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Question

LOST VIDEOS DURING CUT PASTE FROM CELL PHONE TO PC

May 15, 2017 7:03PM PDT

I wanted to be fast and selected 7 MP4 videos and cut/paste in one go (with Ctrl key) from my cell phone onto my PC. Something went wrong. Now the "pasted" files have only sounds of the videos but no image.

I do not know if the images are lost on the PC or the cell phone, so which software for which platform I should use. I did try the "Dumpster" recovery app on my cell but it showed nothing that was "deleted" from my cell. I did not "delete" these images so not sure if that is why the lost images aren't in the dumpster.

I know I should never cut and paste, but I did and can't undo what I did.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
For most phones, no sure recovery.
May 15, 2017 8:06PM PDT

Did you stop using this PC hard drive, move the drive to another PC and see if you can find them with RECUVA?

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Sadly, You Are Right - in My Case
May 15, 2017 11:16PM PDT

Thanks.

I used Jihosoft Android Recovery and scanned my cell phone. Result: 0 mp4 files to recover.

So I thought the files must have been hidden in the pc. Then I used Recuva to deep scan. Again result : 0 mp4 files to recover.

This is an unsolved mystery. How the system could have "filtered" and selectively deleted permanently only the images but not the sound of the videos?


2

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It's a problem area.
May 15, 2017 11:32PM PDT

Since the condition of PCs are all over the map in configuration, protection suites and more, there's not much I can do when this happens. I know to tell the client to stop using the PC, do not install any recovery app then pull the drive out so we can try recuva on another PC. Any use and we could overwrite what we are trying to save.

This is so hard on clients that many ignore it and come in a week later and the files are very gone.

Post was last edited on May 16, 2017 7:38 AM PDT

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Well I Learned This The Hard Way
May 16, 2017 12:59AM PDT

Thanks.

I think when you were posting your first response I was busy downloading all those apps! I thought my files were still hidden on my cell phone so I was careful enough to alert people not to send me images as those might overwrite the space. Not sure why I had not been as careful with the PC.

I appreciate your time and help.

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The same for the phone.
May 16, 2017 7:41AM PDT

If you install recovery apps on the phone, what space that app uses is likely to be the photos or the tombstones left over from the delete.

What many learn after this is that backups are a way of life. Copy first, be sure it's on backups then delete. If you drive the number of copies to 1, then it's something that can be lost.

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Where's Best to Back Up without Taking Up Phone Storage Spac
May 16, 2017 9:58AM PDT

I should have thought about that for the phone too. What an idiot.

I should have .... of course, copied and pasted. As for backing up, I tried to back up to Clouds but within a short time it said I had used up my Clouds space.

I wanted to just back up my images and videos. Don't know where's the best place that will not take up my phone's storage. My phone has very limited storage. This was the very reason I had to download my recent images and videos to the pc in the first place, even all the Whatsapp images I received. That's how small my phone's storage is. It's an LG4.

I am an idiot in all these and apologize for my ignorance and all the stupid questions.

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Cloud space.
May 16, 2017 10:03AM PDT

I have to mange my dropbox space or it would soon be overflowing too.

I have the LG G4 and it's quite the large thing with 32GB flash memory and I popped in a second 32GB card.

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More Space on Android
May 16, 2017 10:30AM PDT
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Answer
Mp4
May 16, 2017 8:07AM PDT

Have you tried a different player on the pc?

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I Did, but there are only two on my computer
May 16, 2017 10:03AM PDT

Thanks for responding.

Yes, I did with Windows Media Player and Movie Maker. These are the only players I have on my computer. Same thing - I have the sound but no images.

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When I am asked to play a video.
May 16, 2017 10:07AM PDT
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Awesome Info on Ninite.com
May 16, 2017 10:54AM PDT

Thanks for t he great tips. It is troubling when we always have such fear when we download apps if they are safe or not even you have Norton antivirus, or if your toolbar will be changed after the download, and in the end you still have to spend extra time to uninstall the program; delete the add-ons, etc. to have peace of mind.

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Answer
Videos lost during cut paste UPDATE: MEDIA PLAYER CRASHED?
May 16, 2017 11:52AM PDT

Strange things happened! But I really do not know what happened.

After all the attempts yesterday, I came to accept that the images of the videos I cut and pasted to the PC were gone leaving only the sound.

I just tried to play a new video from my camera on this pc. Strangely I found it also only played the sound with no image. Then I realized the videos yesterday might work with another pc - Indeed they played all right. No wonder the recovery software couldn't find any lost mp4s.

I did a test and took a short video from my cell and tried to play it on this computer. I had the same result: it wouldn't play.

Obviously the problem is with the Media Player. Perhaps somehow during the cut paste yesterday, I crashed the media player and now only the sound plays.

So now a new problem.

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Does it play with VLC Player?
May 16, 2017 11:54AM PDT

Inquiring minds.

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I do not have VLC Player
May 16, 2017 12:00PM PDT

Should I download it and try?

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Clarification: My Media Player Plays old videos on computer
May 16, 2017 12:02PM PDT

I should add that my computer plays old videos already there just fine. It won't play new videos.

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If VLC Player plays them then you look at CODEC issues.
May 16, 2017 12:33PM PDT

It's a long discussion well done on the web. But since I don't know if VLC Player plays them I can't point at CODECs. VLC Player also can report encoding so we know which CODEC to get.

Sorry if I'm unclear here. To troubleshoot I head to Ninite, get VLC and test.

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Windows 7 won't play 4k UHD, Processor & Video Card problem?
May 18, 2017 10:16PM PDT

As my computer was taken to the computer shop for checking, meanwhile I found out that Windows 7 's Media Player does not support 4K UHD videos. This explained why both my computers won't play my new 4K UHD videos taken from my new 4K camera, and cell phone that I had just re-adjusted the movie setting to 4K.

As I was hoping to find a program that could help solve this problem. But today I was told by the shop something different. I was told "nothing will help" because "it's my computer". I was told it's the processor of my computer that is not capable of processing such large video files. They added the VLC player program to my computer but it only showed the image but wouldn't play. They said they played them on other computers but it worked. They mentioned "video card" problem - I forgot what they said about it,probably something that I don't understand. They said nothing can be done; no updates can help. They said the only way to solve is to buy a Window 10.

I got the computer back, and tried to open and play the videos with my Photoshop CS6. It played but very choppy.

I will not the option of converting the videos to a lower resolution so I can play it. I especially need UHD resolution to view detailed colors of the videos so I can selectively make still images.

I do not know if there is anything at all that will help in order to avoid purchase two new computers. My Windows 7's work just fine if not for this problem.

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This is for a new discussion
May 19, 2017 7:14AM PDT

But in the meantime try playing with VLC Player and make a new post about this issue along with machine details.

This is NOT an OS version issue. Windows 7 plays UHD fine if the hardware is there to support it.