I accidentally formatted a XQD G card with my PC (Quick format, exFAT mode) with valuable footage on it... I haven't recorded on the card since and hope this somehow makes file recovery possible. Any recommendation on a data recovery utility that is known to work to recover Sony XAVC MXF files? I see Sony has a media data recovery service, anyone has had experience sending XQD G cards to them?

Thanks.

No experience but I'd clone the card to a hard drive using something like Acronis or Macrium Reflect (free). Be very careful. You need to know what you are doing and the best method is to grab a brand new hard drive to copy to. WARNING: If you don't understand how to use cloning software then don't do it - you could permanetly erase files you need.

Then use your favorite partion recovery software ( I found this one on the web but have no experience with it but it is free - TestDisk - Partition Recovery and File Undelete (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk)) to see if you can recover the exFAT partition. You could use this software directly on the card itself but I always prefer to work on a clone. That way if all else fails you can send the original XQD disk to a file recovery service or Sony. Scanning the card with file recovery software shouldn't damage it so you may want to do this first.

One of the problems you may encounter is that not all recovery software restores files into there original directory structure so check a few different ones to find one which fits your purpose.

I accidentally formatted a XQD G card with my PC (Quick format, exFAT mode) with valuable footage on it...
Thanks.

Sony's own recovery software claims to handle XQD cards. What it can recover I don't know but it may be worth investigating further.

https://www.sony.net/Products/memorycard/en_as/datarescue/index.html

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney