Batteries died, lost recording, how can I recover?

[brubart]

45 minutes into a field recording on a Zoom H4n, the batteries died, so no recording file was created. Is there any way way recover the data on the SD card? So far I've tried Stellar Phoenix, File Scavenger and Easy Drive. They do find and restore previously deleted files, but they do not find the recording wav file that was interrupted.

[joelpatterson]

I had exactly the same thing happen to me-- lost power on my Sony PCM-D50 three hours into a show at a club.

These guys were able to recover all of it, quickly too!

info@pinegrovealbany.com You want to talk to Mike or Steve... great cats!

[apple-q]

Yikes, these machines don´t do a safe shut-down when a certain voltage is reached?!

[Peter Allison]

thats why as a hobby recordist, I am going to perchase a Tascam DR100, as the battery switches over from say Duracells to the lithium battery, with out missing a beat, if you set the menu to do that. I had my little Zoom H2 fall on the floor last week, during a public organ recital, and it switched itself off, so lost 40 mins, but I am not overly bothered, as my mate was recording it, and will get a copy of his recording this week. But suffice to say, its a "bummer" when it happensdfegad

[rumleymusic]

I am going to perchase a Tascam DR100, as the battery switches over from say Duracells to the lithium battery,

One of the reasons I bought mine. The LI battery lasts for many hours but if there is any doubt the 4 AA's are there for backup.

[John Willett]

The one great thing about the Edirol R-09HR is that it has a built-in recovery tool.

If this sort of thing happens it can be recovered in the recorder - worth it for this alone, I think.

[JEGG]

The HD-P2 constantly closes (saves) the file every few seconds. If there is a failure of any kind, there is nothing to recover. It's all there, except for the most recent several seconds. (However, in quite a few years, only one of my HD-P2's has ever failed in operation. Fortunately, no program data was lost on those two occasions.

On the DR-100, the unit will power down with no loss of information when batteries are depleted. However, if there is a sudden loss of power, I'm not sure what happens.

The DR-100 battery system seems whacko at first glance, but in practice it offers great flexibility. I keep LD NiMH batteries in the AA compartment, and run off the LiOn routinely.

If you're interested, you can actually change batteries in that unit while it's being operated from battery power. I've never had the occasion to do that-but I have tried it!- but the dual battery system is much more useful than one would imagine at first glance.

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by rumleymusic

One of the reasons I bought mine. The LI battery lasts for many hours but if there is any doubt the 4 AA's are there for backup.

Hi rumley-
Actually, there are only 2 AA's there.

With somewhat thirsty mic's, it will go at least 2.5 hours before going to the AA's. Longer with less thirsty condensers.

On it's own, it does indeed run for a verrrrrry long time.

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by Peter Allison

thats why as a hobby recordist, I am going to perchase a Tascam DR100, as the battery switches over from say Duracells to the lithium battery, with out missing a beat, if you set the menu to do that. I had my little Zoom H2 fall on the floor last week, during a public organ recital, and it switched itself off, so lost 40 mins, but I am not overly bothered, as my mate was recording it, and will get a copy of his recording this week. But suffice to say, its a "bummer" when it happensdfegad

I suggest setting it up so the lithium battery is run first....

[JEGG]

Tip for DR-100 users:

The lithium battery will be more fully charged by slower charging from a USB port, rather than the faster charge time provided by the Tascam 5V line lump.

Alternately, charge from the line lump and then top off with USB connection.

Unless you are really trying to max running time, or regularly use unusually thirsty mic's, it probably makes little difference.

[rumleymusic]

oops, sorry, forget how many were in there.

I was going to amend my statement saying I use the recorder as a backup without powering external mics. I'm sure it lasts much longer that way.

Hi rumley-
Actually, there are only 2 AA's there.

With somewhat thirsty mic's, it will go at least 2.5 hours before going to the AA's. Longer with less thirsty condensers.

On it's own, it does indeed run for a verrrrrry long time.

[Matti]

Change the extension to ".raw" and open with an editor suitable, for example Adobe Audition and export in the format you use.
-Might do it

Matti

[brubart]

Originally Posted by joelpatterson

I had exactly the same thing happen to me-- lost power on my Sony PCM-D50 three hours into a show at a club.

These guys were able to recover all of it, quickly too!

info@pinegrovealbany.com You want to talk to Mike or Steve... great cats!

Thanks, Joel! I will check them out.

[JEGG]

Matti-thanks-a good tip for everyone's bag of tricks.

[heva]

PhotoRec - CGSecurity is quite a powerful tool too.

[Richard Black]

Most of the little chip recorders do in theory shut down safely just before the batteries die, but it doesn't always work in practice. My Edirol R-09HR has a couple of times (before I learned to pre-empt this!) shut down on me and not recognised the recording afterwards. However, I found that plugging the SD card into my PC revealed a recording which I was able to open in Cool Edit by renaming it to .RAW and telling CE manually that the file was 44/16. I suspect other recorders will do the same.

[Edit: just noticed someone else pointed this out. 'Scuse me! And no, I hadn't then spotted the recovery function.]

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by Richard Black

Most of the little chip recorders do in theory shut down safely just before the batteries die, but it doesn't always work in practice. My Edirol R-09HR has a couple of times (before I learned to pre-empt this!) shut down on me and not recognised the recording afterwards.

But at least the R-09 has built-in recovery software so you can recover the files in the machine - or did you not realise this?

[Muser]

Audacity opens RAW so anyone should be able to recover, if the .RAW rename trick works.

[Brackish]

Originally Posted by JEGG

Tip for DR-100 users:

The lithium battery will be more fully charged by slower charging from a USB port, rather than the faster charge time provided by the Tascam 5V line lump.

How did you find this out?

[chris319]

no recording file was created

Originally Posted by Matti

Change the extension to ".raw" and open with an editor suitable, for example Adobe Audition and export in the format you use.
-Might do it

Matti

Matti -

If no file was created, what is there to rename? How can you rename a non-existent file?

[Matti]

Originally Posted by brubart

45 minutes into a field recording on a Zoom H4n, the batteries died, so no recording file was created. Is there any way way recover the data on the SD card?

Matti

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by chris319

Matti -

If no file was created, what is there to rename? How can you rename a non-existent file?

The recording will be on the card - just not able to be read by the recorder.

So, plug the card into a computer, find the file, change the suffix as Matti said and it should be able to be read in a DAW.

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by Brackish

How did you find this out?

Through a series of measurements comparing charging by the mains adapter vs charging by USB.

[joeshambro]

The DR680 doesn't save as it goes. Lost a great couple of recordings by losing power.

[Brackish]

Originally Posted by joeshambro

The DR680 doesn't save as it goes. Lost a great couple of recordings by losing power.

By "losing power" are you referring to the batteries dying?

[apeak]

Deviating just a little -

The mics on the Zooms are XY but the Tascams are spaced a couple of inches apart and face out 180 degrees. There are others that are in-between and I believe the mics on some recorders are adjustable too.

Any comments on how stereo files recorded on these recorders hold up when collapsed to mono? Any phase anomalies?

Are some recorders more susceptible to handling-noise? Any particular models to shy away from?

Do you guys bypass the stock mics and use external mics instead? If so, any recommendations?

Should I shoot for the model with the most internal ram or does it even matter when using external SD cards?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[chris319]

plug the card into a computer, find the file, change the suffix as Matti said and it should be able to be read in a DAW.

You miss the point, John. There is no file to find or rename. It is technically not possible to do. The data is there but the whole problem stems from the fact that there is not a readable file, so in this situation you have to hire someone to recover the data as Joel suggested. I say this as a programmer with many years of experience.

The best solution for this kind of thing is to open the file every few seconds, append the data and close it again. Actually the really best solution is to run the recorder off a UPS.

[Matti]

I suggest using a dslr as the card reader

Matti

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by chris319

The best solution for this kind of thing is to open the file every few seconds, append the data and close it again. Actually the really best solution is to run the recorder off a UPS.

It might be a good idea for a list of gear which does this. I think I'll start one in a separate thread.

[JEGG]

Originally Posted by Matti

I suggest using a dslr as the card reader

Matti

Interesting, and I've got a DSLR or two.

Do dslr's generally read more file types? I've not attempted to read other cards in the camera-mostly because I haven't had the idea!