Quick-Formatted Sony SD Card Finds Last Month's Videos but Not Today's XAVC S 4K Footage
If three recovery tools find older videos but not today's XAVC S 4K footage after a camera format, do not assume a fourth scan will restore it. Stop using the SD card and first confirm you are examining the correct card. Then determine whether the missing recording data is still present before paying for another recovery tool or video repair.
That is the problem in this Sony XAVC S recovery discussion on Reddit. The user quick-formatted a Lexar Professional 128GB exFAT card in a Sony A7 V, took no further footage on it, and ran Disk Drill, Wondershare Recoverit, and R-Studio. The scans surfaced videos from the previous month but not the shoot recorded that day.
Check The Actual Recording Card Before Another Scan
Check all cards and slots used during the shoot and any computer ingest folder. Compare the missing day's footage with file dates and playable thumbnails rather than relying on a card label alone. A reader in the Reddit discussion raised a possible card mix-up, but the post does not establish that one occurred. Do not make a test recording, reformat a card, or use the camera's repair function to check.
Keep The Card Unchanged And Inspect A Copy
If the card shows its expected capacity and reads consistently, create a sector-level image onto another healthy drive before further scans. Use that copy for inspection. If the card disconnects, returns read errors, or shows the wrong capacity, stop DIY scans and consider a flash-recovery specialist.
An SD Association Quick format definition describes its own formatter's behavior, not every camera's implementation. Do not assume that selecting a camera menu's quick-format option proves the previous video payload remains readable. Similarly, a recovered video from last month proves only that the scanner recognized some older data.
Scan Result Interpretation
- The correct day's files exist on another card or in an ingest folder: Copy and verify those intact originals; no file recovery is needed.
- Data blocks or fragments from today's videos are present in the image: Have a specialist evaluate a video-aware recovery approach before trying repair on any incomplete reconstructed files. Camera recordings can be fragmented, as explained in PhotoRec's video recovery notes.
- Only older files are detected, and the missing recording data cannot be located: There is no evidence yet that paying for another general scanner will change the result. No tool can reconstruct video bytes that are no longer available.
Recoverit Memory Card Recovery supports scanning detectable memory cards, but its earlier failure to locate these particular clips is a reason to verify surviving data and media identity before repeating the same recovery path. A repair tool cannot turn an absent video payload into a complete recording.