Event files missing

[jenthescient1st]

Has anyone experienced locked Event files missing when the SD card is connected to a PC? It's a VanTrue S1, but I'm sure a lot of dashcams have a similar set up where there's supposed to be a separate folder for Event footage. My father was in an accident yesterday and when I walked him through hooking up his SD card to his laptop there was only a folder (called Normal) with the regular footage, and it had clips before and after the accident. When I hook mine up I can see 3 folders, including Events. I'm sure the accident file is somewhere since it was suspiciously missing from Normal, but I'm not sure how to troubleshoot finding it... Any ideas?

 

[LateralNW]

Has anyone experienced locked Event files missing when the SD card is connected to a PC? It's a VanTrue S1, but I'm sure a lot of dashcams have a similar set up where there's supposed to be a separate folder for Event footage. My father was in an accident yesterday and when I walked him through hooking up his SD card to his laptop there was only a folder (called Normal) with the regular footage, and it had clips before and after the accident. When I hook mine up I can see 3 folders, including Events. I'm sure the accident file is somewhere since it was suspiciously missing from Normal, but I'm not sure how to troubleshoot finding it... Any ideas?

Welcome to the forum @jenthescient1st neat profile name.

I have a Vanture S2 so I can't replicate exactly the S1 but I would expect they are similar.
I formatted a card and recorded some video when I plugged the S2 into my computer via a data cable I only saw the Normal folder.
I then removed the data cable and just powered up the dashcam as it would be in a car and created some collision movements.
I noticed two things,
1. If the dashcam has low power supply it will reboot and not create the incident or the Event folder.
2. With the collision detection on its highest settings which is 5 and bumping the dashcam in up. down. and side to side it created an event folder and had those files in it. Viewed from the 3" screen that is on this unit.

To confirm this I then reconnected the dashcam to the computer via a data cable and opened up windows explorer and found the second folder called Event with the files that were created by bumping the unit.

Was the impact sufficient to have triggered the Event folder to be created? Is the dashcam settings for impact set to high or low?

If the file was deleted accidentally or the event folder, it is possible to recover these potential lost files providing the memory card is no longer in use. It is still in use there is a chance the file/s has been overwritten.

Recovery of lost files. Here is a link to a product I use occasionally.

Free Download Data Recovery Software for File Recovery in 2023 - EaseUS Data Recovery

EaseUS free data recovery software can help recover data after accident deletion, formatting, partition error, system crash etc. Free download data recovery software and follow the guide to recover lost files from PCs, laptops or removable devices in Windows 11/10/8.1/7.

www.easeus.com

There are plenty of others out there if this one is not suitable.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

 

[jenthescient1st]

Thank you! Yes the impact should've been enough to trigger-- they were t-boned by a box truck... (they're fine, the car is not). I posted in another forum and they were thinking that maybe there's a setting on his MacBook that's not enabling locked/hidden folders. This is really hard to troubleshoot since I can't do it myself, and he's not tech savvy. I'll see about the lost file recovery!!

 

[LateralNW]

Thank you! Yes the impact should've been enough to trigger-- they were t-boned by a box truck... (they're fine, the car is not). I posted in another forum and they were thinking that maybe there's a setting on his MacBook that's not enabling locked/hidden folders. This is really hard to troubleshoot since I can't do it myself, and he's not tech savvy. I'll see about the lost file recovery!!

Apologies for not asking how he is.

I've been T-Boned and ended up with a crook neck and bruising from the seat belt locking point. I'm fine now and was pretty fit back then I'm sure it would hurt more these days.

I'm not at my computer at the moment but I'll check if the folder is indeed hidden/locked as i doubt it. Can't see why it would be.

Sounds like you're tech savvy perhaps you could put remote control software on his computer and internet in to his computer. You would have to guide him through the process of installing it but it isn't very hard to do.

Hope you find the missing file/s

 

[Kremmen]

Over the years I've been scanning posts here, the number of missing 'event' files has been a regular and worrying theme across many dashcam brands.

The advice has often been - turn off specific event folders and files, if you can, and just let the dashcam record continually as that seems to be a more reliable way.

Once the dashcam receives either a specific button press or g-force trigger it tries to close that file prematurely and often create a new folder at the same time and divert that file, and the number of failures isn't rare.

 

[LateralNW]

@jenthescient1st
How did things go with recovering the lost file?

I checked the event folder and the files in them aren't locked unfortunately.

Cheers

 

[batman_]

Over the years I've been scanning posts here, the number of missing 'event' files has been a regular and worrying theme across many dashcam brands.

The advice has often been - turn off specific event folders and files, if you can, and just let the dashcam record continually as that seems to be a more reliable way.

Once the dashcam receives either a specific button press or g-force trigger it tries to close that file prematurely and often create a new folder at the same time and divert that file, and the number of failures isn't rare.

so, turn off impact detection/g force completely? I guess then I need to manually lock the file or retrieve from one of the recorded files, right?

Also how do you detect failing/failed supercapacitors? My worry is that when the power is cut off and supercapacitor/battery failed.

 

[LateralNW]

Also how do you detect failing/failed supercapacitors? My worry is that when the power is cut off and supercapacitor/battery failed.

What was the result with your fathers accident?
Did you find the file?

With the capacitors failing you usually know because the last file of the trip will be corrupt or missing.
If you haven't looked at the sd card for awhile then you may find many corrupt or missing last recording.

It is good practice to regularly check the sd card for any errors.
While i do do that others also suggest formatting the sdcard regularly which I don't bother with.

The capacitors main purpose is to shut down the Dashcam gracefully once power is removed which allows the last recording to close correctly.
The capacitors have only a few seconds of power so the closing and storage of the last recorded file happens very quickly.

Capacitors replaced the battery mainly due to the batteries in some cases swell in heat or from being charged which could be a fire hazard. Do you remember Samsung having lots of problems with batteries swelling and even exploding?

Cheers