How to Repair Damaged or Corrupted Dash Cam Videos?

Read time: 7 minutes

Corruption in Dash Cam videos is a common occurrence because they constantly delete and overwrite the stored data. Unsuitable conditions like high heat from the windshield and interrupted recording due to sudden power loss degrades the memory card and damages the videos stored inside it.

Due to this, the video footage faces playback errors and may even display faulty error messages. In this guide, we’ll go over the common signs of Dash Cam video corruption, reasons behind the Dash Cam video not playing error, and the best ways to resolve this issue.

Signs Your Dash Cam Videos Are Corrupted

If your Dash Cam videos have gone corrupted, you’ll see some warning signs. The most common of these indications include:

• Visual glitches: Video might start freezing, pixelating, flickering, or greyed-out stripes might appear if it’s damaged.
• SD card error: Dash Cam might continuously prompt ‘SD Card error’ or ‘Format SD card’ message if the video is damaged.
• Video playback error: If Dash Cam videos stop playing on all kinds of devices like a computer, phone, or display error messages like ‘Cannot render the file’, then your video file is corrupted.
• Missing file data: If Dash Cam video files appear to have 0 bytes or folders take up space even though they don’t contain any data, then it can be a sign that there’s corruption in your video files.

Reasons Behind Dash Cam Videos Corruption Issue

There can be various factors that may be affecting the dash cam videos and making them corrupt or inaccessible. Below we have mentioned some of the most common reasons behind corruption of dash cam videos:

1. Physical damage: If any kind of damage happens to dash cam videos, then they can cause corruption in video recordings.
2. Memory card issue: Damaged or faulty memory card can also be the reason behind corruption of dash cam video file.
3. Malware or antivirus attack: Sometimes, antivirus or malware attacks can also affect the captured videos.
4. Issues with SD card: If you are using an SD card which is damaged, has low memory, or infected, then it can also cause corruption.

Ways to Recover Damaged Dash Cam Videos

Just like any other storage media, dash cam recordings are also prone to corruption, accidental deletion, malware attacks, and improper handling of the device. Below are some practical approaches mentioned to repair dash cam video files. Follow them carefully:

Method 1: Assign a New Drive Letter

If your system detects a drive location that has become inaccessible, then you have to assign a new drive letter to the affected disk volume. To do so, please follow the steps shown below:

1. Right-click on Windows icon and select Disk Management from the list.
2. To change the drive letter right click on the drive and then select Change Drive Letters and Paths.
3. Click Add /Change and choose the letter from the drop-down.
4. Next, click OK to proceed.

Method 2: Perform chkdsk

You should consider this option when you receive an error message repeatedly, prompting you to format the inaccessible drive. The details steps are described below:

1. Press Windows + X keys and click on Command Prompt (Admin) from the list.
2. Type chkdsk x:/f (please replace the letter x in the command with the drive letter that you want to perform chkdsk on )in the command prompt and press the Enter button.
3. This might take a while as the chkdsk process starts to repair your files.

Note: If this process ends without an error, then restart your PC before attempting to read your files from the drive.

Method 3: Reinstall the Driver

Connect the SD card of your Dash Cam to your computer. The steps to reinstall disk drivers are outlined below:

1. Press Windows + R key to open Run wizard, type devmgmt.msc and click OK.
2. Click on Disk drives from the list and right-click on the removable drive (SD card of dash cam).
3. Click Uninstall > OK.
4. Safely disconnect your SD card and restart your PC.
5. Connect your SD card to your PC and restart to check.

Method 4. Repair using VLC Media Player

VLC media player is a great way when it comes to repairing video files. You can follow the below mentioned steps to repair dash cam videos:

1. Launch VLC media player and tap on Media > Convert/Save.
2. Click on Add to upload the video of your choice, then click Convert/Save.
3. Click on the Browse button to provide a location, then click Start to begin the process.

How to Prevent Corruption in Dash Cam Videos?

Corruption in Dash Cam videos can be prevented by keeping these things in mind:

• Purchase good quality SD cards: Since Dash Cams constantly write and overwrite data, this degrades low quality SD cards. Using high quality SD cards help prevent this.
• Format SD cards on a regular basis: Delete all the old files and clear out system errors on a regular basis from the SD card to keep it healthy and corruption free.
• Shutdown safely: Wait for the videos to be processed and saved before ejecting the SD card or cutting the power off completely.

Repair Dash Cam Videos in Original Quality

If you still can’t view your Dash Cam videos, then it’s a clear indication that there’s high-level corruption in your video files. The previous methods do not guarantee successful recovery of video files from a dash cam. It is, therefore, advised to get the help of a reliable Video Repair solution. Kernel Video Repair tool quickly repairs all kinds of inaccessible, corrupt video files. It can easily repair 4K, 8K, VR, and 360° HD videos. This tool can also repair corrupt MP4 video files. Take the free trial to know more about the tool.

Conclusion

Footage from the dash cams plays a vital role in settling car insurance claims and can also help the driver to improve their driving habits. Damage or loss of dash cam video data can be disastrous for some. Therefore, in this post, we have introduced a few manual methods to repair the inaccessible and corrupted dash cam video files on the SD card. It can also repair MOV video file from an affected SD card. If these methods don’t work out for you, then you should try the recommended software, i.e., Kernel Video Repair. This tool can easily repair corrupt MP4 video files as well.