An .mpo file is composed of two overlapping 2D images designed to form a stereoscopic 3D image. It is typically created by 3D cameras and used by 3D games consoles and TVs.
Deleting an .mpo file is not as simple as pressing the delete button on your computer. .Mpo Files deleted from your hard drive haven’t actually disappeared; they’re simply not visible in their previous location. If you delete an important photo or video that you need, don’t panic just yet. In this article you’ll find many useful methods for recovering your lost .mpo files.
Method 1: Recover .mpo files with Software
If you’ve accidentally deleted an important .mpo, don’t panic. There may still be hope. A program named Disk Drill can scan your hard drive for deleted files and recover them completely, even after they’ve been deleted.
Disk Drill is both professional and user friendly; you don’t need to understand how it works to be able to use it. It’s difficult to explain data recovery in a nutshell, as the methods differ depending on how the data was lost (e.g., by hardware failure or deletion), but each method involves algorithms to locate and restore the lost files.
Getting started with Disk Drill is easy:
- Download Disk Drill and install it on your operating system. If it asks for permissions, then give it any necessary; it needs to access your hard drive after all.
- Launch Disk Drill and accept the terms and conditions.
- Select the drive that you want to scan for lost .mpo files and click ‘Search for lost data’.
- Give Disk Drill a few minutes to scan your hard drive. In the meantime, you can check the results in real time by clicking ‘Review found items’. Once it’s finished you can resume the process.
- Once it’s finished scanning, search for your .mpo files and wait for the list to update.
- Once you’ve found your lost .mpo files, select them and click ‘Recover’. That’s it, you’ve done it and hopefully you’ve restored your missing files in just a few minutes.
Method 2: Recover Lost .mpo Files from Windows Recycle Bin or Mac Trash
Windows (Microsoft) and Mac (Apple) have a recycle bin/trash program that temporarily stores deleted files. If you’ve accidentally deleted an .mpo file, this should be the first place you should look.
Windows Recycle Bin
- Find the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and double-click it. Alternatively, type ‘recycle bin’ in the bottom left search bar.
- Right click on the .mpo file you want to restore and click ‘Restore’. The file should reappear in the folder where it was originally deleted from.
Mac Trash
- Look for the Trash icon on the right side of your dock. Click on it.
- Drag and drop the .mpo file that you want to recover into the desired folder in the Trash window.
Method 3: Restore from a recent files folder
While Windows’s Recycle Bin and Mac’s Trash are both quick and easy methods to prevent and reverse file loss, they’re not perfect and can’t solve every data loss problem. They can’t restore files that have already been emptied from them or are damaged or corrupted.
That’s where the next file recovery features that are proprietary to Windows and Mac come in: File History and Time Machine. If File History (Windows) or Time Machine (Mac) is enabled and set up to cover the drive and folder of your missing .mpo files then either of these solutions should be able to recover the files without a hitch.
Windows File History
- Search ‘file history’ in the bottom left search bar. Click ‘Restore your files with File History’ in the start bar results.
- Click ‘Restore personal files’.
- Find the folder where your .mpo files were previously located.
- Click the arrows at the bottom to cycle through different backups until you find the right one with your .imo files.
- Select the files you want to restore and click the circular green arrow button at the bottom to recover them.
Mac Time Machine
- Press Command (⌘) + space, type “time machine” and hit enter.
- Find the folder where your missing .mpo files were previously located before you lost them.
- Navigate through the timeline and list of available backups until you find the one with the missing .mpo files that want to restore to their previous state and location.
- Select your desired files and click restore. That’s it, now you should have them back to where they were before.
Whether you’re using File History for Windows or Time Machine for Mac, you can easily find and restore deleted files back to their previous folders. However, as good as these programs are they can’t retrieve unsaved files; if you forgot to save, or your computer crashed and prevented you from saving your .mpo file, then neither of these options will work.
Tips to avoid .mpo file loss
- Make sure that your computer has a good virus protection program installed to avoid any risk of corruption or damage from viruses, spyware, and malware.
- Avoid downloading any file that is found to be suspicious or unrecognized by your antivirus program, as this increases the risk of losing your .mpo file due to malware infection.
- Keep your operating system up-to-date, as most of the older versions are not supported by new applications and may cause .mpo file corruption or loss.
- Keep all applications installed on your computer up-to-date, as most of them are regularly updated so that they can work properly with the new OS versions.
- Use a good backup strategy and keep your files on multiple storage media. Store them in a safe place to prevent any physical damage or loss from water, fire etc.
- Take advantage of cloud storage rather than just hard drive storage. Storing files on Google Drive or Dropbox is free and their data will be there forever.
- Use descriptive naming conventions for your files rather than the default names they’re given. If an .mpo file is ready for production then consider naming it ‘production-ready-1.0’ so you can find it easily if you need a master backup.
- Avoid allowing unknown users from accessing your files.
