CCTV cameras are crucial modern-day security tools for premises.

Whether used in business or at home, they serve their purposes quite well to help with recording security details and even support monitoring of activities.

However, CCTV cameras have to store all this detail in the memory for future reference, the modern wireless CCTV cameras even make it more convenient and seamless to carry out surveillance.

But CCTV cameras are not full proof of data challenges.

They also face data loss and you can easily lose your footage due to unforeseen circumstances.

Read this guide to restoring deleted CCTV recordings to ensure you are able to get back your files safely.

We will begin by showing you a few details on how data can be lost and whether recovery is really possible or not.

How Can I Lose my CCTV Footage?

There are many ways people lose CCTV footage.

For instance, your old footage can be overwritten by new ones by default or deletion of old footage due to lack of space. Some of these reasons include:

• Accidental deletion
• Corrupted or damaged SD card
• DVR or hard drive failure
• Virus or malware attack
• Damage caused by fire
• Damage caused by water

Can You Recover Deleted CCTV Footage?

In most cases, it is very possible to recover deleted footage from CCTV. But this depends on your timing.

Even if you did not have any backup for your footage, you can fully depend on data recovery software such as Disk Drill to recover all your data.

How to Recover Deleted Videos from CCTV

The recovery process can be much easier and straightforward if you understand the causes behind the deletion or loss.

This is why we have listed some of the possible causes of data loss from CCTVs.

We will proceed to discuss some of the three methods you can use to recover lost footage.

Method 1: Recover Deleted Footage from Backup

Backing up your footage on a regular basis can be very important especially if you are interested in monitoring the security detail or some of the particular activities at home or in the office.

If you have any form of backup for your CCTV footage, getting them back at this moment should be easy.

Begin by locating the backup folder where you have stored the footage. Search for the deleted files, select them and transfer them to the original folder or SD card.

Of course, you can send these footage data from backup to any other location depending on what you intend to use them for and where you intend to use them.

Method 2: Recover Deleted Footage with CMD

Control Prompt Command is another powerful tool that will help you recover deleted CCTV footage. 

Follow the methods below to complete the process:

Step 1: Open CMD by pressing “Win + R” to launch the Run window.

Step 2: Type “cmd.exe” and click “OK.”

Step 3: Check for bad sectors in your drive by typing “chkdsk H:/f” in the command then hitting Enter. Remember to replace “H” with the specific drive letter representing your flash drive.

Step 4: Now type “Y” if the drive is in use, then hit Enter. If you do not see any prompt, proceed to step 5.

Step 5: Get the deleted files back by running the command “attrib – h -r -s/s/dH:*-*” then press Enter to recover data from the flash drive.

Although CMD does not require any software to execute, you need to be aware of certain things before as stated below:

• The method is best suited for use by professionals with adequate technical knowledge, skills, and experience to execute it.
• Recovering permanently deleted files can be grueling and you need the right CMD skills to avoid overwriting files or getting them corrupted.
• You have very low chances of recovering bug-infected files.

Method 3: Recover Deleted CCTV Videos with Disk Drills by CleverFiles

Disk Drill is a trusted data recovery software with powerful features built for the job.

The top-ranked video recovery software performs seamlessly and will come in handy to help you recover deleted CCTV footage where other methods fail.

If you have tried all the other methods and are still wondering whether you have any slight chance left, you can bet on this tool.

According to many users, Disk Drill offers the highest success rate.

Besides, you can decide to use either the free version or premium version depending on the scenario you are in.

Below are some of the features making it one of the best video recovery software you will ever come across:

• Free recovery up to 500 MBs
• Support for multiple file formats including video, audio, documents, photos
• Support for a wide range of storage devices including SD cards, hard drives, and USB drives
• Quick scan and deep scan features
• Preview for found documents
• Pause, continue and stop search features
• Real time display of the recovery process with a user-friendly interface

To recover deleted video from CCTV with this tool, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Download and install the software on your windows computer.

Step 2: Connect the SD card on your CCTV camera to the windows computer and ensure it is recognized by the OS.

Step 3: Launch Disk Drill and choose the SD card from the list of available storage volumes.

Step 4: Hit the “search” button to initiate the scanning process. Disk Drill uses the quick scan or deep scan features to improve your search experience. If you lost massive data on your footage, choose a deep scan to restore all of it.

Step 5: Preview the results displayed in progress or at the end of the recovery process. If the search has completed, scroll and choose the right footage files you are looking for.

Step 6: Tap the “Recover” button to recover the selected files. Choose a different location to send the recovered files. Do not send them back to the original folder to avoid overwriting them by any chance.