I recorded a large number of wedding videos on a brand-new camcorder and stored them on an SD card. When I connected the card to my iPad using a recommended adapter, the files did not appear. I initially assumed the adapter or iPad might simply be incompatible.
To compare, I copied the videos from a second camcorder's SD card directly to a laptop, and they were visible and intact. After that backup was complete, I tested the second card with the same iPad adapter, and its files also stopped appearing. The first card now appears empty on both the iPad and a computer, while the second card worked normally until it was connected to the iPad.
I have not recorded anything else on either card or reformatted them because I do not want to overwrite potentially recoverable data. Are the videos likely still on the cards, and what is the safest way to recover them?
1 Answer
Stop using both cards with that adapter or the iPad, and do not format, repair, or save anything to them. The data may still be present, but the directory or filesystem could have been damaged or the iPad may not support the cards’ format correctly. Try a reliable computer card reader only if necessary, preferably after making a sector-by-sector image of each card. Recovery tools such as PhotoRec, TestDisk, or commercial recovery software can scan the image for video files. If the wedding footage is especially important, a professional data-recovery service is the safest option.
The second card showing the files on the laptop before the iPad test strongly points to the adapter/iPad combination rather than the camcorder. Since the first card now looks empty on multiple devices, avoid repeated experiments and work from an image or a recovery copy instead.