Recovery for cards and drives · macOS
The footage is not gone.It just can’t be found.
Footage Back reads your card or drive without writing to it and shows what can be saved. Scanning, previews and copying whole files back are free, with no limit and no account. You only pay when a recording has to be rebuilt.
Three steps. You only pay for what has to be rebuilt.
You see what was found, and what it looks like, before any money changes hands. Files that are still whole come back without paying at all.
It started with Blackmagic RAW. Now it reads the whole card.
Much of what looks lost is still there, whole. Some of it is damaged. Footage Back handles both, and tells you which is which.
Whole files are copied back exactly as recorded.
Deleted files, formatted cards, broken file tables. Files are found through the file system and, when that is gone, by their structure. They are copied out unconverted, with sound and metadata. Copying them back costs nothing.
Damaged recordings are rebuilt frame by frame.
When a recording was partly overwritten, cut off or never closed, Footage Back finds the frames themselves, checks each one, and builds a new file from the frames that still hold, beside the exact copy. A frame that is gone is not invented: its place shows the frame beside it or is left out, and you are told how many.
- Video
- Blackmagic RAWProResProRes RAWH.264H.265Sony XAVCSony X-OCNCanon XFCinema RAW LightRED R3DARRIRAWNikon N-RAWMXFAVIMKVMPEG-TS
- Rebuilt when damaged
- Blackmagic RAWProResH.264H.265MXFRED R3DCinema RAW LightNikon N-RAW
- Sound and stills
- WAVJPEGPNG
- Documents
- PDFZIP
- File systems
- exFATFAT16/32NTFSHFS+APFS
Encrypted volumes are not supported yet. A file that is found is not always a file that plays: data that was overwritten stays missing, and Footage Back shows what its checks found before you export. Rebuilding has so far been measured on recordings from ARRI, Sony, Canon, Nikon, RED and GoPro cameras and an iPhone, not on every model. A recording that cannot be rebuilt is still copied exactly, and Footage Back says so.
Safety
Your card stays exactly as it is.
A damaged card should never be written to. Footage Back only reads it, and records the proof.
Read-only, also for macOS
The source is opened with a read-only handle, and no command in Footage Back can write to it. Once it knows your drive, macOS itself opens it read-only, even when the app is closed.
Recorded, not assumed
Every scan records the exact byte size and SHA-256 of the data it read, so you can show afterwards that the source is unchanged.
Always a new file
Recovery writes new files to another drive. Nothing is overwritten, and a result is published only after it has been checked.
Local
Your footage never leaves your Mac. Only short hashes and the payment authorization reach the Footage Back server.
Resumable
Large drives scan in checkpoints. Pause, unplug, come back later: the scan picks up where it stopped.
No guessing
Footage Back never guesses passwords or works around encryption. Without your key, an encrypted volume stays encrypted.
For anyone who only got one take.
Wedding filmmakers
The ceremony will not happen again. The card that looks empty can often still be read.
Documentary and news
Long shoot days, many cards, no time to redo anything.
Post and rental houses
Scan client media safely, without taking on liability for the source.
Data recovery labs
A controlled step for damaged camera recordings, from Blackmagic RAW to RED R3D, alongside your own tooling.
Whole files come back free. You pay only for what is rebuilt.
Scanning, previewing and copying whole files back cost nothing, without a limit and without an account. One purchase covers the rebuilding on one drive, by the length of the footage that is rebuilt. You see the price before you pay.
One shot that matters. A vow, a speech, the last take.
A scene, an interview, the best moments of a day.
A full ceremony or a long shoot day.
Every recording that can be rebuilt, whatever the length, for 90 days. What you bring back in that time stays yours.
Prices include VAT. No subscription. Buying more of the same drive later costs only the difference, and bringing back the same footage again is free. Formats that are copied and never rebuilt, such as ARRIRAW, Sony X-OCN and ProRes RAW, cost nothing.
Scan your card tonight.
Scanning, previews and copying whole files back cost nothing. You only pay when a recording has to be rebuilt, and you see the price first. For a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later.
What people ask first.
My card says it needs to be formatted. Any chance?
Often yes. That message usually means the file table is damaged, not the data itself. Stop using the card, do not format it, and scan it.
Can I see whether it works before I pay?
Yes. The scan, the list of what was found and the watermarked previews are free, and so is copying back every file that is still whole. You only pay for recordings that have to be rebuilt.
What if a clip only comes back partly?
You see before you export how much of a recording can be kept: for Blackmagic RAW the exact frame range that is missing, for other formats how many frames a rebuild keeps. You decide whether a partial clip is worth it.
Which damaged recordings can be rebuilt?
Blackmagic RAW, ProRes, H.264 and H.265 in MP4 and MOV files, MXF (Sony XAVC and XDCAM, Panasonic AVC-LongG, ARRI ProRes), RED R3D, Canon Cinema RAW Light and Nikon N-RAW. Blackmagic, RED, Canon and Nikon RAW come back as a new file in the camera’s own format, the others as a QuickTime file that plays. A recording whose first part is gone may need a whole recording from the same camera with the same settings: export them together.
Does it work on physically damaged cards?
No. If the card is no longer recognised, or a drive is clicking, a lab with hardware repair is the right next step. Footage Back works on media that can still be read.
Does it work on encrypted drives?
Not yet. A drive encrypted with FileVault, an APFS password or BitLocker cannot be searched. Camera cards are not encrypted, so this only matters for a drive that came out of a computer.
What about sound in a rebuilt recording?
The sound that can still be found comes along. A rebuilt Blackmagic RAW recording gets its sound back where it still lies on the drive and is silent where it was lost. You can also choose a ProRes QuickTime file instead of the camera’s own format; that file has picture only. In the other formats the sound beside the kept frames comes along; where it cannot be found, the rebuilt file is silent there or has no sound. A file that is still whole and is copied back keeps its sound.
What do I need for Blackmagic RAW?
The free Blackmagic RAW software from Blackmagic Design, version 6.0 or 5.1. To rebuild a damaged recording, Footage Back also needs one intact clip from the same camera in the same format. It looks for one on your drive; when there is none, a few seconds recorded now with the same camera are enough. Record them with sound: the sound of a rebuilt recording comes back only when that clip has sound too.
The scan is very slow. Is that the card?
Often it is the cable or the port. Footage Back shows how the drive is connected and says so before the search when the link is slow. While it reads, it tells you when the drive keeps dropping away or the reading crawls, with what to try.
Is my footage uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything is read, checked and rebuilt on your Mac. The server only sees short hashes and the payment authorization.
Does it run on Windows or on an Intel Mac?
Footage Back runs on macOS 14 and newer, on Macs with Apple silicon. Intel Macs are not supported. Windows is on the list, without a date.