How to Retrieve Lost Video Files from Your Camera's SD Card

If you are visiting this article because you are already in an awkward situation with your camera videos, then you need to read on more carefully.

Picture 1 of How to Retrieve Lost Video Files from Your Camera's SD Card

Can I Recover Lost SD Card Videos on My Own?

Many people would like to try SD card recovery on their own. This is because you may be deep in the field or out there with a client as a professional photographer only to find out that some videos are missing.

You can recover SD on your own, though it may seem impossible to many. There are currently many methods to recover videos from SD cards and everyone can try them to restore lost files in SD card among many other storage devices. Commonly, people use data recovery software such as Disk Drill developed by Cleverfiles to make the process hustle free.

In this article, we will show you some of the best ways to restore files from SD cards on your camera. If you read to the end, you will never need to consult professional services to recover lost video files from your camera's SD card at all.

Method 1: Retrieve Lost SD Card Videos with Disk Drill

As mentioned already, many people now prefer to use technology in performing daily fixes. Data recovery software is one way in which technology helps make your life better especially for people who handle data on a daily basis.

With very crucial camera data such as the SD card video, you do not want to take chances. When you find yourself in such a situation, the best thing to do is to perform SD card recovery with Disk Drill.

Why do we recommend this software? It has a very high success rate, does not compromise the safety of your data, and has very powerful intuitive tools that make your recovery process enjoyable. Some of the other features that make it a top choice for people and businesses include:

1. Supports data recovery from all types of storage devices
2. Can recover lost videos, photos, emails and other 1000+ file types
3. Can recover full HD, Ultra HD, 4K, and 8K videos
4. File preview available

To proceed with this recovery method, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Download and install Disk Drill by Cleverfiles on Windows PC by visiting the official Cleverfiles website.

Step 2: Remove the SD card from the camera and connect it to your computer.

Step 3: Launch Disk Drill and select the SD card from the available volumes in your PC.

step 4: Start the scanning process and allow the software to do its job scanning the whole SD card volume.

Usually, the process should take only a few minutes but this depends on the size of the volume being scanned. Remember, Disk Drill allows you to preview the files as they are found and you will be able to select only the files you want to restore. Besides, you can pause the process, continue, and even stop it in between if you feel you have found the files you are looking for.

Step 5: Preview the scan results and select the videos you want to recover.

We recommend that the videos you have recovered be sent to a different location. This is because sending them to their original location may compromise their quality and might even result in overwriting. If you want to look at other expert choices for SD card recovery software, here you will get several others. Check if you have managed to recover deleted videos successfully.

Method 2: Retrieve Lost SD Videos from Backup

Backups are a better way to handle all your data regardless of the storage devices you are using. Even with SD cards on cameras, you can still implement great backups for your data. In fact, you can back up your SD card videos and photos locally in your external hard drives or Windows storage, or externally in the cloud.

The method you choose should be one that works best for you and that you can easily and quickly access the data on demand.

If you previously backed your lost SD card videos, then this is the best opportunity to let your backups work for you.

For local backups, connect the external hard drive with your backup files to PC. Open it and search for the videos using their file names or simply scroll the data until you can locate the files you are looking for.

If you have a cloud backup, open the browser and login to the account where your backups are stored. If you use Google Drive, login to the drive with your Gmail address and check the content for your videos.

Method 3: Contact Data Recovery Service

Something more than data recovery software is here. You may be dealing with a severely damaged SD card in this case. Or, the card is heavily corrupted and the methods we have discussed are not giving you the best results. In that case, you may need a professional data recovery service provider to help you recover lost data from SD card professionally.

It is however important to know that data recovery services can be very expensive and time-consuming compared to data recovery software. That is why we recommend that you check your backups or use Disk Drill data recovery before trying out this option.

Tips to Keep your SD Card Data Safe

Generally, prevention is better than cure. If you managed to retrieve lost SD card videos successfully with any of the methods we described above, you should be lucky! Putting up strategies to safeguard your SD card data will be much better going forward. Below are some of the best ways to safeguard SD card data.

1. Handle with care – always handle SD cards with care making sure not to expose them to water or harsh weather conditions.
2. Protective case – once the card is removed, use a protective case to secure it. The case protects it from dust and other particles.
3. Monitor health – use appropriate tools to monitor the SD card health and detect possible threats early enough.
4. Backup – back up all your data before it is too late to do so.

Lesley Montoya

Update 12 March 2024