Restore Delete Files From Disk Patitioned For Linux


  1. Posts : 34
    win 7 Pro 64 bit
       #1

    Restore Delete Files From Disk Patitioned For Linux


    I am looking for a file recover program that can help me select certain files when the partition data has been lost.

    However, most / many of the files are still on the drive.

    I need to recover about 4GB of data from ONE user account that did not get copied over to the external drive when I backed up before formatting)

    Since I have since formatted the drive with Linux, none of the recovery tools I have tried are recognizing - nor able to recover - the Windows partitions.

    I can grab the files though using photorec (part of testdisk) but it copies ALL the files of a certain type (I can copy ALL jpg files, for example) on the disk, but then I am stuck with 18 gigs of jpgs that I have to sort through, instead of approximately two gigs of jpgs that didn't get copied over.

    The problem is that they are copied over in a random order (ALL the jpgs from that one user account are mixed in with all the other jpgs on that disk, from other users, from windows system folders, from program data folders, etc.,).

    So is there something that can find all the files (the way photorec does) but then selectively copy ONLY the files from the particular user account, once the partition is erased???

    WHAT I HAVE TRIED SO FAR:

    (I have tried recuva, paragon rescue kit, and testdisk)

    Recuva showed me two "old" discs (the efi and the primary partitions) but couldn't recover any files (it said they were empty).

    Paragon Rescue couldn't find the partitions at all.

    Testdisk couldn't rescue the partition.

    Many / Most of the files ARE still on the hard drive. Using photorec (part of test disk), I have been able to start recovering the files, but...

    There is no way to select the user files for ONLY my wife's account.

    For instance, if I select to copy .jpg files, it copies ALL THE JPG FILES from every user, and that was in the windows system, and that was in the temp folders, or wherever there was a jpg.

    And once photorec recovers them, they are renamed to some non-helpful file name (f01072.jpg ), and many have the same modification date. So culling them is going to be more difficult.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 90
    Windows 7 x64, ultimate/pro/home, SLES x86 & ia64
       #2

    your drive was formatted as NTFS, and windows wrote files to it.
    you reformatted that drive as linux, now need to recover those files from when it was NTFS.

    if the above is correct, then you need to slave the drive back on to a windows system and reformat it as NTFS,
    only do a quick format. This way a file recovery program can read the partition and try to extract lost data.
    you would want to partition and reformat back to NTFS the way it had been, if you had the entire drive as one partition then that's easy. If you had more than one partition then it would be best to reformat it the way you had it.
    for NTFS i have used Diskinternals Uneraser with some success in this case. And you will need a paid version, it's unlikely you'll get something for free to do this.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 34
    win 7 Pro 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Wow! That was a quick response. thank you so much!!!

    your drive was formatted as NTFS, and windows wrote files to it.
    you reformatted that drive as linux, now need to recover those files from when it was NTFS.
    Yes, that is correct. It was NTFS windows 7. I formatted to install Linux Mint so now it is ext4 (I think that is what it is called) file format.

    "if the above is correct, then you need to slave the drive back on to a windows system..."
    I have had problems doing this.

    I installed the hard drive as a second drive on my other win 7 64 bit computer. But I couldn't boot up. I changed the bios settings to make sure that it was booting up off the primary drive for the computer (meaning, computer #2 still had the same harddrive selected as the boot drive as usual), but it wouldn't let me boot up.

    So instead I kept the (linux formatted) drive in the second drive pay with the power cable plugged in but the Sata cable unplugged, then booted up, then plugged the sata cable into the board. Luckily, it did not crash / explode. Bu am I playing with fire by doing that?

    "if you had the entire drive as one partition then that's easy. If you had more than one partition then it would be best to reformat it the way you had it."
    Two Questions:

    I think there was a 100mb "recovery" partition of some kind (it was a dell system, and I remember a 100mb partition of something or other) and then a primary partition with the OS. do I need to recreate that 100mb partition???

    Second question: I am probably just being stupid here, but won't that erase more of the files that are left on the drive?

    Thanks in advance.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 34
    win 7 Pro 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    So quick format won't kill the files on the drive???
      My Computer


 

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