RE: [Thinkpad] [OT] HD/File Recovery Tools

Generally, when I do this kind of work I work from an image. I use
something like Ghost ( these days I use TrueImage ). This creates a
sector-level image of the drive.

>From there I restore the image to another drive and then run the typical
filesystem reconstruction and/or recovery tools (Norton, etc...).

I find this useful because it abstracts errors associated with hardware from
those associated with file structure. As long as the imaging tool makes a
number of attempts to read a sector then you can be reasonably certain that
any data that could have been read has been preserved.

>From there it's just a matter of sifting through whats left for anything
valuable.

It also lets you send the failed drive out for repair while you worry about
the data.

J.

----
It's sucky yes like my life
Akasuto give up the fight
Ima sugu ji kan mo nai dieee diiieeee
-----Original Message-----
From: thinkpad-bounces@stderr.org [mailto:thinkpad-bounces@stderr.org] On
Behalf Of James H. E. Maugham
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 12:05 PM
To: thinkpad@stderr.org
Subject: [Thinkpad] [OT] HD/File Recovery Tools
Once again I ask the list's deep wealth of knowledge to address a problem.
I've got a client's desktop HD that took a dump over the weekend and is now
bound back to Maxtor for a warranty replacement.
Before I speed it on it's way I've been asked to attempt to recover as much
as possible from it and my usual toolkit is coming up empty.
Most of the files are still visible when I boot one of my backup desktops
with a W98 BOOT disk, but all attempts to read the HD when attached to one
of my XP or W2K systems fails utterly with a cryptic message that the HD
isn't formatted.
What I'm looking for is an XP/W2K compatible utility that could possibly
recover some of the files off this HD, so I'm asking for suggestions as to
what has been found to work by the list denizens.
So far I've tried Acronis DiskEditor and Recovery Expert, an old copy of
Disk Commander, PQ RescueMe and Lost and Found, all with no success.
All suggestions are gratefully welcomed!
Regards,
James
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