Help! I think Windows accidentally deleted a video of my son when I tried to transfer it from my phone!

[RagePoweredGamer]

Hi, guys.... title kind of says it. I'm trying to move files from my Samsung Galaxy S8 to my computer to make more space. I'm using Windows 10 and TreeSize Exporer to try to locate the largest files quickly. I dragged a video and told it to move from my phone to my PC, and it froze. I tried again, and it came up with the classic "Keep old file, or replace?" so I clicked replace because the file that transferred was 488 bytes, not the 2 GB file I moved. Being 2 GB, I thought there should be a progress bar or something. I waited and waited and waited, and nothing. I closed the programs, and reopened them to see if it moved. The file is in NEITHER place, and I can't find it. Is there a place I can check for the file? I know it can't be deleted, and is just now marked as free space, right? The file should still be there for me to recover? THANK YOU IN ADVANCE IF YOU'RE READING THIS!

[Moonzy]

i would recommend you visit a data recovery specialist for this

[Nathanpete]

You can try your hand at data recovery software, just be aware that so many of the apps are not free and can sometimes be garbage or not what you need. Also it may uncover the 488 byte files instead. If anything, the file is likely still on your phone, in which case you will need to see a data recovery specialist about it. 

[RagePoweredGamer]

1 minute ago, Nathanpete said:

You can try your hand at data recovery software, just be aware that so many of the apps are not free and can sometimes be garbage or not what you need. Also it may uncover the 488 byte files instead. If anything, the file is likely still on your phone, in which case you will need to see a data recovery specialist about it. 

Recuva found it, but VLC won't play it. It SAYS it's the full file size, but it crashes VLC when I play it. It was him opening presents on Christmas 2 years ago. I don't want to lose it. I'm trying everything I can think of, but I can't view the recovered file, and I can't find it on my phone anywhere.

[Wiebenor]

My advice first off, as I've had similar problems with android phones in the past, is to disconnect the device, and reconnect it... If that doesn't work, then if you're rooted, you should be able to run a recovery app, otherwise if you're not rooted, then a data recovery professional is your best bet

[Nathanpete]

1 minute ago, ragepoweredgamer said:

Recuva found it, but VLC won't play it. It SAYS it's the full file size, but it crashes VLC when I play it. It was him opening presents on Christmas 2 years ago. I don't want to lose it. I'm trying everything I can think of, but I can't view the recovered file, and I can't find it on my phone anywhere.

Chances are the file got corrupted by you closing the broken transfer. Can you copy the file back to the phone and attempt to play it from there? If that doesn't work, I suggest a data recovery specialist. 

[RagePoweredGamer]

5 minutes ago, Wiebenor said:

My advice first off, as I've had similar problems with android phones in the past, is to disconnect the device, and reconnect it... If that doesn't work, then if you're rooted, you should be able to run a recovery app, otherwise if you're not rooted, then a data recovery professional is your best bet

Tried disconnecting and reconnecting. No dice. I made sure to wait like 5 minutes to make sure there weren't any operations I was cutting off, and backed out of all file explorers. I'm trying to run Recuva on the phone directory to see if that will work.

[RagePoweredGamer]

2 minutes ago, Nathanpete said:

Chances are the file got corrupted by you closing the broken transfer. Can you copy the file back to the phone and attempt to play it from there? If that doesn't work, I suggest a data recovery specialist. 

It SHOULD copy over, then delete the original, not progressively delete as it copies. As far as I know, that's how it works. If the file transfer wasn't flagged as complete, it shouldn't have deleted. The fact that the full size of the file registers on my PC, and Recuva even noted that it wasn't overwritten or corrupted... it SHOULD work. I'm trying to run Recuva on the phone directory now to see if it finds anything there.

[Wiebenor]

Just now, ragepoweredgamer said:

Tried disconnecting and reconnecting. No dice. I made sure to wait like 5 minutes to make sure there weren't any operations I was cutting off, and backed out of all file explorers. I'm trying to run Recuva on the phone directory to see if that will work.

Ok, Good... I have had times where I could view the file in the phone, but not the PC, after a similar event would happen. A small piece of advice for the future, though, If it's so important that you're possibly willing to pay for data recovery then you should press "copy" and not "move" or "cut"...

[RagePoweredGamer]

9 minutes ago, Wiebenor said:

Ok, Good... I have had times where I could view the file in the phone, but not the PC, after a similar event would happen. A small piece of advice for the future, though, If it's so important that you're possibly willing to pay for data recovery then you should press "copy" and not "move" or "cut"...

Yeah, I think that goes without saying. Stupid garbage technology. Been copying files for DECADES and Windows can't even handle THAT without causing some sort of issue. I pulled out the SD card and put it in the computer. Recuva found it. Said it "partially recovered" it, but it still can't play on anything. I guess maybe I'll just keep the file and hope that it works someday. I can't believe I lost that. That was SO important to me. Now all I have is a 2 gigabyte file that my computer can't do anything with. 

[Murasaki]

Word of advice when transfering data from a phone to PC - do not move it, copy it.

That way if any problem happens during the transfer you have a intact original and whatever was copied can be removed.