Partition/File Recovery

[Kyuuketsuki]

Hi,

 

I try to help local people with their PC's and someone on my local FreeCycle Yahoo group asked for help with a PC that wouldn't boot (XP Home), she's fine with a rebuild which I can easily do but she hoped to get some valuable photos off it, the only copies she had. Given that I've already been advised to upgrade the system I'd like to point out that I am doing this as a favour for a fellow group member, the woman in question cannot afford to upgrade.

 

She dropped the system round last night and I tested it ... as expected it didn't boot.

 

The symptoms are, it powers up apparently normally and reaches the "Windows was not shut down properly" text screen ... on selecting any option (inc. Sage Boot & Last Known Good) it reboots almost immediately after. As far as I can tell the basic hardware is AOK and that she was getting this error before but an additional option is available (on an earlier screen I believe, it's a Packard Bell system) which allows the user to recover the system and she did try that, it didn't work but may have compounded the partition issues).

 

Eventually I removed the drive and put it in my SATA docking station ... the drive detected fine with main partition visible leading me to suspect the hardware is fine but when I click on that partition I get:

 

F:\ is not accessible

 

The file or directory is corrupt and unreadable

 

Any ideas as I'd really like to save this woman's data (she has some family photos on it that have no backups) before I go ahead and trash/rebuild the system?

 

Suggestions I've had so far are CHKDSK, PC Inspector and Recuva.

 

Do you see any issues with any of these and what order do I try them in (some may be more destructive than others).

 

My best guess would be:

 

1. CHKDSK (what harm can it do?)

2. PC Inspector (since it accesses files rather than the whole partition)

3. Recuva (partition recovery)

4. Rebuild (without trashing the partition)

 

Any others thoughts?

 

Kyu

[Augeas]

I would try running Recuva (install on the C drive or use the portable version on a flash drive) on the F drive with the Scan for non-deleted files option chosen in Options/Actions. If you find the pics then recover them to either the c or the flash drive. If you can't find the pics there then you could try a deep scan, but it will take hours and return zillions of files. This is assuming that Recuva can actually scan the drive. I've no knowledge of PC Inspector.

[Nix Hard]

... snip

Eventually I removed the drive and put it in my SATA docking station ... the drive detected fine with main partition visible leading me to suspect the hardware is fine but when I click on that partition I get:

F:\ is not accessible

The file or directory is corrupt and unreadable

Any ideas as I'd really like to save this woman's data (she has some family photos on it that have no backups) before I go ahead and trash/rebuild the system?

Suggestions I've had so far are CHKDSK, PC Inspector and Recuva.

Do you see any issues with any of these and what order do I try them in (some may be more destructive than others).

My best guess would be:

1. CHKDSK (what harm can it do?)

2. PC Inspector (since it accesses files rather than the whole partition)

3. Recuva (partition recovery)

4. Rebuild (without trashing the partition)

Any others thoughts?

Kyu

Hi Kyu,

You might like to try this program - TestDisk, is opensource and well developed.

 

This link for details, documentation and download - http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

I use it myself, and find it one of the best.

 

You might find the lastest beta version more helpful in this case.

TestDisk & PhotoRec 6.11-WIP - http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

 

You will need to read the online guides there first to understand how to use it,

and work out if TestDisk will be of any help to you in this case.

 

1. CHKDSK (what harm can it do?)

Don't use any program that will change any files, FAT, MTF or parition table on the HDD, as this will stop your chances of a good recovery.

 

Good luck...

 

Cheers NH

Edited December 31, 2008 by Nix Hard

[DennisD]

Hi kyu, and welcome to the forum.

 

If Recuva can't do the job for you, then NH's suggestion above could be worth a try.

 

I'm only sticking my nose in here because I did a bit of messing around with this application quite recently, and put together a visual description of what I was able to do with it, and links to other free software that can work hand in hand with Testdisk.

 

I posted this for someone who's drive/partition was pretty well screwed up, and although the data he wanted was there, he couldn't find a way to access it.

 

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=121134

 

As it turned out, the chap never came back, so I can't pass on his findings.

 

It is definitely not the most user friendly program I've came across, and it was completely new to me, but as a last resort, it has to be worth a shot.

 

I hope this helps.

[kslice]

I hate to reply to an old topic; however, since you've not posted what you've tried...I hope I can help.

 

I've actually tried PC Inspector before. Other than Recuva, it was the only program that could actually see any of the files on the hard disk. The only problem with it (and this was a HUGE problem for me) was that it wouldn't recover the file names OR folders. It just found all of the files and could only recover them as "cluster.<some random number>.<fileextension>" (e.g. cluster.1765291.JPG).

 

My personal suggestion is to try what you will with the hard drive before you decide to trash it. HOWEVER, I also suggest that you do the following:

 

 

1. Delete the partition on the drive using a partition manager (the one that comes with the Windows XP Installation Disk will work fine).
   
2. Plug the drive into a working computer of your own as a SLAVE drive.
   
3. Boot up the computer with both it's original hard drive and the corrupt one both installed in it.
   
4. Install Recuva to the non-corrupt drive.
   
5. Quick-Format the corrupt drive to NTFS so it can be read by the system.
   
6. Start up Recuva, and have it deep-scan the previously corrupt drive.
   
7. Recuva SHOULD be able to find all of the files on the corrupt drive. Copy all of these files to your own C drive.
   
8. Once that is done, install XP or Vista (whichever this lady wishes) to the previously corrupt hard drive.
   
9. Once installed, boot up YOUR operating system and copy all of the files from the previously corrupt hard drive to the newly fixed hard drive.
   
10. Place the hard drive back in the woman's computer with the upgraded OS and her old files.
    
11. Surprise her!
    

 

 

This is just a last suggestion. So, do as you will until you've reached the point where you're ready to trash the hard drive and give what I've said a try. Keep in mind, you should NOT try to write anything to the hard drive if you plan on actually recovering any of the files. Also note that Recuva cannot help to fix a hard drive with actual HARDWARE malfunctions.

[grantpee]

I hate to reply to an old topic; however, since you've not posted what you've tried...I hope I can help.

 

I've actually tried PC Inspector before. Other than Recuva, it was the only program that could actually see any of the files on the hard disk. The only problem with it (and this was a HUGE problem for me) was that it wouldn't recover the file names OR folders. It just found all of the files and could only recover them as "cluster.<some random number>.<fileextension>" (e.g. cluster.1765291.JPG).

 

My personal suggestion is to try what you will with the hard drive before you decide to trash it. HOWEVER, I also suggest that you do the following:

 

 

1. Delete the partition on the drive using a partition manager (the one that comes with the Windows XP Installation Disk will work fine).

2. Plug the drive into a working computer of your own as a SLAVE drive.

3. Boot up the computer with both it's original hard drive and the corrupt one both installed in it.

4. Install Recuva to the non-corrupt drive.

5. Quick-Format the corrupt drive to NTFS so it can be read by the system.

6. Start up Recuva, and have it deep-scan the previously corrupt drive.

7. Recuva SHOULD be able to find all of the files on the corrupt drive. Copy all of these files to your own C drive.

8. Once that is done, install XP or Vista (whichever this lady wishes) to the previously corrupt hard drive.

9. Once installed, boot up YOUR operating system and copy all of the files from the previously corrupt hard drive to the newly fixed hard drive.

10. Place the hard drive back in the woman's computer with the upgraded OS and her old files.

11. Surprise her!

 

 

This is just a last suggestion. So, do as you will until you've reached the point where you're ready to trash the hard drive and give what I've said a try. Keep in mind, you should NOT try to write anything to the hard drive if you plan on actually recovering any of the files. Also note that Recuva cannot help to fix a hard drive with actual HARDWARE malfunctions.

 

 

Great information....

 

But i always use stellar phoenix partition recovery software for my partition recovery problems ..

its good..

 

any suggestion please reply...

[Andress]

I too had already faced such a situation last time but luckily I got a recovery tool stellar phoenix partition recovery which is quite effective and fruitful. This software is very simple to use. User interface of the software lets the less technical skilled users to achieve an absolute partition recovery.