Memory usage/Continued restoring?

[Xanthor]

Have a question before I buy the program. Few nasty things happened to two drives. All started when installing msdos 6.22, killed all partitions on one drive, had to use a reset program so the computer could pick up the drives full capacity as it was reading at 37 gigs, not 160. Before resetting, using install software had then accidentally killed partitons on 2nd drive losing all data. Now, after trying a few different demos, a feature in this program cought my eye which was sector by sector reading. Now heres my questions as this is being run on XP, NTSF, 1 gig ram.

I actually let this run for 3 days on a 160gig HD, and 3 days lator I see its halfway through scanning and running very sluggishly as it seems to be storing the info into memory. Is there a way to fix this or is there a way to cancel the scan then continue on where you left off to free up memory and find the rest thats lost? Since all partitions missing, xp reinstalled I figured the full drive sector by sector scan was way to go, just wondering if theres a better and faster way. Thanks again.

[GDH]

Hi,

There are two methods to recovery your data.

Method 1 - Look for the old Operating System Records

It is possible that the old Master File Table that kept track of all the files in your missing partitions is still on the disk, even though Windows has been re-installed.

The good thing about using this method is that if Recover My Files can find the MFT record for a file, then it can:

a). automatically know the file name, because this is held only in the MFT;
b). quickly know where the file is located on the disk, because the MFT record holds the "run list" (the sectors on the hard drive used to store the file).

So the first search I would run in your situation is a "Complete Format Recover". You could search the drive letter, in which case it would ignore the new XP installation, but because you had problems viewing the full drive capacity, it is safer to run the search on the "physical" drive and just ignore the new XP files in the search results. Make sure you ONLY search for the default selected file types (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .avi, .bmp, .jpeg, pdf, zip) to maintain the fastest possible search speed. These files are used to locate the MFT and then at the end of the search it will rebuild the old file system and display the results to your in "Folder View" of the results screen - including all file types, not just those selected. This search should take no longer than 12 hours to run on a drive of this size.

Method 2 - Scan the disk by Sector or Cluster

It is possible that your MFT records are destroyed, and that a Complete Format Recover will not help you. In this case you can move to a "Complete File Search" of the physical drive - which from you post, it sounds like you are currently running.

If you run a "Complete File Search" on the new drive letter, it will ignore the current installation of XP and just look at the empty space on the drive. However, again, it may be better for you to be sure that you are searching the entire drive, and run the search on the "physical drive".

A Complete File Search looks for the header and footer of an individual file type/s - which you select in the search setup wizard. The slowest types are Video and Text - so run a separate search for these.

With a header and footer search, it will not find the deleted files original names - as this information is only held in the files MFT record. The files will be called names that start with "Recovered.....". However you can still click on them to preview them in the search results screen.

A limitation of searching by header and footer, is that it is not a good way to find fragmented files, as the start of a file and the end of the file can be in separate fragments on the disk.

The default search level is by cluster (a group of sectors). As you know, you can drop to sector level, which will obviously slow down the search.

In answer to your question...

Yes, you can stop the search and start from the same location. In the progress window, note down the sector number that the search is currently up to, ie xxxxxxx of xxxxxxxxxx. Now stop the search and save the files found so far.

Before you start a new search, click on the OPTIONS button on the main program screen toolbar, and in ADVANCED, put a tick in the box for "prompt for start cluster/sector...".

Now when you start a new search, you will be prompted for a starting sector - enter the number in and you will start the search from the same location.

I hope this helps.

[rayigzaw]

how do i post my question. All I see are replay buttons to someone elses posting. I want to post my own question. Help me please!

[rayigzaw]

I basically did a system recovery AFTER backing up my info on an external drive. Once I backed up my info, I proceeded to do the recovery without unplugging the external drive and therefore formatted the drive. I basically lost everything on the computer.
HELP! Can I successfully recover and how do i successfully recover docs and file off my external drive? Most importantly how do I recover my TURBO TAX (not the software) clients tax infor? We are in the heart of TAX season. HELP ME PLEASSSSE!
When I did my trail recovery before purchasing the KEY, I saw about 67 ZIP files. What are they!

[GDH]

Download Recover My Files from www.recovermyfiles.com onto your C: drive.

Run the program and select "Complete Format Recover".

In the drive selection window, select the "physical drive" (the one that is closest in size to your problem external drive).

In the file type selection window, use only the default selected file types, but also add the Turbo Tax file type to the list to recover.

Run this search. It will take a number of hours, but at the end you should see you full file and folder structure in "Folder View" of the results screen.

Preview the files here (no preview for turbo tax) to make sure the data found is valid, and then purchase a key to save the important files back to C: drive.

Good luck.

[rayigzaw]

Originally Posted by GDH

Download Recover My Files from www.recovermyfiles.com onto your C: drive.

Run the program and select "Complete Format Recover".

In the drive selection window, select the "physical drive" (the one that is closest in size to your problem external drive).

In the file type selection window, use only the default selected file types, but also add the Turbo Tax file type to the list to recover.

Run this search. It will take a number of hours, but at the end you should see you full file and folder structure in "Folder View" of the results screen.

Preview the files here (no preview for turbo tax) to make sure the data found is valid, and then purchase a key to save the important files back to C: drive.

Good luck.

I get all that you said. I really want to recover things like my family pics, my music and most importantly the Turbo Tax files that have my client information. How do iD those files. I am not a techie so I REALLY need help. Thanks in advance for your quick response.

I forgot to add that I did a backup when I did a system recovery but unfortunatly the backup was on the external drive that I am having the issue with. I see all of these ZIP file. can they be my BACKED UP information?

[GDH]

What did you use for the backup?

Have you had a look to see what are in the recovered zip files?

[rayigzaw]

I used the external drive that i'm having a problem with. I backed up my computer using the back up wizard. So I don't know if the the wizard ZIPs the files. By the way what are NTFS and FAT. I see them in the FOlder section on the left had section of the scren when I perform a complete formatt recovery. Thanks in advance!

[GDH]

Save the Zip Files then take a look inside them.

FAT is a "File System" which uses a "File Allocation Table" to track the location of all files on a FAT32 hard drive. The FAT files system is usually found when using an older Operating System, such as Windows 98.

NTFS is a more modern File System which was released by Microsoft with the intention of replacing FAT. However, due to the fact that the older operating systems cannot read NTFS drives, FAT drives are still common, particularly with removable drives.

There is plenty of information on Google about FAT and NTFS.