Audio · exFAT field recorder card
Poly WAV multitrack: recover after deletion
How can I recover multichannel Poly WAV takes after deletion?
Short answer
Yes, often, and all channels come back together: a Poly WAV holds every microphone track in one interleaved file, so recovering that file restores the whole take. Stop recording and scan the card read-only. Keep the track sheet, because channel names stored in iXML may be missing and are needed to split the tracks correctly.
The situation
multichannel Poly WAV takes no longer appears in its recording folder even though the storage device is still detected.
The recorder card is intact and mounts as usual, but the take has disappeared from the folder. That one missing file is the whole session: a Poly WAV interleaves every microphone channel in a single container, so the entry that was released covers all tracks at once.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
Deletion removes the directory entry and frees the clusters while the interleaved samples stay in place. A poly take is large because all channels share one file, and its channel names, track order and timecode live in the iXML and BEXT metadata at the start. If those blocks are lost, the audio can return with its channels unlabelled and hard to assign.
Deletion can release a directory reference before later writes reuse every block that belonged to the file. For Poly WAV multitrack, this matters because several microphone channels share a container, timecode and common length
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 shoot on that card, power the recorder down and remove the card before anything else is recorded.
- 2
Keep the sound report and the track sheet at hand, since they document which channel carried which microphone.
- 3
Scan the card read-only through a reader and decline any offer from the system to check or repair the volume.
- 4
Export the found take to a separate drive and open it in software that can split interleaved channels.
Do not record a wild track or a test on the same card, and do not let the recorder rebuild its index. A poly take covers a long run of clusters, so a short new recording anywhere inside that range damages every channel of the session at the same moment.
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 reads the exFAT card read-only, scans free of charge and exports for a one-time 50 EUR onto another drive. It does not restore iXML channel names or timecode that were lost, and it cannot repair a poly take whose interleaved payload is incomplete.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
A usable take opens with the full channel count, plays in sync across all tracks and runs for the length listed in the sound report. Split the channels and listen to each one: a track that turns to noise partway through marks reused blocks, and that damage hits all channels together.
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 field recorder card be recovered in this situation?+
The recorder card is intact and mounts as usual, but the take has disappeared from the folder. That one missing file is the whole session: a Poly WAV interleaves every microphone channel in a single container, so the entry that was released covers all tracks at once. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not record a wild track or a test on the same card, and do not let the recorder rebuild its index.
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 usable take opens with the full channel count, plays in sync across all tracks and runs for the length listed in the sound report.