# Can I recover a corrupted .mov file?



## Gayna (Jun 15, 2004)

At a shoot, I was capturing straight from my camera into FCP. I was using the log and capture window. After closing the log and capture window, I began to break down my equipment and unplugged my hard drive instead of my camera. Now, I am not able to open the file I captured. I can see the file on my hard drive, but I can not access the file. Is there a way to recover a corrupted .mov file?


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Is the file the right size? Chances are that part of the file was still cached and was lost because you unplugged the drive without using "Safely Remove". But if you were lucky, the drive was set for quick removal.

Can the file be moved from the drive to another location? Are other files on the drive available?

You may get lucky and be able to recover the file if file system damage is fixed. Try running chkdsk /r on that drive.


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## Gayna (Jun 15, 2004)

Yes, I can and did move the file to another drive. However, still cannot open it. I did not have the drive set for quick removal.


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## Gayna (Jun 15, 2004)

how do I run the chkdsk /r on a Mac?


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Really sorry about that. Is there a disk repair utility you can run?


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## Gayna (Jun 15, 2004)

I'll check.


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## Gayna (Jun 15, 2004)

I ran the disk repair, no problems were found.

I'm needing to fix that one file. Is there any way to do that?


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

It's really pretty unlikely. The file is probably missing data and the data can't be brought back into existence.

But you might take a look at programs that split or convert .mov files. The converters that are worth anything cost money, but if you could convert it to mpg or similar format, then you can cut the file up and have each part of it usable. If you cut an mpg in half, for example, and then give both halves the mpg file ending, both will play. You might be able to recover the parts of the file that are not damaged.

On the other hand, if the damage is in the headers or file description areas, converting may not be an option.

http://echoone.com/filejuicer/formats/mov-repair


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## Gayna (Jun 15, 2004)

Thank you


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