• Data recovery using six DPs on four test partitions

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    Data Recovery using 6 DPs on 4 test partitions

    ** Because of Windows OS and 3rd party programs and utilities constant cycle of deleting, copying, writing, deleting, copying, writing…
    The sooner, one learns of any unwanted deletion, the sooner one engages any process of undelete and/or data recovery, the better the chances of quality undelete or recovery!
    An undelete’s or data recovery’s listing of “undeleted or recovered” folders and files does not mean each and every “undeleted or recovered” file is actually readable and or usable. Listing results and real undeletion/recovery can vary significantly.**

    I’m starting this thread here to gather experiences from others who have attempted and succeeded in data recovery.
    This topic is not all important or exciting — until one needs to recover critical or important folders & files accidentally deleted or quick-formatted. I remember one poster somewhere on the ‘Net indicating s/he “tried everything” with several data recovery programs — which lead me to believe that what was displayed on the monitor did not match end-user expectations.

    Wanting to presently being very efficient and effective with, and someday tutorialize how to use, the various tools within just six data recovery programs [or utilities], set up 4 1GB test partitions [formatted and named Fat16, Fat32, NTFS, [Un][Delete].
    After setting up the 4 test partitions, after full-formatting same, copied the test folders from my d-partition onto said test partitions — each 1GB partition having two folders with selected files, 1 normal folder in which the files themselves have been deleted, 1 folder of which I simply deleted. The selected files have various extensions such as: mp3, mp4, zip, htm, doc, txt, etc. I named the two folders Undeleted Folder and Deleted Folder.
    From the beginning I’m used Acronis Disk Director to create the test partitions, I used Windows 7 Professional 64 bit NTFS to create the test folders and for copying the already-existing files into said folders. Essentially, W7Pro is the Windows being used by the six DPs. If there are any read/write engines built into the high-end DPs, I’ll try to mention them as I use them.
    I changed one partition into DeletedPartition and added one more into the soup: FormattedPartition.
    I “converted” the contents in all partitions into: 1DeletedFiles [folder], 2Deleted Folder, 3DeletedFilesAndFolder, 4FormattedFolder — to represent the most common problems that lead to either a folder/file restore from a previous backup or onward to data recovery [ranging from Whew!GotEmBack! all the way to HoleyMoley100Steps!].
    Data Recovery using 6 Data Recovery Programs on 4 Test Partitions

    I simply had to choose what programs and utilities to use, out of so many great choices!, I settled on:
    Piriform Recova, Wise Data Recovery, MiniTool Power Data Recovery, Restorer Ultimate, Steller and R-Studio.

    A quick review of some things. Long ago, us old timers heard of and used terms such as FAT [File Allocation Tables] and DIRectories which were stored right after Boot Sector on Track Zero. FAT and DIR are part of the main post office to the houses, i.e. the folders and files on the magnetic media. I’m not concerned with CDs and DVDs at this time.
    Using an anology that can be snapped like a rubber band if stretched too far: You and your family are the contents within your house, a specific file. The post office knows your street address number and your family name. When a file is simply deleted, the main post office no longer has your [beginning] house number nor the first letter of your family name. If the whole block [a folder] is deleted, although the main post office probably no longer has the stuff mentioned earlier, however, if you’re lucky, a sub-station just might have the needed numbers and first letters [along with the whole names] for that block [folder]. Any over-written file, regardless of how or with what the file was over-written with: the people in the house are removed, and often the house itself is in shambles to some degree.
    At this time, I cannot visualize how NTFS is structured, and how it keeps the first address and the name of folders and files. Maybe my use of DMDE will help me discover and visualize this process. I used DMDE’s Disk Editor to attempt to locate my FAT16 test partition’s Track Zero and its FAT and DIR structure — didn’t recognize it. Using Windows 7 Pro to create, format, write folders & files onto a FAT16 partition probably not the same as using Windows for Workgroup 3.11?

    FAT16 partition, Piriform Recover appeared to give a very easy to work with, understandable, screen of recoverable files within Undeleted Folder. Had to head for home, later, will check and see if all or only half of the files were listed.
    Wise Data Recovery, while the recovery menu was very easy to work with, it was a little bit “muddy:” half the recoverable files had their correct names, the other half of the recoverable files had manufactered names.
    For the beginner, Piriform Recova seems easier to use, has much less geek-assigned file-names, whether FAT16, FAT32 or NTFS. Wise was much friendlier in my NTFS partition. Piriform Recova did not enter in adv-mode for me today ; maybe will try again later.

    MiniTool and Restorer, in FAT16 partition, operate much like Piriform Recova, very few files are missing their first character, most have full names listed. I suspect the same will be true for FAT32. Both, in the NTFS partition, listed only a few files. Not sure why yet. Will find out later in deeper tests.
    Steller and R-Studio early-bird menu items revealed the same listing as the aforementioned others for FAT16, and I suspect will do so for FAT32.
    Steller’s Preview works really well. R-Studio’s Preview often coughs up the View and Edit mode rather than the Preview.
    Both of these, within the NTFS partition, only listed a few files. Again, not sure why, maybe can find out later in deeper tests.
    ** Unless somebody want them, I will not be listing the keystrokes, buttons, etc. to click, push, etc. at this point. **

    "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    Viewing 25 reply threads
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    • #1537338

      You may also want to check out the free version of PassMark OSForensics. It has most of the facilities of the paid for version ($500). It is serious overkill for most users though.

      http://www.osforensics.com/osforensics.html

      • #1537355

        You may also want to check out the free version of PassMark OSForensics. It has most of the facilities of the paid for version ($500). It is serious overkill for most users though.
        http://www.osforensics.com/osforensics.html

        Califmanco, thanks for inputing! I had to pick my six or else I would be bogged down with too many programs 🙂 I do hope others will input with their experiences with their favorite DR utilities.

        "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1537364

      Last year I spent about an hour working on a friends computer to recover some deleted files. Many years ago, I went through something similar on a clients laptop computer after a trip. They admitted that they had screwed up and deleted the files when they intended to move them to the server. Still not clear why they were not in the recycle bin in either of these two cases.

      While I expect that some professional software may be able to do a better job, I have yet to see any freeware or even modestly prices software that will do a very good job. It’s even worse when a whole folder is removed.

      As to testing, NTFS is going to be the most important to the most people. I wish you luck as this is not an easy task. One note, testing on a small partition created for the purpose is going to be different than trying to recover files on a well used disk. Still, any testing is worthwhile.

      • #1538065

        Last year I spent about an hour working on a friends computer to recover some deleted files. Many years ago, I went through something similar on a clients laptop computer after a trip. They admitted that they had screwed up and deleted the files when they intended to move them to the server. Still not clear why they were not in the recycle bin in either of these two cases.

        While I expect that some professional software may be able to do a better job, I have yet to see any freeware or even modestly prices software that will do a very good job. It’s even worse when a whole folder is removed.

        As to testing, NTFS is going to be the most important to the most people. I wish you luck as this is not an easy task. One note, testing on a small partition created for the purpose is going to be different than trying to recover files on a well used disk. Still, any testing is worthwhile.

        I’ve tried to recover data from hard drives and from SD cards using Recuva and a few other free utilities.

        I have to agree that these tools are marginal at best, especially if any disk activity has intervened between the data deletion and the discovery that someone wanted to recover the data.

        SD cards differ from hard drives, so this is a bit tangential to the current topic, but SD card data recovery can be complicated by many of the same formatting and deletion issues found in hard drive data recovery.

        I look forward to any results, tips and tricks or good, well-documented information as to how data recovery fails, and what might be done (or avoided) to make the job more likely to succeed.

        And of course, to know once and for all, which programs are the best at actually recovering data in specific situations on specific media types.

        I dual-boot Windows and Linux, so that scenario is also of interest to me, from the data recovery point of view.

        -- rc primak

    • #1537936

      Data Recovery using 6 DPs on 4 test partitions

      What’s a DP?

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DP

    • #1537948

      I am going for: Data Recovering Program(s) as he is talking about:

      “Data Recovery using 6 DPs on 4 test partitions” and “Data Recovery using 6 Data Recovery Programs on 4 Test Partitions”.

    • #1537957

      Slightly off topic perhaps, one of the best strategies for preventing loss of data, as pointed out by several experts, is to make regular full-system image backups. Macrium Reflect is one of the best, in my experience. It has also the possibility of retrieving single files from a full image. It also has the option of verifying the backup after making it.
      The full-system image backup method, apart from being able to recover single files and folders, of course has the ability to get your system up and running after a complete break-down, and quite easily too.
      Recently I tried to install an update of my graphics card (Nvidia GeForce) with the result that the screen went totally blank (not even blue). Could not restart. Installing the latest full-image solved the problem quickly.

    • #1538042

      toktok is absolutely correct! And, so are the other posters about “DP” — that should really be DRP, Data Recovery Programs. toktok’s comments about having regular restorable backups are apples of gold on silver platters. I do make regular backups. I’m just beginning to learn about Data Recovery because very important things [folders and files] can disappear between backups, which means, sometimes, such folder and files were not backed ’cause they did not exist during, or were majorly-changed after, the last one or two backups.

      "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1538050

      Thanks for the answer.
      Between the system-image backups, backup of new/changed files and folders is a good idea. For instance to external harddisk, USB or cloud service like Dropbox. For instance, working on a document that is in your Dropbox folder, it will be backup’d immediately on a Save.

    • #1538090

      Thanks guys for your wonderfully detailed responses to this thread! Since I do not use the Cloud, awhile back, I added Resplendence’s Undelux — which is quite good at tracking deleted files; it creates a tiny text file for each deleted file, regardless of extension, pointing to the file’s location, folder by folder, partition by partition. In my early bird tests, the Undelux had more “green lights” within a couple of my test Data Recovery programs; later, I shall post more of this.

      "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1538093

      Most, if not all, file recovery programs work well, that includes on SD cards, in my many years of experience, and a dozen or more recovery programs used.
      Failure to recover a file is usually not the fault of the recovery program. It’s because the file has been written over it or over parts of it after it had been deleted, but the file name has not disappeared from the system.

      Best chances for recovery is to be done before any changes are made to the affected disk (such as creating or editing files, or downloading files to it, or even booting the system, etc.), and for the drive to be removed (if possible), and connected externally to a USB port.
      No program can recover data that doesn’t exist, regardless of its cost. For example, if a deleted file has been written over in part or in total, and just booting from that disk will certainly write over some of these deleted files. The system doesn’t know you plan on doing a file recovery

      It’s extremely important, for novices at least, to recover deleted files to a different disk to avoid the chance of writing over the data you are trying to recover.

      Using imaging programs, such as Acronis, Reflect, etc., to make a full image of the OS drive, and then weekly incremental backups to that image (Reflect does a great job in this regard), is an excellent method of backing up.
      Using the clouds (OneDrive, DropBox, etc.) is also a great way of instant backup to documents & pictures, etc..

      I have needed to use images that I had created using Reflect this past week on laptops of 2 clients after their system drives crashed due to virus attacks.
      .

      • #1538236

        First time poster. I have a USB external 1.5 TB Seagate drive that has failed. Windows is reporting that the drive must be formatted before use. Seagate file recovery utilities state drive must be initialized before use. One of the links in this thread sent me to OSForensics. Using the free version I am able to select physical drive 1, however it also states drive must be formatted. Commercial file recovery services are quoting anywhere from $550 to $3000 for recovery. Can anyone give me any advice/pointers? Thank you.
        P.S. Ubuntu tells me it cannot mount the drive because it was shut down incorrectly in Windows. Run chkdsk /f. Unable to do so because Windows says to format drive first.

        • #1538268

          @vrisinger,
          I’m wondering if this drive had been previously used as a boot system drive (regardless of what operating system).
          I encountered an exact situation recently. That’s why I’m asking.
          If so, then I can suggest a potential solution.

          • #1540973

            sh10443,
            Unfortunately no. It was just an external storage device. Appreciate the response. Latest post mentioned TESTDISK. I’m going to try that next. After that I may use the drive for target practice. 🙂

            • #1541199

              sh10443,
              Unfortunately no. It was just an external storage device. Appreciate the response. Latest post mentioned TESTDISK. I’m going to try that next. After that I may use the drive for target practice. 🙂

              Hi vrisinger,

              Because TestDisk needs to write changes to the drive during the recovery, try PhotoRec (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec) first.

              PhotoRec is written by the same author and is very useful in situations where a file system on a drive has been corrupted. It uses a forensics technique called “file carving” to recover files from a disk. The downside with file carving is that it’s generally not possible to restore the original folder and file names, but other tools can be used to rename files using any available metadata contained in the files.

              good luck,
              Chung

            • #1541235

              Thank you, Gadget. I tried creating an image file to our corporate server and crashed it. IT wasn’t happy. What is happening is that Windows is continuously polling the drive and reporting that it needs to be formatted. I think, as a result, the connection is momentarily lost and I get continuous disk read errors. Appreciate your input.
              Best regards,
              Val

            • #1541276

              Thank you, Gadget. I tried creating an image file to our corporate server and crashed it. IT wasn’t happy. What is happening is that Windows is continuously polling the drive and reporting that it needs to be formatted. I think, as a result, the connection is momentarily lost and I get continuous disk read errors. Appreciate your input.
              Best regards,
              Val

              Hi vrisinger,

              For data recovery I generally try to avoid using Windows because it tends to default to “needs to be formatted” rather than try and work through/around errors.

              I would also take apart the external drive and try to read it with a USB-to-SATA adapter or directly via a SATA connection. Based on the symptoms, it’s possible that the USB-to-SATA bridge in the original enclosure has become flaky. Windows normally doesn’t disconnect from an unformatted drive unless the disk controller interface is bad or there are other mechanical problems.

              Do you have a spare drive with enough space to hold a disk image of your 1.5TB Seagate drive? If you do, and are interested in trying the data recovery a different way, I can post instructions for using a bootable Linux CD/USB drive.

              Chung

            • #1541279

              Hi again, Gadget. I’d give it a whirl because nothing else works. I have a 4tb ext usb drive for storage.
              Best regards,
              Val

            • #1541287

              Windows image backup requires NTFS-formatting of the backup drive, and will not accept FAT-formatting. Often external drives are preformatted with FAT. To be certain, probably you need to do NTFS formatting thoroughly (not just ‘quick format’), and it takes some time.
              I use both Windows image backup (Win7) and Macrium Reflect image backup, but the latter is quicker and safer (you can ask for a verify backup). I suppose Macrium Reflect also requires NTFS but am not sure. Anybody knows this?

            • #1541299

              Thank you, TokTok.
              Best regards,
              Val

        • #1538341

          First time poster. I have a USB external 1.5 TB Seagate drive that has failed. Windows is reporting that the drive must be formatted before use. Seagate file recovery utilities state drive must be initialized before use. One of the links in this thread sent me to OSForensics. Using the free version I am able to select physical drive 1, however it also states drive must be formatted. Commercial file recovery services are quoting anywhere from $550 to $3000 for recovery. Can anyone give me any advice/pointers? Thank you.
          P.S. Ubuntu tells me it cannot mount the drive because it was shut down incorrectly in Windows. Run chkdsk /f. Unable to do so because Windows says to format drive first.

          I regularly need to recover data from customers’ hard drives, and use “Active File Recovery” from: http://lsoft.net/file_recovery.aspx

          You could try the Demo version of AFR to see if it can access your files (it probably will) before purchasing a licence.

        • #1538758

          hello Vrisinger; I had a seagate external drive, used for nightly images using Image for Windows. although it had a 5-year warranty, it failed after only 2 years. showed in windows explorer as ‘unallocated’. yoiks ! no backups !
          did several runs with various programs and they all said the drive was unusable.
          so I phoned seagate, and they ran several more tests, said the disk was unrecoverable, pack it up and mail it to them, and they would fix or replace it.

          well I didn’t like that solution, so kept digging around on the internet, and also on my own system.
          some time previously I had lost a bunch of photos, and downloaded a program to recover them.
          now I discovered that another program came with it, called TESTDISK.

          it is a DOS program, and requires careful ordering of its steps, but when I ran it on my seagate drive, it first recovered the partitions, and listed the files in each partition, then recovered the files also.
          and the seagate worked fine for some time.
          over the next 3 years of its warranty period, I had to recover with testdisk 3 or more times, till when the warranty expired,I have finallly replaced it.

          hope this helps,

          Vern

    • #1538245

      Your drive has probably been corrupted beyond easy recovery – you’ve tried the obvious things. If your data is that important you may have to pay the money, but there is no guarantee you will recover what you need.

      cheers, Paul

      • #1538255

        …If your data is that important you may have to pay the money, but there is no guarantee you will recover what you need.
        cheers, Paul

        …and the recovered information will probably be nothing at all like what the info-creator was used to seeing.

        "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1538251

      Thank you, Paul. I was beginning to suspect that.
      Best regards, Val

    • #1538261

      Thank you, Sir. I’m sure you’re right. The biggest loss is a 3 year old Outlook PST file. Oh well. I’ll do a better job with backups/images next time. 🙂
      Best regards, Val

    • #1538264

      Backups are “copies”. You need at least two copies of a file, otherwise it’s not a backup.

      cheers, Paul

      • #1538270

        Backups are “copies”. You need at least two copies of a file, otherwise it’s not a backup.
        cheers, Paul

        That is why I have at least two external HDs and a few OS partition backups and a few data partition backups on each of those extHDs.

        "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1538267

      Understood. 🙂 Thanks, again.

      Best regards,
      Val

    • #1538733

      I know its a bit long in the tooth but Spinrite might be an option. Any of you pros have experience w/ it?
      :cheers:

      🍻

      Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.
    • #1538736

      David,

      I’m a Spinrite fan from way way back. However, with the size of modern HDs Spinrite’s run time in measured in days/weeks vs hours in the bad old days. I’m just sayin’…

      HTH :cheers:

      May the Forces of good computing be with you!

      RG

      PowerShell & VBA Rule!
      Computer Specs

      • #1538743

        David,

        I’m a Spinrite fan from way way back. However, with the size of modern HDs Spinrite’s run time in measured in days/weeks vs hours in the bad old days. I’m just sayin’…

        HTH :cheers:

        You are quite right RG. Glad some one is around to set me straight.

        :cheers:

        🍻

        Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.
      • #1538746

        …with the size of modern HDs Spinrite’s run time in measured in days/weeks vs hours in the bad old days…

        Have used Spinrite many times in the past with great success but more recently have tried it a couple of times on newer GPT-partitioned HDDs but was unable to access the partitions.

        • #1538760

          Have used Spinrite many times in the past with great success but more recently have tried it a couple of times on newer GPT-partitioned HDDs but was unable to access the partitions.

          Like I said long in the tooth. No updates for a few years, questionable SATA support.
          It had a 2 decade run, with SSD coming of age maybe no incentive to update.:(
          :cheers:

          🍻

          Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.
    • #1538836

      Hitting an unexpected snag in my backup via cloning operations on my two computers containing a 2nd internal HD,
      realizing the project is just too big to handle; and realizing it’s time to make things easier to focus via “rifling” rather than “shotgunning”
      — cut down on the number of test files to 14; only 14 files will go into each of the four test folders in each of the three test partitions
      — eliminated the FAT16 and FAT32 test partitions [thus only three remain; NTFS, Formatted & Deleted]
      — eliminated FormattedFolder, since that old ZeroOutFAT&DIR utility no longer is used, may no longer exist
      — have reCreated but not yet “acted upon” the FormattedPartition and DeletedPartition
      [now, the cloning works just fine]

      My present and future focus will be on: learning to become profficient with my designated six data recovery programs, from EZ-recovery all the way, eventually, before the 2ndComing, to Green Beret level cluster-by-cluster, sector-by-sector, byte-by-byte recoveries.
      I’ve been using Windows 7 Professional [64-bit] as the OS. All my partitions, OS [C], data [D], test partitions: NTFS 4KB/default.

      "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1540811

      I know I am late to this thread, just back from vacation.
      Just recently I had VERY GOOD experiences with Recovery Force out of Guelph (?) in Ontario.
      Highly recommended.

    • #1540967

      “…I discovered that another program came with it, called TESTDISK. It is a DOS program, and requires careful ordering of its steps, but when I ran it on my seagate drive, it first recovered the partitions, and listed the files in each partition, then recovered the files also…” bink99
      Bink99, I have that program, have not used it yet. I would like to learn from you, would you kindly post a quick-list of those steps you took?

      "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1541286

      Windows image backup requires NTFS-formatting of the backup drive, and will not accept FAT-formatting. Often external drives are preformatted with FAT. To be certain, probably you need to do NTFS formatting thoroughly (not just ‘quick format’), and it takes some time.
      I use both Windows image backup and Macrium Reflect image backup, but the latter is quicker and safer (you can ask for a verify backup). I suppose Macrium Reflect also requires NTFS but am not sure. Anybody knows this?

    • #1548103

      ** Because of Windows OS and 3rd party programs and utilities constant cycle of deleting, copying, writing, deleting, copying, writing…
      The sooner, one learns of any unwanted deletion, the sooner one engages any process of un-delete and/or data recovery, the better the chances of quality un-delete or recovery!
      An un-delete’s or data recovery’s listing of “un-deleted or recovered” folders and files does not mean each and every “un-deleted or recovered” file is actually readable and/or usable. Listing results and real un-delete/recovery can vary significantly.**

      "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1548155

      Thanks for the updates Roland. Sorry things got hijacked.

      As for the comments about free undelete apps like Recuva in my experience it works as well as the paid apps out there almost always to recover deleted files. And as long as the fragmented files have not been overwritten which would be unusual unless the drives were virtually full, or a wipe app or long format command was run (in which case nothing will recover it). With shadow copies older file versions can be recovered. Clearly though the longer one uses the PC the lesser the odds of recovery.

      When the drive is not functioning properly you may be able to recover it (back it up) with free apps (not often), recover with paid apps (may be a little bit more often) or a last chance forced sector by sector read (worked only once for me). But usually a wonky drive simply won’t work unless you just get lucky, cold boot, reset boot, and then you have only so long to get files saved before you can’t (ranging from minutes to as long as needed). The data is almost always there unless you were able to do something really stupid like running chkdsk /r or Spinrite on it or some other test in which writes were done to the drive instead of reads. Even then the data is almost always still there; just less of a chance. But now we are talking drive recovery labs, unless a $50 PCB replacement works. This also assumes the drive was moved to a recovery PC with new cables and controller.

      Such surface write tools can be used later to attempt to “repair” a drive after data recovery has either succeeded or attempts have been abandoned due to projected cost. Though any such suspect drive should be abandoned after attempting to zero out the surface if possible because it is by definition an unreliable drive even if reported “fixed.”

    • #1548337

      Talk about unreliable fixes, our beloved 8.5 year old male cat [featured on my Facebook and Twitter] makes “annointment” appointments inside and outside of our apartment from time to time.
      Getting back on topic: yes, after EZ-un-delete, data recovery via file/topic/cluster search is pretty iffy.

      "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1551294

      Backing up what Fascist Nation posted:

      hddguru has a couple of posters that warn against using over-the-counter, average-to-intermediate user-based, data recovery tools that utilize HD’s mark bad sector/move data to another sector feature — because too often the data in the bad sector [which is now forever out of average person’s reach] is “replaced” with something else in the replacement sector. And, the often-forced try-to-read, try-to-read, try-to-read, does the failing HD no good.
      hddguru forum’s Conventional Hard-drives and Lounge has the above information explained much more thoroughly than I could ever explain it.

      "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

    • #1551860

      I have used Recuva with excellent results a number of times for clients, and have had no need to try anything else. The only drive it could not help was one of my own with a fried PCB that would not let the PC boot if it was connected, even though it was not the boot drive. I had drive images of the partitions on that drive, so I didn’t actually lose anything.

      Drive images are all I’ve ever needed for my own use. My red signature line says it all…

      Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!
      We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.
      We were all once "Average Users".

    • #1551942

      “…Create a fresh drive image before making system changes, in case you need to start over!”
      bbearren
      Words of gold on a platter of silver! Even before reading your signature — earlier, I gone from two usb ext HDs to a total of 8, 6 1TB pancake platter-clatters, and the original 2 Hatachi 🙂

      "Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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