Recovered files unplayable?

[stepfly]

Apologies if I'm on the wrong board, but hoping for advice. I messed up and managed to delete a very large folder of video files on an external HD.

 

I used recuva to recover the files, and the process seemed to work. However, afterwards, a large number of the recovered video files are unplayable (around 60% – though, a couple seemed to have had their identities transposed i.e. the file name says it is video01.avi, but when I play it in vlc video02.avi plays).

 

Have I got any options to do another recovery on that external HD to try again, or does the fact that I've *already* “recovered” those files mean I can't have a do-over? i.e. if I ran another recovery program on that hard drive would nothing be available as recuva has already “saved” those files?

 

Presumably deleting the non-playable files again isn't going to help this issue.

 

Am I just out of luck and the non-playable files are junk now?

 

My tech skills are very limited, so any suggestions would be really appreciated, as some of the non-playable files would be very tough to replace, or somewhere else to go to find help. Many thanks.

[Andavari]

Assuming the videos aren't corrupt you could try something like the free Avidemux to remux/resave the videos (don't overwrite the originals) which should add in new header information making them playable, again that's if they aren't corrupt to begin with.

[stepfly]

Thanks a lot, Andavari. Didn't get any joy with Avidemux, so I'm guessing those files are shredded. Oh well, I'll know better next time.