In short, VEGAS did not "turn your files into sfk files" and VEGAS did not delete your original files (unless you told it to). Any time a file with audio is added, a secondary file - with an sfk extension and the same name as the original file - is created. So you will have TWO files with the same file name. The original files will still be there unless you do something with them. Here's an example on my machine. After adding all of these MP4 files, the secondary SFK files were created. BOTH files are still there.
yeah i never once have told vegas to delete any files whatsoever so i doubt it was anything i did....i did a very simple thing i dragged a mp4 into vegas, then a wav file, rendered that and boom....all this happened
all my mp3s and most of my mp4s on my pc are now sfk files....
David, please be very clear, Vegas does not do that.
I am sorry that you are not able to locate your media.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc.
I know everybody is saying "vegas can't do that", but any software can become corrupt and do strange things. There was a version of Vegas (can't remember which) that, on my computer, would occasionally start deleting source files. I would notice big increase in harddrive activity and files were being deleted. If I crashed out of vegas, it would stop, but I would lose those files, so it is incorrect to say that Vegas absolutely didn't do this. Now, there is no reason it should have, but it could have.
With all due respect to the OP, there is reason that ALL of the experienced, technically proficient Vegas users are saying this is nonsense.
You can't point a finger at Vegas until you can replicate the behaviour through testing.
Can just as easily be a hardware or OS issue. Which begs the question: why doesn't the OP have these files backed up somewhere (anywhere?) - hard drives fail ALL THE TIME! Ask your client for the files?
Q: did those files have some kind of DRM or encryption or originate from an Apple Mac? In some odd circumstances this can cause files to "magically" disappear or become "hidden" in the OS. And this can proliferate through subfolders - very distressing.
@Kinvermark Thanks for the insult. I have used Vegas since version 2. I have been an editor for over 40 years. Vegas deleted my files in a previous version. Vegas may not have directly deleted them, but it set off a chain of events that did.
@Former user I addressed the OP, not you.
@Kinvermark but the implication was obvious when you capitalized ALL.
Back on topic please.
If you have advice to solve the OP's problem please give it.
If you want to substantiate your claim that Vegas deletes files accidently then please start a new thread and show your logical evidence (not anecdotal.)
Assuming what you think has happened has happened:
1) immediately stop trying to fix the problem -- you are overwriting data. Use a second computer to find and learn how to use a disk recovery tool. When you are ready, scan your drives and examine the files/file fragments. Your files are still there, you just have to find them.
--alternately--
2) copy the sfk files to a safe drive (ie a usb passport or similar), and using another machine, rename them (change from .sfk to .mp3 etc) and see if they are your original files in disguise (a long shot, but worth ruling out)
good luck!
Kinvermark and the former DougT, I have known you both for a long time, and we are all reasonable characters. It's obvious we are not getting the full story, and if and when it comes out, we will all be on the same page again.
@Musicvid Well said.
I just wish @david-a8563vespertine would answer the questions that have been asked so we can try to get to the bottom of his problem. To repeat:
@Musicvid Well said.
I just wish @david-a8563vespertine would answer the questions that have been asked so we can try to get to the bottom of his problem. To repeat:
- What size are the sfk files
- Was the render okay
- What happens when you try to open the project again
- Were all the missing files on external hard drives
What size are the sfk files---------- very small between 10 and 200k
Was the render okay---------------the render ether dissapeared or turned into a sfk file ...its gone
What happens when you try to open the project again--------- there was no project it was a mp4 that i added a audio track to and saved it
Were all the missing files on external hard drivesa---------they were on my c drive and 2 other hard drives connected to my pc via sata
ive heard other reports of this happening right after rendering something in vegas on the net, so i gotta think its at least POSSIBLE that vegas could have done this....the other people that reported this had identical exp as me
Kinvermark and the former DougT, I have known you both for a long time, and we are all reasonable characters. It's obvious we are not getting the full story, and if and when it comes out, we will all be on the same page again.
ive been giving the full ( only ) story from the get go.....i dragged a mp4 and a wav file into vegas pro 13, i rendered it onto my desktop, then the file i rendered wouldnt play in vlc...so i checked it out and i only see the name of the file as SFK. then i notice all my mp3s and mp4s are now ether gone or now SFKs. thats the whole story....the only story. everything was there until i rendered that video. i dont know what else to say. then i did a search online and found several other people have said this happened to them the exact way it happened to me. i ran a porogram called "undelete pro" and it didnt find one single mp3 or mp4 that i lost so at this point i think ill just bite the bullet and learn adobe premiere pro and delete vegas.....i cant be losing peoples wedding videos that cannot continue. if i didnt find anyone else saying this happened to them id not be blaming vegas but since i DID, and since it happened to them the exact same way it happened to ME, i cant help but at least feel the possibility that vegas nuked my files....its not a unresonable suspicion given the corroboration from others....
Can you point us to those others who have/had the same issue, because I (Vegasuser since 2005) and probably all other experienced Vegasusers here, have never heard of such an issue before.
Did you try https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva as recommended above? I've used it for damaged SD cards in the past.
@david-a8563vespertine, I showed you a screenshot of what happens. You add an MP3 or MP4 file to the VEGAS timeline and a new .sfk file is created beside the original file. As you can see in my screenshot, both files exist. The only way VEGAS could have deleted the original files is if you deleted them from inside VEGAS and told VEGAS to delete the original files instead of just removing them from that project. In the 20+ years I've used VEGAS, I've never seen it delete a file without me telling it to do so.
So the question becomes, what really happened to those files? Because VEGAS did not delete them just by adding them to the timeline and doing a render. If you could recall every step, that would be helpful. But the fact that you rendered means the files were still there after the SFK files were created.
I did a Google search earlier and found only two references to this problem. The first was from long ago back in Sony days - VP 11 I think - (can't find it again right now) and another from around 3 years ago on Reddit but with no reference to the Vegas Pro version.
As per @3POINT, I can't recall seeing this as an issue on this forum over some 10 years of my reading this forum.
If it is a Vegas Pro problem, it possibly relates to a historic issue with Sony Vegas Pro 13 and earlier. Sony sold Vegas Pro to MAGIX - and Vegas Pro 14 and onwards are from Vegas Creative Software under the MAGIX corporate umbrella.
Maybe its time to update to Vegas Pro 19.
your files are not deleted, just do not use the hard drive and pass a recuperation software to recover your files, the more time you are here and using the computer the more chances that you write something in the disk and then your files will be losed forever.
VEGAS did not delete them just by adding them to the timeline and doing a render.
Respectfully, you are in no position to make such a judgement. Strange things happen. We are apparently talking about a very old copy of Vegas on one individual's machine in utterly unknown condition (hardware, other software, presence of viruses, etc). I don't think it's helpful to assert categorically what is or is not possible.
I would focus instead on trying to convince OP that if what he says has happened has happened, his files are probably still intact on those drives--he just has to use the proper tools to recover them.
Doing mission critical work without backups is a no-no regardless of what software you are using. The main reason is the common denominator in all cases is the operator. Live and learn.
@david-a8563vespertine Maybe a long shot, but do you have any anti-virus software running? It may have quarantined your missing files due to false positives.
This is a real longshot, but you didn't drag your video files directly from your memory card to Vegas, did you? If so, once you unplug the memory card, Vegas cannot find them.
...Jerry
Open your recycle bin and see if the files you are missing are there.
Jøran
This is a real longshot, but you didn't drag your video files directly from your memory card to Vegas, did you? If so, once you unplug the memory card, Vegas cannot find them.
...Jerry
no i dragged the video and audio file into vegas from the desktop on my pc c drive, then i rendered that video saved the file to desktop and BAM next thing i know that saved file is now a sfk and every other mp3 and mp4 on my c drive and 2 other drives are now showing .SFK as thier file extensions and all of those files were tiny like 125k