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MP4 Forensic

December 2nd, 2017, 2:21

Hi all,

I have some MP4 files and want to repair them.
I have already used usual video recovery software but I did not get any result.
This website can repair them but the price so expensive (http://mp4repair.org)
Do you have any idea how to fix them?

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 2nd, 2017, 3:41

have you tried using something like FormatFactory or handbrake to "convert" them? sometimes the software will convert them, fixing small issues without knowing it.

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 2nd, 2017, 5:48

HaQue wrote:have you tried using something like FormatFactory or handbrake to "convert" them? sometimes the software will convert them, fixing small issues without knowing it.


I check Handbrake and FormatFactory.
No good result...

Thank you

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 5th, 2017, 15:15

Sometimes VLC can repair damaged videofiles...try that, or dig in manually if they are not too many.

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 7th, 2017, 8:15

Is at least the header a valid MP4 header ? If not, they might be overwritten files, still referenced as MP4 by the filesystem, nothing can repair that...
If the headers are fine, then read this :
http://aeroquartet.com/movierepair/mpeg4
Try that :
http://grauonline.de/cms2/
You can recover 50% of files for free (that means, 50% of what can actually be recovered, not 50% of the original files) ; then they provide a 29 Euros licence to fully recover 5 files, and the price for the full licence is 99 Euros (unless you try and track some sophisticated trick off the back of a truck...).
I have successfully repaired a bunch of truncated MOV files recovered from a failing HDD, using Grau Video Repair, which were unreadable because their index was originally at the end and thus missing. For instance, one of those files was 110329856 bytes but contained empty data after offset 57503743, and the file repaired by GVR has a size of 57522119 bytes, so it probably salvaged all that was salvageable.

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 10th, 2017, 1:29

Thanks all
I check your suggestions but still nothing...

Here one of sample of header:
Attachments
mp4_header.png

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 10th, 2017, 10:28

Well, that looks like a legit MOV header... (You can verify this by comparing it with the header of a few valid MOV files.)
Can you provide a bit of a context ? How were those files obtained and what is the likely cause of corruption ? (I assume that those files can't be read with well-known media players, and media analyzers don't show valid video properties.) If they were carved as raw files (i.e. without filesystem informations, if the MFT or equivalent was corrupted/overwritten) on a volume which was highly fragmented [*], then it's going to be very hard if not impossible to recover them even partially (if there's only a valid header and then random data from other files, no magic program can turn that into a readable video). Does that MP4repair.org website show you a promising preview ? If it does, then Grau Video Repair should be able to get approximately the same result.

(Disclaimer : I'm new here, I'm not a DR professional.)


[*] Even when the whole volume is not highly fragmented, massive fragmentation can occur when for instance several files are downloaded simultaneously. I've had such an issue recently, as reported here.

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 10th, 2017, 11:13

Were these by any chance recovered by file signature from a camera memory card? Something like a GoPro for example.

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 11th, 2017, 1:24

Thanks all...
@abolibibelot Only mp4repair.org website can show preview and I can download a sample...
@data-medics unfortunately I can not access to source of files like raw image or else

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 11th, 2017, 7:40

You still didn't say what could be the likely cause of corruption, or how those files were obtained in the first place... Are they truncated at the end, or are there unreadable sectors, or could it be due to fragmentation, or you don't know ? With the hex editor do you see what seems to be video data all the way to the end, or is it interrupted by empty sectors, or text, or recognizable patterns from other file types ? Do you have at least one functional video file obtained the same way ?
With Grau Video Repair you need to provide a sample of a functional video file with the same characteristics (shot with the same device, or created with the same software, using the same parameters – I don't know what happens when the provided sample has different characteristics). Their guide is quite thorough and straigthforward.

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 15th, 2017, 14:20

AviDemux
https://avidemux.it.softonic.com/

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 16th, 2017, 1:30

michael chiklis wrote:AviDemux
https://avidemux.it.softonic.com/

Movie editor... can not repair!

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 16th, 2017, 9:18

Then pray, maybe they'll get healed miraculously...

I mean, I tried to provide serious suggestions, but you did not give any more useful input, yet you are supposedly a computer forensic professional (that's what your signature says) asking for guidance on a forum to perform a task which must be quite basic in the grand scheme of forensic things. I find it rather strange that a forensic pro would rely on “black box” kind of software, or some other one-click solution like this website you mentioned, to attempt a file repair, which, depending on the answer to some of the questions I asked earlier, may not be possible at all.

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 16th, 2017, 14:46

abolibibelot wrote:Then pray, maybe they'll get healed miraculously...

I mean, I tried to provide serious suggestions, but you did not give any more useful input, yet you are supposedly a computer forensic professional (that's what your signature says) asking for guidance on a forum to perform a task which must be quite basic in the grand scheme of forensic things. I find it rather strange that a forensic pro would rely on “black box” kind of software, or some other one-click solution like this website you mentioned, to attempt a file repair, which, depending on the answer to some of the questions I asked earlier, may not be possible at all.

So true.

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 17th, 2017, 1:05

fzabkar wrote:
abolibibelot wrote:Then pray, maybe they'll get healed miraculously...

I mean, I tried to provide serious suggestions, but you did not give any more useful input, yet you are supposedly a computer forensic professional (that's what your signature says) asking for guidance on a forum to perform a task which must be quite basic in the grand scheme of forensic things. I find it rather strange that a forensic pro would rely on “black box” kind of software, or some other one-click solution like this website you mentioned, to attempt a file repair, which, depending on the answer to some of the questions I asked earlier, may not be possible at all.

So true.


Yes, That's true. I can send sample to masters...

Re: MP4 Forensic

December 17th, 2017, 10:51

databack wrote:
michael chiklis wrote:AviDemux
https://avidemux.it.softonic.com/

Movie editor... can not repair!


With this software i've recovered many damaged mpeg2 files that i couldn't open with any video player (without recoding streams, i do it in 'direct stream copy').
I don't know if this software works good also on mp4 files, but you might try it.
Avidemux gave me very good result on repairing mpeg files that any other video editing software couldn't.

P.S.
Of course file index is necessary, without those it's impossible.

Re: MP4 Forensic

July 10th, 2018, 10:51

I will be able to help you. Send me a file and I will take a look at it.

Re: MP4 Forensic

July 10th, 2018, 14:39

I will be able to help you. Send me a file and I will take a look at it.

Good luck with that ! :)
(The dude said that he found the price on mp4repair.org too high, so if you are actually able to help you'd have to accept being paid less than that for a dedicated service.)

Re: MP4 Forensic

July 11th, 2018, 11:12

Actually, I don't mind helping a colleague out, in return for some good feedback.

Re: MP4 Forensic

July 21st, 2018, 10:17

I'm here with old problem!
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