How to Recover Deleted/Lost Videos from Leica M10-R/SL2/CL/Q2?

Eleanor Reed

Aug 23, 2023 • Filed to: Photo/Video/Audio Solutions • Proven solutions

Have you ever lost some important videos or photos from your video camera or camcorder? Well, a while back I accidentally formatted my Leica M10-R that caused an unwanted loss of my videos. Besides that, there could be numerous other reasons for losing our photos/videos from Leica cameras too.

Thankfully, by following some smart steps, I could recover my deleted videos – and so can you. Here, I will let you know how to recover deleted videos from Leica M10-R, SL2, CL, Q2, and other prominent models.

Solution 1: Unhide your Photos/Videos from your SD Card

Before you take any drastic measures to recover deleted videos from Leica CL/Q2/SL2, make sure that that the files are not hidden. For instance, you could have hidden your videos before, or any malware could have done that.

Once you connect your camera or its SD card, just open Windows Explorer and go to the "View" option from the menu. From here, just enable the option to view "Hidden Items" on the Explorer.

Besides that, you can also go to your system's Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization field. Now, visit the File Explorer Options > View tab and turn on the option to Show Hidden Files on your system.

Solution 2: Use Diskpart in Command Prompt to Repair the Card

Another reason for losing your photos or videos could be a corrupt SD card. There are a couple of ways to fix your SD card and one of them is using the Disk Partition utility. To repair your SD card, you can just connect it to your system, open the Command Prompt, and run the DISKPART utility in the following way.

1. Connect the corrupt SD card to your system and go to the Start menu to launch the Command Prompt.
2. As the Command Prompt window is launched, you can type and enter the "Diskpart" command to load its utility feature on Windows.
3. Afterward, just enter the "list disk" command to load the information about the connected disks and note the identifier for your SD card.
4. Now, you can use the "select" command followed by the disk identifier. For instance, if the SD card is disk 2, then enter the "select disk 2" command.
5. After selecting the SD card, enter the "clean" command that would wipe all the storage from the SD card and will repair it automatically.

Solution 3: Use a Reliable Leica Video Recovery Tool

One of the best ways to recover deleted videos from Leica M10-R, SL2, CL, or Q2 is by using a dedicated video recovery tool. I would recommend using Wondershare Recoverit as it provides an enhanced recovery solution.

Step 1: Install and Launch Wondershare Recoverit Video Recovery

At first, click the download button below for Windows and Mac versions. Once the installer is downloaded, you can open it, and complete the installation of the video recovery tool.

Afterward, you can just look for Recoverit from the search option on the taskbar to launch it on your system.

Step 2: Choose the Enhanced Recovery Feature

From the available options on the welcome screen of Recoverit, you can simply choose the "Enhanced Recovery" feature and click on the "Start" button.

Step 3: Select the Connected SD Card and Start the Process

As you would proceed, make sure that the SD card of your Leica camera is connected to the system. Now, from the available options, just select the connected SD card on Recoverit. You can also select the format of the videos that are lost from your Leica camera to speed up the process.

Step 4: Let Recoverit Scan your SD Card for Lost Videos

Once you click on the "Start" button, the application would scan your SD card for any deleted or lost videos. It will apply its unique algorithm to find lost video fragments and merging them to get the best results. You can check the progress on the screen and wait for the video scanning process to be completed.

Step 5: Preview and Restore your Videos

That's it! Once the recovery process is completed, Recoverit will let you know. You can now preview the results of the enhanced recovery on the native interface of the application.

Lastly, select the videos to extract and click on the "Recover" button to save them. It is recommended to recover your videos to any safe location on your system and not the same SD card from where you lost them in the first place.

Solution 4: Update or Reinstall the Essential Drivers

If the installed drivers on your system are corrupted, then it can cause the unavailability of your videos. Though, to recover lost videos from Leica SL2/Q2/CL/M10-R, you can either update or reinstall the essential drivers.

To do this, just go to the Search bar on the taskbar and look for "Device Manager". You can also open the Run prompt and enter the "devmgmt.msc" command to load it.

Once the Device Manager window is opened, expand the Disk Driver section, and select the installed SD Card drivers. Afterward, you can right-click the SD card drive and choose to update or uninstall it.

If you click on the "Update" button, then a new wizard would be loaded that would let you update the driver. Though, if you have uninstalled the driver, then you can later go to its official website to install it back on your system.

Solution 5: Run CHKDSK on Command Prompt

The Check Disk Command Utility is another smart way to repair a corrupt SD card (without wiping its storage). If your Leica camera's SD card has some minor logical issues or corrupt storage, then the Check Disk utility can fix it easily.

To recover lost video from Leica Q2/CL/SL2/M10-R, you can first open the Run prompt, and enter the "Cmd" command. You can also directly look for the Command Prompt via the Search option on the taskbar.

Now, before you proceed, make sure that your camera's SD card is connected to the system and that you know its drive letter. On Command Prompt, you can enter the "chkdsk" command followed by the drive letter of the SD card.

For instance, if the drive letter is "E", then you can write "chkdsk e: /f /r /x" and press enter. The respective parameters are used to repair bad sectors and fix logical issues on the SD card. After entering the command, you can just wait for a while and let your system fix the connected SD card.

Solution 6: Repair the SD Card by Formatting it

In case the SD card of your Leica camera has been corrupted, then it can also cause an unwanted loss of your videos. Therefore, you can simply format the SD card to fix any logical issue or get rid of any malicious entity from it. Even though it would wipe its storage, you can later use a recovery tool (like Wondershare Recoverit) to restore your data.

To format your SD card, just detach it from your Leica camera and connect it to your system instead. Now, go to Windows Explorer and select the connected SD card under the External Devices section. Right-click and choose to format the SD card to get a dedicated pop-up window.

From here, you can select a file system (like exFAT or NTFS) for your SD card and even change its label. Click on the "Format" button and wait as all the saved data on your SD card would be wiped out.

Solution 7: Use the Inbuilt 'Error Checking' Feature

You might not know this, but Windows also offers an inbuilt Error Checking feature that can help you troubleshoot this issue. If your SD card is corrupted, then you can recover lost videos from Leica Q2/SL2/CL/M10-R by following this approach.

Just connect your SD card to your computer and right-click its icon from Windows Explorer. Open its properties and go to the "Tools" tab on the dedicated Properties window. Here, you can click on the "Check" button under the Error Checking section and wait as Windows would resolve any logical issues with your SD card.

Solution 8: Assign a New Drive Letter to the SD Card

It might sound surprising, but a conflict in your SD card's drive letter can also cause this issue. For instance, if your system already has the drive letter allocated to another partition, then it can cause an unwanted conflict or deadlock.

To recover deleted videos from Leica CL/Q2/SL2/M10-R, you can simply reassign the drive letter for your SD card. For this, you can first launch the Run prompt and enter the "diskmgmt.msc" command to open the Disk Management tool on your System.

As the Disk Management application is launched, you can check the storage of the connected SD card. Simply select the SD card storage, right-click it, and choose the "Change Drive Letter and Paths" option.

Now, a new pop-up window would be launched on your system. From here, you can assign a new drive letter to your SD card and click on the "Ok" button to implement the changes.

Solution 9: Use Windows Inbuilt Troubleshooter

To make it easier for us to fix these issues, Windows has come up with an inbuilt troubleshooter. Therefore, if there is a minor issue with your SD card or camera, then the native troubleshooter of Windows can fix it.

To recover deleted videos from Leica M10-R/SL2/CL/Q2, you can first connect its SD card to your system. Now, go to your system's Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot and go to the "Hardware and Devices" section.

Click on the "Run the Troubleshoot" button and follow a click-through wizard to fix any issue with the connected SD card, device connection, or the installed drivers.

Solution 10: Use the Manufacturer's SD Card Management Tool

Lastly, you can also take the assistance of the SD card management tool that is offered by its manufacturer. Ideally, most manufacturers like SanDisk, Kingston, Micron, Samsung, HP, etc. offer a lightweight tool to manage their SD cards.

For instance, let's say you are using a SanDisk SD card on your Leica camera. Now, you can simply install the SD Card Formatter application by SanDisk on your system. Whenever you encounter an issue, just connect the SD card to your system and launch the Formatter tool.

From here, you can choose to perform a quick or overwrite formatting on your SD card. Even though this would wipe its storage, it would automatically fix numerous issues with your Leica camera's SD card.

Bonus Tip: How to Maintain Your Leica Cameras?

As you can see, there are so many solutions to recover deleted videos from Leica M10-R, CL, SL2, Q2, and several other models. Though, if you want to avoid these issues altogether, then consider following these expert tips:

• Use a dedicated SD card

  Don't make the rookie mistake of using the same SD card on your camera, smartphone, and other devices. It is recommended to allocate a dedicated SD card solely for your Leica camera.

• Don't shoot while charging (or in low battery)

  If your camera is running on a low battery, then it is recommended to avoid shooting (as your recorded video might not be saved). Also, you should avoid shooting any video while charging your Leica camera.

• Don't connect to public computers and networks

  You might already know that public computers and networks are mostly not that secure. Therefore, if you connect your SD card or camera to a public computer, then it can make your device corrupt.

• Scan the SD card more often

  Ideally, whenever you would connect your SD card to your computer, consider scanning it with an anti-malware tool to detect the presence of any malicious entity.

• Format the SD card regularly

  Also, it is recommended to format your Leica camera's SD card every 3-6 months. This would make sure there are no logical issues with your SD card and will improve its overall performance as well.

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The Bottom Line 

Now when you know ten different ways to recover deleted videos from Leica M10-R, CL, SL2, Q2, and other models, you can easily get your media files back. As you can see, I have included numerous ways to repair a corrupt SD card or to directly recover your lost videos. Ideally, if your SD card is corrupted, then formatting it would be the best solution. Later, you can simply use a recovery tool (like Wondershare Recoverit) to get back your lost videos from it without any issue.