Folder suddenly empty

Using TestDisk to repair the filesystem
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Ingvar
Posts: 7
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 20:32

Folder suddenly empty

#1 Post by Ingvar »

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A folder on my SD card is suddenly empty. The rest of the disk seems to work fine. It contained in particular *.odt files that I would need to recover. I've run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Recuva and Testdisk. Recuva found everything on the card, except what was in that folder. EaseUS found a gazillion files on the card, but all unnamed, so it was hopeless. I guess the file system has crapped up somehow, but since I haven't written to the disk, the files should be there intact, I just can't find them. Testdisk identifies Invalid FAT Boot Sector and states that the harddisk appears to be too small. I'm not good at this. I attach a screen dump. Does anyone know how to proceed? I think it's the SD card I'm screening, but to be honest I'm not certain if that is the case, or if I'm looking at my computer harddrive.

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cgrenier
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Re: Folder suddenly empty

#2 Post by cgrenier »

Run TestDisk, Advanced, select the partition, List. Can you see your files ?
Do you more more success with Undelete ?

Ingvar
Posts: 7
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 20:32

Re: Folder suddenly empty

#3 Post by Ingvar »

Thanks for your kind reply,
I followed the instructions and I've figured out as much that I am actually on the SD card, so far so good.
A number of files show, but only a handful as I think you state in your instructions.
There are about 140 000 files on the card, but I'm only interested in about 200 .odt files, the rest is already salvaged.
I attach a screen dump of what your directions show.
I don't know how to proceed after this.
None of the files or folders shown are the one that I am looking for, it should be dated at the beginning of february 2018.
Best regards and thanks for your help.
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Ingvar
Posts: 7
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 20:32

Re: Folder suddenly empty

#4 Post by Ingvar »

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Ingvar
Posts: 7
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 20:32

Re: Folder suddenly empty

#5 Post by Ingvar »

I found one difference between the trees. It seems when I saved the file that I was working on, a new tree was created with one level less, which is probably why the other files don't show.

From the level where the old and the new tree differ, there is one old folder, probably the one named "Temp" in the old tree showed in the previous post, but it can't be opened as the file system appears to be damaged. That's my folder, the one that I need to get into.

I had no further success with Undelete. I think it's because the files were never deleated. I found a mass of older versions that I did deleate earlier on, but not the current versions that are missing in the damaged folder.

The folder "OLD 2017-11-20" and its subfolders should contain about 15 000 files.

The attachement shows the parallell folder under the "Rmd" level. It just shows as ?????????????, but should be the "Temp" folder that is missing.

Please advice, I offer a small reward for help to recover that folder and it's files.
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Last edited by Ingvar on 13 Feb 2018, 01:00, edited 2 times in total.

Ingvar
Posts: 7
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 20:32

Re: Folder suddenly empty

#6 Post by Ingvar »

..

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cgrenier
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Re: Folder suddenly empty

#7 Post by cgrenier »

Have you look in FOUND.000 ?
If you files are still missing, you should "cmd" (right click run as administrator), "chkdsk /f d:" (replace d: by the correct drive letter), try again TestDisk and also run PhotoRec on the free space of this partition.

Ingvar
Posts: 7
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 20:32

Re: Folder suddenly empty

#8 Post by Ingvar »

Thanks for your reply.

I checked FOUND.000. It seems to contain 20 files, but dated august 2017. I don't know what to do with this.
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I ran chkdsk /f d: (it's the d-drive the card is in). A multitude of errors were found. It stated that:
Damages were found when checking files and folders
Damages were found when checking the volumebitmap
Verification of files and folders completed
Corrections of the file system was made.
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I then ran Testdisk again under Advanced and it states that the Boot sectors do not match. I don't know where to go from here.
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cgrenier
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Re: Folder suddenly empty

#9 Post by cgrenier »

fidentify should be able to identify the correct extension for the files in found.000 directory.
Run cmd, "cd testdisk-7.1-WIP", "fidentify_static c:\found.000\"

When using testdisk, try Advanced, List, no need to go in the Boot section.

Ingvar
Posts: 7
Joined: 08 Feb 2018, 20:32

Re: Folder suddenly empty

#10 Post by Ingvar »

Dear Grenier,
I am happy to announce that I've had an almost complete recovery. 57 out of 61 files identified and recovered in full, the few final ones do not matter. After running chkdsk, PhotoRec did the job, when I had found the right partition to work on. It found 178000 files totalling 411 GB and with the file extensions intact it was not that hard to find the 57 files among the 2200 odt-files recovered.

A huge thank to you and your great program. It did what the competition couldn't. A donation is coming up and the best of luck with your work.

Thank you again and I'll do my best to advertise your work if any friends have problems with missing files.

Best regards,
Ingvar

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