DiskInternals

I've never heard of DiskInternals or their Video Recovery program, but they definitely deliver what's promised! – Ok- back story first. I think this is important for anyone who's in a similar situation to me and desperate to get their data back! It clearly defines the fault I had, and whether you think you need to go to a data recovery specialist and pay $500+ for their services, when you may not need to. I have a large collection of movies (DVD and Blurray)… Read more

backed up onto a hard drive, nearly all of them in the MKV format. The drive itself is a WD Red 3TB NAS drive. Has served me well for 8 years.

In the process of backing up that hard drive, I've somehow corrupted the drive contents (maybe I didn't let it shut down properly or something prior to disconnecting the drive? I'm still not sure what I did).

The physical drive itself doesn't have any hardware faults. It hasn't been dropped, or exposed to water etc. and doesn't make any weird noises. Runs quietly as expected. But the file system has disappeared completely. Bios and Windows 10 can see the drive, but I can't see any of the files in it when I click on it.

And this is the crucial part in choosing to try this software in my opinion. If the computer can't see the drive, or its got an obvious physical problem with the hardware inside, your only option is to take it to a data recovery specialist and pay whatever they are charging. I actually got to this point and was nearly ready to hand over the drive even with a quote that came back saying "at least $500, depending on how much work is required to get the data off the drive", a ridiculously open ended quote- but I really wanted the data back, and I guess these companies know the desperation of their clients.

Anyway, after trying everything at home- WD Lifeguard full sector by sector scan, Windows system scan, and a few free data recovery programs like Recuva and the like, none of them could see/recover the MKV files on the hard drive. I was like "stuff it, I'm just going to have to hand over the money... I have no other options left".

And then it dawned on me. What if these recovery programs aren't specifically looking for video files, and specifically MKV files?

So I Googled away and found Video Recovery from DiskInternals. I'd never heard of them or any of their other programs. But I figure they offer a free trial so you can SEE FOR YOURSELF what it can find before paying any cash. This is good because some of the paid data recovery programs want a couple hundred dollars UPFRONT!

So I downloaded and installed it. Ran the program on the problem disk and within a few minutes it's giving me a full list of my videos (with video thumbnails!) that are recoverable!!! The relief almost made me cry! The paid version allows you to actually recover them, but at least this program could prove it could find the actual files!

I knew then this was the product for me! For about $50 (instead of the $600-700 I was almost prepared to pay!), I made the purchase and they sent me my product key within a few minutes. Soon afterwards the program was transferring all my movies over to the new external drive.

The software is point and click follow the bouncing ball type stuff. I'm familiar with computers (can build one from scratch), but I wouldn't have the faintest on how to recover a drive with DOS prompts and complicated programs. Just follow the prompts, and then click on the different folders it finds to look for your data.

Seriously, if anyone reading this is at wits end on how to recover their video files and doesn't know what to do, give these guys a go. Don't pay any money! Download their software and see if it finds your stuff. There's a stack of review sites on Google and they all push these really expensive data recovery solutions. Free ones don't work, and the expensive ones are almost as much as having a data recovery specialist do it for you.

Try DiskInternals. I wouldn't have the faintest on how well their other products go, but the Video Recovery program from them is GOLD! It'll find your videos on a corrupted drive and restore them. It's taking a while (I'm up to 17 hours as I type- photo attached), but it's working. One by one my movies are being returned to me.

I'd love to hear from anyone this helps. I went from despair in losing my data to elation in being able to recover it, without the massive price tag from a pro. I was seriously just about to arrange to have the drive sent to them, and this program has saved me hundreds!!

This isn't some sock puppet fake review from the developer. I've included a snapshot of my recovery in progress right now, and my purchase details to Product Review. I haven't been given any incentive whatsoever to write this. The recovery process is chugging along as I type this, and I'm just so happy with the product I thought I'd get online and give this software the props it deserves. Maybe I'm in a post data recovery high or something :).

I doubt the developer will even get to see this, but if you ever do- thank you so much! And thanks for not ripping me off either :).