Help - need to recover footage from corrupted SD card

Shooting with a Pocket Camera to a SanDisk 64GB SD card. I can play back the footage I have shot in the camera but when connected to a PC I get the message

You need to format the disk in Drive H: before you can use it. Do you want to reformat it?

Then -

The volume does not contain a recognised file system. Please make sure that all system file drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.

The SD card was formatted to ex-FAT in the camera. Computer Management shows RAW as the file system.

I can't afford to lose the footage on the card so can't just reformat it. Anyone had success when getting this message?

Is the fault with the camera or the card?

Thanks.

What version of Windows are you running? What Service Pack?


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1) Was your camera+card+reader+computer ever operating before?
2) Are you absolutely sure that the reader you use is SDXC reader, not SDHC one?
3) What is the result of direct image copy of some tens of first blocks? Is it possible to copy them?
4) Have you tried to use some other reader and some other computer?
5) What is the position of Write Protect switch?
6) What do you see in Disk Management control in your Control Panel?
7) Have you tried any Operating System instead of Windows?

And the last: Make an image copy of the SD. Ask some Linux fan if you cannot do it yourself.

If nothing else work.
Play the files in the camera and export via hdmi.

Anatoly, thanks for your help - here are the answers:
1) Was your camera+card+reader+computer ever operating before? Yes and works with other SD cards
2) Are you absolutely sure that the reader you use is SDXC reader, not SDHC one? Interesting - it's not new but has worked with this card before.
3) What is the result of direct image copy of some tens of first blocks? Is it possible to copy them? Sorry, don't know how to do this.
4) Have you tried to use some other reader and some other computer? On location and no options. But as I can't read it through the camera I suspect the card or the computer is the problem although I can read other cards with the laptop/lexar reader.
5) What is the position of Write Protect switch? Unprotected
6) What do you see in Disk Management control in your Control Panel? Disk management is showing the drive to be RAW formatted and therefore can't assign a drive letter.
7) Have you tried any Operating System instead of Windows? No option to try here at the moment.

Peter. Yes I can do this but video was shot in RAW format (confusing) and I need to grade the pictures for them to be useable.

Never reformat when Windows tells you to do so!!!

It sounds like your OS merely cannot mount the exfat filesystem on the SD card -- possibly a corrupt or missing driver.

Is your card reader still working properly? Have you checked the cables? Can you now mount other SDHC and SDXC cards?

If so, you could make and boot a live CD that can access exfat, if your computer can boot from CD, and if you have access to a CD burner, a blank CD and wifi. I would suggest SystemRescueCd: http://www.sysresccd.org SystemRescueCd also includes quite a few data/partition rescue apps, but it doesn't sound like your SD card is corrupted.

If you have a blank USB flash drive and if your computer can boot from USB, you could also boot a live USB version.

It always good to have a live CD/USB handy!

Also, until you have copied the footage, flip that tab on the card so that it is write protected!

Rick. I am running Windows 7 Pro SP1.

Rick. I am running Windows 7 Pro SP1.

Are you still on location?

Have you been able to copy your camera files?

Hi Holden.

Still on location. Other files (from different cameras) backing up OK, just the one from the BMPCC refusing to work. Getting advice from various forums, but none effective so far.

If you can be a little more forthcoming with information, we might be able to help you.

I'll ask again:
- Is your card reader still working properly?
- Have you checked the card reader cables?
- Can you now mount other SDHC and/or SDXC cards?
- Does your DIT or anyone else on set have 10-20 minutes to download and create a live CD/USB? (It is likely that if you had a live CD or live USB, your problem would be quickly solved).

Here are some new questions:
- What exactly are these other cameras/cards that you just mentioned that are working, and how are they formatted?
- Can you hold onto the BMPCC card after until after you return from your shoot and can spend time accessing the files, or do you have to back-up that card immediately?


The more specific and detailed you can be, the better.

Hi Holden, thanks for your help on this.

- Is your card reader still working properly? Yes
- Have you checked the card reader cables? Yes
- Can you now mount other SDHC and/or SDXC cards? Yes other cards are read OK, but the BMPCC card is a one-off.
- Does your DIT or anyone else on set have 10-20 minutes to download and create a live CD/USB? (It is likely that if you had a live CD or live USB, your problem would be quickly solved). Could you point me to where this process is explained in depth. No CD but have a USB flash drive that could work. Oh and I am on my own here!

Here are some new questions:
- What exactly are these other cameras/cards that you just mentioned that are working, and how are they formatted? Canon G12 with Sandisk Ultra HCI card format - FAT32 and Canon 5D MKIII with Compact Flash and SD - SD is Sandisk Ultra HCI card format - FAT32 and GoPro - again FAT32.

All of these are read and have been backed up using the card reader and Windows 7 laptop.
- Can you hold onto the BMPCC card after until after you return from your shoot and can spend time accessing the files, or do you have to back-up that card immediately? Will now hold on to the card to fix later and stop using the BMPCC.

Yes other cards are read OK, but the BMPCC card is a one-off.

Canon G12 with Sandisk Ultra HCI card format - FAT32 and Canon 5D MKIII with Compact Flash and SD - SD is Sandisk Ultra HCI card format - FAT32 All of these are read and have been backed up using the card reader and Windows 7 laptop.

It would be an interesting and helpful test to format one of the working cards in the BMPCC and shoot a low bandwidth file, and then see if your computer can access the card/file.

- Does your DIT or anyone else on set have 10-20 minutes to download and create a live CD/USB? (It is likely that if you had a live CD or live USB, your problem would be quickly solved). Could you point me to where this process is explained in depth. No CD but have a USB flash drive that could work.

If your computer allows booting from a USB drive, the process is not too difficult.

I mentioned in an earlier post about making a live USB/CD of System Rescue CD, however, it appears that their download host (Sourceforge) is experiencing trouble right now. So, I would recommend using Parted Magic instead.

Parted Magic is one of the slicker rescue live OSs. It has a mounting app conveniently located on the taskbar (the icon looks like an external HD). I tested the mounting app, and it had no problem with an exfat drive. Once you are able to mount the SD card in Parted Magic, you can copy the files to an internal/external drive. Of course, Parted Magic also includes data recovery and disk repair tools such as the venerable photorec and testdisk, if your SD card is corrupted.

You can download Parted Magic at it's website for a fee, or you can download a free torrent. I just tested this torrent and booted it (worked flawlessly): http://kat.cr/parted-magic-pmagic-2015- ... 99290.html

Here are instructions on how to make and boot a Parted Magic live USB: http://www.cnet.com/how-to/what-to-do-w ... n-windows/

At first, it might take a couple of attempts to get your computer's BIOS to boot from the USB flash drive. If Secure Boot is enabled in your BIOS, it probably needs to be disabled. Plus, the BIOS boot order needs to be set to boot from the USB drive first.

Once you have a live USB and are able to boot from it, keep it handy -- it can help avoid a lot of aggravation.

Thanks Holden, will give this a try when I can. Will test another card first.

I doubt that the popular live cd's contain the FuseFS-ExFAT module which is required to access the ExFAT file system. Problem is that the open-source FuseFS-ExFAT still contains the copyrighted Microsoft info and as such cannot be included to the official GNU-licensed or BSD-licensed distros. You must accept the Microsoft EULA to compile and use it.

There are native Linux implementations of ExFAT but they are commercial.

And it's a quite difficult task to produce your own live CD.

I feel the live WIndows cd from XP sp3 and up has more chance to accept ExFAT but I have no legal right to recommend the pirated versions of it.

I also feel that it's time to produce a proggie specifically for recovering the Blackmagic footage.

Update: Parted Magic claims to support both HFS+ and ExFAT.

Tried a different card formatted to exFAT and recorded ProRes HQ to it and the PC has no problem seeing and transferring the files. The card isn't fast enough to record RAW footage (it only records the audio WAV) but does show the right file structure when viewed in the card reader.

So it seems like the card is faulty or has been damaged while in the camera. So I will try it on other computers when I can and if that fails use recovery systems as recommended.

I doubt that the popular live cd's contain the FuseFS-ExFAT module which is required to access the ExFAT file system.
[snip]
Update: Parted Magic claims to support both HFS+ and ExFAT.

Yes. As I mentioned in my post above, I had no trouble accessing an exfat drive with Parted Magic.

I chose a rescue/recovery distro on the assumption that it would have exfat capability built-in (rather than having to download a package with a mainstream distro).

So it seems like the card is faulty or has been damaged while in the camera.

It looks like there are four possibilities:
- the card is corrupt in some way;
- the card is SDXC and your reader only accepts SDHC;
- the card reader/cable was faulty coincidentally only when the BMPCC card was inserted;
- the card was formatted in the camera with an HFS+ filesystem.

Had a similar problem with a Sandisk128 gb on my BMPCC.
I'm on a Mac. Checked all sorts of options.
Finally discovered that Disk Warrior has a function called
"preview." I could see the files on that function. I could and did copy the
files and then pasted them to an external HD.
Then I contacted Sandisk, who were terrific. They issued an RMA
and I sent the card back. They said they'd replace it with a new one.
Hope this is of some help.

Back off location and discovered the solution to the ExFAT problem.

For some reason the Lexar Compact Flash/SD card reader (USB 2.0 version - model RW035-7000 Revision D) didn't like the ExFAT format.

When I tried a USB 3.0 version (LRW300U Rev E) the card was read correctly.

Anatoly, the reader was happy with the disk type, it was the format it couldn't handle. Strange.

Thanks very much for all your advice.

Scott, Lexar is coming out with an updated version of their Cardreader which has been somewhat disappointing for users.


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I have faced the same problem when I used the SanDisk SD card to be connected with my computer yesterday night, a prompt popped out same as yours: You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it. I was afraid if I click the formatting button, everything on the SD card will be wiped, however, after clicking the Cancel button, there's still a prompt: F:\ is not accessible. The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted. I entered to the This PC and could find the SD card still exists, but it was shown as 0 bytes after right-clicking the properties.

RAW.png (15.31 KiB) Viewed 4459 times

I didn't face such problem before, hence I tried to find solutions from Google, and they said I need to confirm whether the SD card is still showing in Disk Management or not (in this way: Press Win Logo key+ R and type "Diskmgmt.msc") and I can see the SD card there.

All right, I am willing to share the full steps of how to get back my precious photos from my SD card and the exact steps to fix this issue step-by-step to help others who have the same problem like me and the topic starter.

1. I installed Bitwar data recovery software, it can detect the original file system of the RAW disk. e.g. my former file system of the SD card is FAT32. The software can display the disk type like this: FAT32_RAW. Then the software can provide Quick Scan mode for me to get back the photos with original file name and folder structure.

2. After getting back the photos, I then formatted the disk to make it normal.

Hope the answer can help most of you, Good luck!

Have you tried it on Windows 10 by chance or another machine? Much be worth trying to read with a modern OS. Or even a different card reader. If all else fails I've had great luck with EaseUS Data recovery.

I've just had the same thing happen with the Anglebird 128gb.

I formatted in camera and recorded a couple of hours to it continuously as Prores LT.

In camera I could playback but on the Surfacebook 2 using its sd card slot I couldnt read it and it wanted to do a format as above.