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Recovery of MTS files
While shooting a wedding yesterday, I was horrified to receive the dreaded “Check Card” error message on my HMC150. I swapped cards and continued shooting, with no further problems.
Today when I went to archive my footage, I was unable to get the card to even mount on my Mac desktop. When inserted back into the camera, the card still brings up the “Check Card” message.
I’m shooting on Transcend 32GB cards, class 6. I did extensive research before purchasing, and these cards came highly recommended. Also, after doing more research this morning, I’ve read that all card types, regardless of brand, capacity, class, etc… have fallen victim to similar errors (even the most expensive Panasonic SDHC cards).
I have Data Rescue 2, which was able to recover JPEG stills from all 214 of my shots (a small thumbnail of the first frame of each shot), but nothing else. From what I’ve read, most programs are not setup to recognize MTS files.
Does anyone know of a data recovery program for the Mac that is able to recognize and recover MTS files?
Also, has anyone else successfully recovered their video after having a similar problem?
As a last resort, I contacted a company called DriveSavers which claims to be able to recover the files, but that will cost me $790. Of course I’m trying to avoid that all cost.
This really freaks me out, the possibility that this couple’s wedding memories might be lost forever because the card suddenly decided to die. It goes without saying that this is totally unacceptable, but how is it avoidable? I switched from DV because of the beautiful images the HMC150 produces, but that’s irrelevant if the footage doesn’t survive. I fear there is no solution.
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29 Replies
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try to use R-Studio
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I tried R-Studio and it did not work.
On the recommendation of Noah Kadner in another forum, I tried PhotoRescue, and that seems to have worked.
Since the Mac can’t natively read an MTS file, I had to purchase a convertor program on top of PhotoRescue. But that’s still better than spending $790 to have someone else accomplish the same thing.
I’ll keep you updated on the final result.
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try to scan you card on Linux
if you card have any info you can save it. -
You just saved me the time for posting this question because almost the identical thing happened to me yesterday except I have a Transcend 16GB Class 6 card. I am currently trying the AVCCAM Restorer program from the Panasonic website and will let you know how it goes. I was using the HMC-150 as well.
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As a follow up, the AVCCAM Restorer didn’t work. It said “A file necessary for restoration is not found”
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I totally forgot about the AVCCAM Restorer (although I thought it was only available for PC).
If you do end up going with PhotoRescue, make sure you get version 3
https://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/v3/
The previous version (2.1) had a limitation on the size of the file it would recover. After just under 700 MB it would truncate the file and move on. After some follow-up support from PhotoRescue, they gave me an upgrade to version 3 to finish the job.
I’m currently in the process of re-recovering the files (using version 3) in their entirety (hopefully).
I’ll provide an update later today.
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I am using Windows, but there was definitely a Mac version of it on the Panny website.
I also found this software: https://www.cardrecovery.com/
It has MTS files on it’s list of supported file types. It’s a windows only program but if what you’re using doesn’t work you could probably borrow a PC to try it. I haven’t used it yet though, I’m waiting to get an opinion from an acquaintance who is an IT guy first and I’d like to get your results as well. -
Version 3 of PhotoRescue has managed to recover the entirety of the files (sort of). While it does allow you to increase the maximum size of a recovered file, it has taken the larger files and broken them into smaller pieces (with small pauses and gaps in between).
I re-running the program again a different way to see if I can get a different result. If not, I’m going to contact the PhotoRescue support (again) to see if they have any suggestions.
I’m at a point now where I have enough of the original footage to complete the video without having to offer it to them for free (which I would feel obligated to do if I lost most of their footage). From here forward I’m simply trying to take the recovery from “Excellent” to “Perfect.”
Also keep in mind that after the recovery, you’ll need a program to convert the MTS files into a format that the editor can read (if you’re on a Mac. I’ve heard that certain PC editors can read the MTS files natively). I downloaded a program called “Wondershare Video Convertor Pro” to convert the videos, but the program has proved to be a major disappointment. I’m pursuing a refund, and will instead purchase a program called “ClipWrap” that takes the MTS files and simply re-wraps them into MOV containers without any transcoding (thus preserving the original quality).
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I’m glad you got your files back. I’ve tried the PhotoRescue and Card Recovery and neither has worked. Would you mind sharing the info on the company that said they could retrieve it for $800? I’ll be happy to pay it if it works.
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The name of the company is DriveSavers. I spoke with Tony, who was very helpful.
He said that they have a guarantee on their recovery…if they aren’t able to recover the files, you don’t pay (which makes sense).
So you said that the other programs weren’t able to recover the files. Was it that the programs (PhotoResuce specifically) weren’t able to find any of the MTS files, or did it find them but the files weren’t usable?
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