Recovery Unknown status?

[timhenn]

I have lost a disk after a power outage (disk read error). I booted it up as secondary disk and performed a full drive scan for windows media files (*.wm*). The partition information appears to be in decent shape. The scan took 8 hours.

Every file listed has a Recovery status of "Unknown". When I try to preview any file it says the file type is not supported for previews or file type too large. On almost all files, the preview window in the bottom left side of screen, says Error: filesize does not match. I tried previewing some small .JPG files and those don't display either.

I will gladly purchase the software if I know I can recover these files but outside of recognizing the partition information and name I don't think it recognizes anything.

I only have today to recover these files otherwise I will have to wait a week to return from a business trip. If this is a limitation on the "evaluation" copy please let me know.

timhenn

[GDH]

Please try a "Complete Search" for specific file types (pick work, excel, jepg, bmp, or gif). If you cannot see a drive letter to search, the go to OPTIONS / ADVANCED and place a tick in the box for "allow searching of physical drives".

Does it find any of these files and can you see them in the preview window?

[timhenn]

I have already checked the box in the advanced section and I selected windows media file types thats all. I can see many files that I want but none of them display in the preview window, just the explorer.

Are you suggesting I try other file types to see if it works for them? I want to make sure because the scan takes 8 hours!

Tim

[GDH]

Just do a test. Run a "Complete Search" for about 30 minutes for .jpeg files (you can preview whilst the search is in progress, or just stop the search after 30 minutes). I just want to see if you can find these files and preview them to make sure that you do not have more serious disk problems.

[timhenn]

I started a test search as you described. The interface did not update while looking so I wasn't sure it was working. The elapased time seem to stop at 18 minutes. I let it go for another 60 and then stopped the test.

When I stopped it, there were a lot of jpeg files found, some of them corrupt and unviewable, others displayed ok in the preview window.

So, should I do the same operation to try to preview my WMV files? I think I did "format recover" instead of "Complete Search" Does this explain the difference?

I will probably have to delay this recovery for a week or so, I'd like to run something overnight and take a quick look in the morning to see if it worked better.

Another question, if I do end up purchasing the software I will use it to recover all that I can. I will then format both drives and completely rebuild them. At that point, I would want to reinstall the licensed version of the software to use for future issues. Will I be able to do that given the single computer license?

Appreciate the help,

[GDH]

Yes, try a Complete Search for your WMV files and see what you get back.

Yes, you can format, reinstall the software and register it again.

[timhenn]

I'm back and ready to tackle this issue. I want to know if I scan and find .WMV files, does the ability to preview (in this case play the video) indicate whether the file can be saved or not?

Also, if the status of the file displays "Unknown" does that mean it will likely be unrecoverable?

[GDH]

Yes, a preview of a file means that it is guaranteed 100% to be recovered. However, we do not at this stage support the preview of deleted WMV files. You will be able to confirm the contents of these files until you purchase a registration key and save them.