RAW file system

E

Ed Cryer

I have some video files on a portable HD with RAW file system.
Neither Win7 nor XP can read them.
A bit of googling has revealed quite a few packages for sale claiming to
be able to recover them.
I don't want to pay and then be disappointed.
Has anybody used one that they can recommend?

Ed
 
S

sticks

I have some video files on a portable HD with RAW file system.
Neither Win7 nor XP can read them.
A bit of googling has revealed quite a few packages for sale claiming to
be able to recover them.
I don't want to pay and then be disappointed.
Has anybody used one that they can recommend?

Ed
Excellent and Free

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
 
S

s|b

So I loaded it into Ubuntu and found a .srf file (Sony SRF raw image). I
copied that across to Win7.
VideoLAN won't play it.
Does anybody know what will?
Irfanview should be able to read it:
<http://www.irfanview.com/main_formats.htm>

You can download Irfanview (for free) as a ZIP file, so you won't have
to install it. If it doesn't work, then you should download plugins and
extract them into the Irfanview folder.
 
E

Ed Cryer

s|b said:
Irfanview should be able to read it:
<http://www.irfanview.com/main_formats.htm>

You can download Irfanview (for free) as a ZIP file, so you won't have
to install it. If it doesn't work, then you should download plugins and
extract them into the Irfanview folder.
I tried that before I tried VideoLAN. Irfanview says "Decode error: not
a valid RAW file".
I've also tried Avidemux and ConvertXtoDVD without success.

Ed
 
P

Paul

Ed said:
Thanks. That worked a treat.
Linux partition!
So I loaded it into Ubuntu and found a .srf file (Sony SRF raw image). I
copied that across to Win7.
VideoLAN won't play it.
Does anybody know what will?

Ed
http://www.ehow.com/info_8693012_srf-file.html

"Multiple programs support opening the SRF file,
including Adobe Photoshop and Elements, Google Picasa
and Microsoft iView MediaPro."

I found another method here. Try burrowing down in the Support
section for your camera, in case this isn't the right file.

http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/download/vista_raw/index.html

"Sony RAW Driver is a program to display Sony RAW data
(ARW/SR2/SRF files) on Windows Vista / Windows 7.

By installing this program, you can display the RAW data on
Explorer or Photo Gallery in Windows Vista in the same way
as JPEG files.
"

HTH,
Paul
 
E

Ed Cryer

Paul said:
http://www.ehow.com/info_8693012_srf-file.html

"Multiple programs support opening the SRF file,
including Adobe Photoshop and Elements, Google Picasa
and Microsoft iView MediaPro."

I found another method here. Try burrowing down in the Support
section for your camera, in case this isn't the right file.

http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/download/vista_raw/index.html

"Sony RAW Driver is a program to display Sony RAW data
(ARW/SR2/SRF files) on Windows Vista / Windows 7.

By installing this program, you can display the RAW data on
Explorer or Photo Gallery in Windows Vista in the same way
as JPEG files.
"

HTH,
Paul
I've downloaded and installed the Sony RAW codec; followed by Picasa 3,
for which I set the file association for RAW files only; tried to open
it but got an error from Picasa saying "invalid image".

I think there's something amiss with the RAW file. It claims to be 111MB
in size, but behaves strangely.
What I need is some program to do an analysis of it; read it through and
give some basic info on what's there. Maybe it's just got an incorrect
extension.

Ed
 
W

Wolf K

I've downloaded and installed the Sony RAW codec; followed by Picasa 3,
for which I set the file association for RAW files only; tried to open
it but got an error from Picasa saying "invalid image".

I think there's something amiss with the RAW file. It claims to be 111MB
in size, but behaves strangely.
What I need is some program to do an analysis of it; read it through and
give some basic info on what's there. Maybe it's just got an incorrect
extension.

Ed

IMO, you have a corrupted file.

However, if the extension is incorrect, you'll need to be able to read
the header. Your text editor may be able to handle a file that size;
give it a try. O'wise, I think you'll need a hex-editor with which to
read the file directly off disk, one sector at a time. You just need the
first sector. And a list of header codes identifying file types.

Good luck.
 
P

Paul

Ed said:
I've downloaded and installed the Sony RAW codec; followed by Picasa 3,
for which I set the file association for RAW files only; tried to open
it but got an error from Picasa saying "invalid image".

I think there's something amiss with the RAW file. It claims to be 111MB
in size, but behaves strangely.
What I need is some program to do an analysis of it; read it through and
give some basic info on what's there. Maybe it's just got an incorrect
extension.

Ed
Then you need a media identification utility of some sort.

I have GSpot for movies. There is another utility that is supposed
to be good for movies (don't have it bookmarked).

For still pictures, the only thing I have is the port of the "file"
command from Unix.

http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/file.htm

Some file formats, they use FourCC codes inside. But knowing
about them, or search on their values, won't necessarily bring you
any closer to an answer. You use your hex editor, and look for
readable ASCII in the file. In the hopes of finding FourCC
codes. Then Google them, to see what they correlate with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourcc

You'd need a specification for the format, and your hex editor,
to actually determine if the thing was close to sane or not.
Even a command such as "file.exe", the port mentioned above, tries
to limit the amount of the file it reads, before determining
the type. And by refusing to read the whole file, it can't tell
you the file is "valid" or not.

You could try running a utility such as Photorec or Recuva
against the volume, but there's no guarantee that'll change
anything either. If the file is intact, but "funky", then
I doubt a recovery utility will make any difference to the
results. Photorec runs from more than one OS, and
can be run from Linux as well as Windows.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

*******

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_image_format

"Many raw file formats, including ... SRF (Sony) ...
are based on the TIFF file format."

"These files may deviate from the TIFF standard in a number
of ways, including the use of a non-standard file header,
the inclusion of additional image tags and the encryption
of some of the tagged data."

So you could attempt parsing the file, using TIFF documentation,
and expecting some kinda FourCC exception for the Sony custom parts.

And there's nothing for SRF here.

"Digital Photography RAW formats information"
http://lclevy.free.fr/raw/

It's possible you may be able to locate the main pixmap portion
of the image. And that may bear a vague resemblance to what
you photographed. If the rest of the header sections are
damaged, there might not be ways to correct the color or whatever.

Paul
 
P

Paul

Another option you can explore, is DNG or Digital Negative as an
intermediary format. Apparently, Adobe offers a utility for conversion
from many RAW formats, to DNG. And then maybe the DNG will work with
some other utility.

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats//fdd/fdd000188.shtml

The Adobe utility is here. Give this a try against your SRF and see if it "barfs".

"Adobe DNG Converter 7.3

This update contains the Adobe DNG 7.3 Converter.
The Adobe DNG Converter is a free utility that enables you to easily convert
camera-specific raw files from more than 350 cameras to the more universal
DNG raw format."

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5519

That file is over 100MB in size!

And that approach, would be short of using Sony software for the job.

Paul
 
E

Ed Cryer

Paul said:
Another option you can explore, is DNG or Digital Negative as an
intermediary format. Apparently, Adobe offers a utility for conversion
from many RAW formats, to DNG. And then maybe the DNG will work with
some other utility.

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats//fdd/fdd000188.shtml

The Adobe utility is here. Give this a try against your SRF and see if
it "barfs".

"Adobe DNG Converter 7.3

This update contains the Adobe DNG 7.3 Converter.
The Adobe DNG Converter is a free utility that enables you to easily
convert
camera-specific raw files from more than 350 cameras to the more universal
DNG raw format."

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5519

That file is over 100MB in size!

And that approach, would be short of using Sony software for the job.

Paul
It's about time I gave you the full story, Paul. I'm getting deeper and
deeper into this thing, and it's all rather unnecessary. I sometimes get
carried away with pursuing knowledge and achievement for its own sake;
and that takes time and often produces little to good effect.

I used to have a Wharfdale TV DVD-recorder; hard drive + a "dubbing" to
DVD-R option. That allowed me to record anything (including old VCR
stuff) onto DVD, and then transfer it to a computer for editing.
The DVD stopped functioning after a firmware update. I tried reloading
it, different DVDs etc. but no joy. So I threw it out and got a new
Samsung Smart Blu-ray TV recorder. It has a 1TB internal HD and the
facility to record onto an external HD, but not onto DVD-Rs. It's this
portable HD and its recorded stuff that I'm working with.

I suspect DRM intervention here.
1. Wharfdale deliberately sabotaged the old DVD writer.
2. Samsung have produced a system and format to combat copying.

Ed
 
E

Ed Cryer

Ed said:
It's about time I gave you the full story, Paul. I'm getting deeper and
deeper into this thing, and it's all rather unnecessary. I sometimes get
carried away with pursuing knowledge and achievement for its own sake;
and that takes time and often produces little to good effect.

I used to have a Wharfdale TV DVD-recorder; hard drive + a "dubbing" to
DVD-R option. That allowed me to record anything (including old VCR
stuff) onto DVD, and then transfer it to a computer for editing.
The DVD stopped functioning after a firmware update. I tried reloading
it, different DVDs etc. but no joy. So I threw it out and got a new
Samsung Smart Blu-ray TV recorder. It has a 1TB internal HD and the
facility to record onto an external HD, but not onto DVD-Rs. It's this
portable HD and its recorded stuff that I'm working with.

I suspect DRM intervention here.
1. Wharfdale deliberately sabotaged the old DVD writer.
2. Samsung have produced a system and format to combat copying.

Ed
Oh, by the way, I have recordable TV on my computer, so I can record
anything there. That's a Hauppauge WinTV7 USB stick connected to
roof-top aerial. I'll definitely avoid any firmware updates with that!

Ed
 
W

Wolf K

On 3/4/2013 8:26 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:

[snip thread to date]
It's about time I gave you the full story, Paul. I'm getting deeper and
deeper into this thing, and it's all rather unnecessary. I sometimes get
carried away with pursuing knowledge and achievement for its own sake;
and that takes time and often produces little to good effect.

I used to have a Wharfdale TV DVD-recorder; hard drive + a "dubbing" to
DVD-R option. That allowed me to record anything (including old VCR
stuff) onto DVD, and then transfer it to a computer for editing.
The DVD stopped functioning after a firmware update. I tried reloading
it, different DVDs etc. but no joy. So I threw it out and got a new
Samsung Smart Blu-ray TV recorder. It has a 1TB internal HD and the
facility to record onto an external HD, but not onto DVD-Rs. It's this
portable HD and its recorded stuff that I'm working with.

I suspect DRM intervention here.
1. Wharfdale deliberately sabotaged the old DVD writer.
2. Samsung have produced a system and format to combat copying.

Ed
I think you're right about DRM.
1. I suspect rather that Wharfdale was pressured to insert DRM.
2. This is not a Samsung thing. AFAIK, all PVRs are designed to prevent
copying of recorded material. O'wise, there'd be an open invitation for
people to swap their recordings.

IOW, 2.5/3. Pretty good score IMO. ;-)
 

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