Issue with the external harddrive?

[stefanph]

Hey!

I have got some video footage of our company on a external HDD but it fell and we are unable to drag the files from the external HDD to the PC or Mac. But we can open the files on the external HDD perfectly on the Mac. Our idea is to open it on a retina and just record the screen (audio loss is no problem, video quality loss is the major issue we are currently facing). Which software is best to record HD retina screen videos?

Thanks for your help
Anton

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Have you checked Finder > select external HDD >> GET INFO >>> Format and Sharing & Permissions yet?

Strange though, that you can open the files on the external HDD but not copy from it, since it is the same process (READING).

As for recording it, which will be a loss in quality (and I guess you do not have a backup), you can use ScreenFlow, QuickTime Player X, iShowU HD, Camtasia and probably others.

Maybe also use one of the following applications to tell us what codec the videos use.

• VideoSpec (free)
• MediaInfo (free)
• Media Inspector (2.99 USD € in the Mac App Store (MAS))

When done, you can use the "Report" (VideoSpec) and "Export" (Media Inspector) button to export a report,
attachable to your next post via the

button.
In MediaInfo you have to go to the Menu Bar, select View > Text and copy the text via CMD+A > CMD+C and paste it via CMD+V into your next post.​

 

[stefanph]

Issue with the external harddrive?

Hello!

We had a video shoot for our company some time ago and we put all the .mov files on an external harddisk. They used to work fine and were named like video1.mov, video2.mov etc. Now we found that the original files are all not openable and have all the size of 0mb. But there are new files like video1 2.mov, video2 2.mov etc. It seems like that these are restored files of the original files? It might happened that the disk fell.

Our issue is now that we can open them perfectly and watch them from the external HDD but we are not able to import them onto any Mac. Other files (original files which are not restored files) can be transferred without any problems. But if you want to transfer any of these new "videoname 2.mov" videos the export stucks at around 40% and doesnt finish the whole operation. The mac tells me that he couldnt finish the operation because some files couldnt be read or written (error: -36)

What could we possibly do?

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[stefanph]

Have you checked Finder > select external HDD >> GET INFO >>> Format and Sharing & Permissions yet?

Image​

Strange though, that you can open the files on the external HDD but not copy from it, since it is the same process (READING).

As for recording it, which will be a loss in quality (and I guess you do not have a backup), you can use ScreenFlow, QuickTime Player X, iShowU HD, Camtasia and probably others.

Maybe also use one of the following applications to tell us what codec the videos use.

• VideoSpec (free)
• MediaInfo (free)
• Media Inspector (2.99 USD € in the Mac App Store (MAS))

When done, you can use the "Report" (VideoSpec) and "Export" (Media Inspector) button to export a report,
attachable to your next post via the Image button.
In MediaInfo you have to go to the Menu Bar, select View > Text and copy the text via CMD+A > CMD+C and paste it via CMD+V into your next post.​

Yes I have checked that... :S Please take a look at this thread. I explained the problem here again.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Yes I have checked that... :S

And what does it say under Format and Sharing & Permissions?
Or do you mean something else?

Please take a look at this thread. I explained the problem here again.

Does that refer to another thread? There is no link, or am I confused?
Ah, had to look for myself: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1521597/

And what about the applications I mentioned?


Maybe take a look here:

"How to maximise your MacRumors troubleshooting experience" created by mad jew in 2006​

Anyway, since one thread per issue does suffice, I answer here to this:

Hello!

We had a video shoot for our company some time ago and we put all the .mov files on an external harddisk. They used to work fine and were named like video1.mov, video2.mov etc. Now we found that the original files are all not openable and have all the size of 0mb. But there are new files like video1 2.mov, video2 2.mov etc. It seems like that these are restored files of the original files? It might happened that the disk fell.

Our issue is now that we can open them perfectly and watch them from the external HDD but we are not able to import them onto any Mac. Other files (original files which are not restored files) can be transferred without any problems. But if you want to transfer any of these new "videoname 2.mov" videos the export stucks at around 40% and doesnt finish the whole operation. The mac tells me that he couldnt finish the operation because some files couldnt be read or written (error: -36)

What could we possibly do?

Thank you so much for your help!

If an HDD does fall, it can be damaged, especially if it was running.
But normally files do not restore themselves, thus you either had a company do that or someone else did that.
As for copying, did you try CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper! (CCC has a free trial and there is also a free older version available for download) to clone selected contents to another HDD?

And by "import" I guess you mean a copy process you initiated via Finder?

And again, I guess you did not employ any backups?

 

[frankblundt]

You can open them in Quicktime and view them OK? What if you try File > Duplicate (and then close to prompt a Save alert) or File > Export.. to save a copy of it?
VLC Media Player also has a streaming -> save to file option which, if you can view it, you can usually save from it.

If that approach fails, diskwarrior is a really great tool for rebuilding/recovering data from wonky drives. Not cheap though.