Canon DSLR recorded a random DAT file amongst the MOV’s

[Karyn Reohr]

I am not sure how this happened but while recording an event, one of the video files in the middle of the event is a DAT file rather than MOV.

I’ve Googled DAT to MOV conversion and think I can save it, but what I”m more curious about is, how the hell did that happen?

I have probably 20 MOV files and there’s one right in the middle that’s a DAT. It’s at the file limit for the DSLR’s (~12 min) but so are several other files and they managed to behave. Why do I have a renegade DAT file that came off my SD card?

Shooting with a Canon 60D and a Class 6 SD card in full HD.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated so if I did something I can avoid it in the future! I swear all I did was hit record again when the camera hit each file limit.

Also, if anyone has experience with converting this to usable format in FCP, let me know.

Thanks!
Karyn

[Karyn Reohr]

I think I figured out what happened…my assistant opened the battery case to change batteries while it was recording so the camera shut off in recording mode.

I am now thinking I have a corrupt DAT file that may still contain movie data (I’m hoping it does)! Several DAT to MOV software programs have failed to open it.

Does anyone know how I can repair a corrupt file, or one that was not “closed” properly during record mode?

Thanks,
Karyn

[Pete Burger]

To find out, if the file contains movie data, you could try opening it with the free VLC-player. It most of the times plays even corrupt files. Haven’t tried it with DSLR-video, but it almost always plays corrupt .wmv or .avi files, that won’t open in any other player.

Can’t help you with the question of how to repair the files, but maybe this could help you to assure, if there is usable movie data in it…

[Morton Molyneux]

You can try https://aeroquartet.com/

I used them to repair a corrupted clip earlier this year.

cheers

Morton

[Karyn Reohr]

Hi Peter,

I tried to open it with VLC. VLC “opened” it and the timeline started to play, but no video or audio appeared. It was like a silent file.

Thanks for the suggestion! I will try the other solution of that company, if anyone else has any other referrals to companies that will repair corrupt files in this situation let me know! (I.e. Situation is most likely that camera was abruptly shut off while recording to SD card and video data is now in a generic DAT container file which should have been in MOV).

Thanks,

Karyn

[Karyn Reohr]

Morton…you are a life saver. Can I send you a free drink? I wish I could over email!

It looks like their program is going to work for me. Thank you SO much, I really mean it. It’s the difference between getting paid for a $500 job, and not. But more importantly to my client, it’s the speech given by the sister of a beloved pediatrician in our community who died falling off a ladder putting Christmas lights up for his family. It really means a lot that the funeral video is intact.

Again thank you SO much for seeing this and responding to it.

Karyn

[Morton Molyneux]

Not a problem Karyn, glad to help. Now drinks by email that would be nice. A friend of mine fell off a ladder doing the same thing 4 years ago just before Christmas. Very badly broken ankle but survived. His wife will not let him forget it though.

The video clip that I had go bad was also the result of someone turning the camera off before stopping the recording.

cheers

Morton

[Jason Ramirez]

Hi, was this ever resolved, I too have this issue now.
??
Thanks

[mac amos]

Hi Karyn .. I have the same problem with you. My supposed to be .mov file turns to .dat file. I am not sure what happened. How did you sent your file for fixing? the .dat file alone? Thanks

[Angel Andres Rosado]

Yes, I do believe the original poster’s problem was solved. Go to the website for the company named “Aero Quartet”.

I used them and they charged me about $10 per minute of repaired h.264 .mov video from my canon t3i ($63 for a 6m11s clip)

Here’s their link: https://aeroquartet.com/movierepair/repair.html