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#21
Since I've never cloned anything before, I was under the impression that a clone is basically the same as an image... The fact that it'll reformat and overwrite everything seem's like something that should be emphasized and re-emphasized with bold capital letters in your guides. DDrescue didn't even give any warning either. Usually software let's you know if it deletes or overwrites personal files.
I partially cloned the 500gb hard drive to a 2TB external hard drive, with about 600 gig's free. So where the hell did all that other space go? Did it just evaporate? I didn't even know it was possible for free space to be deleted.
I've always been a firm believer in Murphy's law. Now more than ever. Especially the quantized revision "Everything goes wrong all at once". Just this past month alone I've had the worst luck of my entire life... my smartphone got hardcore bricked, my debit card/checking info got leaked from Amazon by hackers, car's breaks failed while I was going down a hill straight into a busy intersection (nearly got me killed), 7.1 surround gaming headset got completely destroyed, lost my 64GB flash drives, and now all this. Either this is the work of a skilled thief/saboteur, or the machines are revolting against me. It almost seems supernatural. Maybe I'm being punished by Santa Clause or Jesus for being naughty or not believing in them. I've actually promised my higher self I'd quit smoking if he threw a miracle my way. That will be my new years resolution... I'm hoping for a fresh start and change of luck this new year, and praying the worst is over.
So yea, this is all going to set me back a pretty penny. I just purchased a new 5TB external hard drive for 138$, but this is just the beggining of my financial setbacks.
I've acquired a laptop with working windows, as well as a new external hard drive. I'll get to work as soon as I get back home, and post the screenshots you've requested.Just for the record please post a screenshot of how your external drive looks like in Windows Disk Management.
Your statement also made me think that perhaps you should try GetDataback Simple straightaway. If the MFT (Master File Table) has not been overwritten, it may perhaps find most of the files if any left. Also the author of TestDisk says when PhotoRec fails try GetDataback or Zero Assumption Recovery.
So do this first. Download the trial version of GetDataback Simple and scan your external drive. GetDataback Simple does not write anything to the drive and so it is absolutely safe like PhotoRec. If Getdataback Simple shows the files which you can preview also and assess the integrity, well and good.
With the Trial version you can't copy the files. You have to buy the license for it.
If it is successful in atleast showing most or some of the files with intact integrity, then try PhotoRec which is free. You can consider buying GetDataback after that.
Getdataback Simple: https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm
I've downloaded several different data recovery software including data recovery wizard. However I'm thinking of trying Seagate recovery first, since it's a Seagate external drive. I've also got Recuva, Data rescue, Stellar Phoenix, Ontrack, and Aid file recovery - which I've heard is best for recovering overwritten files. Not sure if that's true.
Aside from the text and image files, I'd honestly be satisfied if I could just recover fragment's of the media files I've lost, so I know what I'm missing.