Cautionary Tale

Peter Wright · February 23rd, 2008, 09:38 PM

After getting in a bit of a mess with the Sony Clip Browser software, I decided to start again and clicked to delete a clip from the bottom panel, thinking I was just deleting it from the browser. It deleted everything - four continuous clips lasting about 50 mins, from a 16 Gb SxS card!!!

It wasn't for a paid job, but it was irreplaceable personal footage, so unless there's some miraculous way of recovering data as you sometimes can with disk drives, I've lost the lot!

Big lesson - copy everything first.

But ... does anyone know whether, if I've not recorded anything else onto the same card, whether the data might still be "there" but invisible??

Leonard Levy · February 23rd, 2008, 10:21 PM

Were you working off the SxS card itself or SXS files that had been downloaded onto the computer? If its the latter my guess is the files ought to be there somewhere on your disk but i wouldn't do anything with the disk until you find someone who can recover files - I'm no expert though.

If you were working from the disk i don't know. It does point up a cardinal rule though that most people working with the P2 system have held to. Never work with them or important them directly into your computer from the P2 or SxS disk itself. Always first copy them to the hard drive. The main concern there is the possibility of corruption, but this is another case in point.

Good luck

Lenny Levy

Kevin Shaw · February 23rd, 2008, 11:52 PM

The data may well still be there if you haven't further messed with the card yet, but you'll need some sort of file utility to check. There are several free file recovery utilities available on the internet and I used one of them successfully on a Firestore drive, but I can't remember which one. Here's a Google list:

http://www.google.com/search?q=free+file+recovery

Dave Blackhurst · February 24th, 2008, 12:26 AM

Presuming that the file system operates like most any other disk based storage, the data is still there, as long as you don't do ANYTHING that would record over it. Sony even had a utility to recover files off their memory sticks for just such a reason - don't think it would work on the new cards, but any disk recovery utility that can access the card (I'm presuming it shows up as a "drive" somehow?) should be able to restore the file information.

Usually it's like if someone threw out the index cards at the library - the books are all still there, just no guide to show you how to find and read them - a file restore/recovery utility puts all the index information back so the stupid computer can find the 1's and 0's again!

You might contact Sony support - I'd bet they have something, as I can't imagine this is all that unusual...

Craig Seeman · February 24th, 2008, 12:57 AM

Copy Data to hard drive. Copy that to DL-DVD. Don't delete anything from the hard drive until that DL-DVD is burned. Delete from card ONLY after the data is at least copied to the hard drive.

Raymond Schlogel · February 24th, 2008, 02:45 AM

Search and Recover is made just for this kind of thing, pretty good from what I understand.

http://www.iolo.com/sr/4/

- Ray

Bob Grant · February 24th, 2008, 06:11 AM

All of the above is good advice but there's another reason why you should copy files to the HDD first. If you have a clip split over two cards you cannot join it from the mxf files and the clip browser will not be able to stitch the files as it can only access one card at a time.

Leonard Levy · February 24th, 2008, 10:58 AM

Would search and recover work on the SxS or on a P2 card though? Wouldn't it be a different file structure?

Peter Kraft · February 24th, 2008, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonard Levy

Would search and recover work on the SxS or on a P2 card though? Wouldn't it be a different file structure?

It's a pretty straight forward rule: As long as your computer can mount the media (HD, floppy, disc, CD, DVD, whatever) the recovery program can do its miracle and read your seemingly deleted files - which did not really get deleted, just their name(s) in the directory. Even if you messed around with the media in the meantime, there is a good chance to be able to recover a few of the files, however no parts of them, only those that were not affected with your messing around.
You have mostly no chance at all to recover deleted files if you reformatted your media in the meantime.

Hope this helps

Which computer or operating system are you working with?

Leonard Levy · February 24th, 2008, 12:34 PM

I'm on a mac which does not seem to be covered by Search and recover. must a Mac equivilent though.

Kevin Shaw · February 24th, 2008, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonard Levy

Would search and recover work on the SxS or on a P2 card though? Wouldn't it be a different file structure?

My guess would be that the SxS cards use FAT32 formatting; not sure about P2.

Greg Boston · February 24th, 2008, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonard Levy

I'm on a mac which does not seem to be covered by Search and recover. must a Mac equivilent though.

Disk Warrior is a highly touted tool for file and disc recovery on the Mac platform.

-gb-

Peter Wright · February 24th, 2008, 07:29 PM

Thanks for all the replies - I've tried a couple of downloaded recovery programs without success so far, so I've just (Monday morning) taken the card and card reader to my local Computer shop in the hope that .......

will report the results.

Mitchell Skurnik · February 24th, 2008, 11:49 PM

I wouldnt take it to you local computer store. Unless they have people that know how to do it they might do more damage. Look on google for a place near your house that does data recovery. It will cost you but those places usually have a very high rate of recovery.

Peter Kraft · February 25th, 2008, 11:48 AM

Try this link:

www.sandisk.com

and search for Rescue Pro. This will direct you to the download site.

I've be well served with that app.

Hope this helps

February 23rd, 2008, 09:38 PM	#1
Peter Wright Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 193	Cautionary Tale - Loss of EX1 data After getting in a bit of a mess with the Sony Clip Browser software, I decided to start again and clicked to delete a clip from the bottom panel, thinking I was just deleting it from the browser. It deleted everything - four continuous clips lasting about 50 mins, from a 16 Gb SxS card!!! It wasn't for a paid job, but it was irreplaceable personal footage, so unless there's some miraculous way of recovering data as you sometimes can with disk drives, I've lost the lot! Big lesson - copy everything first. But ... does anyone know whether, if I've not recorded anything else onto the same card, whether the data might still be "there" but invisible??

February 24th, 2008, 02:45 AM	#6
Raymond Schlogel Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Austin Texas Posts: 162 Images: 3	Search and Recover is made just for this kind of thing, pretty good from what I understand. http://www.iolo.com/sr/4/ - Ray __________________ www.undergroundplanet.com

February 24th, 2008, 11:49 PM	#14
Mitchell Skurnik Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, California Posts: 201	I wouldnt take it to you local computer store. Unless they have people that know how to do it they might do more damage. Look on google for a place near your house that does data recovery. It will cost you but those places usually have a very high rate of recovery. __________________ Mitchell J. Skurnik http://www.mjcsstudios.com/ - EX1, 4x hoodman 16GB, Libec Tripod, Sony LAV

February 25th, 2008, 11:48 AM	#15
Peter Kraft Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Europe Posts: 245	Here is help for you Try this link: www.sandisk.com and search for Rescue Pro. This will direct you to the download site. I've be well served with that app. Hope this helps

February 23rd, 2008, 10:21 PM	#2
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Were you working off the SxS card itself or SXS files that had been downloaded onto the computer? If its the latter my guess is the files ought to be there somewhere on your disk but i wouldn't do anything with the disk until you find someone who can recover files - I'm no expert though. If you were working from the disk i don't know. It does point up a cardinal rule though that most people working with the P2 system have held to. Never work with them or important them directly into your computer from the P2 or SxS disk itself. Always first copy them to the hard drive. The main concern there is the possibility of corruption, but this is another case in point. Good luck Lenny Levy

February 23rd, 2008, 11:52 PM	#3
Kevin Shaw Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,488	The data may well still be there if you haven't further messed with the card yet, but you'll need some sort of file utility to check. There are several free file recovery utilities available on the internet and I used one of them successfully on a Firestore drive, but I can't remember which one. Here's a Google list: http://www.google.com/search?q=free+file+recovery

February 24th, 2008, 12:26 AM	#4
Dave Blackhurst Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Apple Valley CA Posts: 4,874	Presuming that the file system operates like most any other disk based storage, the data is still there, as long as you don't do ANYTHING that would record over it. Sony even had a utility to recover files off their memory sticks for just such a reason - don't think it would work on the new cards, but any disk recovery utility that can access the card (I'm presuming it shows up as a "drive" somehow?) should be able to restore the file information. Usually it's like if someone threw out the index cards at the library - the books are all still there, just no guide to show you how to find and read them - a file restore/recovery utility puts all the index information back so the stupid computer can find the 1's and 0's again! You might contact Sony support - I'd bet they have something, as I can't imagine this is all that unusual...

February 24th, 2008, 12:57 AM	#5
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	Copy Data to hard drive. Copy that to DL-DVD. Don't delete anything from the hard drive until that DL-DVD is burned. Delete from card ONLY after the data is at least copied to the hard drive.

February 24th, 2008, 06:11 AM	#7
Bob Grant Trustee Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 1,570	All of the above is good advice but there's another reason why you should copy files to the HDD first. If you have a clip split over two cards you cannot join it from the mxf files and the clip browser will not be able to stitch the files as it can only access one card at a time.

February 24th, 2008, 10:58 AM	#8
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Would search and recover work on the SxS or on a P2 card though? Wouldn't it be a different file structure?

February 24th, 2008, 12:34 PM	#10
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	I'm on a mac which does not seem to be covered by Search and recover. must a Mac equivilent though.

February 24th, 2008, 07:29 PM	#13
Peter Wright Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 193	Thanks for all the replies - I've tried a couple of downloaded recovery programs without success so far, so I've just (Monday morning) taken the card and card reader to my local Computer shop in the hope that ....... will report the results.