it's a fluke. A FLUKE human error idiotic mistake I made. I'm past how it never should have happened, and I'm past WHY it happened, and I'm past knowing what I did wrong. done done done.

Ok, so I appreciate the input and explanations on backup, and I honestly take everything to heart and will implement better security to avoid this type of situation. To return to my ORIGINAL question, which I perhaps need to rephrase, "Can ANYONE recommend a data recovery software or data recovery service that they or someone they know has had success with in the face of a catastrophic data loss???" I know it's happened or Panasonic wouldn't come out with some restoration program, and recovery services would not exist. This time the EGG came first.

I may have salvaged some of this job using one software, it found .mov dslr files really well, and also .mts AVCHD files, BUT final cut won't recognize those files as they're not in the proper file structure. I know the AVCHD folder has several subfolders, I'm sure you guys know the structure. The recovered files first have more than 5 digits, so that's an issue, and 2nd, do not have the other files. They probably exist, but this software didn't see them, however others I used did find them. How everything will match up is beyond me? Is there something that can recreate this structure. Is there a quicker way for me to rename all the files in order using the five digits 00001, 00002, etc?, and is there a way to view this otherwise? Once again is there a software or service ANYONE is aware of that will be able to salvage this data? .MTS files exist on the drive, but I can't be sure they're from that event without being able to see them, and would it matter if I can't access them. Any help on these questions is appreciated. Sorry if this comes off rude at all, but I'm just trying to move us all past the fact that it wasn't backed up, and past the details on that procedure.

I do have one question though for ullanta, or anyone else. Is there a quick and easy way to back up to multiple drives at once, either a program or a script? Would be great to run it overnight so I can go to sleep peacefully after these events. My method thus far has been offloading cards to drive, making sure properties match (folder size, number of files in folder). I know I might catch slack for that, but it's the simplest method panasonic and I think Barry Green (don't quote me) recommended. Again, everyone's assistance and support has been really appreciated. I'm thankful a lot seems to be salvageable, I just have to figure out the AVCHD stuff. Anyone with a software or service that works for that, please let me know. Thanks.
 
It is hard to know what is left on your drive, and what is salvageable. I have used active undelete and used the freeware version of Recuva that comes with the Liberkey group. You can do a light scan or a deep one which is time consuming, but , if you are very lucky you may save it all, if not you probably will save part of it. Both programs will do a good job. They will also let you know if any of your files were written over, in which case you get an unrecoverable tag on the specific files that can not be saved.

If I wanted to have a nightmare this would be it.

best of luck to you
 
Files there, but weird recovery

Files there, but weird recovery

Hi Guys, so an update. I was able to recover I believe the ENTIRE wedding. The .MTS (AVCHD Stream Files) are there, I'm able to see and play video with sound, and am very thankful. Also my 2nd cam guys footage, which was filmed with a Canon 60d (.MOV files) was all recovered NO problem. My issue now is that the recovery software I used, I believe Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery Software, seems to have limited the individual .MTS file size to 21mb MAX. There are smaller files, but non bigger than 21mb, which is only a few seconds, and when all are placed side by side in the timeline you can see split seconds missing at beginning and end of clip creating a non-seamless jump cut look. Annoying, but again VERY thankful that everything was recoverable. The drive is currently with a local professional who's looking to recover the data as well after a deep scan (like the one I did only with better software I hope), and so maybe he can correct the issue.

Does anyone have experience with this??? I contacted the makers of the recovery software for some technical assistance, and they're working on it, but I was just wondering if it was a setting that limits that file type to 21mb, or WHAT? Very strange. if it wasn't for this I think i have EVERYTHING. Feeling very blessed and lucky. By the way, EVERYTHING else has been backed up TWICE for good measure, PLUS the Pro Res converted files.

I do recommend the Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery software by the way, it found some really old videos as well, which i guess weren't overwritten yet, as well as the one I needed, plus raw and jpeg photo files. you can specify the types of files you're looking for. Anyway, any input is appreciated, but I understand if nobody's seen this exact same issue. Thanks again for your support :)
 
This is likely a filesystem issue... having to do with the size of data blocks on the drive, and how the different blocks of a file are stitched together. Often one can recover the data in the blocks themselves without the information to stitch these blocks together.

But, how many .mts files were you expecting, and how many did you find? sounds like you must have thousands of them now... are they numbered in order?
 
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