Solved Disk structure is corrupt and unreadable

[shokan2]

In a recovery software that recovers .vob as .mpg, and those files are shown as .mpg, it would make it difficult for me to identify the ones that were originally .vob as distinguished from ones that were always .mpg. Don't know how PhotoRec results would be in that regard.

PhotoRec is waiting there in the wings for me to try out again. By hook or by crook Ill definitely have my stuff back.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

If you are looking for a commercial app, i would suggest trying "GetDataBack for NTFS". It will let you open and view files ( including multimedia files ) before recovering them. Also most of the time you will get the original folder and file structure and names back.

Download link : https://www.runtime.org/gdbnt.zip

How to guide : https://www.runtime.org/howto_datarecovery.pdf

Video Guide : Runtime Software Case Study #1 - Recovering from a deleted partition table - YouTube

 

[shokan2]

If you are looking for a commercial app, i would suggest trying "GetDataBack for NTFS". It will let you open and view files ( including multimedia files ) before recovering them. Also most of the time you will get the original folder and file structure and names back.

Download link : https://www.runtime.org/gdbnt.zip

How to guide : https://www.runtime.org/howto_datarecovery.pdf

Video Guide : Runtime Software Case Study #1 - Recovering from a deleted partition table - YouTube

Whoa, really! Ok, I'll check it out.

 

[jumanji]

Good suggestion @Anshad Edavana. ( I have seen you watching this thread and was wondering why you are not breaking in since you seem to be one person who has hands-on experience in data recovery. Glad you finally did.)

Incidentally GetDataBack is one out of the three suggested alternatives by TestDisk author, apart from Zero Assumption Recovery and Restorer 2000.(my post #53)

So naturally, I felt some merit in those.

 

[Anshad Edavana]

@Jumanji

"GetDataBack" is one of the pioneer tool in data recovery and i had positive experience with it. If there is lots of multimedia files to recover, i usually try "GetDataBack" and "Easues Data Recovery Wizard" one after another. Both are very good at recovering files with original file names.

Btw, usually i will always check the HDD for defects prior to attempting recovery. In my experience a hard drive will only became "RAW" by either one of the below conditions.

1. Improper shutdown/sudden power failure ( internal HDD )/improper ejecting (in case of external HDD ).

2. Surface defects aka bad sectors. Even a single bad sector can cause corruption to the MFT/FAT.

The tool i prefer is "HDTune Pro" which will give us a nice map of bad sectors including the LBA numbers.

HD Tune website

I have the habit of scanning all the hard drives came for repair and in my experience bad sectors tend to spread on contiguous sectors. Most times you will find bad sectors only within the first few GB. If the drive is partitioned in to two, chances are great that only one partition will be corrupted and other one to be perfectly healthy. But ironically even users with larger capacity drives like 3 TB or 4TB tends to create only a single partition which will increase the chance of loosing data.

 

[shokan2]

Would HD Tune Pro tell me if there were bad sectors on this problem USB external drive that I'm trying to recover files from? I 'm curious because I thought I was always careful with using the drive over the past year and a half.

Also, if there are bad sectors, is it repairable or should I just "wipe it and chuck it" (just made that up ).

 

[Anshad Edavana]

Would HD Tune Pro tell me if there were bad sectors on this problem USB external drive that I'm trying to recover files from? I 'm curious because I thought I was always careful with using the drive over the past year and a half.

Also, if there are bad sectors, is it repairable or should I just "wipe it and chuck it" (just made that up ).

Yes, "HDTune Pro" will work with external disks. Even if you used extreme care, every HDD will fail at a point of time. This is because of the electro-mechanical-magnetical nature of the disks. The real question is when it is going to be happen but there is no accurate way to predict it. Although analyzing SMART data may give us clues about the disk health, a perfectly healthy brand new drive can also be failed without any signs or warnings. So always BACKUP, BACKUP and BACKUP !!!.

You can also run "Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" extended test to check the disk's condition.

WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD VelociRaptor

Western Digital Diagnostics - YouTube


The number of drives which fails completely ( dead ) is marginally lower than drives with surface defects ( personal experience ).

 

[shokan2]

If it passes WD Diagnostics and HDTune Pro shows no bad sectors, I could use it again? It would take a lot of convincing after this big loss of mine.

While I'm at it, is there any consensus about life of external USB drives as compared to internal ones given the same amount of use?

 

[Anshad Edavana]

If it passes WD Diagnostics and HDTune Pro shows no bad sectors, I could use it again? It would take a lot of convincing after this big loss of mine.

Of course you can use it if "WD Data Life Guard Diagnostics" certifies it as healthy. But make sure to keep a backup copy of any important data on another physical disk.

While I'm at it, is there any consensus about life of external USB drives as compared to internal ones given the same amount of use?

Always use the "Safely eject" function. Never unplug the drive directly from the USB port. At least this will reduce the chances of a logical file system corruption.

Most importantly, partition the disk in to two and evenly distribute data across both partitions. This will heavily increase the chance of a successful recovery and will reduce the impact of a catastrophic file system corruption ( either logical or physical ).

 

[shokan2]

If it passes WD Diagnostics and HDTune Pro shows no bad sectors, I could use it again? It would take a lot of convincing after this big loss of mine.

Most importantly, partition the disk in to two and evenly distribute data across both partitions. This will heavily increase the chance of a successful recovery and will reduce the impact of a catastrophic file system corruption ( either logical or physical ).

I would have never thought of that and is excellent advice.

 

[Slartybart]

In a recovery software that recovers .vob as .mpg, and those files are shown as .mpg, it would make it difficult for me to identify the ones that were originally .vob as distinguished from ones that were always .mpg. Don't know how PhotoRec results would be in that regard.

PhotoRec is waiting there in the wings for me to try out again. By hook or by crook Ill definitely have my stuff back.

You are going to be one of the data recovery experts on SF, if you're not already.

I was going to comment on Photorec recognizing .vob as .mpg and sorting out the difference after recovery, but you have a very good handle on this.

It also appears that Anshad has given you another option in GetDataBack.

Our friends on the other side of the world might retire soon. The ball is back in your court now that you have to decide on the application. I still strongly recommend another external drive - Backup, Backup, Backup!

Partitioning a drive is always wise, I usually keep the parts between 50 and 200 GB on my external drives. I keep a large chunk of space 500 GB - 1TB at the end of the drive(s) for those times I need to organize my drives.

I also initialize the drives as GPT to avoid having to deal with the MBR 4 partition limitation (too many dynamic disk threads). The only limit I run up against is drive letters, but I get around that by mounting the drive instead of assigning it a letter.

I'll go back to watching, you have some things to consider. As you said, by hook or by crook - you will get your data back.

This has been a pleasure, a lot of data recovery threads are akin to pulling teeth without anesthesia.

Bill
.

 

[shokan2]

Thanks so much for your help. I'll post the outcome of it all once I actually have the retrieved media, and explain which software(s) did it, or didn't, as the case may be. Could be a little while... in the middle of a new build. Long time coming. Also, I use PayPal for online stuff and it takes a while to transfer funds to from my bank, like almost 2 weeks (if it's electronic, why 2 weeks_ never understood that). So, then I'll be buying the software that I think is best for my case. High hopes for GetDataBack demo. It's up next.

Btw, Stellar Phoenix did one pass that took about nine hours overnight, and now it's in a second one for whatever reason, but only several hours long, almost done. I'll post in a week or two.

 

[Slartybart]

Thanks for all of your time and for providing members with great feedback. I always learn something new from other members or by trying something I haven't tried before (PhotoRec - vob & mpg).

I don't get electronic funding / banking either. Why can' I pay a bill on the weekend? Are the servers getting a well deserved break after a long hard week?

Bill
.

 

[jumanji]

OK, I haven't retired yet, though I have already had the before-bed coffee and will be hitting the sack.

In case you are going to try GetDataBack for NTFS, I have a find here for you. Though I can't make much sense out of it, a person who is at it may perhaps be able make sense of it and apply it. Have a look at the last post here Testdisk shows MFT and MFT Mirror Bad - What next - Icrontic

The user says using GetDataBack, he was able to successfully name the files and recover them all.

"hope this helps someone! i'm just happy i got all my files back " is the last line in that post. (I have copied and pasted the whole post just in case I don't find it later.)

Good Luck. Keep reporting as things progress.

 

[shokan2]

Well, turns out GetDataBack for NTFS did a really good job. It took about 16 hours for a 1 TB portable drive. I didn't have any record of what was on it originally, so I'll never know for sure exactly how well it did. I'm guessing though, probably somewhere around 95%. The really great thing is that everything had original file and folder names AND arranged just like the original volume in an Explorer-like tree. That the software managed to achieve that, given what corruption was revealed earlier about the master-whatever-it's-called, is remarkable.

Had a nervous moment when I clicked the last Step 3 and all I got were two blank panes. I stared at them in dismay for about 15 seconds, then, BAM, the folder tree appeared! Excellent!

Glad I hooked up with the people in this thread with all the advice given. Thanks!

 

[jumanji]

After two weeks it is some good "breaking news"! And the credit goes to Anshad Edavana. Give him a rep.( I can't, I have to spread)

 

[Slartybart]

This is great news shokan2.
jumanji and Anshad deserve a hearty pat on the back.

So do you for that matter. You persevered through some difficult troubleshooting and decided your data was worth the price of a commercial product.

I just want to make sure - you did purchase the product.... the demo showed promise but you needed the full license to recover. Is that correct?

Thanks again, this thread is a great reference.

Bill
.

 

[shokan2]

I just want to make sure - you did purchase the product.... the demo showed promise but you needed the full license to recover. Is that correct?

.

Correct. The demo will not permit actual recovery, only discovery.

Two things learned: a lot of what I thought I lost turned out to be not important. Second, I will now shell out for a back-up drive.

edit: but, the important stuff recovered was very important to me (so much work went into it over many months) and also would have been virtually impossible to re-assemble correctly. Only a recovery with original filenames in the original format was acceptable, and GetBackData for NTFS did it!

 

[Slartybart]

I just want to make sure - you did purchase the product.... the demo showed promise but you needed the full license to recover. Is that correct?

.

Correct. The demo will not permit actual recovery, only discovery.

Two things learned: a lot of what I thought I lost turned out to be not important. Second, I will now shell out for a back-up drive.

That made me laugh...

We moved one time and had to put things in storage until the new place was ready. After the move, we still had a smaller storage unit. Every year, the intention was to go through it and end the lease on the unit. As things often do, time passed and 7 years later we finally cleaned it out. 80% of it was tossed in the dumpster.
I'm sure we cold have replaced the 20% with new stuff using the money spent on storing it for 7 years. That was a costly lesson (75 USD per month for 7 years).

A backup drive is well worth the cost.

Take a look at this tutorial on imaging:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

or look around the forum and tutorials for other backup options.

Bill
.

 

[shokan2]

Yes, Leo Notenboom (AskLeo.com) is always recommending Macrimum Reflect. Funny about the storage... ouch about 7 x $75.