topic Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

amillett — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 21:52:43 GMT

Hi! I have a .DAT file that resulted from my R6 freezing while shooting video of a wedding back in October. I've tried using different software that had little to no results (VLC, Winff, Stellar Repair) and wanted to reach out to the community with any suggestions of what can be done to recover the video from the file. It shows data is in the file (448MB), but I can't view in camera or on my computer. Thanks!

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

nicholastjs — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 21:13:57 GMT

I have the same issue after taking an overnight timelapse. Wondering if anyone can share any ideas on how to recover the DAT file.

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

rs-eos — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 21:23:38 GMT

I would have thought that the extension would be something like "MXF" instead of "DAT". A long shot here, but what happens if you rename to use an "MXF" extension instead?

Or better yet, locate any valid video you captured beforehand and note its extension.

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

nicholastjs — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 22:51:37 GMT

Typically all video and timelapses taken are MP4. However, there's one file that has DAT as its extension, which I believe is due to some corruption, but the file is still 260MB. So I would like to see if there's a way to recover this.

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

Kong — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 19:01:37 GMT

Anyone know if the Stellar Repair for Video works? It's $70 for the unlimited version. I don't want to buy it if it is pointless. There are some You tube videos promoting it but I noticed that Amazon has this and the ratings are horrible. I am not going to buy it unless someone can vouch for it . Or other products? I am surprised Canon does not have a patch for this.

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 00:59:28 GMT

They offer a free trial download. You could check it out for yourself.

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

amillett — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 01:27:58 GMT

Hey! I did try changing the file type, but unfortunately that didn't make it playable either 😞

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

amillett — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 01:29:16 GMT

Hey Kong, I tried it, but it didn't work - I had success with aero quartet, but they will charge you (for me it was $49 for my small 16 second clip)

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

nicholastjs — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 08:04:29 GMT

I just used their service, but as you mentioned, their $49 for any video seems a bit too pricey for short clips. I paid $49 for a 5 second timelapse video 😞

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

shadowsports — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 09:28:40 GMT

Greetings,

Many SD / CFExpress card manufacturers offer file recovery software. Some are free, some paid. I've used Test Disk and PhotoRec by CG Security. Note this is a free utility, but command line based. Others are below.

$49 is inexpensive compared to losing your reputation with a paying client. Lexar, ProGrade, and Angelbird all have recovery tools as well.

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

keylanh — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 02:30:06 GMT

I found a solution! I was able to recover a 30gb 4k C Log 3 file on the first try.

Its not exactly cheap but it works and thats whats important.

TLDR: Purchase Wondershare RecoverIt and follow instructions. Use "Enhanced Repair"

Steps:

1.Purchase Wondershare RepairIt Software (I chose a perpetual license for $120 on mac, there is a monthly and annual subscription)

2. Duplicate the file onto change the file extension to .mp4 or whatever you're shooting in

3. Select "Enhanced Video Recovery"

4. Drag the file into the software

5. Drag a working clip as a reference shot on the same camera and in the same shooting format, frame rate, color science etc.

6. Let it work its magic.

Definitely an expensive and annoying issue to deal with but the process is easy and the recovered file(s) can be worth multiples of what you may pay to repair them.

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

chriscook — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 21:14:09 GMT

Were you able to do it?

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

chriscook — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 20:46:06 GMT

anyone else has some suggestions?

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

keylanh — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 21:00:11 GMT

My above strategy worked and was able to recover the data.

Re: How Can I Recover/Repair .DAT file from Canon R6?

Jim_Norman — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 20:35:53 GMT

I wanted to add that I used Wondershare Recoverit following the above instructions and was able to repair a 60GB 2K video file and a 260GB (4K) video file. Thank you for sharing this repair info.