Request clarification on Instruc's and Example pages

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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kbarb
Posts: 6
Joined: 13 Mar 2012, 01:28

Request clarification on Instruc's and Example pages

#1 Post by kbarb »

Hi,
I really like Testdisk from what I've seen so far, but a few things are not quite clear as I'm following the instructions.
Mostly I'm looking at TestDisk Step By Step - I was wondering if you could clarify :

1. After Quick Search & Deeper Search, some partitions are Green. What is the meaning of the color ? I assume it's something good, but what does it mean actually ?

2. On TestDisk Step By Step near the bottom of the page it gets to step : NTFS Boot sector recovery

Two questions at point :

2a. At that step did you change Testdisk from Deeper Search to Advanced ?

2b: Also at that step it says "The boot sector of the first partition named Partition 1 is still damaged . . . . " and so on. Do you know that it's damaged because up above at the Analyse step the results say, "Invalid NTFS Boot" ? If not, how would you know that ?

Thanks for your work on this program !
Kent

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Fiona
Posts: 2835
Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 17:19
Location: Ludwigsburg/Stuttgart - Germany

Re: Request clarification on Instruc's and Example pages

#2 Post by Fiona »

1:
Green partitions don't overlapp and fit to your harddisk.
So you will be able to use Write to register your partitions into your partition table.
But it says nothing about your file system.
In case, check your partition and press p to list your files.
2:
Deeper Search, searches additional for any backup of boot sectors.
In comparison to Quick Search, Quick Search only searches for boot sectors (that's why it's faster).
If your boot sector is damaged and TestDisk finds your partition from the backup of your boot sector, it will be displayed as "NTFS found using backup boot sector" or FAT found using backup boot sector" at the bottom of the screen.
When you write your partitions into your partition table, TestDisk checks your boot sector and its backup!
If your boot sector is damaged, the menu Advanced comes up automatically and offers you to repair your boot sector using the backup of the boot sector.
In case, confirm at Backup BS.
It doesn't create a backup of your boot sector but will copy your backup of the boot sector over the boot sector.
Now, your boot sector is repaired.
This procedure goes to speed up recovery process, because there is no necessity to go to the menu advanced separately.
After reboot, your partition should be available and your data accessible.

kbarb
Posts: 6
Joined: 13 Mar 2012, 01:28

Re: Request clarification on Instruc's and Example pages

#3 Post by kbarb »

Ok, many thanks for your explanation - I see how it works now.

Are a couple more questions ok ?

1. Kind of picky question . . . sometimes a result of Analyse, etc. shows an error message in the middle of the result list of partitions. I can't figure out . . . does that refer to the line above it, or below ?

2. When Testdisk is looking for missing or backed up boot sectors, I take it it could be looking for either :

• Partition table for MBR -OR-
• the Extended Boot Record partition table -OR-
• Logical Boot Record

It seem like it would have to, because there are several different types of partions that could have disappeared.

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