Hard Disk Crash Recovery
Tools & Procedure
If you've lost data, suffered a virus attack or hard drive crash,
or accidentally reformatted your hard drive, there is
hope. A new breed of PC disk recovery tools go far beyond the
capabilities of DOS' undelete or Windows' ScanDisk. Here are
some of the best tools. There descriptions are
taken as it is from their vendors site. Anything written in italics
is edited by me. ***
indicates the ranking more the better
TOOLS Required
in Disk Crash
1) Power Quest Lost & Found (http://www.powerquest.com/) *****
Rather than spending thousands of dollars
to send your hard drive to a data recovery center, Lost &
Found lets you automatically recover and restore data after accidental
(or even intentional) data loss, or from corrupted media caused
by a disk crash or logical system failure. Our patent-pending
technology will even recover data if the partition has been reformatted
or if the FAT tables have been destroyed! In fact, as long as
your disk is still spinning, Lost & Found can locate and
recover almost any file, anywhere on your disk.
Well I have tried out Lost & Found
once. It is a DOS base software and is easy to operate.
In my instant case it recovered all the data, while Norton Disk
Doctor and Scandisk refused to operate and Norton disk doctor
kept on crashing while operating on this drive. If your
hard drive crash and to recover the data you have to
keep ready other backup medium probably second hard disk or zip
drive or box of floppy disks as it refuse to recover data
on damaged disk (though it is good for safety) .
2) TIRAMISU for FAT32
V3.03 Sophisticated Data Recovery Software
for DOS and WINDOWS
from Ontrack Data International ****
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TIRAMISU scans the drive even when there are
physical damages. The found data are analyzed and reconstructed.TIRAMISU
can handle drives without readable boot sector, readable Fat
or readable directories. It can handle drives that are not recognized
by DOS anymore. |
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TIRAMISU automatically creates a VIRTUAL DRIVE
in memory. This virtual drive looks like a usual file manager.
You can see the lost directories and files of your crashed drive.
Now files and directories can be viewed and copied to a safe
medium. |
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The extensive use of our sophisticated pattern
recognition technology enables TIRAMISU to put the right pieces
of data together again. Even disks with very few administrative
informations left can reach a high recovery quality. |
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TIRAMISU recovers much more data than any
other 'disk doctor'. |
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TIRAMISU is NON DESTRUCTIVE and READ ONLY.
It does not put any data onto your crashed drive. Recovered data
are restored to another destination (disk, diskette, network,
interlink). |
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TIRAMISU works on WIN95 rel. B platforms with
32-bit Fat. |
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Versions for DOS/WINDOWS (16-Bit Fat), NOVELL
and NTFS are available too.
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3. Stellar version
7.0 www.stellarinfo.com *****
Well this is the best software for the
data recovery. It won the PC World editors choice award
for the data recovery. This program sold like
hot cakes when CIH virus destroyed many hard disks. While best
product only one thing keeps it behind the Lost & Found -
User Interface. Lost & Found can be operated even by general
person but for Stellar it requires a novice user. But even after
that it is best for your data recovery needs. Contact Stellar
Info Systems, 205 Skipper Corner, 88 Nehru Place, New Delhi -
110011, INDIA for more info.
4. Crash Proof
http://unistal.com/crashproof.htm ****
Crash proof is a Hard Disk Crash Prevention
and data recovery software. Once installed Revives the disk against
any kind of software crash. Vendor claims about crash proof are:
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protects the disk against any kind of software
crash. |
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protects the disk against crash due to viruses
like Win CIH, Worm, Explore... |
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protects the disk against Software malfunctioning. |
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the disk which has just been formatted. |
You should use Crash Proof Because :
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it displays the directory tree of the crashed
disk. * (It is important. If FAT gets corrupted you
need this very much) |
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it requires no technical knowledge to operate. |
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it requires only a few minutes to revive the
disk. |
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it is the complete solution to multiple problems. |
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GET RID OF MESSAGES LIKE : |
No More Data Loss due to : |
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General Failure Reading Drive |
Accidental format |
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Invalid Media Type Error |
Deltree Files |
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Invalid Drive Specification |
Worm Explore.Zip Virus (*.Doc, *.PPT etc.) |
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Invalid Partition Table |
Any software / virus Crash |
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System Fault, Sector Not Found |
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Data Error Reading Drive |
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Well it is both a protective and recovery
software.
UNDELETE
- I have emptied my recycle bin !!
What Happened to UNDELETE?
When Microsoft created Win95, they removed
the UNDELETE program. In doing so, they made life miserable for
people who either delete files from the Windows Recycle Bin or
Quick-format their drives. You see, the smart guys at Microsoft
figured it didn't matter if you deleted files from the recycle
bin because the recycle bin protects you from accidentally deleted
files.
But what happens when you delete the files
from the recycle bin, and then want to get them back?
And then what happens if you Quick-format
your drive under DOS or Windows? THAT causes the file names in
the directories to appear erased, just as if had deleted them,
but the data for those files is still on the drive. A FULL erase
will actually write formatting information to all the file areas
and totally wipe them off the disk, but a quick format leaves
them there except for changing the directory entries. So what
do you do about that?
5. How Repo
2000 Recovers Your Files
Repo 2000
is a Windows application program that runs on Win95, Win98, or
Windows NT 4.0. The Master Boot Record must be intact on the
drive you are recovering, and the drive to be recovered must
not be the boot drive. Repo 2000 scans the drive
to be recovered for directory entries, and rebuilds a table of
all directory structures and files on the drive. Then it allows
you to specify which files are to be recovered and the target
drive to which to send the recovered files. You never send the
recovered files to the drive being recovered because that would
risk overwriting other files.
Repo 2000
will recover files from FAT12 drives (floppy diskettes), FAT16
(DOS, Win95A, and NT4.0) drives, FAT32 (Win95B and Win98) drives,
and NTFS drives; it does this locally or over a network. A special
feature allows a Win95 or Win98 workstation to recover files
from an NT 3.51 server across a network.
6. Other Undelete Tools
Undelete 1.2 from http://www.alsos.com/home.html
Norton Unerase from Norton Utilities www.symentac.com
Unerase from Mcafee Nuts & Bolts www.mcafee.com
Other General Data Recovery and Tools For Daily Users
Here are some utilities for Windows 9x
systems :
1. Norton
Utilities - It is the standard
and contains with others three utilties you need most
- Norton Disk Doctor : It is available in
two version. One for Windows and other replaces scandisk in DOS
Mode. Windows version is though quite stable. DOS version I have
tested from (Norton Utilities 3 till Norton 2000) causes General
Protection Faults if large files or large disk is there. Norton
Disk Doctor is just improved version of Scandisk with some bells
and whistles and some feature extra. Norton Disk doctor is suitable
for some minor glitches to FAT, daily routine checks and
recovering data from floppy disks in case of bad sectors and
does that job quite well. But in case of disk failure this is
not the tool you can trust with full confidence. Lost and Found
and Stellar are recommended for more safety.
- Norton Speed Disk : Used to optimize Disk.
One of the best and better than windows defrag.
- Norton Unerase : Recovers deleted files.
But still it lacks behind Lost and Found in recovering deleted
files.
- It also includes other tools like Norton
Disk Edit etc. which I think are for "super novice
users".
- What Norton Utilities don't include
from previous versions Norton Utilities 8.0 for DOS. DiskTool
- It recovered bad floppies by putting new directory information
on them It was able to repair the most floppies which NDD
can't even read. (180 Kb)
2. Nuts and Bolts - Another good Set of utilities from the creators
of Mcafee Antivirus. with more or less same features and better
user interface from Norton Utilities. It contains all the
programs what Norton offers and because of it's simple and elegant
interface and design it is recommended. Best
way to
protect and optimize
computer
system
- McAfee
Products.
3.
FIX-IT Utilities -
Well to be frank I have never run Fix-It. But I have read a review
about it in a magazine. According to the editor FIX-IT Utilities
was also good. One thing kept it ahead of Norton and Nuts &
Bolts was the speed and small foot print the program required
compared to its counterparts. Well Norton System Doctor was a
Big System Hog and clogged about 20 to 30 % of system resources
compared to 5 % of Fix-IT.
4. Anti
Virus Packages
- Norton Anti Virus
- Mcafee Anti Virus
Choice is simple toss a coin and choose.
But I recommend that you should use both because in these times
of internet where virus spread like a boooom you should
not trust on any one package and use both for more safety.
What To
do before my HDD could Crash !!!
Well as old saying goes 'prevention is better than cure'.
Steps you should take
before a crash (Preventions)
Rescue Disk
- Create a bootable Diskette
- It should contains latest
drivers and utilities
- If you have any utility
programs and Anti Virus packages such as Norton Utilities or
Nuts & Bolts or Mcafee which provides for creation of rescue diskette. Create it.
- Keep your windows operating
system CD always ready and in safe place.
Backups
- You should always do regular
backup of most critical data of your system.
!!!
Crash !!!
??!@*!!*?* what to do !@*!!*?*??
You may
face these problems
- System can't boot from my disk. !!! Pray God !!! .
- Though system can boot but some of my
directories have been wiped out. !!!
Ha Ha Ha !!!
- I can't even see the directory listing.
Listing shows some wired characters with ting tong tunes from
small forgotten PC speaker.
!!! Ting Tong Ting !!!
- My hard disk has been completely wiped
out. !!!
Best lets laugh !!! .
- If hard disk is partitioned all or some
of partitions have been wiped out. !!! Hi Hi Hi !!!
- FAT is corrupted. !!! ho ho ho !!! .
- More & more problems........... !!! I am enjoying
!!! .
Solutions
- Keep it cool. Take it easy. Have a mug
of coffee, sit, relax and start the work.
- First check for any loose cable or loose
card inside your computer. Make sure all cable
connections are tight, all the connectors are screwed down and
fixed properly in.
- Check whether your cmos info is all correct.
May be it go corrupted and you get invalid drive specification.
Re enter bios setup by rebooting the computer and check that
all things are entered correctly. If all other fails lets start
the dirty work.
- Bring all your recovery rescue disks.
Check their write protection tab. If not protected, lock them,
there could be a virus.
- Boot from your disk.
- Run your anti-virus software.
- If there is virus cure it. Many times
a virus makes Hard Disk inaccessible. If all goes well you will
have your data back.
- Virus removed or if no virus found but
hard disk is still damaged. Read on.
- Now run scandisk or Norton Disk Doctor,
or Disk Minder (nuts and bolts). Errors found. Repair them with
undo option. It may be needed in case hard disk is not fully
repaired and you may use advance tools.
- Now turn of advance tools. Check above
tools like Stellar or Lost & Found.
- Follow their steps.
- If they require another disk for data
recovery borrow a hard disk from your friend. In case it is not
possible then keep large box of floppy disks ready. (it depends
on your data size).
- All goes well recover data thank
me and god.
- Still at first stage - take your disk
at data recovery shops. It's now there turn.
Data Recovered What to do now
- Take a look again whether you have not
left anything on disk. Backup up everything you think you need.
- Is Disk still usable. Partitioned it again.
Use Fdisk to delete old partitions, create new and then format.
As it is good because many internal data structure on disk may
have suffered damage so creating new partition is highly recommended.
- Hard disk is not usable. Don't throw it.
Use it as a paper weight or for keeping coffee mug on it. It
will impress your friends. Purchase a new disk.
TASK COMPLETED