🛠️ CCTV Footage Retrieval After Format and Overwrite

Introduction

CCTV footage plays a vital role in security, investigations, and legal matters. But what happens when the most crucial footage has already been overwritten or lost due to formatting? At Micronics, we often encounter clients facing such unfortunate situations—and we’ve developed advanced solutions to recover what seems impossible.

In this case study, we’ll explore a real scenario where critical CCTV footage was lost due to overwriting and formatting, and how Micronics’ data recovery experts used specialized forensic tools to successfully retrieve past recordings.

📌 The Challenge: Overwritten & Formatted CCTV Data

A client approached us with a common but serious issue:

• The incident they needed footage of occurred between 15th to 20th of the previous month.

• However, by the time they checked the DVR, it had already overwritten older data due to the limited storage cycle (only retained 1st to 15th of the current month).

• The DVR had also been accidentally formatted, further reducing chances of recovery.

These overlapping issues—CCTV data overwrite + formatting—posed a serious challenge, making traditional recovery methods ineffective.

🔍 Micronics’ Forensic Approach

Using our specialized CCTV data recovery tools, we approached the case in a forensic manner:

1. Low-Level Disk Access: We bypassed the NVR’s file system to read the raw sectors directly from the hard drive.

2. Fragment Reconstruction: Our tools reconstructed fragmented video files using signature-based carving.

3. Random Footage Recovery: Though not continuous, we recovered footage camera-wise and time-wise, spanning across various overwritten sectors.

4. Filtering and Sorting: After successful extraction, we categorized and filtered recovered videos based on timestamp and camera number to identify relevant data.

🎯 The Outcome

Despite the overwrite and format, Micronics successfully recovered:

• Random video segments from the 12th to 23rd of the previous month.

• Segments matching the client’s target window (15th–20th) were recovered and verified.

• Footage included relevant time stamps and camera angles crucial to their case.

The result? A positive outcome for the client, who was able to use the footage for further legal and investigative purposes.

🧠 Key Learnings

• CCTV footage is not always lost permanently after overwrite or format.

• Micronics’ forensic recovery techniques can retrieve old, partially overwritten footage.

• Success depends on how soon you stop using the system and submit the drive for analysis.

📢 Why Choose Micronics for CCTV Data Recovery?

• ✅ Expertise in overwritten CCTV footage recovery

• ✅ Advanced forensic-grade tools

• ✅ Experience with all DVR/NVR systems (CP Plus, Hikvision, Dahua, etc.)

• ✅ Proven case studies and client success stories