File recovery software

Topic

New Reply

Hi,

I’ve got a 400gb HD with 275gb of video and photos, not all of which is backed up. I went to access it today and noted that although the drive is visiible in My Computer it does not list any file data, nor can I get into it without the error “The file or directory is unreadable”. I’ve tried to do chkdsk but am unable. I’ve tried attaching it via an external drive with USB and nothing. I did a Western Digital diagnostics and it shows an error due to a “reallocted sector count”. At this point I’m looking for info on anything else I can try as well as recommendations for file recovery software.

Thanks,
Leesha

Reply | Quote

Replies

You might try the free utility Recuva (from the makers of the popular CCLeaner) but from your description you may need something more powerful. It’s worth a try though.

Reply | Quote

Hi Hans and everyone else who posted back today. Just as an update. I tried Recuva but got an error. As luck would have it (I hope) there was a link on the download page for Recuva for a recovery program for damaged harddrives. I downloaded it based on the reviews and have been at it all day. The name is Disk Recoup. It does seem to be recovering data however due to the condition of the drive (I wish I knew what blew it) I’ve had to frequently reboot and restart. The write up on the software as well as the reviews warned that this may happen based on the condition of the drive. Anyway the good thing is is that it picks up where it left off, skipping the sector it couldn’t copy. It’s a free download but then if you want to unencrypt the recovered data its a 99.00 charge. At least I get to see if I get anything back before paying the fee. I don’t mind the fee if it works. I’m relieved to still have the other options posted here if this doesn’t work. Apparently it works in DOS mode so is able to get past the boot error that prohibits other softwares from recovering data from a bad drive. We’ll see. I’ve recovered about 55% of the disk at this point. Time will tell if it will be usable.

Thanks!
Leesha

Reply | Quote

Hans’ suggestion is a good one. I’ve never used any of the recovery “services” but everyone says they’re quite expensive. Even then, I don’t know what their success rate is.

I am fearful that the drive may be scrambled badly or beyond recovery because if you’ve already run CHKDSK with a /F command, it could screw up a badly corrupted drive – I’m afraid I’ve had it happen. I wish you luck…

Reply | Quote

Hi,

I’ve got a 400gb HD with 275gb of video and photos, not all of which is backed up. I went to access it today and noted that although the drive is visiible in My Computer it does not list any file data, nor can I get into it without the error “The file or directory is unreadable”. I’ve tried to do chkdsk but am unable. I’ve tried attaching it via an external drive with USB and nothing. I did a Western Digital diagnostics and it shows an error due to a “reallocted sector count”. At this point I’m looking for info on anything else I can try as well as recommendations for file recovery software.

Thanks,
Leesha

A while back I went through all kinds of attempts to recover photo files from a friend’s hard drive that got “fried” somehow. Through a suggestion of one of the other Loungers, I downloaded a freeware program called PC INSPECTOR
I worked like a charm even though it took quite some time to do it but I was finally able to recover almost 2000 photos from the “dead” drive!
Download it and give it a try. It sure worked for me.

Reply | Quote

Leesha

You can also read my”success” post and all the related posts here. [post=”703549″]Post 703549[/post]

Reply | Quote

The program called Spinrite can fix that drive. If it’s really hosed it might run for days in it’s attempts to recover bad sectors but if there is a possibility of a recovery – it will do it. It’s a bit expensive at about $90.00 but the author has a 30 day money back guarantee.

Go to http://www.grc.com, it’s Steve Gibsons website and give it a try.

Reply | Quote

Hi,

I recently did a clean (= format) up of a number of my CF cards which included a current one

Tried a number of file/image recovery apps, and had some success. However files only recovered in jpg format – I had camera set up to save in both jpg & raw.

Stumbled across this site [post=”0″]Photorec[/post] & it was successful in restoring both jpg & raw formats.

They also have an app TestDisk so may be able to fix your problem.

Neville

Reply | Quote

… …Stumbled across this site [post=”0″]Photorec[/post] & it was successful in restoring both jpg & raw formats.

I don’t know what you were trying to show with your link above but it’s a bad one.

Is this the software: PhotoRec – CGSecurity

Reply | Quote

I don’t know what you were trying to show with your link above but it’s a bad one.

Is this the software: PhotoRec – CGSecurity

Hi Al,

Yep that’s the link, was used to old forum & adding links.
Guess I’d better pop over to the test area & learn some more.

Reply | Quote