GoPro Hero 6

GoPro Video File Recovery – why is it so difficult?

In Blog, Memory Stick/Card Recovery Case Study by Administrator

GoPro video data recovery

GoPro cameras use MicroSD cards to store data. Frequently these fail, or the FAT32 filesystem becomes corrupt, or data gets deleted. Even when the memory card has good electronic functionality it can be very challenging to recover working video files which a GoPro camera has created. This is due to the particular construction of GoPro video files, which is different from video files which have been created on mobile phones or other devices.

Corruption in recovered GoPro files

GoPro video files have similarities with the video files created by Canon SLR cameras. That is there is a form of fragmentation within files which prevents nearly all data recovery software from recovering the files correctly. Frequently we hear from customers that they have used purchased software from the internet which has performed a ‘deep scan’ to only find GoPro video files that are corrupt or playback lasts for one or two seconds. This is because the software used cannot correctly reconstruct these video files.

A standard MP4 file has three main parts. A file header, pointers, and video stream. GoPro cameras effectively create two video files for each recording. A low-resolution file (.LVR) and a standard MP4 file. These two files are interleaved. Meaning that blocks of the LVR will be followed by the MP4, then by the LVR again and so on. It is not possible for most software to interpret this interleaved data to create a working file.

Professional Data Recovery Services

CDR can work on memory cards which have been used in GoPro cameras to recover working video files and images. As per all work conducted by CDR – Manchester Data Recovery Services – the work is only payable if there has been a successful recovery of the data. Ahead of any payment, you will be provided with a file list showing the recovered files, and also screenshots showing the working files.

CDR can recover data from the follow GoPro cameras:

  • Hero HD
  • HD Hero2
  • Hero3
  • Hero3+
  • Hero4
  • Hero5
  • Hero6
  • Hero+
  • Hero+LCD
  • Karma Drone