I have a computer with an unbootable HD. The OS will not boot. Have been unable to repair/recover the OS. I would like to use Recuva to attempt to save my data. As the computer will not run, I have had to TS with bootable media. Is it possible to run Recuva from bootable media, preferably CD/DVD as I am fresh out of USB sticks, to attempt file recovery?. Two other tools have failed me because they see the disk as reformatted. I don't know that it is or see how it could be.
OS is Win7. I have a several bootable disks, and a Linux Mint17.2 USB stick.
Also, if you use a Linux variety that runs in RAM, you can unplug the media (USB stick or CD/DVD) you booted from and plug in another to save your files. That's handy if you only have one USB port.
Puppy Linux runs in RAM and will load up from a USB stick or a CD.
Puppy ver. 6.3 is recent, and runs well, but I have never used it it copy files to a CD/DVD. Works great copying to USB stick.
Read about it:
http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09189
download it
http://bkhome.org/news/?viewDetailed=00293
Be careful, Linux OSs do not respect windows restrictions, will delete or copy things that windows would have locked.
Edited in an attempt to achieve clarity & brevity. Guess ya just have to pick one or the other.
Thank you for your help. I have a Linux Mint17.2 USB which boots up the computer, But cannot access the partition with my data files. I attempted manual mount of the drive but that also failed.
I have bootable media with Paragon Rescue 14 and EasyRE, both of which fail me.
I was really hoping that Recuva would work even though nothing else has to date.Hope dwindles.
Had I not grown complacent about backup .. .. .. oh well.
For me the question is what to spend, time or money.
No brainer here, I have enough of the former, not much of the latter.
I am logged on here using Puppy Linux running from a USB stick. . . a CD or DVD will work fine.
Without any extra effort, Puppy shows all attached drives and partitions, even the hidden partition where Acronis stores it backup images (invisible to windows file managers).
Just did a search with StartPage Search engine for "linux file recovery software".
A few promising options found, including TestDisk data recovery and SystemRescueCD.
I would try some of these options before spending much money.
Sadly, I cannot offer any specific instruction, the little experience I have would not be relevant.
But try it, you have little to lose but a couple of CDs and some time