Why Can't RMF Find Missing Videos?

[eniwetok]

I did some tests using a 512meg SD card that's only used on my digital camera. When I transfer files to my PC I use the "move" method… so files are not deleted per se. I know what was on the card… they were all pics/videos taken on the same day so there should not be any partially overwritten files.

I used RMFs v.3.98 Complete File Search (as opposed to Quick Search) at both the cluster and sector levels searching both deleted and lost jpegs and .mov files both in active and inactive areas. I initially recovered 152 jpegs but 11 were duplicates with different file names. So there was a total of 143 jpegs recovered.

But I only recovered 15 .mov files... all with original file names. Total data recovered minus the 11 duplicate photos... 230 megs of about 480 megs of data.

Now I KNOW there are 22 other QuickTime .mov videos on this card because another program was able to recover them. In fact it was the ONLY program of 5-6 I've tested that was able to recover them.

I have to assume RMF is a capable tool. So what am I doing wrong? And if nothing... why can't RMF recover these videos?


UPDATE: I just ran a Complete Format Recover sector level scan, the last of the scan possibilities... making sure Quicktime .mov files were checked. I looked for deleted and lost files. Again RMF could not find these missing 22 videos.

I'm assuming that since the other program had to rename them as RMF does with most of the photos, that these are lost files. So why can RMF recover lost jpgs and not lost .mov files? They represent about 50% of the recoverable data on that SD card.

[GDH]

Hi,

It's a very hard question to answer without looking at the data on the card. Is it possible for you to image the card and then upload it to me - then we can both work of the same page.

If you go to GetData Download Center: Data Recovery, File Repair and Windows Software toward the bottom of the page you will find EzyImager. Use this to take a sector level image of the card and store it as a file on your PC. Then compress it with WinZip or WinRAR and let me know how big it is and we can arrange for an upload.

You may want to try running the RMFv4 beta version on the card and see what comes back: Recover My Files v4 Beta Testing Page

Thank yo.

[eniwetok]

Originally Posted by GDH

It's a very hard question to answer without looking at the data on the card. Is it possible for you to image the card and then upload it to me - then we can both work of the same page.

Thanks for the speedy reply. The card as mentioned is 512 megs and was just about full of family pics. I'm not comfortable sharing it. But I will try the beta and report back.

But there seems to be a bigger problem here in that I tried a number of programs besides Recover My Files:

Restorer Ultimate v5
Zero Assumption Recovery
Easeus Data Recovery Wizard
Stellar Phoenix data recovery

and NONE of them were able to recover those lost .mov files except a free program called Recuva by Piriform. So there's something very odd going on when only one program to date can recover these lost .mov files... and yes once recovered, they do play.

Maybe it's how the files were deleted... by moving them to my PC... though that doesn't explain why some files retain name and folder info... while other files were "lost". The card was not written to since I moved the files. But it shouldn't matter. The data is obviously there and can be recovered. I didn't need to recover anything from it.. it was just handy and a quicker way to compare some recovery software than scanning my harddrives.

[eniwetok]

I ran a "lost file" test on the same 512 meg SD card I've been using and the
v4 Beta was NOT able to find the 22 .mov videos I know are on the card.

And that's where the problem seems to be. Recuva seems to be doing something radically different than all the other recovery software when it comes to these lost .mov file. That's not to say it's better at all tasks... but this one is pretty clear cut case where they are on to something. They seem to be a small company with only 3 free products. Buy them out LOL!

[eniwetok]

I just ran a Recover Drive scan using the automatic settings. Again it only found the same 15 .mov videos that were found before... and the same 15 that all other programs I've tried to date have found... the exception being Recuva which identified 22 more "lost" video files and was able to recover them. Those 22 videos represent about 50% of the data on that SD card.

[eniwetok]

Quick note on the v4 beta. I think thumbnail previews are better for sorting out what one wants to keep compared to one-by-one previews. Again, check out Recuva.

I think the type of scan should be identified all through the process. I'm trying to run through all the scan permutations and often lose track. And the file types should be remembered. I added them all for a scan, went back to check what the hell scan I was running, and all the file selections were gone.

[GDH]

Does Recuva find these extra files with their original names? If so, it means that it has used the FAT or NTFS records to find them.

or,

Does it rename them to something else? If so, it means that it has found the file by its structure (header / content and footer).

How large are these extra files?

When you run a search with Recover My Files v4, in a Files Recovery for selected file types, add all file types (it will take a bit longer, but on a 512 card it wont be that long). This will tell us if some of the MOV files are slightly different format and are detected as something else.

[eniwetok]

Looks like the latest updated v4 beta solves the problem. Nice working with you Gordan. I assume v3.9.8 will be updated soon too?

One feature that I think v4 should have is thumbnail previews of images. It's a signal to noise issue. When searching through perhaps thousands of images from a crashed drive, thumbnails make it a lot easier to identify images one wants to keep. The one image at a time method is too time-consuming.