Multiple Recovered File "Copied"

[sumgai]

I just completed a full scan of a 160GB external (USB2/Firewire) hard drive that accidently had it's partition deleted (it only had 1 partition).

The scan took almost 25 hours.

In the recovered file (tree) view, there are no recognizable names for any directories (just DIRxxxxx) and in the directories, there are generally multiple listings for each file (one example has 9 listings with the same size, dates, etc.).

Also, when I click a file (.EXE, .ZIP, ...) its type gets changed to MP3 in the listing and the preview area says "Preview not available for this file type."

Given these issues, I don't have complete confidence that this software will be able to accurately recover my files.

Can you tell me whether these experiences are common, how do I select which entry for a given file I should try to recover and whether I may have done something wrong?

If you can answer these questions, I will buy the software and try to recover these files today.

Many thanks,

Mitch

[GDH]

Hi,

The results you describe are a bit odd and suggest that the old partition records are seriously corrupted in that they no longer point to the correct location on the disk for each file. DIRXXX indicates that the folder names have been destroyed.

How was the partition deleted? Did you create a new partition and reformat it?

Did you try a Fast Format Recover?, if so, what were the results?

The good news is that all your data is still on the disk. If the partiton information is bad then you may not be able to recover it with file and folder names intact. However, at a minimum, you will be able to recover specific file types, such as .doc, .pdf, .jpg etc. by running a "complete file search".

[sumgai]

The system that the drive was attached to died. I think that I may have accidentally deleted the partition in an interaction with Win2K setup. I remember thinking it was the C drive and not the Firewire drive, so I said format it and install win2k on it. But, before the reformat started, I got an error message.

I don't know for sure because the system was so flaky before it died. All I do know is when I attached the drive (firewire/USB2.0) to another system, it said the drive wasn't formatted.

If I remember correctly, the drive was originally a FAT32 partition (160GB).

The results I mentioned in the original post were from a "complete/full" recovery attempt.

I really need the info on this drive (it was my backup for that system).

I don't want to buy RecoverMyFiles unless I'm sure it will work.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Mitch

[GDH]

Please try a Fast Format Recover and tell me the results.

After that, on the main program screen, please click on the OPTIONS button and in the SEARCH tab change the FORMAT RECOVERY option to FAT32 only. Now run a Complete Format Recover on the Physical Drive searching only for the default selected file types. Please let me know the results. Click on the files in the results window to preview their content.

[sumgai]

OK...

After the fast format recovery, I got a list of files. The only recognizable ones were "Overwritten" in the Recovery column. These were repeated multiple times (there were only about 6 or so unique file names, each repeated in groups multiple times). There were a bunch of .CHK files, a few .LOG and .TMP files.

As for the full recover that you asked me to do, it's been running for about 6 hours now and it's still got a LONG time to go.

It will probably take most of tomorrow to finish (based on the last full recover I ran).

Mitch

[GDH]

I think your old partiton information has some major damage.

What does the "Files Found" and the "OS Itmes Found" currently say in the "Complete Format Recover" progress window?

[sumgai]

files found is 23369
o/s items found is 225116
it's taken 25:48:00 so far and it's "searching drive 4 - 90815581 of 320171008

Other than deleting the partition, I can't imagine that anything else happened to the drive.

m

[sumgai]

I stopped the full recover after a long run. I saved the list to a .csv file of what it had found so far.

Could you take a quick look at it and tell me whether your software will be able to recover the files or not?

I'll paste a few lines here, but I canemail you the whole file if you'd like.

The thing that's difficult for me to understand is the multiple versions of files and knowing which ones to pick for a restore. For instance, the "Household Finances" file that appears in this snipet also appears in other locations throughout the list.


Many thanks in advance,

Mitch

Filename,Folder,Size,Type,Date Modified,Date Created,Date Accessed,StartCluster,Comment
".","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","0","Other Files","10-Oct-2005 06:26 AM","-","-","78109","Allocation: Sequential"
"Household Finances Backup.mbf","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","3970374","Other Files","09-Jun-2004 06:06 AM","15-Feb-2004 11:46 AM","13-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","247542173","Allocation: FAT"
"RECYCLED","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","28-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","28-Jul-2003 02:00 PM","12-Dec-2005 11:59 PM","-",""
"VOLUMEID.ZBX","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","80","Other Files","23-May-2003 05:53 AM","23-May-2003 02:52 PM","13-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","4274013","Allocation: FAT"
"Original Pics","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","11-Jun-2004 06:06 AM","11-Jun-2004 08:10 AM","11-Oct-2004 11:59 PM","-",""
"Pix","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","22-Jun-2004 06:06 AM","22-Jun-2004 07:51 AM","25-Jul-2005 11:59 PM","-",""
"Current","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","18-Apr-2006 06:36 AM","18-Apr-2006 07:05 PM","17-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","-",""
"Fedora","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","14-Jul-2004 06:07 AM","14-Jul-2004 03:17 PM","14-Jul-2004 11:59 PM","-",""
"EPC","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","22-Jun-2004 06:06 AM","22-Jun-2004 07:29 AM","27-Dec-2005 11:59 PM","-",""
"_939187_","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","26-Mar-2006 06:35 AM","26-Mar-2006 05:20 PM","25-Mar-2006 11:59 PM","-",""
"SBRemodel","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","29-Apr-2004 06:04 AM","29-Apr-2004 10:31 AM","14-Nov-2005 11:59 PM","-",""
"Tahoe Notebook","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","10-Oct-2005 06:26 AM","13-Dec-2005 07:38 PM","12-Dec-2005 11:59 PM","-",""
"Previous","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","12-Apr-2006 06:36 AM","12-Apr-2006 05:25 PM","11-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","-",""
"HOUSEHOLD FINANCES.QDF","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","2454192","Other Files","05-Apr-2005 06:20 AM","05-Apr-2005 09:04 AM","13-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","197220893","Allocation: FAT"
"HOUSEHOLD FINANCES.QSD","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","8734","Other Files","05-Apr-2005 06:20 AM","05-Apr-2005 09:04 AM","13-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","197226525","Allocation: FAT"
"HOUSEHOLD FINANCES.QEL","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","771072","Other Files","05-Apr-2005 06:20 AM","05-Apr-2005 09:04 AM","13-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","197226589","Allocation: FAT"
"HOUSEHOLD FINANCES.QPH","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","2158","Other Files","28-Mar-2005 06:19 AM","05-Apr-2005 09:04 AM","13-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","197228125","Allocation: FAT"
"HOUSEHOLD FINANCES.IDX","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","96404","Other Files","05-Apr-2005 06:20 AM","05-Apr-2005 09:04 AM","13-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","197228189","Allocation: FAT"
"Q3.DIR","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","230","Other Files","05-Apr-2005 06:20 AM","05-Apr-2005 09:04 AM","13-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","197228381","Allocation: FAT"
"KEYCODE.DLL","Recovered FAT Partition 1\[DIR00078237]\","221184","Other Files","15-Nov-2002 05:43 AM","15-Nov-2002 03:13 AM","13-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","276941213","Allocation: FAT"
"MSI1d89b.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","16-Apr-2006 06:36 AM","16-Apr-2006 03:30 PM","15-Apr-2006 11:59 PM","-",""
"RECYCLER","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","23-Jan-2003 05:49 AM","23-Jan-2003 06:57 AM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"Stationery","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","12-May-2003 05:53 AM","23-Jan-2003 03:05 PM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"System Volume Information","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","23-Jan-2003 05:49 AM","23-Jan-2003 08:01 AM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"3fe147ba3534e88a4dfd8f0f015d2d15","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","15-Dec-2005 06:28 AM","15-Dec-2005 08:29 AM","14-Dec-2005 11:59 PM","-",""
"_EBSIT~1","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","16-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","23-Jan-2003 03:07 PM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"Temp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","21-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","21-Jul-2003 11:28 AM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"WUTemp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","19-Jun-2003 05:54 AM","19-Jun-2003 12:36 PM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"CDrive","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","28-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","28-Jul-2003 02:12 PM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"EDrive","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","28-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","28-Jul-2003 02:12 PM","18-Feb-2004 11:59 PM","-",""
"New Folder","4\[DIR00000002]\","0","FAT","28-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","28-Jul-2003 02:55 PM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"_EST","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","28-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","28-Jul-2003 02:55 PM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"DDrive","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","28-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","28-Jul-2003 03:10 PM","27-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI5409e.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 11:20 AM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI540a9.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 11:20 AM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI60c98.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 11:21 AM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI803f4.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 11:23 AM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI98da0.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 11:24 AM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI803fc.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 11:33 AM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI4b0ab.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 12:29 PM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI699d3.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 01:23 PM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-07-29","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 05:41 PM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-07-29","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 05:44 PM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-07-29","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 05:45 PM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-07-29","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","29-Jul-2003 05:55 AM","29-Jul-2003 05:45 PM","28-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-07-30","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","30-Jul-2003 05:54 AM","30-Jul-2003 04:36 PM","29-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI28aa9.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","31-Jul-2003 05:54 AM","31-Jul-2003 11:24 AM","30-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI4b019.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","31-Jul-2003 05:54 AM","31-Jul-2003 11:27 AM","30-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI4b020.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","31-Jul-2003 05:54 AM","31-Jul-2003 11:36 AM","30-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI4b025.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","31-Jul-2003 05:54 AM","31-Jul-2003 11:36 AM","30-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI4b02a.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","31-Jul-2003 05:54 AM","31-Jul-2003 11:36 AM","30-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI4b02f.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","31-Jul-2003 05:54 AM","31-Jul-2003 11:38 AM","30-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI4b034.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","31-Jul-2003 05:54 AM","31-Jul-2003 11:40 AM","30-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-07-31","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","31-Jul-2003 05:54 AM","31-Jul-2003 06:16 PM","30-Jul-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI7c249.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","03-Aug-2003 05:56 AM","03-Aug-2003 04:40 PM","02-Aug-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"MSI7c799.tmp","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","03-Aug-2003 05:56 AM","03-Aug-2003 04:40 PM","02-Aug-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-08-03","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","03-Aug-2003 05:56 AM","03-Aug-2003 04:47 PM","02-Aug-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-08-04","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","04-Aug-2003 05:56 AM","04-Aug-2003 04:53 PM","03-Aug-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-08-05","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","05-Aug-2003 05:56 AM","05-Aug-2003 05:38 PM","04-Aug-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-08-07","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","07-Aug-2003 05:56 AM","07-Aug-2003 07:25 PM","06-Aug-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-08-08","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","08-Aug-2003 05:56 AM","08-Aug-2003 03:23 PM","07-Aug-2003 11:59 PM","-",""
"2003-08-10","4\[DIR00000002]\","32768","FAT","10-Aug-2003 05:56 AM","10-Aug-2003 01:29 PM","09-Aug-2003 11:59 PM","-",""