Hi everyone

I have the following problem:
I had to make a recording of today's conference so I tapped the red button and my Axim x51v nicely started its job. Unfortunately, at the end I accidentally pushed the round power button on top op the PDA and 2 hours of conference talk were reduced to 0 seconds recording! Searching for any temporary files on my Compact Memory Card I found the corresponding 101Mb Windows Media file. Tapping it The Windows Media Player started and gave an error message saying: 'The data is invalid'

Is there any hope to recover this file?

ohhh I have not had this problem yet but try this send it to you computerthen play with WMP

sorry I mean computer*

Welcome to Aximsite, move it to your PC and see if you can recover with more sofisticate software.

.

Frenchy

         

Try opening/playing the file with TCPMP ?

[edit]

I thought I'd try this myself. I started a recording, after a minute or two I hit the power button the axim went into standby/poweroff. Restarted the x51v and, much to my amazement, the recording just continued where it left off! On playback, there's a loud thump where the recording was paused, then the sound continues.

bertc,
Did you switch the power off completely? (i.e. hold the power button down for a few seconds)

(Waw, thanks for your fast replies, guys!)
Yes, I did. I didn't hold it down for a few seconds, I just pressed it normally.
After I pressed the power button, the screenlight went back on and the after about 1 second I heard the characteristic 2 bleeps. The recording had stopped without taking its time to process the data, a zero second file being the result.
Perhaps my settings are slightly different from yours:
I have Settings > Power>Power Button , radio button 'Dim/light the display' is marked.
Settings > Power>Power On , both items 'If a program button is pressed' and 'If a record button is pressed' are marked.
Settings > Brightness>Battery Power, the device is dimmed after 15 seconds.

It's probably a file length issue (my settings are as yours except I have mine power-off completely if I hold the button).

Have you tried simply renaming the file (xxxxx.wav)? Back it up first !

Yes I did. Just by copying the file to my laptop it got the wav extension automatically. Clicking it, starts the XP Media Player and after a few seconds I get a popup saying the program doesn't find the necessary codecs.
I also installed TCPMP on my Axim. The program just didn't react, but it worked fine with other recordings.

Hmm. If this wont open in a desktop sound editing package (e.g. soundforge), you might need a Hex editor to check the file header (see this description ) It would be worth noting your axim's sound settings (e.g. sample rate wordlength etc. from Settings/Input/Options.

Hi Bill_Todd !

I followed your advice (though I was not very much convinced) and used a Hex editor. And Lo IT WORKS !!! A hex editor saved my recording!!! (I simply copy pasted the initial bites of a non corrupted recording in the corrupted one, as simple as that, and the whole recording has come back, a miracle!)
Thank you so much for helping me!!!!!!!!!!

Grz
BertC

Fantastic!

Glad you've fixed it