RAW File recovery, HELP!

[Simon Bolivar]

Hi Chaps, as some of you may know, I am not the most tech savvy type of guy & have a problem I am sure some of of our smart bods (or Mods) can help me with. I have a Integral 64GB stick that I was using to carrying all my cigar, fishing & family photos around in & my cigar & fishing diaries. Now I had back ups at home but I did a lot of work on my last trip on my fishing & cigar notes from my fishing holiday & before I leave the rig, I usually email them to myself so that if I lose my stick I still have an up to date copy.

However before the trip finished, I tried to open it & got a message saying my files weren't readable & I should go to disc recover. I tried that & it said I needed to recover the RAW files. I did a search & found this programme but it needs downloading & we can't download programmes onboard with the company firewall. So I can do it at home but I was just wondering if anyone had used this programme before or knew any other way to recover my files? Happy to reward any info that leads to my diaries being recovered, with a couple of suitable aged sticks from the back of the Boli Cave!

[Scooby]

I haven't had any problems for a while but I use TestDisk...

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

^ It should be able to recover the lost partition

[Shaun]

I have used PhotoRec with good results, they probably all do similar things but the user interfaces can be wildly different making even a simple task seem herculean.

[Tom Major]

There is fairly few options of recovery of any lost files, as long as the disk/partition/mmc etc were not overwritten, or to put it correctly - as long as the data was not overwritten, in which case you'd end up loosing all data you wanted to recover.

My suggestion - don't mess around unless you know what you're doing. If you want, I offer my help, but would be great if we could talk in real time. Facebook perhaps? Let me knnow and I will get ready to lead you step by step.

I know how it feels. Not long ago I've lost about 2TB of data, and that included pics from last 10 years, my whole adult life, my missed grandma etc. Got it back!

[Scooby]

There is fairly few options of recovery of any lost files, as long as the disk/partition/mmc etc were not overwritten, or to put it correctly - as long as the data was not overwritten, in which case you'd end up loosing all data you wanted to recover.

My suggestion - don't mess around unless you know what you're doing. If you want, I offer my help, but would be great if we could talk in real time. Facebook perhaps? Let me knnow and I will get ready to lead you step by step.

I know how it feels. Not long ago I've lost about 2TB of data, and that included pics from last 10 years, my whole adult life, my missed grandma etc. Got it back!

If the stick is in raw state the partition has been lost. TestDisk is pretty simple to use or one I forgot about, easus, is super simple to use

http://www.easeus.com/resource/raw-usb-drive-recovery.htm

[Tom Major]

First thing I would do is scan with Zero Assumption Recovery. It will scan whatever you want it to scan and then you can pick up what you want to save file by file. As far as I remember it also saves original folders. No need to repair partition at all, just scan, save all data wanted, format and it's good to go.

Also worth to remember that fixing file system may (or may not) render some data unreadable. The less changes to the structure of data prior to recovery, the better.

[Simon Bolivar]

Hi guys, many thanks for the swift responses, much appreciated. Tom, I'll give you a FB call from home when hopefully I can follow your instructions.

[Tom Major]

Just pm me when you're ready. We'll get them files back .

[ValeTudoGuy]

The partition has gone wonky, you need a decent partition manager that wont overwrite data as It's working. I would say EaseUS Partition Master is your best bet unless you have access to a computer with Linux?

Edit:
I suggest that specific program because it fixes the partition rather than attempts to mess with the data.

[Simon Bolivar]

No, I don't have access to Linux Marc; I have just found a free download of EaseUS Partition Master (never heard of it before) but tried & can't download it here, will try at home. Many thanks.

[Tom Major]

Can you download files attached to emails, or is this option blocked as well Simon?

I can mail you one simple tool that will sort you out. ZAR X.


And for the future, I would suggest getting second stick or even proper external HDD to keep all important data backed up. This would save you a lot problems and possibly few hours spent on recovery.

One more thing - you may want to try Tor browser. Not sure if it will work 100%, but this could help you get past firewall. It does in case of T-Mobile content lock.

[cigarmo]

This seems to have been taken care of, will leave you all to it

[ValeTudoGuy]

No, I don't have access to Linux Marc; I have just found a free download of EaseUS Partition Master (never heard of it before) but tried & can't download it here, will try at home. Many thanks.

If/When you come to use it Simon, you dont want to use the recovery file option (i know this is counter intuative) you want to go for the recover partition option.

This is all from memory, I can be more specific closer to the time if needed.

[Simon Bolivar]

Cheers Mo, plenty of good advice so cheers. Marc, gottcha on the Partition bit & Tom, no I don't think I can download it from an email. There is no rush I am at home in a fortnight & I will contact you then. I just wanted to know it was recoverable, to save me starting to update my diaries again. I down have the external drive at home & I bought a new stick to replace the other if it couldn't be recovered. When I do recover I will use the new one to instantly back up the others for photos & email diaries.

[Tom Major]

That is the best solution, to keep data in at least two places. I've learnt my lesson as when my HDDs were down, it took me nearly a month to recover my stuff....

Mind you, it happened only twice to me. First time when I was about 15yo, spend about 6 months building website about motorcycles. Then HDD said buh bye and all work went down the toilet. Wish I knew back then how to recover stuff...