Hello from the Redneck Riviera aka NorthWest Florida

[Marc2.0]

Glad to have found this forum while searching for info on how to unlock locked files. The wife got hit by an impatient driver who was turning left (south) while the wife was headed east they both had a green light.The other driver was ticketed and apologized to my wife for hitting her but just in case she wants to argue the ticket I need to unlock the file that the G-sensor locked. So I've been looking for info on how to unlock it on the forum, looks like Total Commander will do it if I can learn how to use it. Lot's of great info on here. Will be researching my next Dash-Cam here before buying another one.

 

[jokiin]

not sure what you're wanting to do by unlocking a file, files are locked to prevent the camera overwriting them so you don't lose what's important

 

[kamkar]

Welcome to the forum Marc.

Yeah its not like the locking of files mean they get some code you have to enter, they just get a name/ suffix or location on SD card so the camera will not delete them in the case it come full circle and start to delete the oldest footage.
Other than that its just a regular video file.

If you have files thats corrupted then registratorviewer have a feature to repair broken files.

 

[Marc2.0]

I downloaded all the files to my computer and the one with the wreck on it will not play. I keep getting the same message "Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file." I can play every other file but the one I need and it is listed as a locked file. I've tried VLC and Quicktime but it will not open with those either.

 

[jokiin]

they only set the attributes of the file to read only, you can easily change that it Windows or Mac, that wouldn't prevent a file from playing though, the file could be corrupt and may be able to be repaired

knowing exactly what camera you have may help

 

[SawMaster]

IIRC some corrupt file data can sometimes be retrieved but that level of knowledge is far beyond me. Others here will tell you more on that.

One of the more common failure modes with all dashcams is corruption of the last file recorded- of course that is the one you will likely need the most. In a crash, power can be interrupted, spike, or switch on and off a few times which can play the devil with that last file. Your best defense against this is having the "G" or "shock" sensor lock the files automatically, but this function can be cheesy with many cams and it often leads to full cards with no recording if you do not unlock or erase the locked files regularly. Also helpful is having a solid power supply set-up and having your cam shut down immediately without delay at power off, or to keep recording on battery after power off for longer than you have the file duration time set for if your cam battery can sustain that. Aged batteries may not be able to last that long even with a minimum file time setting.

It's frustrating when you can't get what you need from a device that you bought to do something this important, but when you consider what the average dashcam costs you can't really expect perfection from them. They do quite well almost all the time but they aren't something to bet your life on.

Phil

 

[Marc2.0]

they only set the attributes of the file to read only, you can easily change that it Windows or Mac, that wouldn't prevent a file from playing though, the file could be corrupt and may be able to be repaired

knowing exactly what camera you have may help

I missed that one somehow in my profile, it is suppose to be a G1W-C and of the 109 files on it 108 of them are .mov but the one I need might be corrupted and for now it's beyond my knowledge to view but that's why I found this forum, this old dog is trying to learn new tricks. The dash-cam never lost power as the last file shows the movement when my wife took it off the windshield before she unplugged. She wasn't sure if the G sensor had locked the file and wanted to make sure the wreck didn't get overwritten.

 

[jokiin]

the camera should only move that file to the RO folder

even if the file attribute was changed to locked it is just to prevent the file being overwritten, it doesn't prevent playback so I'd lean more toward the file being corrupted, this model doesn't have a good reputation for G-Sensor performance, a lot of people turn it off, perhaps this is related

anyway onto your problem, if the file is corrupt you can try repairing it and you may be able to get it working again, there's a repair option built into Registrator Viewer that will ask for a known good file for comparison and attempt to rebuild the broken file, might be worth a shot http://www.mediafire.com/download/a9shgnrmuq4l7le/RegistratorViewer.exe

 

[Marc2.0]

the camera should only move that file to the RO folder

even if the file attribute was changed to locked it is just to prevent the file being overwritten, it doesn't prevent playback so I'd lean more toward the file being corrupted, this model doesn't have a good reputation for G-Sensor performance, a lot of people turn it off, perhaps this is related

anyway onto your problem, if the file is corrupt you can try repairing it and you may be able to get it working again, there's a repair option built into Registrator Viewer that will ask for a known good file for comparison and attempt to rebuild the broken file, might be worth a shot http://www.mediafire.com/download/a9shgnrmuq4l7le/RegistratorViewer.exe

Thanks and after this the G-Sensor will be turned off.

 

[GRDIAN]

welcome