Question / Help Where Did My Saved MP4 Videos Go?

[Larry_L]

Hi Folks:

As always, thanks to those involved in bringing this amazing software to us.

I'm using the Windows 0.655b version of OBS on Win 8.1 Pro.

I've been busy with work and haven't had time to sort through several hundred MP4 files I've recorded with OBS. I'm going to want to save a few of these.

This morning I created a new video. When I went to copy it to a permanent location there were only two videos in the folder, the video I created this morning and an aborted effort to create the video made a few minutes earlier.

I've recently, in the last week, pulled MP4 files OBS has made from this folder, and there were a bunch of files there. I'm assuming all of them.

I've looked at my recycle bin and found only 9 videos, 7 from the folder OBS uses to save them.

Any idea what happened, or if the missing files are recoverable?

I'm curious if this is a "feature" of OBS. It wouldn't surprise me if this is something WN8 would do.

Important files are backed up daily. These aren't important enough for that treatment.

But it's annoying.

I tried to include a log file, but Firefox freezes every time I try Insert - Code.

Thanks
Larry

 

[sam686]

OBS can record, FLV is preferred to reduce risk of corruption. This may have been enabled in OBS settings.

Don't move files into recycle bin if you want to use them later. There is a size limit in windows recycle bin, right click recycle bin, properties.

 

[Larry_L]

OBS can record, FLV is preferred to reduce risk of corruption. This may have been enabled in OBS settings.

Thanks Sam:

I've just done a quick read about FLV, which I've never heard of before seeing your post.

When I first set up OBS, much of what scrolled past my eyes was alphabet soup. The settings does have an entry for "Replay Buffer File Path" of "C:\Users\larryl\Videos\Replay-$T.flv". I remember noticing it, but I did nothing with it.

There is a folder "C:\Users\larryl\Videos\twitch", which I've never looked at until now. It's empty.

It looks like FLV addresses an issue with a file being corrupted. My problem is that a bunch of files are missing.

Don't move files into recycle bin if you want to use them later. There is a size limit in windows recycle bin, right click recycle bin, properties.

I never manually moved files into my recycle bin. They're just gone from the folder specified in OBS's "File Path:" entry.

They were there a couple of days ago.

I only went to the recycling bin to look for them.

I appreciate your assistance.

 

[FerretBomb]

OBS isn't going to move files out, or delete (/recycle) them. The worst it will do is overwrite one with the same name (why using a %T in the filename is strongly advised; puts in a timestamp, almost entirely preventing this from ever happening). Something or someone not-OBS moved or deleted them.

 

[Larry_L]

OBS isn't going to move files out, or delete (/recycle) them. The worst it will do is overwrite one with the same name (why using a %T in the filename is strongly advised; puts in a timestamp, almost entirely preventing this from ever happening). Something or someone not-OBS moved or deleted them.

Thanks FerretBomb:

That doesn't surprise me.

I'm a programmer. I've been suffering with Windows for a decade. I'm so over this Microsoft distributed virus.

I'll probably never be free of this curse, but I'll do what I can to move to Android.

Has anybody else seen this?

 

[Larry_L]

Mystery solved, sort of.

The files are all under a directory I created long ago called "temp".

They were in "E:\twitch\pdx_dragon\saved_video\", now they're in "E:\temp\twitch\pdx_dragon\saved_video\".

I think I'd remember moving them.

It must have been space aliens who abducted my computer while I was sleeping.

I have had files and folders cut and pasted as a result of an accidental finger twitch.

The original folder still exists, with a single file in it. I guess if the entire folder structure had been cut and pasted to "E:\temp" OBS would create the structure again when it created a new video.

Thanks for the assistance.

 

[Larry_L]

Here is what's weird about the location of the files.

Yesterday afternoon OBS created a video file with a time stamp of 3:23 in the afternoon.

This morning OBS created a video with a time stamp of 6:13, and placed it in the empty destination directory.

All of the former occupants of the directory, including the file created 15 hours earlier, were in the new directory, which is on the same drive.

There are 103 files, for 76 Gigs of space, in the directory.

I suppose if I wanted to mass move the files, a folder with the first part of the path "E:\temp\" and the rest of the path name the same as the path to the original location makes sense.

I haven't looked at the OBS directory or given it any thought this weekend, until I looked in it this morning.

This isn't something OBS might do?