Drone & UAV Data Recovery
Recovery of flight footage, photos, mission data and logs for commercial UAV operators first — inspection, mapping, public safety and film — and for creators and personal users, subject to evaluation.
Three places drone data is recorded
Identifying which device holds the data is the first step of every evaluation.
Removable media
microSD, SD, CFexpress and SSD media in aircraft and camera payloads.
Onboard / embedded storage
Internal flash inside aircraft, cameras and controllers. Recovery from embedded flash is supported.
Payloads & associated devices
Gimbal cameras, thermal payloads, goggles and controllers that keep their own recordings.
Who we help
Inspection
Infrastructure, utility, tower and asset inspection imagery and video.
Mapping & survey
Photogrammetry image sets, geotagged captures and survey mission files.
Public safety
Incident, search and response footage recorded by agency fleets.
Cinematography
High-bitrate aerial footage from camera payloads and cinema aircraft.
Agriculture
Multispectral and RGB field captures and associated mission data.
Enterprise fleets
Multiple aircraft, controllers and payloads managed across teams.
Consumer & personal footage
Travel, family and hobby footage from personal and compact drones.
Common drone data problems
SD and microSD card recovery
Cards that ask to be formatted, show no files or are not detected are imaged first, then file systems and video structures are rebuilt from the image. Physically broken cards and monolithic microSD are evaluated at chip level.
Onboard flash recovery
Many aircraft and cameras can record internally. When the aircraft will not power on, the storage is accessed from the board. Some storage is encrypted; the manufacturer notes in each catalog flag this where documented.
Crash and water damage
Keep the aircraft powered off and send it with the card. Corrosion and short circuits worsen with repeated power attempts.
Deleted or formatted media
Stop recording immediately. New flights overwrite the space where deleted footage remains.
Corrupt or unfinalized video
Recordings interrupted before the file closed can be evaluated for repair using the raw data and reference files from the same aircraft.
Recovery by manufacturer
21 manufacturers, 435 listed models. Catalogs checked 2026-09-24.
- DJI Drone Data Recovery124 listed models
- Autel Robotics Drone Data Recovery43 listed models
- Parrot Drone Data Recovery27 listed models
- Skydio Drone Data Recovery10 listed models
- Freefly Systems Drone Data Recovery10 listed models
- Wingtra Drone Data Recovery3 listed models
- EagleNXT eBee Drone Data Recovery18 listed models
- Yuneec Drone Data Recovery16 listed models
- FIMI / Xiaomi Drone Data Recovery20 listed models
- Hubsan Drone Data Recovery53 listed models
- Holy Stone Drone Data Recovery62 listed models
- SwellPro Drone Data Recovery12 listed models
- PowerVision Drone Data Recovery4 listed models
- HOVERAir Drone Data Recovery7 listed models
- Ryze Robotics Drone Data Recovery3 listed models
- GoPro Drone Data Recovery1 listed model
- Antigravity Drone Data Recovery1 listed model
Defense & government manufacturers
Individual model pages may be added later only where a model has distinct storage behavior or clear search demand.
What to do now
- Stop recording and do not write anything new to the card, aircraft or controller.
- Do not format the card or accept any prompt to format or repair it.
- Do not repeatedly power on a wet, crashed or damaged aircraft. Remove the battery if it is safe to do so.
- Keep the aircraft, card, controller and any payload or goggles together — the data may be on more than one of them.
- Write down the model, what was being recorded, and what happened (crash, water, deletion, error message).
Frequently asked questions
- Can footage be recovered from a crashed drone?
- Often it can be evaluated. The card may be readable even when the aircraft is not, and internal flash can be read after the aircraft is examined. Results depend on where the data was recorded and its condition.
- Do you recover data from drone internal storage?
- Yes. Recovery from embedded flash inside aircraft, cameras and controllers is supported for evaluation, alongside removable cards and SSDs.
- Which drones are covered?
- 21 manufacturer catalogs with 435 listed models are documented below. Listed models are supported for evaluation of available recording media and associated devices. Recovery depends on data location, media condition, encryption, and whether the requested data remains present.
- Is 'drone recovery' the same as drone data recovery?
- No. This service recovers footage and files from drone storage. It does not locate or retrieve lost aircraft.
Data Recovery Guarantee
If we cannot recover the data identified as required for your case, you will not be charged a recovery fee.
Request a Comprehensive evaluation for your drone data
Send the aircraft, card, controller or payload that held the data. Engineers identify where the footage or files were recorded and report what is recoverable before any recovery work begins.