[rogerbid]

Hello and Happy New Year to everyone,

 

I have a seemingly impossible problem and hope someone here will be able to offer a solution!

 

Before Christmas I bought a fairly high spec DashCam and now have a huge problem.  The camera saves the videos to the Micro SD card in a format I have never heard of: .TAT files.  On the SD card I currently have over 1000 files totalling some 22Gb but Windows will NOT recognise them!  The card has an imbedded viewer with which I can see the files.  I will attach screenshots showing the files on the card, and the way Windows sees the card, with just 541kb of used space!  The former screenshot shows the output of the TAT Viewer which is on the card.

 

Using a Viewer (TAT Viewer 5G) downloaded from the camera manufacturer's website I can view the videos from the Front and Rear cameras plus all the GPS and associated data.  My problem is that there seems to be no way to download the TAT files in such a way that the full data is subsequently available on a Windows PC or Laptop.  The main reason for having a DashCam is to provide evidence in the event of an accident or prosecution.  Without the ability to save the data from the SD card to another card or a laptop etc, there is no way to supply this data to others.

 

Is there any way to clone a SD Card and copy files which are 'invisible' to Windows to a second card or to a PC/Laptop/USB Drive? I have Googled TAT files and very little information is available.

 

I should mention here that using the TAT viewer on the SD card it is possible to copy a video to a drive on the laptop but the saved file becomes an .AVI file and as such can be seen in Windows Media Player, but only the forward camera view is saved, without the GPS data etc.

 

If I cannot come up with a way of saving the entire TAT file I can see no alternative but to scrap the costly camera and opt for another one.

 

I really hope someone can suggest a solution here,

 

Thanks very much

 

Roger B

 

 

Edited by rogerbid, 01 January 2020 - 05:31 AM.

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[DrDOS]

See if this helps  https://filext.com/file-extension/TAT

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

 

 

...

Is there any way to clone a SD Card and copy files which are 'invisible' to Windows to a second card or to a PC/Laptop/USB Drive?...

 

Check the Disk Manager because I suspect there is more than on partition on the SD card, your image show only a 100MB FAT32 partition most likely there is more in the card but eventually it could be a special partition format only recognized by the application provided by the manufacturer!

[123Runner]

To conserve space can you set the cameras up to do a loop and erase the previous videos. I know that not a final solution but it could help temporarily. You don't need to save everything, just those files from an accident or issue.

[rogerbid]

Hi,

 

Check the Disk Manager because I suspect there is more than on partition on the SD card, your image show only a 100MB FAT32 partition most likely there is more in the card but eventually it could be a special partition format only recognized by the application provided by the manufacturer!

Thanks SleepyDude,

 

You are spot on!  I never thought of looking at the drive in Computer Management.  There is an Unallocated partition which shows up and I have been trying to gain access using all sorts of data recovery tools e.g. EaseUS, and PartitionWizard.  Nothing I do will allow me see the recordings so unfortunately I am no further forward.  I am beginning to thin there is just no way to copy these files to a second card or the PC or Laptop. 

 

This really is a disappointment as in every other respect the dashcam lives up to expectations.  It will prove t be a very expensive mistake.  If anyone can offer advice on accessing files on an Unallocated drive, please let me know.  I will try anything!

 

Thanks to everyone for the replies,  Roger

 

[rogerbid]

To conserve space can you set the cameras up to do a loop and erase the previous videos. I know that not a final solution but it could help temporarily. You don't need to save everything, just those files from an accident or issue.

Hi and thanks for your reply.

 

The camera already loops and overwrites the earlier files and my objective is to download all files and keep them for a while before deleting.  In the event of an accident, I can anticipate that every man and his dog will want copies of the video and data to support an insurance claim or to dispute a driving prosecution and it seems to me that the camera manufacturer is failing its customers big time by not allowing access to the files in order to copy them.

 

In addition, we are often hearing on the TV News that Police are asking for anyone with dashcam video of an area or street on a specific date to get in touch - no chance of assisting if files are automatically overwritten within a few days and not downloaded and stored for a while.

 

Thanks again,  Roger

[123Runner]

Generally video files are large. I'm not sure where all your files are but they shouldn't be on the unallocated partition. You can't write data to an unallocated partition. See here: www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=can+you+save+file+to+a+unallocated+partition

 

I can't imagine that the dash cam is saving there and the company set it up so you can't do anything with it. What is the dash cam manufacturer? Do they have a web site? Is there a phone number to contact them?

[rogerbid]

Generally video files are large. I'm not sure where all your files are but they shouldn't be on the unallocated partition. You can't write data to an unallocated partition. See here: www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=can+you+save+file+to+a+unallocated+partition

 

I can't imagine that the dash cam is saving there and the company set it up so you can't do anything with it. What is the dash cam manufacturer? Do they have a web site? Is there a phone number to contact them?

Hello 123Runner, and thank you for your reply.

 

I was only guessing that the files were somehow stored in the Unallocated partition since the only other part of the card is shown in File Explorer as only having the minimal amount of data.  The 1000 files found by the embedded viewer total 22Gb and must be stored somewhere!  I just need to know where and then see if I can copy them.

 

The camera manufacturer ESV has a website - http://www.esv.co.kr/ - but provides no Support email address and only a Head Office phone number.  I am hesitant to phone as I am not sure of the language problems that might be encountered.  I may have to try it before I discard the camera though.  I have written an Air Mail letter with a copy sent by email to the general email address but no reply has been forthcoming.  The website indicates that the company is quite large with a high tech product range and I am simply amazed that there is no way provided to download the videos, in fact virtually nothing in the way of tech support and FAQs  Very Disappointing to say the least!

 

I am getting absolutely nowhere with this problem.

 

Best wishes,  Roger.