I have a Seagate 2TB USB hard drive. I deleted a music folder of mp3 files and have not used the hard disk for any other purpose since. The Deep scan retrieves all file information including folders but the files, which average 2mb have been reduced to as little as 300Kb. I'd appreciate your help.
A deep scan runs a mormal scan first, so any files and folders listed are from the normal scan. A deep scan does not access the MFT so file names and folders can't be extracted. A file found by the deep scan will have a file name of [001234].ext, no path info and will always be in an excellent state.
However a deep scan can, and will, only retrieve the first extent of a fragmented file, as there is no information available to link file fragments together. The other fragments may still exist but there is no way to link them without significant skill or professional help. This may be your problem.
Thanks for responding Augeas. What I do get is the full file info, ie: Song title, artist, Album but nothing past approx 30 seconds. Do you think Recuva is the right tool? Other there any others you would recommend? Thanks G
That info is being plucked from the internet somewhere. If you really only have the first fragment of the file, as described above, then there's no practical way to retrieve and join the other fragments without professional help. Other recovery software might make a wild guess, but that's all it is. If it's a commercial album then what you want is available elsewhere, easily and cheaply.