Storage media · ProGrade exFAT SDXC card
Recover files from a ProGrade SDXC card
How do I recover deleted media from a ProGrade SDXC card?
Short answer
Usually yes, if the card is retired immediately: large high-bitrate clips often sit in contiguous areas after deletion, but new capture overwrites them just as fast. Confirm the ProGrade card is exFAT, scan it read-only for your recording format, and play every recovered clip through its full duration.
The situation
High-bitrate production media disappeared from a card that still reads normally.
High-bitrate clips are large, and large files are written in long contiguous runs, which helps a scan considerably. The same size works against you once shooting continues: one more take can reclaim the exact area a deleted clip occupied. Reacting quickly matters more here than anything else.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
A ProGrade SDXC card used for production video holds a small number of very large files rather than thousands of small ones. When they are deleted or the card is quick-formatted, exFAT marks their clusters free but leaves the contents untouched. Because every new take claims hundreds of megabytes at once, the window before those clusters are reused is short.
Large contiguous extents may remain after deletion, but new capture can overwrite them rapidly.
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, eject it and fit a different card before anybody presses record again.
- 2
Write down how many clips are missing and roughly how long each of them ran, so there is something to check the results against.
- 3
Insert the card in a reliable reader, confirm the volume is exFAT, and scan read-only for the recording format that was in use.
- 4
Export the clips to a fast drive with room to spare, then open every one of them in the editor before the card is reused.
Do not keep shooting on the card to finish the day, and do not copy recovered clips back onto it. Formatting the card again in the hope of a cleaner mount destroys precisely the allocation evidence that a scan depends on.
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 fragmented high-bitrate clip may come back only in part, and File Recovery Hero does not repair broken containers or rebuild missing indexes. Physically failing cards, encrypted volumes and file systems other than exFAT, NTFS and FAT16/FAT32 lie outside what the software can read.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
Scrub through each recovered clip at several points instead of watching the first seconds. The duration in the player should match what was shot, audio should stay in sync at the end, and the bitrate should not collapse halfway, which is the usual sign of a partly overwritten file.
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 ProGrade exFAT SDXC card be recovered in this situation?+
High-bitrate clips are large, and large files are written in long contiguous runs, which helps a scan considerably. The same size works against you once shooting continues: one more take can reclaim the exact area a deleted clip occupied. Reacting quickly matters more here than anything else. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not keep shooting on the card to finish the day, and do not copy recovered clips back onto 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?+
Scrub through each recovered clip at several points instead of watching the first seconds.