I deleted some .mp4 files in 32GB SD card used in my Android phone. I immediately unload the SD card from my Android phone. Then placed the SD card into the card reader and plugged into my windows xp notebook. After running the "Quick Scan" in latest version of Recuva (v1.47.948), all my deleted .mp4 files can be listed. As I am sure I didn't write anything into the SD card, so I assume the "state" for all deleted .mp4 files shown should be "Excellent" with comment "No overwritten clusters detected". However, I found some .mp4 files with "state" - "Poor", and the comment said "The file is overwritten with [path and name of file]".
Below is the text that displayed in "Info" tab for file "MOV_2616.mp4":
======
Filename: MOV_2616.mp4
Path: H:\DCIM\100ANDRO
Size: 40.0 MB (41,985,365)
State: Poor
Creation time: 27/07/2013 09:39
Last modification time: 27/07/2013 09:39
Last access time: 27/07/2013 00:00
Comment: This file is overwritten with "H:\.android_secure\com.rovio.angrybirdsseasons-1.asec"
22 file cluster(s) overwritten (134, 135, 136, 137, 329, 330, 331, 879, 880, 881, 882, 883, 885, 886, 887, 1190, 1191, 1192, 1193, 1195, 1196, 1198)
1282 cluster(s) allocated at offset 363629
======
However, when I checked the "creation date time", "modification date time" of file "H:\.android_secure\com.rovio.angrybirdsseasons-1.asec", it is "10//06/2013 08:30:03".
My questions are:
1. Why my deleted .mp4 file "H:\DCIM\100ANDRO\MOV_2616.mp4" which was created and deleted on "27/07/2013", was overwritten by a file that created/modified about 1 month ago?
2. The file ""H:\.android_secure\com.rovio.angrybirdsseasons-1.asec" represents the "Angry Birds Seasons" package. For this game in my Android phone, I installed, then un-installed, then re-installed, then updated few months ago. I guess my deleted .mp4 file was used the "file clusters" released from the "un-installation" of this package. Is my guess correct?
3. I noticed that if the .mp4 files are located in the "file clusters" that are "new" (didn't allocate to any file before). Recuva can 100% recover it ("state excellent"). However, if the .mp4 files are located in the "file clusters" that are "old" (allocated to another deleted file, FAT32 table still contains the entry of this file), Recuva seems "confused" and incorrectly reported that the .mp4 files are overwritten by another deleted file. Recuva can partially recover it ("state Poor"). For .mp4 files, missing 1 file cluster can cause the .mp4 file non-playable. Is my observation correct? If it is the limitation of Recuva or FAT32 filesystem, will it be enhanced in the future version?
At last, I tried many file recovering software in the Internet, most of them are required to pay money before recovering. How come a person will pay a software that may NOT work? These software just useless and wasting time to try. Recuva is a freeware and also can recover many files. It is a very nice product that I will introduce to anyone who needs it!