Suggestion on HDD data recovery with TestDisk please

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
Forum rules
When asking for technical support:
- Search for posts on the same topic before posting a new question.
- Give clear, specific information in the title of your post.
- Include as many details as you can, MOST POSTS WILL GET ONLY ONE OR TWO ANSWERS.
- Post a follow up with a "Thank you" or "This worked!"
- When you learn something, use that knowledge to HELP ANOTHER USER LATER.
Before posting, please read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf
Locked
Message
Author
snakenuts
Posts: 8
Joined: 06 Sep 2013, 13:48

Suggestion on HDD data recovery with TestDisk please

#1 Post by snakenuts »

Hello all,

I fully understand these forums are free and any reply is voluntary, but I thought I'd just put this out there to anyone who would like to help as I am running out of options and not "finding" the help I need for my situation.

I have tried using Testdisk to recover my partitions and boot sectors, but it hasnt worked, so I'm just going to use the "copy" function in Testdisk to copy the files from the RAW HDD to another one. But before I do, I have a few questions regarding the possible outcome of this process. For lack of articulate explanations on my behalf, I have also attached some screenshots that are relevant to some of my questions. They are:

1. I need to get my files from a "RAW" exFAT HDD on to a HPFS+ drive on a Mac, so I am just going to use the Testdisk "copy" and do it folder by folder onto the new HDD. I am wondering if I do this, will this process "copy" any of the malfunctions from the old HDD that might have caused the problem on to the new HDD?

2. Once I am satisfied that the copy process is complete, do I need to keep the copies on the original HDD intact, or can I reformat the HDD once I've retrieved all my data? Is there any chance that the copies on the new Mac HDD will fail in anyway - by this I mean what sort of problems could occur (any heads up from previous experience is what I'm asking for here)?

3. Regarding the copied files: I tested the copy process and with a couple of photo files and all the MP3 files I got some "doubles" and "temp" files. Although, on TestDisk there were a few folders that didnt have "red" files in them, so I'm assuming that the "doubles" that have been copied onto my PC are "images" of the deleted files from the HDD - is this correct?

3.a. With the mp3 files, the files in the "doubles" folders look like the cover art from iTunes, and there appear to be some "temp" files as well. Im wondering what will happen when I drag and drop the mp3 folder on the new HDD into my iTunes library - will it copy only the mp3 files into the iTunes library? Will it be like normally adding new files to iTunes folder, whereby I can delete the files from the HDD once iTunes has copied them?

3b.As you can see from the screen 3 picture, some of the file names are scrambled. This is because they were originally in Japanese. I have mp3s like this, with Japanese file names, but after copying them from Testdisk, they also come up scrambled. When I drop the mp3 copies into my iTunes, will it return the filenames in the iTunes destination folder to the Japanese names again (assuming the mp3 sourcecode is still intact)?

Any response to any of these questions by anyone would be really appreciated. Particularly a heads up on possible problems that might occur with anything that I will be doing.

Cheers
Attachments
originally some file names were in Japanese - I can rename the photos, but what about the mp3s going into an iTunes folder
originally some file names were in Japanese - I can rename the photos, but what about the mp3s going into an iTunes folder
Screen 3 - post-copy filename.jpg (199.22 KiB) Viewed 1902 times
this is the same for both mp3 and photos
this is the same for both mp3 and photos
Screen 2 - inside the 'doubles' folder.jpg (119.04 KiB) Viewed 1902 times
"doubles"
"doubles"
screen 4 - mp3 'doubles'.jpg (218.13 KiB) Viewed 1902 times

User avatar
cgrenier
Site Admin
Posts: 5432
Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 15:08
Location: Le Perreux Sur Marne, France
Contact:

Re: Suggestion on HDD data recovery with TestDisk please

#2 Post by cgrenier »

snakenuts wrote:I am wondering if I do this, will this process "copy" any of the malfunctions from the old HDD that might have caused the problem on to the new HDD?
It's safe: TestDisk will copy a file, not a hardware or filesystem problem.
snakenuts wrote:2. Once I am satisfied that the copy process is complete, do I need to keep the copies on the original HDD intact, or can I reformat the HDD once I've retrieved all my data? Is there any chance that the copies on the new Mac HDD will fail in anyway - by this I mean what sort of problems could occur (any heads up from previous experience is what I'm asking for here)?
If your copy is ok, no need to keep the original disk but having a working backup of your files would be a good idea.
snakenuts wrote:3. Regarding the copied files: I tested the copy process and with a couple of photo files and all the MP3 files I got some "doubles" and "temp" files. Although, on TestDisk there were a few folders that didnt have "red" files in them, so I'm assuming that the "doubles" that have been copied onto my PC are "images" of the deleted files from the HDD - is this correct?
Files listed in a red were deleted files. When listing your files, you can choose to hide them and only copy the non-deleted files.
snakenuts wrote:3b.As you can see from the screen 3 picture, some of the file names are scrambled. This is because they were originally in Japanese. I have mp3s like this, with Japanese file names, but after copying them from Testdisk, they also come up scrambled. When I drop the mp3 copies into my iTunes, will it return the filenames in the iTunes destination folder to the Japanese names again (assuming the mp3 sourcecode is still intact)?
No idea, sorry

snakenuts
Posts: 8
Joined: 06 Sep 2013, 13:48

Re: Suggestion on HDD data recovery with TestDisk please

#3 Post by snakenuts »

Christoph, I really really appreciate your help I'm going to try the version of testdisk you suggested to use in my other post.

I'll get back to you on that one.

But seriously, thank you so much. I've been learning as I go along. I worked out that if there were no deleted files in one particular folder, then no "doubles" would be copied over onto the new one. But thanks for the suggestion to hide the deleted files.

Thanks, seriously!

Locked