# DAT file on M5 video error



## DanP (Aug 31, 2019)

I was using an M5 to video some speeches at a wedding a few weeks ago and after a few minutes the camera screen brought up an error message which I don't remember exactly, but I think it said something about having to restart. I turned the camera off and back on and I could video again and it worked fine after that for the rest of the evening. However, the file on the card that relates to the video when the error arose is a .DAT file and it's 1.53GB, which is about the same size as another MP4 file on the card for a video of about the same length. Does anyone know of a way to salvage video from a DAT file, or should I just accept that the video is lost.


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## Valvebounce (Sep 1, 2019)

Hi Dan. 
I have heard of some people having success by just changing the file extension to the same as should have been. Make a copy, (never mess with the original) and set the extension to mp4. It will likely be in the correct format but as the camera crashed the extension was unknown and given a .dat extension?

Cheers, Graham.


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## DanP (Sep 1, 2019)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi Dan.
> I have heard of some people having success by just changing the file extension to the same as should have been. Make a copy, (never mess with the original) and set the extension to mp4. It will likely be in the correct format but as the camera crashed the extension was unknown and given a .dat extension?
> 
> Cheers, Graham.


Thanks Graham. Unfortunately that did not work. The file is probably corrupt. I rarely do video so I don't know if this is an unusual problem to encounter.



.


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## BenB (Sep 1, 2019)

give VLC player a go.


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## DanP (Sep 1, 2019)

BenB said:


> give VLC player a go.


Thanks for your idea Ben. I downloaded VLC and tried to open the file, but it wouldn't run it.


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## LDS (Sep 1, 2019)

It may have corrupted headers information that the camera should update when the file is 'closed', and thereby players may not be able to open it correctly. It may be possible to create the missing information, but it would require to analyze the file itself. Don't know if there is available software to attempt it automatically. If the file is important, I would contact a data recovery company.


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## DanP (Sep 1, 2019)

LDS said:


> It may have corrupted headers information that the camera should update when the file is 'closed', and thereby players may not be able to open it correctly. It may be possible to create the missing information, but it would require to analyze the file itself. Don't know if there is available software to attempt it automatically. If the file is important, I would contact a data recovery company.


Thanks LDS. It was a friend's daughter's wedding, so not really important to me and it wasn't my job to video.


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## bhf3737 (Sep 2, 2019)

Cyberlink's Power Director can open .dat video files. Perhaps you can get the trial or essential version and give it a try.


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