Q. I need a good data recovery program for a hard drive that has been having some trouble. It somehow managed to loose the MBR and now reads as a RAW hard drive, but if I reformat it I will loose my data, so I would like to try to get whatever I can off it, if any. I'm gonna pitch it afterward because I think it's about dead and needs to be replaces but this is just a last attempt to recover whatever I can.
A. I had the same type of problem with a hard disk I had. I wrote a little article about how I got my data back. I hope it works for you too.
http://www.squidoo.com/Hard_Drive_Data_Recovery
Good Luck
http://www.squidoo.com/Hard_Drive_Data_Recovery
Good Luck
Fix Damaged Images AFTER Data Recovery Has Been Performed?
Q. I used a data recovery program to recover lost images from my digital camera. Unfortunately some of them came out grey. Meaning, when I look at the picture as a thumbnail, I can see the entire picture, but when I open the image, a large portion of it completely greyed out. Any idea of how I can fix these images? I've tried recovering them twice and both times the same images came out damaged.
A. The photos are damaged. The embedded thumbnails appear fine because they were pre-generated. Think about it like a lock and key: if one tooth of a key is missing, it'll still fit but it won't unlock the door. Recovery may be possible but only if you know what you're doing.
Here's how one person capable of preforming these recoveries describes the condition:
" - Grey Areas in your Image
In various forums on the internet, people have incorrectly stated that photos are unrecoverable if they contain gray areas. This is not usually true. Some JPEG decoders are very picky with how they recover from errors and simply report Drawing Failed (in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer), while others might draw a middle-gray region or just display a "Red X". In some cases the gray area is in fact completely damaged (overwritten by unrelated data), but this is not always the case.
- Why do JPEGs get damaged?
There are many sources of damage to photo files, but the most common reasons are:
- Photos were deleted or formatted & a "recovery" utility was used
- Memory card / hard drive error (logical or physical error)
- RAM failure
- File transfer / interface error (memory coherency issues, buffer over/underrun, etc.)
- What Happens when you Open / Decode a Corrupted JPEG?
Even a single byte changed in a JPEG file can cause an image to be unrecognizable (or not open at all). Why? Because of the way JPEG compression is designed, images are stored in tightly-packed streams of binary bits (not bytes). Each pixel can be represented by as few as 2 bits to as many as 26 bits (dictated by the variable-length Huffman Coding scheme). To make matters worse, in an effort to keep the compression as efficient as possible, there is virtually nothing to indicate where you are in the stream of bits (unless Restart Markers are used). Therefore, as soon as a single bit is encountered wrong, the millions of bits that follow will be decoded incorrectly as well. The manner in which DC and AC coefficients are arranged in MCUs means that this corruption often shows up in shearing, wild color shifts and many other visual phenomena."
- http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/fix-corrupt-jpeg-photo.html
It appears from the examples and comments that he or she is fully capable of preforming JPEG recovery when such operation is possible. Unfortunately, the author no longer accepts recovery requests.
There are similar JPEG recovery services available but your photos should be worth the cost. Here's one example (I don't know the reputation of the company so I can't recommend it):
http://www.jpeg-repair.org/
The company above seems to recover a small number of JPEG submissions for free for their own analysis and your benefit.
There are a number of recovery tools available too, but unless those pictures are very important they aren't worth the money; you don't know for sure if the files are recoverable, but mostly because you'll only have the programmers word that it even works.
http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=jpeg+recovery&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Here's how one person capable of preforming these recoveries describes the condition:
" - Grey Areas in your Image
In various forums on the internet, people have incorrectly stated that photos are unrecoverable if they contain gray areas. This is not usually true. Some JPEG decoders are very picky with how they recover from errors and simply report Drawing Failed (in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer), while others might draw a middle-gray region or just display a "Red X". In some cases the gray area is in fact completely damaged (overwritten by unrelated data), but this is not always the case.
- Why do JPEGs get damaged?
There are many sources of damage to photo files, but the most common reasons are:
- Photos were deleted or formatted & a "recovery" utility was used
- Memory card / hard drive error (logical or physical error)
- RAM failure
- File transfer / interface error (memory coherency issues, buffer over/underrun, etc.)
- What Happens when you Open / Decode a Corrupted JPEG?
Even a single byte changed in a JPEG file can cause an image to be unrecognizable (or not open at all). Why? Because of the way JPEG compression is designed, images are stored in tightly-packed streams of binary bits (not bytes). Each pixel can be represented by as few as 2 bits to as many as 26 bits (dictated by the variable-length Huffman Coding scheme). To make matters worse, in an effort to keep the compression as efficient as possible, there is virtually nothing to indicate where you are in the stream of bits (unless Restart Markers are used). Therefore, as soon as a single bit is encountered wrong, the millions of bits that follow will be decoded incorrectly as well. The manner in which DC and AC coefficients are arranged in MCUs means that this corruption often shows up in shearing, wild color shifts and many other visual phenomena."
- http://www.impulseadventure.com/photo/fix-corrupt-jpeg-photo.html
It appears from the examples and comments that he or she is fully capable of preforming JPEG recovery when such operation is possible. Unfortunately, the author no longer accepts recovery requests.
There are similar JPEG recovery services available but your photos should be worth the cost. Here's one example (I don't know the reputation of the company so I can't recommend it):
http://www.jpeg-repair.org/
The company above seems to recover a small number of JPEG submissions for free for their own analysis and your benefit.
There are a number of recovery tools available too, but unless those pictures are very important they aren't worth the money; you don't know for sure if the files are recoverable, but mostly because you'll only have the programmers word that it even works.
http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=jpeg+recovery&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Is it possible to recover data from a USB mass storage device that my OS doesn't recognize?
Q. I have a 250GB USB removable mass storage device. I am using Windows Vista. The device has stopped working for some reason and can no longer be viewed in Explorer. I have tried rescanning the disks in Disk Management to no avail. All data recovery programs I have tried only work with recognized disks. I would really appreciate any advice. I have an awful lot of data on the disk. Free solutions are preferable as I don't have any money at the moment. Thank you for any help offered.
The drive does not work in other computers, the same problem occurs.
The spinning noise is repetitive. I.e. it sounds as if it is trying to do the same thing over and over again.
I'm not a tech-head... so I need simple-ish instructions.
Thanks guys.
I have attempted to use "Recover My Files" recovery software, but unfortunately it is reporting errors reading all the sectors on the disc.
It's not looking good... any further help??
Thanks
The drive does not work in other computers, the same problem occurs.
The spinning noise is repetitive. I.e. it sounds as if it is trying to do the same thing over and over again.
I'm not a tech-head... so I need simple-ish instructions.
Thanks guys.
I have attempted to use "Recover My Files" recovery software, but unfortunately it is reporting errors reading all the sectors on the disc.
It's not looking good... any further help??
Thanks
A. If it is already noisy, only professionals can retrieve your data. Prepare your wallet.
Moral lesson: Backup, backup, backup. CDs and DVDs are so cheap.
Moral lesson: Backup, backup, backup. CDs and DVDs are so cheap.
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