Out of nowhere unusable .avi video file

[MightyKing]

I recorded a video file using a screen recorder program. I used to be able to watch this video file and everything... until out of nowhere... the video file was 0kb in size....

I have no idea how that happened, I did not do anything to the video file... How can I fix it? Please I really need this video file to work.

Please and Thank you.

[Joe Forster/STA]

Try some file recovery software that is usually used for restoring deleted files and/or deleted partitions.

[MightyKing]

Well can you tell me what kind of software to use to do so? Im not good with this stuff

[Joe Forster/STA]

Here are a few I know about, Google their names: EasyRecovery; UFS Explorer Professional Recovery; ObjectRescue; GetDataBack; Smart Data Recovery; Active@ File Recovery; FinalRecovery; Recover My Files; SanDisk RescuePro.

[MightyKing]

Well none worked, its not like im missing the file... the file itself is there, but the size of it suddenly changed to 0kb... how do i fix this... to its old size?

[Joe Forster/STA]

You have read the feature lists on the homepages, downloaded the trial versions, installed them, tested them, purchased and upgraded to the full versions of the good ones and then ran their file recovery functions, and this within four hours? I'm impressed!

Seriously, these are for recovering deleted files or data from deleted/damaged partitions but some of them may be able to recover damaged files, too. You need to read their documentation before chosing among them. (I recover deleted and damaged files manually with a disk editor and have backups anyway so I don't have much use for these; only got familiar with them because of my colleagues' "accidents"...)

Of course, if you've already saved data onto the drive where this damaged file is or, as usual for most people, you have only one drive - with Windows, applications, documents, personal stuff and all other data on it - then you can kiss goodbye to that file as its data has probably been overwritten already. You need to backup all important data continuously so that such accidents don't occur.

[MightyKing]

Hi, well no I didn't upgrade to their full versions, but it doesn't take that long, it took me 2 hours to upgrade to their full versions, now its been 1 hour for 5 of the programs you mention to do their scans on my drive. Currently I'm using:

Active@Partition Recovery Scanned: 900MB out of 186GB ... in 50 mins... will take a long time
Recovery My Files Scanned: 29mins of time elapsed, around 88% soon to end
EasyRecovery Professional Scanned: Elapsed Time: 18:30mins Remaining Time: 76:41:50hours...will take TOOO long
MediaRescue Pro Scanned: Hmm around 25-30%.. in 40 mins... will take a couple of hours
GetDataBack for NTFS Scanned: Time Remaining: 02:37:00hours..


I've found a particular interest in MediaRescue Pro, as I can actually resize the video file... but the problem is that when I recover the file (to a different drive obviously) it still won't work.

I've tried several different sizes, ranging from 20MB to 300MB based on for how long I did the recording of the video clip... I also have tried to open the file through the options provided, but won't ever open. I have tried to reset the file size but it remains at 0kb.

It caught my attention when I saw how the video file is of type "file" instead of ".avi" or something like that; this is from where you can rearrange by "type, name, size, etc" ... I simply can't recall if my other video files are also identified as "file" type or if they are different.

Either way, I will wait for scans to finish.


I am still not sure how I can fix a video file through these file recovery software programs, I've been messing around with them for a while now, but nothing has worked. I've read what they can do, and most of them are to recover files from a bad partition or OS installment... viruses/trojans/etc... but not how to "repair" media files, except for MediaRescuePro.

I would appreciate a little more help, I will post back again once scans are done.


BTW... should I back up my entire HDD? I hope this is not required... But I have backed up the video file I'm trying to fix.

Thank you

-----------------Edit---------------------
Program ::: Status

Active@Partition Recovery Status: Terminated I ended this scan after further reading of its features. This version bases itself only on partitions; thus I will attempt to get the File Recovery version.
Recover My Files Status: Finished and it is useless apparently as it does not recognize/find the video file (I assume its because of its size of 0kb)... I don't know what else to use that program for as it doesn't even see the file I'm trying to fix.
EasyRecovery Professional Status: Elapsed Time: 3:25:21 hours Remaining Time: 49:24:17 hours <-- Time varies
MediaRescue Pro Status: Around 90-95% so far in 03:46 hours
GetDataBack for NTFS Status: Time Remaining: 06:47:52 hours at 40% <--- Time varies. considering terminating this scan as it will take an eternity....

[MightyKing]

Well... all have finished and I got help from some video and audio experts I know and said that none of these was worth doing... since the file itself is 0kb in size already... so whatever they are trying to recover will be a 0kb in this case. So all this was worthless.

Thanks for trying.

[Joe Forster/STA]

I'm sorry but this is what I already said. Don't get me wrong but let this be a lesson for you: backup all important data in time AND tell all your friends about this so that they also learn from it. (They will be grateful for your hint when they have similar problems but can restore their data from backups.)

[MightyKing]

yes, thank you very much, I will buy myself an external HDD to continously backup my data. I've had too much bad luck, ranging from simple randomness to trojan viruses... yup.. back up for good now. Thank you.

[MightyKing]

Ok thank you very much, I will try the demo, and hopefully it will work.

[TippeX]

warning @ daredavil and amlya 08 - i find it VERY coincidental that both of your ip's are within the same range and that BOTH of you (to me) look like you are promoting / advertising the software in your links... which is why i deleted both of your posts.. do NOT do this again...