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RDR / Evidence and expert work / Recordings wiped on the unit

Investigations & evidence · recorder disks that were erased

Deleted CCTV footage recovery, Reading. The disk still has it; only the loop takes it away.

Power down now, and most of it will be recoverable. As you read this, the recorder hasn’t yet stopped writing, which is your main problem. Deleting from the menu removes only one entry from the catalogue; the video blocks remain in exactly the same spot, waiting to be reused. Shut off the mains soon enough, and most of what you wanted can come back with camera name and clock time attached. Allow the loop to get to these blocks and nothing will come back. The look is free. The work costs £400 + VAT. Disks arrive at the bench from everywhere: a stable block out at Hungerford, a joinery yard on the Headley Road estates in Woodley, a back office behind a shop counter.

Only pay if we recover your data, on most jobs Logged as an exhibit from the start The loop is recording over it now

Talk it through in confidence
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Two ways in, and one wall.

What the index is forAll DVRs keep a table linking camera and time to a physical position on the drive. Deleting from the menu removes only one line of it. Whatever that line pointed to has not moved.
Parsing it, which is the best outcomeWherever the table came through entirely, footage emerges sequentially. Each clip is named by the camera which recorded it and stamped with the recorder's time. This version needs no explanation.
Carving, the second-best outcomeAfter the table has gone, the image is checked for the markers that head each compressed frame, and what comes out of that is built into playable clips. The pictures you get. Camera names and clock times are rarely included with them.
Overwritten, and that is the end of itOnce new video takes over those blocks, there is no longer any earlier recording on the platter. There also is not a second layer underneath it. Neither software nor any laboratory changes this, whatever a firm may tell you.

Match the symptom to the fault.

Not here? Tell us what it is doing →
What you are seeingWhat is likely wrongWhat happens next
Somebody deleted the recordings at the unitThe index lost one row. The pictures remained where they wereTake the power off at once
It reformatted itself after a faultA format writes a clean table of contents (the index) to the disk but leaves everything else as isCarving handles that, so the odds probably are reasonable
It carried on recording for several daysEach extra hour of recording takes another bite out of the oldest materialGet a quote, then send the disk today
The first recording held is later than the day you wantLikely written over (though the free check will confirm it)The check itself costs nothing
Clips are playable without any camera name and without any clockVideo carving keeps the images but removes all of the labelsExpected, and noted on the file list
A previous attempt has resulted in files which are now unusableRaw video streams were removed and never placed within containersThe streams then get wrapped into MP4 files that play
Sending it to the lab: get a quote first, by phone or using the form. Send it by tracked, insured post to the Oxford intake lab, or drop it off at the Oxford intake lab (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, no appointment needed). The return leg is at our expense. Need help packing? Call us before sealing your box and an engineer will tell you what to pack and what to leave out. All remaining details are on our packing and posting page.

What we do, in order.

How other jobs ended →
01

Logged the day it lands, and the look costs nothing Free

A case number is assigned to your device when we receive it. An engineer then finds the real fault (free) before anything else occurs; you will be advised clearly of what will be returned and what will not, along with a single written price. Charges cannot begin until you have read this and accepted.

The look costs you nothingA fixed price, in writingStill nothing to pay
02

Stop it writing

Shut off your recorder, remove the hard drive, and clone it behind a hardware write blocker. After this point, nothing else can be lost: each block the loop hasn't reached yet will exist within the image, regardless of what happens to the recorder.

Off at the mains firstCloned behind a blocker
03

Go looking for the maker's tables

The entire process occurs using the image. The first step involves searching for the manufacturer's own filesystem (HIKBTREE on a Hikvision, DHFS on a Dahua). If there is sufficient data, the clips come with camera names and real recording time stamps, and no loss adjuster argues with that version.

Timestamps still attachedCamera names come back
04

When no index is left at all

If no structure exists to follow, the image is searched for the byte markers that indicate the beginning of compressed frames (H.264 and H.265), and whatever is found is compiled into clips that are readable by any video player. The file list includes those that retained their timestamp and those that lost it.

The whole image sweptUnlabelled clips marked
05

The list first, then the bill, then the files

You look at the file list first and make a decision about what to do. We will never invoice anything until you have said yes, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. All of the information that we recover will be put on new media purchased by us specifically for this job, and our company pays the cost of postage back to you. The case stays open on the bench until you tell us the files open on your own machine.

Nothing billed until you say yesNew media, bought for the jobPostage home is on us

What we keep finding on recorders

  • A delete is an accounting entry: one line struck from the index, and nothing changes for the unit. No data is removed from the platter.
  • All compressed frames begin similarly: each frame begins with an identical pattern of bytes (H.264 and H.265) which a scan can find. This one single fact is what allows carving to occur once the index has been lost.
  • A named clip describes itself: since camera name and timestamp remain attached to the clip, nobody has to take your word for anything. This is the reason why labelled clips are listed separately from unlabelled clips in the recovered files.
  • Arithmetic precedes the money: how many cameras, bit rate, and the total storage space determine how far back in time the unit can go. Combine this information with the date you are after, and you will know where you stand before agreeing to anything. Determining this will cost you nothing, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.

Loop recording, plainly: the drive is divided into equal blocks. The unit writes from the first block to the last block. When it reaches the last block, the unit goes back to the first block and writes over whatever is found there. A clip that has been "erased" is readable only until the head returns to it. Disconnecting the power is not a preliminary to the recovery; it is most of the recovery.

How one of these actually went.

RG · RDG-2026-1702ON FILE ✓

Cleared through the recorder menu, and four days of five came back

A staff member had deleted some footage that appeared long past its use, and it included the evidence of the theft. However, because the recorder had been disconnected within a few hours of deletion, we were able to recover four out of five days' worth of deleted footage that retained both index entries and timestamp information, so these four days of footage came back with camera names and dates. The fifth day had to be carved out of raw blocks; it plays, but we were unable to recover information about when it was recorded.

4 days of the five, timestamps intact72bench hours

What helps, and what makes it worse.

First things to do

  • You should cut power as soon as you know
  • Note the date, time and cameras
  • Get a quote first, then post the disk exactly how it came out of the box
  • Specify at the start who the copies are intended for

What makes it worse

  • Waiting to see, while the loop is still turning
  • Formatting the disk so the box will run
  • Running high-street undelete tools on it
  • Trusting the installer before any image is created

What people ask before they send it.

Is CCTV footage that was deleted still recoverable?

Most of the time. A delete removes an item from the recorder's catalogue, but the video itself remains in its blocks until the recording head moves around to that stretch of the disk again. If you turn off the power, nothing will happen to it at all.

Why is overwritten video gone for good?

Because new recordings are written over existing information in the exact same blocks, and each magnetic block can only hold one value. After this point nobody can guarantee anything, and anyone who claims otherwise is selling you something.

Do the camera names and times come back as well?

Often, so long as enough of the manufacturer's index can still be read. Once you drop down to carving individual frames out of raw sectors, you will get the picture but lose all of the labelling. The file list we provide indicates which clips arrived without labels.

How fast does the loop come round to it?

It is determined by three factors: camera count, bitrate and the size of the disk. And don't believe what you've been told: there is no standard figure for this. Add cameras or increase the amount of motion in front of the ones you have, and the oldest recordings will go sooner.

If this sounds like yours, start here.

Video the recorder kept → Clips for insurers and police → Deleted files, and what is left → Casework for court and claims →

Stop the loop before it reaches your clip.

It’s still recording, and every time it loops around it takes another piece of the information you require. Pull its power now, get a quote first, either by phone or with our form, and send us the disk. Your initial assessment is free, followed by a written price, and none of this information will go anywhere else.

0800 6890668

Get it quoted Posting it to Oxford