Canon R5 CFexpress Type B Was Formatted: Choose Recovery by Format Type and Card State
TL;DR:
Immediately stop writing to a formatted Canon R5 CFexpress Type B card to prevent overwriting exFAT data, and identify whether your lost files are CR3 stills, MP4 movies, or CRM RAW videos before attempting extraction.
● Canon's ordinary format leaves data intact for potential recovery, whereas a low-level format permanently erases all recordable sectors, making it critical to avoid recording test footage, initializing the card, or running file-system repairs.
● Software like Recoverit CFexpress Type B Recovery can scan stable, normally detected cards or disk images, but while CR3 photos are commonly supported, full reconstruction of CRM RAW movies is not guaranteed and requires start-to-finish validation.
● If the lost material is commercially critical, or if the card has already been heavily scanned and behaves unexpectedly, abandon DIY software attempts and consult a CFexpress-capable recovery lab.
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In this Canon R5 CFexpress case, a 512GB Type B card with about 162GB of data was formatted in-camera. The user later saw an mdat payload but not the expected MP4 structural atoms. That is a sign to preserve the card, not to keep formatting or writing to it.
First Identify What the R5 Recorded
Canon's EOS R5 specifications list CR3 for RAW stills, MP4 for standard movies, and CRM for RAW movies. The recovery method must be judged against the actual file type: a CR3 photo and a large CRM RAW movie do not have the same reconstruction requirements.
Canon also states that CFexpress cards are formatted as exFAT and distinguishes normal formatting from low-level formatting. Its formatting guide says low-level format processes all recordable sectors, while ordinary formatting does not necessarily erase every data byte immediately.
Minimize Further Access to the CFexpress Card
Do not record test footage, initialize the card on a computer, or run file-system repair. If the material is commercially critical and the card has already been heavily scanned or behaves unexpectedly, consider a CFexpress-capable lab before more DIY attempts.
Use Software Only When the Card Is Stable and Detectable
If a compatible reader exposes the Type B card normally, Recoverit CFexpress Type B Recovery can scan the readable card or a supported disk image and save results to another drive. CR3 is a common Recoverit RAW-photo format, but do not assume every CRM RAW-video recording can be fully reconstructed. Validate recovered video from start to finish before treating the job as complete.
Key Limit:
Seeing part of a movie payload does not prove that the complete file structure or all video fragments survive. Preserve the source and every recovery attempt separately.