cgsecurity.org

i have been reading allot about data recovery and almost all of the sites i go to tell me to stop using the drive.

does this include analyzing the disk with other tools apart from testdisk?

esc69 wrote: ↑28 Jun 2019, 19:17 i have been reading allot about data recovery and almost all of the sites i go to tell me to stop using the drive.

does this include analyzing the disk with other tools apart from testdisk?

I would distinguish between regular use and recovery.
Furthermore it depends on if your harddrive has logical or physical errors.
If your harddrive only has logical errors (p.e. zeroed master boot record, destroyed boot sector) and no hardware error (head crash, electronics error, etc.) you can continue using the drive without worries.

first case: regular use
If your data is not worth recovering or you don't have money but lots of time for personal recovery efforts you can continue using the drive. In my case having a job and being able to purchase a new drive I don't want to bother being faced with additional problems so I replace the drive.

second case: recovery
In case of an intended recovery by somebody else (maybe a professional data recovery company) you should stop using the drive.
If you try to recover stuff yourself you are forced to use the drive.
Some errors get worse when using the drive, so you should minimize drive operation.
I see no interest in doing other things than reading out SMART parameters and duplicating the drive.

cheers