cgsecurity.org

Hi there, thanks for making what looks like some great tools. I have some basic questions which I can't find answers to online.

I'm going to be attempting to recover files from a failing Windows XP computer (hal.dll error) by using the System Rescue CD. First by imaging the drive with ddrescue, then running Photorec on the image. This will be my first time using any tools on this CD.

My problem is diskspace. I'll be imaging the 160GB failing drive to a 1TB USB HDD. I'll also have to output Photorec to the same USB HDD, as money is too tight for another drive now.

1. Can I partition the USB HDD in two and output ddrescue to partition 1, then output Photorec to partition 2? Or will either of these tools ignore/wipe partitions?

2. Is there any disadvantage to running the image and Photorec output purely through USB? I'm guessing speed, but are there any settings I need to use to ensure the connection doesn't drop (e.g. power saving etc)?

Thanks in advance

Once you have use ddrescue to clone the original disk, you can add another partition on the destination (gparted under Linux or Disk Manager under Windows) and
- use TestDisk, Advanced, List to check if you can copy the files
- or run PhotoRec, select the cloned partition as source, Search, [Whole] and select the destination where you want except the source partition (another partition from the same disk is ok).
USB is slow but usually not a problem once ddrescue has been used.

Thanks, that's good to hear

I know it's not a CGSecurity program but do you happen to know if ddrescue can output to individual partitions or does it require the whole drive. I've inferred from your post that it can't?

It's really complicated (risky) to output to a partition, it's easier to output to an empty disk.

Cool, thanks. In that case I'll need to make some space on the drive first!

Thanks again for your help.