Recovered files unplayable?

Apologies if I'm on the wrong board, but hoping for advice. I messed up and managed to delete a very large folder of video files on an external HD.

I used recuva to recover the files, and the process seemed to work. However, afterwards, a large number of the recovered video files are unplayable (around 60% – though, a couple seemed to have had their identities transposed i.e. the file name says it is video01.avi, but when I play it in vlc video02.avi plays).

Have I got any options to do another recovery on that external HD to try again, or does the fact that I've *already* “recovered” those files mean I can't have a do-over? i.e. if I ran another recovery program on that hard drive would nothing be available as recuva has already “saved” those files?

Presumably deleting the non-playable files again isn't going to help this issue.

Am I just out of luck and the non-playable files are junk now?

My tech skills are very limited, so any suggestions would be really appreciated, as some of the non-playable files would be very tough to replace, or somewhere else to go to find help. Many thanks.

Assuming the videos aren't corrupt you could try something like the free Avidemux to remux/resave the videos (don't overwrite the originals) which should add in new header information making them playable, again that's if they aren't corrupt to begin with.

Thanks a lot, Andavari. Didn't get any joy with Avidemux, so I'm guessing those files are shredded. Oh well, I'll know better next time.