Can't Preview - Should I Save Files?

[nebudi]

Hey, everyone. My original problem is very similar to this one (apart from the turning on and off thing), presumably due to a bad write.

Completed the whole "Recover Drive" as per the sticky post guide using the "Automatic drive recovery" option (Recover My Files v4.0.2(409)) on an external 500MB MyBook USB 2.0 FAT drive, 35 hours in all.
Now that I try to preview jpg or archive (zip/rar) files, vast majority of them don't display as they should: for jpgs either a "Preview not available" error, file header(?) gibberish or chopped off pictures with only tops of people's heads visible; for archives either empty, or incomplete contents lists. Is there any hope in saving these, as the guide clearly says: "If you are happy with the search results and can preview your missing files [...] save the files to another drive."

If that's any help, the original folder structure is completely recovered including deleted folders, but only under the "Partition @ ..." key in Folder Tab, while the contents of "Virtual FAT Partition @ ..." and some obscure "Virtual NTFS Partition @ ..." have absolutely nothing to do with the expected contents of the disk.

P.S. How do I save the search results so that I can return to them later, without having to run the search again?

[GDH]

Hi,

The preview is the best way of telling if the recovery has worked.

It sounds like the file system is messed up and either the records:

1. No longer point to the correct location on the disk for each file; or,

2. They point to the correct location, but the data at the location has been overwritten and destroyed.

If the files do not preview, then they will not open once saved.

Make sure you check out the "LostFile" results. Although these files do not have their original names, they have been found by their header and footer, so should be valid and preview.

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To save the list of search results so that you do not have to run the search at a later time, select "Recover > Save Search"

[nebudi]

I see. Unfortunately for me, as for the file types previewable with RMF 4 LostFiles contain mostly deleted, unnecessary files.

I wish there was an option to at least preview .avi files. If I knew my videos were even partially recoverable there would be some point for me in purchasing a product key.