This is strange. Before moving forward with Recuva I tried another product to see if it was possible to recover this file which is located on the root of an external hard drive. The other product did using just it's initial scan. With this in mind I thought Recuva could do the same thing. First of all, it didn't find anything in it's initial scan and then after a deep scan I still could not find this file. Recuva did find other stuff but not what I needed. If there is some special process I'm missing, please help!
Recuva normal scan will list all deleted files for which a record exists in the MFT, no matter what their name or extension is, or whether they have an extension at all. Deep scan will scan for a specific list of extensions. It will not find files with an unknown, or no extension.
If a normal scan can't find the file then the record in the MFT is most likely not available any more - reused or overwritten. If a deep scan can't find the file then it probably has an unknown or no extension.
If it's a very large file (and I would guess it is) then it won't be easy to recover even if it is found.
Why do you think the other program could find it in a normal scan? It's a huge file as you assumed. I was hoping there was some way to simply reverse what was done to the drive. The partition was deleted and then the drive was formatted. Below I have an image which shows how the other program was able to locate the backup, no problem.
That's a folder not a file. Perhaps you haven't checked Show Files in Hidden System Directories. To reverse a partition delete and format you need a time machine. I don't know what the other sw does (or even what Recuva does), but the file names and path are all held in the MFT. I guess after a format that you're looking at the remnants of the old MFT that weren't overwritten.
I should display the results as a List and sort on folder name (after doing the check and rescan as above).
I ticked those options you mentioned and did get a result. I still don't see the WindowsImageBackup folder. I'm still waiting to hear from CCleaner support. Not a peep yet.
That's a different drive, or at least in a different state. The first screenshot doesn't look as if a file system has been found. I'm not really sure what you are doing.
5 hours ago, djtorchmusic said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix"> <p> . I'm still waiting to hear from CCleaner support. Not a peep yet. </p> </div>
Did you contact them via the pro user priority support or just post it here. If the latter then follow the link in my signature below this post.
On 21/08/2019 at 16:29, Augeas said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> That's a different drive, or at least in a different state. The first screenshot doesn't look as if a file system has been found. I'm not really sure what you are doing. </p> </div>
Same drive. It inherited a different drive letter when I reconnected it.
The first image shows no file system, the second shows NTFS. The odds of recovering a huge file after a partition and format are about the same as England winning a test match.
8 hours ago, Augeas said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix" data-gramm="false"> <p> are about the same as England winning a test match. </p> </div>
Perhaps Recuva should have a Stokes method.
On 26/08/2019 at 12:55, Augeas said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> The first image shows no file system, the second shows NTFS. The odds of recovering a huge file after a partition and format are about the same as England winning a test match. </p> </div>
Well, it seems like the other product didn't have an issue locating the file. I never tried to restore the file but I just thought Recuva would as good or better at this.
It appears to have located a folder. Recuva doesn't list folders explicitly, but lists files and then builds up the folder structure (if required and requested) in a chain-back process. Deleted folders, as far as I can establish, are cleared of their list of files by NTFS, so finding a deleted folder is of little use, it's just a name. You are of course free to use whatever software you want to aid any file recovery.
44 minutes ago, Augeas said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> It appears to have located a folder. Recuva doesn't list folders explicitly, but lists files and then builds up the folder structure (if required and requested) in a chain-back process. Deleted folders, as far as I can establish, are cleared of their list of files by NTFS, so finding a deleted folder is of little use, it's just a name. You are of course free to use whatever software you want to aid any file recovery. </p> </div>
What do you mean "chain-back process"? Will I be able to restore this file with Recuva?
The MFT record for a folder contains the addresses of the MFT records of all the files in the folder. The MFT record for a file contains the address of the owning folder. When a folder is deleted NTFS removes the addresses of the files. Recuva reads the folder address in a file's MFT record to locate the owning folder, chaining back all the way to the root (if the chain is still extant).
If a ? is shown as a folder it means that the backwards chain to the root cannot be completed, probably because the MFT record for that folder has been overwritten.
Nobody knows whether you can recover 'this file' with Recuva or any software, we don't even know its name. Judging by what's been done to the drive I would doubt it, as I've said twice before.