Bootable Truecrypt partition overwritten -- where to start?
Posted: 22 Apr 2012, 05:58
I apologize in advance if the process should be obvious, but I'm still rattled (and pissed) by what's happened.
Here's my scenario: I decided to finally upgrade to Windows 7 from XP (which was running on a bootable TrueCrypted system drive, C:), and bought a new hard drive (D:) while I was at it to do a clean install to. I ran setup off the Win 7 DVD and chose empty drive D: as the destination. That part worked fine, but at some point the Win 7 setup, for no good reason and without any indication or warning, wrote <>120 megs of something to the C: drive, which it apparently perceived as empty. This overwrote the boot sector and the partition information, making it unbootable, and the encryption makes it unreadable by Windows. Truecrypt will still mount it (after I used the rescue disk to fix the header) and recognizes the correct size and encryption type, but the mounted drive still shows as raw and unformatted within the encryption.
I do have the option of using the rescue disk to try decrypting the drive, but I wasn't sure that any kind of writing to the drive would be a good idea. I believe data recovery tools like TestDisk tend to be read-only on the damaged drive, writing to another one (correct me if I'm wrong). My inclination, therefore (and also here, please correct me if needed) is to try mounting the encrypted drive and seeing what can be recovered, then trying the decryption and a second recovery attempt afterward.
I've seen the highest recommendations for two recovery programs: TestDisk (free) and MiniTool ($60). The former being free and having a forum made it an easy first choice.
So all that said, I have no idea where to even start with the recovery. I think I need each of the three forums--partition, filesystem, and files--but the partition one seemed the most likely first choice.
I hereby prostrate myself and beg for any directions, advice, guidelines, etc. you all can offer as far as the best way to go about getting my files back. Pointers to appropriate TestDisk docs sections are fine; like I said, I'm a bit dazed and don't even know where to start.
Thanks a bunch in advance!
Here's my scenario: I decided to finally upgrade to Windows 7 from XP (which was running on a bootable TrueCrypted system drive, C:), and bought a new hard drive (D:) while I was at it to do a clean install to. I ran setup off the Win 7 DVD and chose empty drive D: as the destination. That part worked fine, but at some point the Win 7 setup, for no good reason and without any indication or warning, wrote <>120 megs of something to the C: drive, which it apparently perceived as empty. This overwrote the boot sector and the partition information, making it unbootable, and the encryption makes it unreadable by Windows. Truecrypt will still mount it (after I used the rescue disk to fix the header) and recognizes the correct size and encryption type, but the mounted drive still shows as raw and unformatted within the encryption.
I do have the option of using the rescue disk to try decrypting the drive, but I wasn't sure that any kind of writing to the drive would be a good idea. I believe data recovery tools like TestDisk tend to be read-only on the damaged drive, writing to another one (correct me if I'm wrong). My inclination, therefore (and also here, please correct me if needed) is to try mounting the encrypted drive and seeing what can be recovered, then trying the decryption and a second recovery attempt afterward.
I've seen the highest recommendations for two recovery programs: TestDisk (free) and MiniTool ($60). The former being free and having a forum made it an easy first choice.
So all that said, I have no idea where to even start with the recovery. I think I need each of the three forums--partition, filesystem, and files--but the partition one seemed the most likely first choice.
I hereby prostrate myself and beg for any directions, advice, guidelines, etc. you all can offer as far as the best way to go about getting my files back. Pointers to appropriate TestDisk docs sections are fine; like I said, I'm a bit dazed and don't even know where to start.
Thanks a bunch in advance!