Filemaker Application Missing

[Philip Shaw]

Good afternoon. A customer brought me a 128GB thumb drive that had never been used. She said she dragged and dropped her entire Filemaker application to this thumb drive from her Macbook Pro laptop. There are no folders showing on the thumb drive and I have done a raw recovery in both R-Studio and PC3000 with no results. I don't know if either of these programs is searching for the Filemaker version she was using. She thinks it was either Filemaker 12 or Filemaker 15. Does anybody know the correct GREP for these two?

She says it is no longer on her Macbook. Assuming that TRIM was turned on the file would be permanently gone from the Macbook, correct?

Thanks.

[George Yakobic]

• Your GREP target is: fmp12
• Lack of any recovery strongly suggests no data was ever written to the USB
• TRIM on the MacBook likely means local recovery is not viable

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[compos mentis]

Here are some .fmp12 examples:

https://github.com/atsukosekiguchi/FileMakerSample/blob/master/COVID19check.fmp12


On 28-Apr-26 5:10 AM, Philip Shaw wrote:
> Filemaker 12 or Filemaker 15

[Philip Shaw]

Thank you for the list of Filemaker 12 files. No luck. Either it was Filemaker 15 or it never made it over.

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[Philip Shaw]

It's weird. The raw recovery found an SQL Lite database file (1.5M) on a supposedly unused thumb drive. Could this have anything to do with Filemaker?

[Desert Data Recovery]

Have you tried searching for .fmp15?. Also you really need the correct GREP for it.  I suspect the SQL file was a false positive. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/datarecoverycertification/CAPG2QkZ%2B1C6daAqKhmdPVds%3DLMhuvLyiBTh3r%2B3V-fdyiKS-QA%40mail.gmail.com.

[pbzcbf...@gmail.com]

I would be GREP-ing for "HBAM".

Also, I notice the file size is in big-endian format and is nibble-aligned. Alternatively, it could be that the file size is byte-aligned, in which case it would need to be multiplied by 16.


Sample_LocalAnnounceTest.fmp12

Offset(h) 00       04       08       0C

00000000  00010000 00020001 00050002 0002C048  ..............ÀH
00000010  42414D37 00001000 00000000 00000000  BAM7............
00000020  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
........
000001F0  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000200  00000000 00000001 001E000E 00484241  .............HBA
00000210  4D323132 354A414E 3131C102 48085072  M2125JAN11Á.H.Pr
00000220  6F203132 2E30C0C0 00000000 00000000  o 12.0ÀÀ........
00000230  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
........
00067FF0  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000


Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00001000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 67 00 01 0C F1
                                        ^^^^^^^^^^
        size of file is 0x68000 = 0x1000 + 0x67000


COVID19check.fmp12

Offset(h) 00       04       08       0C

00000000  00010000 00020001 00050002 0002C048  ..............ÀH
00000010  42414D37 00001000 00000000 00000000  BAM7............
00000020  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
........
000001F0  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000200  00000000 00000001 001E000E 00484241  .............HBA
00000210  4D323132 354A414E 3131C102 48085072  M2125JAN11Á.H.Pr
00000220  6F203132 2E30C0C0 00000000 00000000  o 12.0ÀÀ........
00000230  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
........
00263FF0  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000


Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00001000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 63 00 02 0F D8
                                        ^^^^^^^^^^
     size of file is 0x264000 = 0x1000 + 0x263000

... or ...

Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

00001000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 63 00 02 0F D8
                                        ^^^^^^^^
     size of file is 0x264000 = 0x1000 + (0x26300 x 0x10)

[compos mentis]

The FileMaker Pro File Format:

https://github.com/evanmiller/fmptools/blob/main/HACKING

FileMaker Pro is a consumer-grade database program that uses a binary,
proprietary file format for storing tabular and non-tabular data. This
file describes the knowledge necessary to extract tabular data from files
with extension fp3, fp5, fp7, or fmp12.

There are two basic kinds of FileMaker files, fp3/fp5 and fp7/fmp12. The
two varieties have a similar overall structure and design philosophy but are
otherwise incompatible. The rest of this document will describe their
respective layouts and refer to them by their latest incarnations, fp5 and
fmp12. It is based on the fp5dump project combined with my own efforts.

The fp5dump project is here:

https://github.com/qwesda/fp5dump

[Philip Shaw]

_Have you tried searching for .fmp15?

I searched .fmp12 files by making my own GREP from a couple of the files that Compos was kind enough to provide. I don't have any .fmp15 files.

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[compos mentis]

When you search for FS metadata containing "fmp12" or "fmp15", does your
search tool allow for Unicode?

[pbzcbf...@gmail.com]

More .fmp12 sample files from a different site:

https://www.supportgroup.com/resources/?tax2=71

[pbzcbf...@gmail.com]

I asked AI.

Q: What is the native file extension generated by FileMaker Pro 15?

A: The native file extension for FileMaker Pro 15 is .fmp12.

That’s the standard file format introduced with FileMaker Pro 12 and used by all later versions up through the modern Claris FileMaker releases. FileMaker 15 creates, opens, and saves only in this .fmp12 format.

• Introduced: FileMaker Pro 12 (2012)

• Used by: FileMaker Pro 12 → 19+

• Backward compatibility:

  • FM15 can open any .fmp12 file from FM12–14.

  • FM15 cannot open older .fp7 files directly; they must be converted first (FM12+ will auto‑convert).

[Desert Data Recovery]

The issue is that .fmp15 is only stored in the file system. The actual file will only be searchable by GREP.

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[compos mentis]

The issue appears to be that, according to AI, .fmp15 is a fictitious file type. Of course, AI isn't always right.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/datarecoverycertification/CAOasWzu7QjDR1rsQ3pd-a85kod4NnuLQNi2z-t_PgjNasJFDEw%40mail.gmail.com.

[pbzcbf...@gmail.com]

Q: Is there a .fmp15 file type for FileMaker Pro?

A: Short answer: No — there is no .fmp15 file type for FileMaker Pro. The correct modern FileMaker file extension is .fmp12. Claris Support

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What FileMaker actually uses

FileMaker has changed file formats only a few times in its history, and there has never been a .fmp15 extension. The version number of the software (e.g., FileMaker Pro 15) does not correspond to the file extension.

Here’s the real timeline:

• FileMaker Pro 7–11: used the .fp7 format. Claris Support
• FileMaker Pro 12 and all later versions (including 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 2023, etc.): use the .fmp12 format. Claris Support

This means a database created in FileMaker Pro 15 is still a .fmp12 file.

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Why there is no .fmp15

FileMaker does not create a new file format for each software release. Instead, it maintains long-term compatibility across many versions. FileMaker Pro 12 introduced the .fmp12 format, and it has remained the standard ever since.

This is confirmed by FileMaker extension lists, which include .fmp12 but do not list any .fmp15 extension. fileinfobase.com

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What you should do if you found a .fmp15 file

If you encountered a file labeled .fmp15, it is almost certainly:

• A misnamed file (someone manually renamed it)
• A custom internal naming convention used by an organization
• A mistake or typo
• A non–FileMaker file entirely

FileMaker Pro will not recognize .fmp15 as a valid database format.

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Quick reference table

FileMaker Version      Valid File Extension     Notes

5.x                    .fp5                     Legacy format
7–11                   .fp7                     Used for many years
12–current             .fmp12                   Used by FileMaker Pro 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 2023, etc.

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[pbzcbf...@gmail.com]

It just occurred to me that AI is often accused of "hallucinating", but in this thread it's the humans who have been hallucinating. :-)

[RecuperoDati299]

:-))

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