Forum Discussion
How to recover deleted videos from sd card in Windows?
The SD card from my car dashcam seems to have lost all its recorded video files — not sure if they were accidentally deleted or overwritten during a recording cycle. Plugged it into my Windows PC hoping to recover them but the card shows up empty in File Explorer.
Anyone know a good way to recover deleted videos from sd card in Windows? Looking for something free and straightforward if possible. Also curious whether pulling the card out of the dashcam right away helps with recovery chances.
8 Replies
- DevonZhangIron Contributor
Do you have backup of deleted videos?
- AlinaimCopper Contributor
The "Previous Versions" feature in Windows is not a data recovery tool in the way you might think. It does not scan your SD card to find deleted files. Instead, it provides an interface to access backups that you already created ahead of time using either File History or the older Windows Backup and Restore tool. Then, you can recover deleted videos from SD card.
About how to recover deleted videos from SD card. This is the only true recovery method without software, but it depends entirely on whether you had set up a backup system beforehand. It is a long shot for a dashcam SD card, but worth checking.
Here's how to check for "Previous Versions":
1. In File Explorer, navigate to your SD card's drive (e.g., D:).
2. Right-click on an empty space in the drive or on a folder where the videos were stored.
3. From the menu, select "Restore previous versions."
If Windows has any shadow copies or backups saved from the past, they will appear in the list. You can then select a version and click "Restore." However, this feature is often not enabled for removable drives like an SD card by default.
- AxelohuCopper Contributor
You can definitely use the Windows file recovery tool to try to get your dashcam footage back. It can be regarded as a powerful built-in security net for protecting your files. Here is how it works, as well as how to use it to recover deleted videos from SD card when it comes from your dashcam.
How to use it:
1. Insert your SD card into your Windows computer.
2. Open the Command Prompt as an administrator.
3. Determine the drive letter of your SD card.
4. Execute the following command:
cmd winfr D: C: /extensive /n *,mp4
(Replace "D:" with the letter identifier of your SD card, and replace "C:" with the location where you want to save the recovered files)
Important note: For SD cards, the "extended mode" needs to be enabled because these types of storage cards typically use FAT or exFAT file systems instead of NTFS file system.
Before you recover deleted videos from SD card, you need to know the following:
Applicable to FAT and exFAT file systems
Manual command input is required - there is no click-based interface. The recovered files must be saved to a different drive than the SD card.
- XollomIron Contributor
Scalpel is a professional data recovery tool able to recover permanently deleted videos from my SD card via file carving technology.
Suitable for experienced users, it needs WSL environment to run and scan storage partition to retrieve residual video data.
How to recover permanently deleted videos from my SD card
1. Install and enable the Windows Subsystem for Linux on your device
2. Verify that the partition path for the SD card is correct
3. Run the following command:
scalpel -c scalpel.conf /dev/sdb1 -o recovered/
4. Wait for the scan to complete, then check the recovered folder for the recovered videos
The software can deeply scan for hidden file fragments, allowing it to recover videos that have been permanently deleted from my SD card.
ps
- Carefully verify the device path to avoid accidentally scanning the local disk.
- Save recovered files to a separate location; do not save them back to the original memory card.
- Stop all read and write operations before proceeding to prevent data overwriting or corruption.
- After recovery is complete, verify one by one that the videos play normally.
- WilliamHuangIron Contributor
Hidden partition inspection method can recover deleted videos from sd card free, accessing concealed storage areas where videos may be stored.
How to Recover Deleted Videos from sd Card Free
Step 1: Run Command Prompt as an administrator
Step 2: Type `diskpart` to launch the Disk Management tool
Step 3: Type `list disk` to view all connected disks
Step 4: Type `select disk X`, replacing `X` with the disk number of your SD card
Step 5: Type `list partition` to check the existing partitions
Step 6: Use `assign letter=H` to assign a drive letter to the hidden partition so you can access it
ps
- Carefully identify the disk number to avoid accidentally accessing your computer’s internal hard drive.
- Back up your videos immediately after mounting the partition to prevent data loss.
- Do not modify partition settings without good reason to avoid damaging the memory card.
- If mounting fails, try unplugging and reinserting the device, then try again.
This is a free method that can help you recover deleted videos from an SD card. I’ve used this method before to recover some videos.
Cons
- Cannot recover video files that have been overwritten or damaged
- Some encrypted hidden partitions cannot be mounted or read properly
- ZoeiurBrass Contributor
Stop Using Your SD Card Immediately Before you do anything else:
- Remove the SD card from your dashcam right now
- Do NOT save any new files to the card
- Do NOT format the card
Every moment the card is in your dashcam, the camera may be recording new footage and overwriting the very videos you want to recover. Once data is overwritten, no software can recover deleted videos from SD card.
To recover deleted videos from SD card. Sometimes, files appear to be deleted but are actually just hidden due to system errors or virus activity. It is worth performing this quick check before anything else.
Here's how to do it:
1. Insert your dashcam's SD card into your Windows computer.
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to "This PC" to see your SD card's drive.
3. Click on the "View" tab at the top of the File Explorer window.
4. In the "Show /hide" section, check the box for "Hidden items."
After you do this, any files that were merely hidden will now appear slightly faded. If you find your videos, you can right-click them, select Properties, and uncheck the "Hidden" box to make them visible again.
- FinneasHayesIron Contributor
RAW File Carving is a technique you can use to recover deleted videos from sd card free when the file system is completely corrupted, as it works directly with raw data on the storage card.
It allows you to extract video fragments directly from raw data, but this method is very advanced and not suitable for beginners.
First, download and open the free HxD Hex Editor to view the raw data of your SD card. Search for the MP4 header signature: 00 00 00 18 66 74 79 70 6D 70 34 32 (which represents "ftypmp42"). Then, copy the data from this header all the way to the moov atom to reconstruct the video file.
Once you have copied the complete data segment, save it as a new MP4 file to see if the video can be recovered.
Its drawbacks include: requiring advanced technical knowledge of hex editing and file structures, having a very low success rate for fragmented or overwritten data, being extremely time-consuming to perform manually, and carrying a high risk of corrupting the raw data if not done correctly.
This method can help you recover deleted videos from sd card free in cases of severe file system damage, so it is only suitable for advanced users with technical knowledge of hex editing and file structures.
If you don’t want to use complex third-party recovery software, you can try this method. This is a highly technical measure, so you should be very careful and understand the risks before attempting it.
- JettStoneIron Contributor
This is a great way to attempt to recover permanently deleted videos from my SD card using a public-domain, signature-based tool. It essentially lets you scan the raw SD card data for known video file headers and footers, making it a powerful alternative when other recovery tools fail.
Usage Guide: Download Foremost from GitHub or the Kali Linux tool library. Open a command prompt, then run the command:
foremost -i F: -t mp4,avi -o D:\recovered
Note that F: is the drive letter of your SD card, -t specifies the type of video files to recover, and -o sets the save path for the recovered files.
The software will scan the entire SD card and attempt to reconstruct deleted videos based on their digital signatures.
Even if other recovery tools have failed, this software can help you recover permanently deleted videos from my SD card.
It is particularly useful in situations where other standard recovery tools fail, making it ideal for recovering video footage from cameras, drones, or smartphones.