Help! Any way to recover corrupted files from Focus Fs-4 HD?

[Jose Milan]

Hello,

We have a Focus Fs4 HD hard drive that we use with the XL1s, today we've used it and 4 files got corrupted (again!) form multiple files. Normally we record with tape also, but run out of tapes and had to go with the hard drive only and one of the clips is one of the important interviews we made and is critical that we recover it.

I know is very hard and probably no way to get it back, but does anyone know and utility or technique to get this clip??? The size of the clip is what its supposed to be according to the lenght of the recording...so the info must be there.

I dont know way this device is so unreliable in the most critical moments, is this normal? I made sure the firewire cable were securely in place at all times.

Thanks in advance.

[Bill Ravens]

I've experienced similar losses of data. To my knowledge, ther is no recovery. Once the data has been corrupted, it's lost.

[Dave Bingham]

Try playing the video clips out of the FS-4 firewire and recording via firewire on your camcorder. This worked for me once.

[Kit Hannah]

Did you try running the "repair" feature in the utilities menu? That's worked for us when we have had problems too. Hope everything worked out.
Kit

[Jose Milan]

Howdy,

Thanks for the replies.

It happened again, two clips corrupted. Tried both solutions and the recovery mode of the FOCUS, for both single clip recovery and whole disk recorery and nothing worked...Its very annoying to say the least. Any other way to try to recover the clips or how to avoid this from happening when you least expected???

Thanks.

[Kit Hannah]

Does the firewire cable ever get bumped while you are using it? Sounds like you may have a corrupted hard drive in there. I would run some tests before you go out and start uing it again. What file format are you recording to and in what mode? Hopefully you are using a tape backup?

When we had our FS-3's, we sometimes would get something that looked like static in the picture. It was caused by massive vibrations from handheld shooting, but was typically because we caused it. Only once did we ever have a problem wth a clip from the FS-4, but running the repair function on it fixed it right up.

Posting some detailed info may help address more of your problems. When is the problem happening? Is one clip good the all of a sudden bad? How was your camera used? How new are your firewire cables? does it get shaky or blurry with static, or can you not play the clip at all?

Possible issues:

Corrupted hard drive
firewire cable bad or being bumped, not making a good connection
too much vibration

Something else you might try is renaming the clip. This would sometimes work on our FS-3.

[Jose Milan]

Originally Posted by Kit Hannah

Does the firewire cable ever get bumped while you are using it? Sounds like you may have a corrupted hard drive in there. I would run some tests before you go out and start uing it again. What file format are you recording to and in what mode? Hopefully you are using a tape backup?

Hello again,

The cable did not get bumped, at least that I know of, I'm the one recording all the time. I'm linking the hard drive to a Canon XL1S and recording SD and Avi type 2. I do use tape for back up (normally) but is a pitty to go to the hassle of finding the video parte in the tape and digitalize that part.

When we had our FS-3's, we sometimes would get something that looked like static in the picture. It was caused by massive vibrations from handheld shooting, but was typically because we caused it. Only once did we ever have a problem wth a clip from the FS-4, but running the repair function on it fixed it right up.

The recording was (and is usually) done with a tripod (fluid head). Not really a lot of vibrations, only quick movements sometimes, but nothing compared to handheld shooting.

Posting some detailed info may help address more of your problems. When is the problem happening? Is one clip good the all of a sudden bad? How was your camera used? How new are your firewire cables? does it get shaky or blurry with static, or can you not play the clip at all?

The problem does not always occur, once in a while. When the clip is bad is bad, is not good and then bad, that is I connect the hard drive to the computer and see right away that some clips are corrupted and they stay like that even when I use the repair function. This time 2 out of 9 clips were corrupted (one after the other)

The XL1s was use with a professional tripod with fluid heads.

The cable is not really new and quite long, I have to fold it somehow, so this might be the problem. The conections in the camera and in the disk are good.

I can play (this time) the corrupted files but I see the video split in four parts and all with little pixel squares (like in a matrix) and in some pixels you see video and in some green or distorded colors, of course this clips are not usable.

Possible issues:

Corrupted hard drive
firewire cable bad or being bumped, not making a good connection
too much vibration

Something else you might try is renaming the clip. This would sometimes work on our FS-3.

I have run the repair clips and drive and it did not work.

The cable might be bad, I hope is this because is easy to replace.

Not really vibration since we are using a fluid head.

Hope this makes things clear and hope to get any more insight on the topic.

Thanks

[Bill Ravens]

I've had identical issues with my FS4HD. Random and unpredictable dropouts, total loss of data. I've gone back to keeping a tape backup because of this. I always assumed it was the fragility of the firewire connection, i.e. bumping the firewire connectorI really dislike the tiny 4-pin firewire connector used on the Canon. But the reality may very well be a problem with the hardware/software reliability.

[Kit Hannah]

Jose, can you post some small clips or screen grabs?

[Jose Milan]

Hello again,

I have scaled the original avi and exported to .mov to make it smaller.

This is usually how the corrupted clips end up tell me what you think.

The funny thing about this, now that I remember, is that few months ago I had a multi camera job in a big theater and I was the one moving around the place non-stop for 2 and a half hours around the place up and down stairs, and many times bumping a little (all this with the tripod attached, mich made my movements even harder) and all the clips came out nice...and I was using the same cable as today. All the corrupted clips have come when the camera is all static and sitting nicely on tripod...go figure!

[Kit Hannah]

Whoa, That sucks. It appears that the data is not transmitting properly, which could be a result of a lot of things. If it is only specific to certain clips, say the last 2, it may bery well be an issue with the Firestore Hard Drive or encoding hardware. Time to send that bad boy in. Focus is pretty good about turning things around, last time we sent one in it took about 2 weeks from sending it to receive it back.

[Jose Milan]

Hello Kit,

I was away for a few days...yeah! it really sucks!

So you thinks is an issue with the disk and should send it to fix it? The trouble is that it has to be send to the mainland and then to Focus and is going to take much more!

[Kit Hannah]

Originally Posted by Jose Milan

The cable is not really new and quite long, I have to fold it somehow, so this might be the problem. The conections in the camera and in the disk are good.

The cable might be bad, I hope is this because is easy to replace.

So, did you try a new Firewire cable? If you are folding the cable, you could be breaking the stranded wire inside, thus causing your problem, Get a firewire cable, preferrably a right angle cable, that is just long enough to reach without putting a strain on the cable.

For future reference, folding cables (pretty much any cable that transmits power or data) = bad.

[Jose Milan]

Hello Kit,

I tried it with a short cable and happened again, it must be an issue with the hard drive, the pitty is that the fix clip funtion is not helpful at all...:-(