I Need Help With File Recovery Software

ihad some files deleted so i used file/ data recovery tools (all freeware found here on majorgeeks). i ran the tools, recovered the files, but they will not play. does anyone know what i need to do to make them work.

 

Which file recovery tool(s) did you use and what type(s) of files did you recover?

 

i used just about all the free ones. wise data, 7 data recovery suite, disk getor, previousfiles recovery, and recuva (this being the one i had the most nsuccess with.). The last one (recuva) i learned that the ones with green dots were recovered and played no problem-o because they had not been overwritten at all. so i kinda answered my question but now i would like to know if there is any fix to the ones with the yellow dots that were "partial recovery". because when i try to play those wmp goes a little haywire and stops responding but eventually settles down and acts like its playing but a little music note appears where the video should be and the play slider does not advance and nothing happen. no sound, no error, no automatically moving on to the next file. but in the file properties the size is there (these are .mp4, mov, wmv, avi files ranging from about 10mb- 100mb) so there must be some content, right? id be happy with whatever i can get even if its bits and pieces.

thanx i really appreciate any and all assistance.

 

Two things I have done with partial success- 1st make sure the recuva'd files have the proper extension i.e. flv, wmv, avi or whatever you remember in case these are missing. 2nd try another player. I've had times when VLC would play a file when MPC wouldn't. Various players are here on MG's. I wouldn't give up the files till all options are tried. Also some video-to-jpg convertors can recover screen shots from corrupt videos for getting such as concert screen shots even if the video won't play.

 

If an incomplete file will open after file recovery very much depends on the file type + the program you try to open the file with.

For example, an incomplete JPG may not open in viewer A, while viewer B may show a partially corrupt image. The programmer of viewer A may halt on any error when parsing the file, while the developer of tool B may be intentionally or unintentionally more forgiving.

Depending on the amount of damage to the incomplete file, and the file type, it may be 'repaired' to an acceptable state.

I think Stellar has something that attempts the repair of corrupt video files. Repair services are quite expensive, for example: http://aeroquartet.com/.

"(these are .mp4, mov, wmv, avi files ranging from about 10mb- 100mb) so there must be some content, right?"

Yes, but it may totally unrelated to the original file. If a file occupied an n number of clusters, the undeleter will copy those into a binary file and that's it. The fact that a file 'has' size doesn't mean a lot when it comes to recovered files.

Joep

 

ok ive tried different players and checked the file extensions, still nada. so now im trying shadowexplorer. ive installed and ran it. the files im looking for are listed right before my eyes however when export and try playing no luck. same thing i described above happens. i truly know very little about this type of stuff. its all trial & error and flyin by the seat of my pants so if anybody could/would give a crash course on shadow copies and (sucessful) file recovery id love to hear from u. spanx

 

have you tried disk drill?

 

I believe so (I tried so many) but they had a (mb) limit on the trial

 

Hi,

You may be flogging a dead horse.

An entire volume disappearing all at once may appear a disaster, however the chances for successful file recovery are better than those for recovering deleted files. Why? Because a lost/deleted volume isn't written to.

If you delete a file it depends on the file system what exactly happens, but a common property is that clusters allocated to the deleted file become available for re-use. The busier the volume, the 'better' the chance of the clusters being re-used. If one or more clusters are reassigned to a new file, the original file may show up in undelete software, however it will be corrupt. This is why you want to recover deleted files as quickly as possible!

It also depends on the file system if fragmented files can be recovered successfully: In FAT(32), apart from the directory for the file entry being 'flagged' deleted, FAT references to the file are zeroed. As a consequence fragmented file recovery is impossible/difficult. On NTFS recovery of fragmented files is possible as the so called 'run-lists' for the file remain intact.

All non-green icon files in Recuva have one or more clusters overwritten. These files are corrupt by definition. And even the green icon is no guarantee that the recovered file is intact.

If your files were deleted from the c: drive, in time chances for successful recovery diminish. Each time you download and install undelete software on the c: drive the chances for successful recovery diminish.

So, if you indeed are trying to recover files from your c: drive, that were deleted a while ago then chances you will recover them are low.

Many 'free' undelete tools aren't really free. Recuva is, so that's a good one to try because you know you will not run into some restriction while recovering files. Also good, is that it's available as a portable app. My own undeleter isn't free, but it is unrestricted shareware.

It's a good idea to install it or another unrestricted tool right now, so you can use it immediately if needed. If you need to download it after the fact, do it on a different PC and save the portable version to a USB key or something. Use that to run the portable version on the 'victim' PC. But in your case it is probably too late for that already.