What to do right now
- Take the card out of the device and stop recording.
- If you deleted or formatted, scan the card on a PC for MP4 and MOV files.
- Repair interrupted recordings using a normal clip shot on the same device with the same settings.
Step by step
Identify the situation
If the file is gone from the list, you need deleted or formatted recovery. If the file is there but will not play or shows zero length, the recording was interrupted.
Check the camera's own repair
Some action cameras offer to repair the last file when you power them on with the interrupted card inserted. Check the manual, and copy the card's contents to the PC before trying it.
Scan the card
Connect the card with a card reader and run deleted file recovery in FileFix Ultimate. If exFAT records survive, clips come back with their names; otherwise signature search finds them.
Prepare a reference clip
Repairing an interrupted file needs a short, normal clip from the same device with the same resolution, frame rate and codec. If you do not have one, record a few seconds with the same settings to a different card.
Repair the video
From version 1.0.4, add the broken clip and the reference clip to damaged file repair. The index is rebuilt and saved as a new file; the original stays as it is.
Why large video files are hard
A few minutes of 4K video is several gigabytes. If the card was nearly full and you recorded and deleted repeatedly, a clip may be stored in several pieces. Signature search may then find only the beginning, or a mix with pieces of another clip.
GoPro cameras also write a low-resolution proxy file (LRV) and a thumbnail (THM) next to each MP4. Even if the original MP4 was overwritten, a surviving LRV can give you the scene back at lower quality.
When recovery will not work
- Recording continued after the deletion or format and overwrote the space.
- The recording stopped right after it started, so almost no video data was written.
- No reference clip with matching settings exists, so the index cannot be rebuilt.
- The crash physically damaged the card.
How FileFix Ultimate helps
- Finds deleted MP4 and MOV files on exFAT and FAT32 cards, and from 1.0.4 attempts recovery of fragmented files.
- From version 1.0.4, repairs interrupted recordings with a reference clip and fixes truncated MP4 files up to the playable part.
- Checks recovered video structure and reports a missing index or truncation.
- Never writes to the card or the original file.
FileFix Ultimate is free, works offline and never writes to the drive you are recovering from. Check the signature before you run it.
Frequently asked questions
My GoPro video is 0 bytes or will not play.
The recording may not have finished because the battery died or the card was removed. Try repair with a normal clip from the same GoPro and settings.
Can I save the last video after a drone crash?
If the card survived, the interrupted clip's data is usually on it. Rebuilding the index with a normal clip from the same drone often makes it playable.
Can a formatted GoPro card be recovered?
After a quick format with no new recording, signature search can find the clips. The original names are lost.