No files displayed using Recovery Wizard Pro so need help with Recuva

Recuva
1

Hello new to forum

I have a 32 Gb Sandisk Cruzer pen drive formated as NTFS. The drive was pulled from the USB port without ejecting is the only reason I can see why it is not working properly.

Have some very important files on there that I just copied onto the drive from a CAD Computer Training course I took.

It start acting up as soon as I plugged it into my work computer, could not read some folders. So I figured I would research when I got home and had more time. Well on three of my home PC's (Win XP and Win7) they ALL see the drive, but display the following "You need to format the disk in drive L: before you can use it".

I then tried a chkdsk L: /s and it said "CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives"

So then I tried "Data Recovery Wizard Pro 5.5". The Complete did not see/find the pen drive, so I tried the "Partition" next, at least it appeard in the list now. So I let it do it's thing for 25+ minutes or so. When I can back, no files displayed

http://forum.easeus....&p=52793#p52793

Please help me understand who to properly use/try in recover these files using Recuva ? There are quite a few Tabs under the Options, especially the Actions tab, it has quite a few check boxes. What is the "Secure overwriting", don't want to overwrite at this point.....

FYI: I always backup my pen drives .... I just did not get the chance in this case !!

PS: .... I need those training files......

THANKS in Advance

AX

2

Hi AX, and welcome to the forum.

Most important thing, don't do anything to that drive, such as formatting. It is possible to recover files from a formatted drive, but that's a last resort in my opinion.

If the problem has been caused by hot removing the USB stick, then it's probably screwed up the partition table/boot sectors or whatever, meaning Windows has no information as to what is on the drive, and sees it as Raw.

The fact that you haven't actually physically formatted that drive, or overwritten the data means that all the files are still there.

Sadly, there isn't a magic bullet for getting out of this situation, but I have a few suggestions for you.

Firstly, if Recuva can see the drive, go into "Options/Actions" and check the "Scan for non deleted files" check box. Try a normal scan first.

You could also go into "Options/General" and change the "View Mode" to "Tree View". This will display any found files in the folder structure that they originally occupied. This makes it easier to target the location of the "wanted" files.

See what that brings up and let us know.

There are also partitioning management programs other than the one you tried, which may be able to list and recover your files, but try Recuva first, and I'll explain the other options if nothing comes from this one.