USB stick, Recuva, multiple duplicate files

[matt4x4]

I have a 8GB USB memory stick that somehow lost all its information on it. I think it might be because of the shag-like carpet in my house, it easily produces static-electricity from just walking on it, so I think I zapped it and in-turn it wiped it clean. I have had a different USB stick do the same thing, however I had it backed up. This time its annoying b/c I have no back up.

 

I spent hours upon hours last night trying to recover the data. Piriform Recuva is the only one that worked. I trusted it b/c I have had the CCleaner for a year now. However now I have many files that seem to be duplicates.  I started to sort through the files, renaming the files. Then I just made new folders to dump the duplicates in. I am no comptuer genius, but why would Recuva have multiple duplicates of the same file? Is it the way Microsoft Word and Excel auto-saves? All I have is Word, Excel and MP3's. And from what I have seen I have lost my MP3's and I have no clue what other word and excel files I lost.

 

I at first ran the normal scan, it didnt do anything, so I ran the extensive scan and it came back with recoverable files. This is a learning lesson to always back up the USB drive.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Are there any other programs out there that I can use to recover the data that Recuva missed or is this program here one of the top programs out there for data recovery.

[DennisD]

Hi matt.

 

You might find it easier to sort files if you select "Tree View" in "Options\General\View mode". This should display the found files in their original file and folder structure. May also show where the duplicates are coming from.

 

You can also select "Restore folder structure" in "Options\Actions" and any files recovered will be recovered to a copy of their original folder structure albeit in another location (don't restore to the same drive the files were on).

 

You should also scan with the "Scan for non-deleted files" box checked in "Options\Actions" as with the problem being a faulty drive, the files you're looking for haven't actually been deleted from the drive.

 

And finally, it is possible to get different results with different software, and there are a few suggestions of other free recovery software mentioned and linked to in this post, although I would try the above first ...

 

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=39946&do=findComment&comment=242629

 

Hope that helps.