Hey!

Yesterday, I recorded a focus group discussion on a SONY dictaphone as part of preparation for a university assessment.

When I was about to start transcribing the data earlier this morning, I was starting and stopping the file and accidentally managed to click the 'record' button (which also serves as a pause button) twice instead of the play button and when I went to play the file again, I found that I had overwritten all but 25 seconds of the file...

The file was 30 minutes long and so to lose that permanently will be a huge blow, especially considering the fact my analysis of the data is due in later this month.

Is there any way I can recover the original file?

It seems ridiculous to me that SONY would put an overwrite feature in their dictaphones... Surely if people needed space to record something new, the'd back up their files on their computer and then erase the files that they no longer need to make way for new recordings? Putting an overwrite feature in their recording devices is just asking for mistakes to be made... And it seems that in my case, it is a very costly mistake.

There has to be a way of recovering the original file. Anybody?

Thanks in advance!