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. :)
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
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.
@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.
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 :) ).
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 ).
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?
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.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.
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.
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?
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 ).
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