Video · exFAT recording drive
ProRes MOV: recover after an interrupted recording
What can I do with ProRes recordings in MOV after a recording interruption?
Short answer
Often the ProRes frames are written but the MOV has no moov atom, because the recording was never closed. Keep the original file and medium untouched. A repair tool can rebuild the index on a copy, using a reference clip recorded with the same ProRes flavor, resolution and frame rate on the same device.
The situation
ProRes recordings in MOV is missing, too short or unreadable after power loss, a card error or an unsafe stop.
The recorder wrote ProRes frames until it lost power, then stopped without finishing the file. The frames are on the medium, but the MOV has no moov atom, so every player and editor treats the file as unreadable rather than as a shortened take.
01 / Diagnose
Work out what actually disappeared
QuickTime keeps its sample tables in moov, and a camera normally writes that atom when the take ends. An interrupted recording therefore leaves a large mdat full of ProRes frames and no description of where each frame sits or how long the clip runs. Nothing is corrupt; the file is simply unfinished.
The payload may have been written before duration fields, indexes, directory entries or closing structures were committed. For ProRes MOV, this matters because QuickTime sample tables must point to the complete high-bitrate ProRes 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
Turn the recorder off, take the medium out and do not let the device attempt its own recovery pass on the unfinished take.
- 2
Record a short reference clip on another medium with the same ProRes flavour, resolution and frame rate on the same camera.
- 3
Duplicate the unfinished MOV, or image the whole medium, and give the repair tool the duplicate to work on.
- 4
Rebuild the index from the reference, save the result to another disk, and archive the original unfinished file untouched.
Do not let the camera finalise or format the medium to clear the error, and do not point a repair tool at the original file. Using a reference clip from a different camera or a different ProRes flavour produces a file that plays but looks wrong.
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.
This is container repair rather than recovery. File Recovery Hero restores lost files from exFAT, NTFS and FAT media read-only and does not patch individual damaged files, so an unfinished MOV needs a repair tool; frames the recorder never wrote cannot come back.
04 / Verify
Check the recovered content, not just its name
A successful rebuild plays for as long as the take actually ran before the power failed, not zero seconds and not the full planned length. Load it into an editor, check that the flavour and timecode look right, and scrub the final minute for stuttering.
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 recording drive be recovered in this situation?+
The recorder wrote ProRes frames until it lost power, then stopped without finishing the file. The frames are on the medium, but the MOV has no moov atom, so every player and editor treats the file as unreadable rather than as a shortened take. The result still depends on what remains readable on the source.
What should I avoid before scanning?+
Do not let the camera finalise or format the medium to clear the error, and do not point a repair tool at the original file.
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 successful rebuild plays for as long as the take actually ran before the power failed, not zero seconds and not the full planned length.