Can an AIFC file be saved from ruin?

[jawbone]

I had something terrible happen to me tonight during a interview I did for my podcast. I did an interview with WireTap Pro and I went to save and the program locked up.

Here's the thing. I have the 400 MB AIFC file that I think is the interview sitting on my desktop. (I dragged it from the temporary cache of WireTap before I restarted). I cannot open it in QT or Itunes. When I open it in QT, it locks up the program and tells me that the "file contains an incorrect duration".

Is there any way I can salvage the interview? Any tricks up the sleeve? Anything? Anyone? Bueller?

Please help. :(

[F7sound]

Try a program called SoundHack. "Open Any" is an option in the "File" menu. Then in "Hacks" menu, try "Change Header..." See if you can create a new aiff file. Just a guess, I don't know if that will work, but it can't hurt.

http://www.soundhack.com


Michael Oster
F7 Sound and Vision
http://www.F7sound.com
the Difficult Listening Channel - http://www.F7sound.com/podcasts.htm
my blog - http://michaeloster.blogspot.com

[jawbone]

Any idea what the header change would be?

Sample rate is 44100.00000

Channels are 2 (or I guess it could be 1)

What should I use for the Encoding? It's set right now at 8 bit unsigned.

[F7sound]

44100 is sample rate. For channels, go with the number you originally recorded at. Stereo is 2, mono, 1. Encoding, 16 bit linear. Try that :-)


Michael Oster
F7 Sound and Vision
http://www.F7sound.com
the Difficult Listening Channel - http://www.F7sound.com/podcasts.htm
my blog - http://michaeloster.blogspot.com

[jawbone]

I used soundhack and was able to create a new file -- of nothing. :(

I am now using Amadeus 2 to see if I can salvage this audio. If this doesn't work I think I'm SOL. :(

[F7sound]

Sorry, it was just a shot in the dark. Sometimes SoundHack can salvage things.


Michael Oster
F7 Sound and Vision
http://www.F7sound.com
the Difficult Listening Channel - http://www.F7sound.com/podcasts.htm
my blog - http://michaeloster.blogspot.com

[Cinci Sean]

Keep us up to date Jawbone. If you find a solution I am sure it would be valuable.

I had the same thing happen to me in the last 5 mins of an hour podcast. Recently I've taken to patching the output to a secondary recorder for fear of the Great God Crash ruining a show.

[jawbone]

Update:

Soundhack successful gave the file a header. I was able to match the information from another AIFC file I had recorded earlier. I was able to make a new file, but unfortunately that file was empty.

Amadeus 2 ripped a new file from the Soundhacked version, but still no sound. I think it was becuaue it was a temp file that it never fully "formed" as a true AIFC file.

I am pretty pissed with Wiretap. Apparently this was an issue that occured with the recent updates to Mac OSX 10.3.9 and QT 7. I lost an entire interview with I had done with one of my favorite celebs, Mike Nelson of MST3K. :(

[WyethDigital]

Update:

Soundhack successful gave the file a header. I was able to match the information from another AIFC file I had recorded earlier. I was able to make a new file, but unfortunately that file was empty.

Amadeus 2 ripped a new file from the Soundhacked version, but still no sound. I think it was becuaue it was a temp file that it never fully "formed" as a true AIFC file.

I am pretty pissed with Wiretap. Apparently this was an issue that occured with the recent updates to Mac OSX 10.3.9 and QT 7. I lost an entire interview with I had done with one of my favorite celebs, Mike Nelson of MST3K. :(

Too bad about Mike's interview! Any chance he'd do it again?

I never cared too much for Amadeus. Yes, it does some cool stuff, but when I was using it, it only seemed to store your recording in RAM until it was saved. At least, judging by the amount of recording time, that's how it appeared to me.

Do you use any file or volume recovery programs? If so, that may help. Not all the time, mind you. But sometimes.

If your system only stored the interview in RAM, or used virtual memory, then you may be out of luck (more so if it was in physical RAM). But if it spooled the file to disk, then you might be able to find a recovery program, or even use some Terminal magic to get it back. I would think a more Mac geek centered forum would offer more substantial advice. I would check some place like that out before absolutely giving up. Or go to the Maccast forum. There may be some help to be had there!

Wishing you luck!

Eric