audio file recovery after power outage

[Cawbaby]

It was a live gig performance that seems unattrievable. The power went out during the performance and the audio files are not being recognized by Pro Tools. They are on the hard drive with the suffix .wav on the end of them but I can't import them.
Any ideas?
thanx
Craig

[aux]

When Pro Tools records, it allocates (when set in the prefs) all available harddisk space. When the computer (or application) crashes, it doesn't give the space back to the Mac OS system and the files will probably be very large, a few gigs per WAV file.

I am not sure if you can get the files back, is there another app that opens them?

[Rail Jon Rogut]

Read this thread/post

If that doesn't help - email me.

Rail

[Andre Knecht]

At the risk of stating the obvious, you really should get one or more UPSs (Uninterruptible Power Supplies). Protect your gear investment, your work and that of others (i.e. the music you’re recording). Some UPS systems also provide varying degrees of AC filtering and shielding from interferences, which often translates into better sonic quality of your recordings.

IHTH.

[Cawbaby]

These files aren't extra large, like they used up the rest of the hard drive space. In fact I recorded an additional 2 hrs. after the outage.
Rail, I tried importing them with any and all of the PT options I believe available. PT says the files are unreadable and doesn't allow you to copy them. I haven't found an app that will open these files.
Andre, I don't record live very often and this was someone elses rig. But in hindsite that would have been nice.
thanx but are there any other ideas?
-Craig

[Rail Jon Rogut]

I can probably recover them for you if you can get them to me.

Rail

[James Drake]

I have been in the situation where Pro Tools crashed during record. The .WAV files existed on the HDD but no app would open/play them. I believe Pro Tools writes the audio data during record and then finishes writing all the header data when you hit stop. If Pro Tools crashes (or your machine dies) then you have never hit stop and so the headers are not written fully/properly.

Since you recorded the files, it is likely that you know what the header should be (ie. you know the sample rate, bit resolution, etc). You can use a utility app to manually write these details to the header.

Soundhack will do this for you:
http://www.soundhack.com/freeware.php

I have used this to "recover" files that seemed un-useable since they were in the middle of recording while Pro Tools crashed.

As a side note (I-told-you-so):
(1) You should not be using Pro Tools to record a gig.
(2) You should be double-heading anyway, if a client must record to PT then your backup machine should be something more suitable.
(3) You absolutely MUST be running on a UPS!

[Andre Knecht]

[…] Andre, I don't record live very often and this was someone elses rig. But in hindsite that would have been nice.

Craig, the benefits of using UPSs are just as crucial and valuable in a studio environment as they are for live situations. Unless one has the good fortune to operate in an building or unit where power quality and reliability have been addressed “globally,” power remains consistently unreliable and dirty.

Also, clean and stable power do wonders for overall system stability — computers and ancillary equipment, in particular. I’ve personally witnessed, more than once, the elimination of unpredictable system behavior (typically blamed on “bugs”), after the owners installed a few decent UPSs.

My two cents.

Best of luck with the file retrieval.

[JFreak]

You should not be using Pro Tools to record a gig.

Bull.

I do it on a regular basis, say twice a month at least. IF the system is stable on studio project, there is absolutely zero reason why it wasn't stable on a live project. And stability has improved a lot since the PT6 era. I think the OSX learning curve has finally reached the top and PT7 systems are very stable.

UPS is a great recommendation. If one can has the budget, it is always better to have secured power source, even if it meant having one minute for saving the work after the power shutdown. But it is not mandatory. I find most power outages are "user errors" which can be avoided by being careful.

There's also no reason for making the original poster feel any worse than he already feels.

[Cawbaby]

Actually I don't feel bad. This was my clients PT rig and setup. I was just there to place mics correctly, get levels and track. But if I can recover these files it would be nice. Thanx James I'll try that recovery plan.
As far as a UPS , hell if I recorded live alot I'd even get a FedX.
Thanx you guys for all the input.
-Craig