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Linux-based Data Recovery

I have a Windows IDE drive that has crashed. I could not get the Windows XP operation system on another computer to recognize it, so R-studio was of no use. I tried detecting it on Mac OSX as well to no avail. I tried booting {Comment edited out} into a Linux session and the drive shows up there. Is there a data recovery program that runs under Linux that I can use to recover the data from this (I assume) NTFS drive? If so, what is it and where may it be found?

rindi

Boot the PC using PartedMagic, and then run the TestDisk utility on against the bad HD. It should be able to recover data if it is still available. It also contains "PhotoRec" which can sometimes also recover data from corrupt disks:

http://partedmagic.com

adande3

ASKER

rindi: I just happened to be in PartedMagic when I got your message. I found the two apps you mentioned and ran Photorec. I do not see a way to tell the software where to store the recovered data. I have working NTFS drives that are recognized in PartedMagic. How do I point to one of them in Photorec?

In the meantime, I am running a partition discovery in TestDisk. Thanks for the help so far!

rindi

Mount the partition you want to save to before starting photorec. Then start the tool, and during the selection process it also will ask you where found files should be saved. Here you can then navigate to the partition you mounted and select the directory. Mounted partitions you should find within /media/sdxx.

adande3

ASKER

OK, I clicked media and there they are. Thanks again. I'll post again after I try these two apps. Looks like it's going to run for a long time. I suppose it would be unwise to run Photorec while TestDisk is still running, right?

rindi

Right. It would just cause disk thrashing and take forever.

adande3

ASKER

So TestDisk is done and found no partition. Do you recommend using the deep search?

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rindi

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darrickhartman

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adande3

ASKER

Thanks guys. I'll be spending my weekend on this! will post updates at least by Monday. Oh by the way the deep search with TestDisk yielded nothing. Maybe once I verify the geometry things will go better.

adande3

ASKER

Project was unsuccessful. Drive was probably just too far gone.