A screen recording that survives a crash
Losing a 40-minute take to a frozen app or a full disk costs more than the 40 minutes. Qreata writes the recording to disk as it goes, rebuilds it after a crash, and checks sources and storage before you start.
7-day trial · $49 once · no subscription · Apple Silicon · macOS 14+The short answer
Qreata writes a screen recording to disk in 5-second chunks with a journal, so a crash, a force quit or a power loss doesn’t take the whole take with it: a recovery scan runs at every launch, and what is lost is roughly the last 5 seconds. The library marks the recording “Recovered” when it was rebuilt into a normal project and “Interrupted” when it could not be rebuilt. Before recording it checks every source and the free disk space, and it stops the recording by itself before the disk fills. It can’t recover recordings made in other apps.
Use it when
The take is long, or it can’t be repeated.
- You record sessions of 30 minutes or more: a training, a walkthrough, a lecture.
- You record something that happens once, such as a live demo of a migration.
- You have lost a recording before to a crash, a full disk or a silent microphone.
- Your Mac’s disk is usually close to full.
It won’t help when
The recording was made elsewhere, or the damage is outside the app’s reach.
- The lost file came from QuickTime or another recorder. Recovery works only on Qreata recordings.
- The disk itself failed or the files were deleted. Recovery rebuilds from the chunks on disk.
- You need the chunk that was unfinished at the moment of the crash. Roughly the last 5 seconds are lost.
- You record on Windows or an Intel Mac. Qreata needs Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or later.
What happens when a recording is interrupted
Qreata does not hold the take in memory until you press Stop. It writes each track to disk in 5-second chunks and keeps a journal of what has been written. If the app crashes, is force-quit, or the Mac loses power, the chunks already on disk are complete files.
A recovery scan runs every time you open Qreata and rebuilds unfinished recordings from the journal. A “Recovered” badge in the library means the recording was rebuilt into a normal project and opens in the editor like any other. An “Interrupted” badge means it could not be rebuilt. What you lose from a recovered take is the chunk that was not finished: roughly the last 5 seconds, not the take.
Example: the Mac shuts down at 38:20 of a 45-minute training
You are recording a 45-minute onboarding session on a laptop. At 38:20 the battery runs out and the Mac switches off. Nobody pressed Stop.
- Plug the Mac in, start it and open Qreata. The recovery scan runs at launch.
- Open the library. The session is there with a “Recovered” badge, which means it was rebuilt into a normal project.
- Open it in the editor and go to the end. The recording runs up to the last finished chunk before the shutdown, roughly 5 seconds short of 38:20.
- Play the last minute and find the last complete sentence. Trim the end back to it.
- Choose “Add clip” in the “Actions” menu to record the remaining seven minutes into the same project. The new clip has to match the resolution and frame rate of the first, so keep the same quality setting and the same display.
- Play across the join between the two clips, then export one MP4.
What Qreata checks before and during recording
Recovery is the last line. Most lost recordings are lost to causes that can be seen in advance: a permission that was revoked, a microphone that delivers nothing, a disk with too little room. Qreata checks for each of them at the point where it can still be fixed.
| Check | When | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| “Ready to record?” | Before recording | Checks Screen recording, Capture source, Storage and Notifications |
| “Active source check” | Before recording | Tests live screen, camera, microphone and system-audio streams; blocks recording if a source delivers no data |
| Free space at start | Before recording | Refuses to start when there is not enough space |
| Disk warning | During recording | Warns at about 120 seconds of estimated time left |
| Disk critical | During recording | Critical at 30 seconds left, then stops the recording before files are damaged |
| Health display | During recording | Shows per-track state, dropped samples and audio level |
| Sleep prevention | During recording | Keeps the Mac from sleeping |
| Recovery scan | Every launch | Rebuilds unfinished recordings after a crash, force quit or power loss |
How much disk space does a screen recording need?
A full disk is the most predictable way to lose a recording, and the size is easy to estimate. Qreata records H.264 at 30 fps, at 4, 8 or 16 Mbps depending on the quality level. The figures below are arithmetic from those bitrates, not measured file sizes, and cover the screen track alone; a camera track and the audio tracks (AAC at 128 kbps) come on top.
For an hour at 1080p with the camera on, leave well over the 3.6 GB the screen track needs. If the estimate runs short during the take, Qreata warns you at about 120 seconds of remaining time and stops the recording itself before the files are damaged, so you keep what was recorded.
- 720p at 4 Mbps: about 30 MB per minute, 1.8 GB per hour.
- 1080p at 8 Mbps (the default): about 60 MB per minute, 3.6 GB per hour.
- 4K at 16 Mbps: about 120 MB per minute, 7.2 GB per hour.
- The library has a storage dashboard. Recordings go to ~/Movies/Qreata by default; Settings → “Recordings folder” → “Change…” points them at a disk with more room.
What crash recovery can’t do
It recovers what reached the disk. The unfinished chunk, roughly the last 5 seconds before the crash, is gone. A recording that could not be rebuilt is marked “Interrupted”, and a recording on a drive that failed or was erased can’t be rebuilt. It does not prevent the crash, and it does not repair recordings from QuickTime Player or any other app: Qreata doesn’t import video files.
The checks reduce risk rather than remove it. The “Active source check” confirms that sources deliver data at the start; a microphone unplugged at minute 12 shows up in the health display, so glance at it during long takes. 4K recording passes 60-second and 5-minute tests, and a one-hour 4K run has not been confirmed yet, so use 1080p for a long session that can’t be repeated.
Why does my screen recording keep crashing or stopping?
With any recorder, check the same three things first: free disk space, the screen recording permission in System Settings > Privacy & Security, and whether the microphone you selected is still connected. The built-in recorder (Shift-Command-5) saves its .mov when you stop the recording, and Apple’s screen recording article describes no recovery of an interrupted recording and no low-disk warning.
A 10-minute test of Qreata’s recovery: in the trial, start a recording, talk for two minutes, then force-quit the app with Option-Command-Esc. Open it again and look for the “Recovered” badge in the library. The trial runs 7 days with every feature and no account; the license is $49 once for 3 Macs, not a subscription.
Questions worth asking
My screen recording crashed. Can I recover it?
Yes, if it was recorded in Qreata. Open the app again: a recovery scan runs at every launch and rebuilds the recording from its 5-second chunks. The library shows “Recovered” when it was rebuilt into a normal project and “Interrupted” when it could not be. Qreata can’t recover recordings made in QuickTime or other apps.
How much of the recording is lost after a crash?
The unfinished chunk. Recording is saved in 5-second chunks, so the loss is roughly the last 5 seconds of the take.
What happens if my Mac runs out of disk space while recording?
Qreata warns at about 120 seconds of estimated time left, marks it critical at 30 seconds and then stops the recording before the files are damaged. It also refuses to start when there is not enough space.
How do I know the microphone is working before I record?
The “Active source check” tests the live screen, camera, microphone and system-audio streams before recording, and recording is blocked if a source delivers no data.
Will my Mac go to sleep during a long recording?
No. Qreata prevents sleep while a recording is running.
Is crash recovery part of the standard license?
Yes. It is built into the app: $49 once for the Personal license on 3 Macs, with a 7-day trial that includes every feature.