Audio · exFAT audio media
AIFF/AIFC: recover after deletion
How can I recover AIFF or AIFC recordings after deletion?
Short answer
Yes, often: deleted AIFF or AIFC takes remain on the card until new recordings overwrite them. Stop recording, remove the card and scan it read-only. Note whether the recorder wrote uncompressed AIFF or compressed AIFC, plus sample rate and channel count, because the COMM chunk must declare the right format for a recovered take to play.
The situation
AIFF or AIFC recordings no longer appears in its recording folder even though the storage device is still detected.
The recorder card mounts and its folder opens, but the take is no longer listed. Deletion removed the entry that pointed to it; the FORM container with its COMM and SSND chunks stays in the data area until the recorder fills those blocks with a new session.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
An AIFF take is uncompressed big-endian audio in a FORM container: COMM declares sample rate, channel count and frame count, SSND carries the samples. Deleting the take frees its clusters but rewrites none of them. AIFC is the same container with a compression identifier, which matters later, because a recovered file only decodes when that identifier came back with it.
Deletion can release a directory reference before later writes reuse every block that belonged to the file. For AIFF/AIFC, this matters because FORM, COMM and SSND chunks hold format parameters and audio payload
Check the last known path, trash and backups without writing to the original device.
02 / Protect the source
Preserve the best recovery chance
- 1
Stop the session on that card, power the recorder down and move the card to a reader instead of recording anything further.
- 2
Write down whether the recorder wrote plain AIFF or compressed AIFC, plus sample rate, bit depth and channel count.
- 3
Scan the card read-only from macOS or Windows and refuse any prompt to verify, index or repair the volume.
- 4
Export recovered takes to an internal or external drive other than the card, then open each one in an audio editor.
Do not use the card for a quick reference recording and do not let a tagging or catalog program write to it. Even a short take claims clusters, and if it lands on the SSND payload the deleted recording comes back with silence or noise in the middle.
03 / Choose the method
Match the tool to the source
For stable, readable exFAT, NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 or uncompressed IMG, DD, RAW and BIN images.
Unconfirmed exports are marked .UNVERIFIED.
File Recovery Hero scans the exFAT recorder card read-only and exports takes for a one-time 50 EUR after a free scan. It cannot rebuild a damaged COMM chunk or repair an AIFC file whose compressed payload was partly overwritten.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
A good result reports the sample rate and channel count you noted and plays evenly from start to end. Listen through the whole take rather than only the first seconds: overwritten blocks show up as a burst of noise or a hard cut, while a correct COMM chunk alone proves nothing.
Keep the source until two verified copies exist. One working preview is not enough.
Sources and technical references
FAQ
Questions about this recovery case
Can exFAT audio media be recovered in this situation?+
The recorder card mounts and its folder opens, but the take is no longer listed. Deletion removed the entry that pointed to it; the FORM container with its COMM and SSND chunks stays in the data area until the recorder fills those blocks with a new session. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not use the card for a quick reference recording and do not let a tagging or catalog program write to it.
Does scanning write to my memory card?+
Your memory card is only read. Nothing is saved to it.
How do I know whether the result is complete?+
A good result reports the sample rate and channel count you noted and plays evenly from start to end.