CFexpress Type B data recovery after initializing
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2025 3:26 pm
I recorded about 400gb of .mxf video files on a 512 CFExpress Type B card, in a Canon C300 MK III. After recording on Slot A, I meant to initialize the second card in Slot B, but inadvertently initialized Slot A instead. I immediately realized my mistake and removed the card and stored it safely to make sure now new data was put on it. I wasn't worried at the time as I feel like this has happened before in other cameras and I've been easily able to recover using consumer software like Data Rescue or Disk Drill. This time it didn't work. Nothing was working so I sent it off to a data recovery company who has been quick and friendly, but they are saying they see no trace of any data whatsoever on it.
"Unfortunately, after a deep scan we found that the card's unallocated space was filled with zeroes, and there weren't any traces of the previous data on the card. We do not know of any solutions that exist for recovering the data once the unallocated space is filled with zeroes."
I didn't think I would be in this position after such a simple mistake. I understood it to be that a card is essentially always full, and that initializing is just a way to tell it to start recording over what was previously there.
I'm trying to determine why this camera might format a card differently that other cameras because initializing a 512gb card takes less than 2 seconds, so I find it hard to believe that the entire card can be wiped so thoroughly so quickly. Surely that actual data is still there, no?
Please help if you know anything that could help! It's client footage so I'm not in a position to give up easily. I need a solution. I've downloaded R-studio for Mac and have done a scan of the card, but doesn't appear to see any media at all. Does this product work better if used in a Linux environment, or could ghe results of the scan be any different if scanned with a PC? Does anyone know of a premium service available anywhere that could help? Thanks, Adam.
"Unfortunately, after a deep scan we found that the card's unallocated space was filled with zeroes, and there weren't any traces of the previous data on the card. We do not know of any solutions that exist for recovering the data once the unallocated space is filled with zeroes."
I didn't think I would be in this position after such a simple mistake. I understood it to be that a card is essentially always full, and that initializing is just a way to tell it to start recording over what was previously there.
I'm trying to determine why this camera might format a card differently that other cameras because initializing a 512gb card takes less than 2 seconds, so I find it hard to believe that the entire card can be wiped so thoroughly so quickly. Surely that actual data is still there, no?
Please help if you know anything that could help! It's client footage so I'm not in a position to give up easily. I need a solution. I've downloaded R-studio for Mac and have done a scan of the card, but doesn't appear to see any media at all. Does this product work better if used in a Linux environment, or could ghe results of the scan be any different if scanned with a PC? Does anyone know of a premium service available anywhere that could help? Thanks, Adam.