cgsecurity.org

Further thoughts ...

I continued using my linux system for a few hours with no issues; sda and sdc were both intact and usable.
I then rebooted to Windows to play a game for about an hour. No issues there.
When I rebooted back to Linux, it was no longer able to complete startup.
sda is still ...

I rarely visit this forum but I received a PM today which proved to be Russian spam.

Reading this thread I see that Windows and Ubuntu are mixed presumably in dual boot mode.

I have a Dell tower purchased about a year ago with Windows 10 factory installed. I added a new partition into which I ...

Useful list of file signatures here ..

http://www.garykessler.net/library/file_sigs.html

and more here ..

http://filesignatures.net/index.php?pag ... &alpha=All

I can't speak for the developers .. or offer advice ..
however if you have a Live Linux CD you should have e2fsck available (I have in Ubuntu 12.04) ..
I ran command $ man e2fsck to see this usage instruction ..


E2FSCK(8) E2FSCK(8)

NAME
e2fsck - check a Linux ext2/ext3/ext4 file system ...

One point to check is whether you are running testdisk in administrator mode since other modes might not allow write permissions.

I have tried PhotoRec which looks promising but tends to have an issue thinking my USB Flash drive is full prematurely. Please see viewtopic.php?f=7&t=896&p=6659&e=6659 as no one else seems to be seeing it.]

One approach would be to copy your USB image in entirety into a larger USB drive which ...

I unplugged it (always using "Safely Remove Hardware"), plugged the other LaCie in, and...... life turned raw.

Problems might arise if you plug in devices while the PC is running .. i.e. there is no "Safely Plugin Hardware" to use.

Try shutting down PC and then plugging in your La Cie .. not ...

Read this old thread ..

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t585710-windows-overwrites-mft-data-recovery-software-insufficient.html

I've been looking around for some time to see if it is feasible to backup $MFT (as a shorter backup than a full disk backup).
I've seen that $MFT is a key file and ...

Your problem is .. the more you use your laptop to find deleted files the greater the chance that any deleted excel file might be overwritten.

You can try this ...

http://www.easeus.com/data-recovery/office-recovery-software/undelete-excel.htm

Note: read the warning ..
Save then install it on a ...

A hexeditor might help in searching ..

you don't give any clues to your setup .. OS (Windows, Mac, Linux ??)

[Later edit]

Here is an example of a file recovery product which has a built in hex editor
and searches for "file signatures"

http://www.r-tt.com/Articles/Creating_Custom_File_Type_R ...