dash cam over recored on accident

[L boy]

Hi
Sorry if I put this in the wrong place but couldnt see where else to put it
Apologies also if it is a stupid question but i am so not technical

Someone rear ended me, we had dash cam running,(i assumed it automatically saved the files and did not write over them) . After accident I had a few other runs to do.
Upon getting home we viewed the footage on the PC but there was no saved files ???? just our last journey.

Any ideas
It was a Lidl dash cam bought end of 2016

thanks

 

[jokiin]

if it's already written over the file then you won't have any chance of recovering anything useful

auto save only works if G-Sensor is on and the incident was strong enough to trigger it

 

[L boy]

Thanks, Is there not an ap or something( saw it somehere) which will bring it back
thanks

 

[jokiin]

Have never seen anyone successfully recover any useful video if the camera has already started to overwrite with new videos

 

[neilmcl]

Hi
Sorry if I put this in the wrong place but couldnt see where else to put it
Apologies also if it is a stupid question but i am so not technical

Someone rear ended me, we had dash cam running,(i assumed it automatically saved the files and did not write over them) . After accident I had a few other runs to do.
Upon getting home we viewed the footage on the PC but there was no saved files ???? just our last journey.

Any ideas
It was a Lidl dash cam bought end of 2016

thanks

The only advice I can give is to get a bigger SD card and increase the sensitivity of the G sensor, if it has one. You're not going to recover the files if they've been overwritten.

 

[Kip]

Agree with the other comments here, once the data has been overwritten it ain't coming back. Some advice for the future, make sure you understand how many hours + minutes of footage your camera and memory card combo can hold before loop recording starts.

Incase you don't know, loop recording is a standard dashcam feature that overwrites old footage with new footage automatically. This ensures that when your memory card becomes full, the camera can continue to record as you drive. The downside is, as you've experienced, the camera has looped over the footage you wanted. This is why it is important to understand your camera and memory card, what it is and isn't capable of. The alternative is to have a spare memory card in the car at all times and remember to swap them over after an incident has occured (allow the camera to power off completely before swapping). This might be easier for you given as you say, you are not a technical person.

The good news is, you were rear ended and in the UK, it is just about always the other parties fault (they drove their vehicle into yours). Even without footage you should be cleared of all fault. Good luck and I hope it is resolved quickly for you.

 

[aliya2012]

Hi
Sorry if I put this in the wrong place but couldnt see where else to put it
Apologies also if it is a stupid question but i am so not technical

Someone rear ended me, we had dash cam running,(i assumed it automatically saved the files and did not write over them) . After accident I had a few other runs to do.
Upon getting home we viewed the footage on the PC but there was no saved files ???? just our last journey.

Any ideas
It was a Lidl dash cam bought end of 2016

thanks

Possible to use the WIFI camera, which can save the video files in the mobile through wifi

 

[DT MI]

Thanks, Is there not an ap or something( saw it somehere) which will bring it back
thanks

Those apps/programs will only work (sometimes) for files that have been erased and (sometimes) if the card has been reformatted. Once the data is overwritten it's gone.

 

[2000rpm]

Even if you have a front-facing dashcam, it will not show make/model/colour/registration of a vehicle that rear-ended you so its value as evidence could be limited.
I keep recommending people have two different front cams and one rear cam, plus consider side cams too.
If your memory cards may not hold enough footage to cover your typical length of driving you should carry a couple of spare memory cards that you can swap-in so you can keep the cards with the 'incident' somewhere safe until you get home without fear of them being overwritten.

Never put your trust a single camera to be functioning if/when an incident occurs or afterwards.

 

[Dashmellow]

Hi
Sorry if I put this in the wrong place but couldnt see where else to put it
Apologies also if it is a stupid question but i am so not technical

Someone rear ended me, we had dash cam running,(i assumed it automatically saved the files and did not write over them) . After accident I had a few other runs to do.
Upon getting home we viewed the footage on the PC but there was no saved files ???? just our last journey.

Any ideas
It was a Lidl dash cam bought end of 2016

thanks

Several members have offered the common sense advice to use a higher capacity memory card in your dash cam. I notice that you don't mention the size of the SD card you were using in your camera or the length of your final journey home after the accident but your situation begs the question. So, what size card do you have and how many hours did you drive after the accident? (It would be helpful to know which camera you have as well.)

Even a small 16 GB microSD card recording at the rather low bit rate of 8 Mbps (Megabits Per Second) should provide more than four hours of recording time. Perhaps the camera records at a higher bit rate? At 15 Mbps on a 16GB card you would still be able to record almost 2 and a half hours, so unless you were quite a long way from home when the accident occurred or drove around for many hours after the incident there was still a reasonable chance to have captured the event. 32GB cards are actually more popular and common these days for dash cam use in which case you would be able to record for about 5 hours at 15Mbps.

If these numbers don't reflect the facts of your situation then perhaps there is some other explanation regarding the loss of your mission critical recordings?

 

[GTA Driver]

I keep recommending people have two different front cams and one rear cam, plus consider side cams too.

I agree. I have had two front dash cams and hopefully will go back to that soon. My front Mobius is now at the back as my rear camera on my two channel died (a week before a crazy accident where a car did a slalom lane change behind me and then hit spun out and hit an SUV in front a minute later).

Its good to have a narrow and wide beam. Also hopefully one of your two camera will NOT act up with glare for a license plate in front.

A few days ago, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a driver with two dash cams in the car behind me. It seems that train of thought is not confined to the people who hang out here.

 

[DT MI]

...and saw a driver with two dash cams in the car behind me. It seems that train of thought is not confined to the people who hang out here.

Who knows? Maybe that driver does hang out here.

 

[SawMaster]

Who knows? Maybe that driver does hang out here.

Cognoscenti commonly congregate
(which translates into Redneck English as "birds of a feather stick together" )

Phil

 

[GTA Driver]

Who knows? Maybe that driver does hang out here.

Possible, there are few other Torontonians on DCT. Who knows, have you been traveling 400 KMs to the east lately ?

 

[DT MI]

...Who knows, have you been traveling 400 KMs to the east lately ?

Couldn't have been me - I have 4 cams in my vehicle but you can only see 1 and you have to look real hard to see it.

 

[sludgeguts]

Something to consider regarding the g-sensor. I've had cams where, even on lowest (least sensitive) setting, they still save a file for bumps in the road - and round here, there's bumps and potholes a plenty!
You might just end up with a card so chock full of g-sensor locked files that there's only room for a couple of normal driving files - and the locked files could only be erased via a connection to a PC.
Some cams, you can set the size of the locked files partition - again, with all the bumps and potholes, the partition is full before you know it.

I've since never bothered about having g-sensor turned on. with a 128gig card in my mobius, I have access to over 20hrs' footage, more than enough for any journey I ever do.

 

[tabetha]

I live in Norfolk(UK) and the roads are like cart tracks, always getting G sensor records, never ever gets too full, but then I format almost every day, unless I want to see something on PC, although if I had a more modern phone could do it from there.
In short consider a better cam with more useful features or learn it's limitations

 

[Deleted member 37895]

This is exactly why you need long recording time instead of relying on automatic saving or manual saving

 

[2000rpm]

In this instance I would have swapped-out the memory card for the spare card that's kept in the glovebox. An older or cheaper (16GB) card is ideal for this.

 

[DT MI]

This is exactly why you need long recording time instead of relying on automatic saving or manual saving

A viable option only if the camera supports large cards. But mine do (at least the front/rear) and they both have 128GB cards - 17+ hours of video with GPS data.