Audio · exFAT field recorder card
Poly WAV multitrack: find after an import failure
Where are multichannel Poly WAV takes after a failed import?
Short answer
First check whether the import split the file: some editing apps turn a Poly WAV into separate mono tracks on import, so the take may exist as several files with new names. Search destination, trash and project folders, compare against the card, and scan the card read-only only if the original is gone.
The situation
multichannel Poly WAV takes is incomplete at the destination and no longer appears reliably on the source.
The destination holds only part of the session and the card no longer lists the takes reliably. That points at the import step rather than at the card: a move, a rename or a delete-after-import option finished halfway, leaving source and destination in different states.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
Audio editors treat Poly WAV differently: some keep the interleaved file, others split it into one mono file per channel and rename each by track name on import. A take that seems lost is often sitting in the project folder as eight separate files. Where the import also deleted the source, an interruption between copy and delete leaves nothing visible in either place.
Move, rename, catalog and delete-after-import steps can fail at different moments and leave source and destination in different states. 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
Take the card out of the recorder and set it aside unused until the destination, the trash and the project folders have been searched.
- 2
Search the editing machine for the take number and for the individual track names, including hidden media caches and the application trash.
- 3
List the card contents against the recorder take log, so you know exactly which takes are genuinely absent from the card.
- 4
Only for those takes, scan the card read-only and export the results to a third drive, then rebuild the session from them.
Do not run the same import a second time in the hope of filling the gaps; a repeated delete-after-import pass can remove what is still on the card. Formatting the card to start the transfer cleanly is the one step that makes the loss permanent.
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.
A read-only scan finds takes still present on the exFAT card; it cannot restore what the import moved onto a drive that was then erased, and it does not read APFS or HFS+ volumes. On a Mac destination, look for the missing files in the Finder trash instead.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
The session is complete when every take number in the recorder log has a file at the destination, with the channel count the track sheet lists. Split mono sets count as complete only if all channels of that take are present and line up sample-accurately on the timeline.
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 destination holds only part of the session and the card no longer lists the takes reliably. That points at the import step rather than at the card: a move, a rename or a delete-after-import option finished halfway, leaving source and destination in different states. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not run the same import a second time in the hope of filling the gaps; a repeated delete-after-import pass can remove what is still on the card.
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?+
The session is complete when every take number in the recorder log has a file at the destination, with the channel count the track sheet lists.