New to Recuva, files look great but once recovered don't play?

[RussDouglas222]

Hi there, I just had a complete brain-fart, downloaded only some of the MP4 files I wanted from a memory card - then deleted what was left (facepalm!)

I installed Recuva, it sees all the files, gives them a clean bill of health for recovery, recovers them - but non of them play?  What am I doing wrong?

Cheers. Russ

[RussDouglas222]

The above file that won't play looks like this in Recuva...

Edited September 27, 2020 by RussDouglas222
Better screengrab

[RussDouglas222]

The above file that won't play looks like this in Recuva...

[Augeas]

If the file system is FAT32, which on a card it possibly is, then on file deletion the first two bytes of the data cluster address are set to zero. Recuva will follow this shortened address and recover what it finds, but it is obviously going to the wrong place and recovers invalid data. You can run the scan again and in Advanced mode look at the file info pane. If the cluster address is below 65,535 then this is an indication that the address has been corrupted.

There's no feasible way to recover these files. A deep scan might just be lucky with some of them, as long as they are in one extent.

[RussDouglas222]

Thank-you @Augeas, so although Recuva gives me green lights for all but one of the files - what it then recovers is useless? 

I'm running a deep scan now just in case, but am absolutely gutted I've probably lost this data. 

Thanks for your help anyway, cheers. Russ

Edited September 27, 2020 by RussDouglas222
hit enter accidentally...

[Augeas]

Yes, Recuva acts 'in good faith' by following the field in the directory that holds the first cluster address. It can't possibly know if that field holds the correct value or not. The address field is truncated by FAT32 on file deletion because FAT32 is a souped up version of FAT16, and a workaround was devised to hold the larger address field required by FAT32. On file deletion the FAT32 values are wiped out and  the directory entry effectively goes back to FAT16. Don't ask me, ask Microsoft.

[RussDouglas222]