NVR and DVR recovery in Calgary
A security recorder is a small computer with a hard drive inside, writing video in its own format. Its playback screen only shows what its index still points to. We copy the drive, read the recorder's own recording structures and logs, and tell you what's there, what isn't, and why.
Process and costs · Recovery terms
What people usually bring us
Footage missing for the time that matters
Deleted recordings can still be on the disk after the recorder stops showing them.
You need to know why a camera has no footage
The recorder's own event log can show whether a camera stopped, lost video, or simply wasn't triggered.
The recorder won't start, or was damaged
The drive inside is copied and read on its own, without the recorder.
Camera numbers don't line up
A recorder's channel numbers don't always match the camera labels. We check which camera is which before drawing conclusions.
It's for insurance, police or court
Call first, so handling is documented from the start.
What we do with it
- 01
Copy the drive
The recorder's hard drive is imaged first. All work is done on the copy, and the original isn't written to.
- 02
Read the recorder's format
Video, audio and snapshot images are recovered from the recorder's own recording structures, including recordings its index no longer lists. Where no tool exists for that recorder, we write one.
- 03
Read the logs
Many recorders keep an event log of recording starts and stops, video loss, power cycles and exports. We decode it and line it up against the video.
- 04
Report
You get the recovered footage and a written account of what was found, what wasn't, and what the recorder's records show about why.
What a recorder remembers
A recorder usually keeps two things: the video, and a log of what it did. On one recorder we examined for an investigation, the video sat on one partition and the event log, almost two million entries, on another. Every recording start and stop, power cycle, video loss and USB export was in that log.
No footage doesn't always mean deleted footage. Many cameras only record when they detect motion. On that same recorder, one camera had no video for over four hours on the evening that mattered. We compared it with the same weekday evening over the four weeks before: it had gone quiet at about the same time every week. The gap was consistent with nothing moving in front of the camera, not with footage being deleted.
The playback screen doesn't show everything on the disk. Scanning the raw disk below the recorder's index, we found recordings months older than anything the recorder would play, and snapshot images from a camera that hadn't been recorded in over a year.
Before anyone touches the recorder
Do
- Stop it recording, or unplug it, as soon as the footage matters.
- Write down the date and time you need, and whether the recorder's clock was right.
- Note which camera is which, by location.
- Keep the recorder and its drive together.
Don't
- Leave it running to see if the footage comes back.
- Reset it, update its firmware or change its settings.
- Plug its drive into a computer. Windows can't read most recorder drives and may offer to format them.
Case files
What people ask about NVRs and DVRs
Can you recover deleted footage from an NVR or DVR?
Often, if it hasn't been overwritten yet. Removing a recording from the recorder's index doesn't ordinarily erase the video on the disk. On one recorder we recovered deleted recordings going back about four months.
The footage was overwritten. Can you get it back?
No. Overwritten video is gone, from any recorder. If that's what we find, we'll tell you.
Can you tell why a camera has no footage?
Often, from the recorder's own records: its event log, its recording index and the raw disk. We report what those show, including when they show nothing was deleted.
Do I need to bring the whole recorder?
Bring it if you can. The drive holds the footage, and the recorder's make and model tell us how it's laid out.
Can you provide a report for insurance or court?
Yes. The work is documented with chain-of-custody records and a written report of what was recovered and how, including what the records don't show.
Tell us about the recorder
Send the details or call (587) 387-2346. We'll tell you what to do with it until you get here.
Drop-off: Southcentre Executive Tower, #610 - 11012 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary. No appointment needed.