Recovering a partially decrypted truecrypt volume

Using TestDisk to repair the filesystem
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Author
GOAT
Posts: 2
Joined: 12 Nov 2014, 10:46

Recovering a partially decrypted truecrypt volume

#1 Post by GOAT »

So this is a bit of an odd one. I tried to decrypt a 2tb external HDD in truecrypt, however something has gone seriously wrong with the decryption. If I try to resume the paused decryption, the process never moves at all and effectively locks up the program. Nothing I have done seems to make it work again. No one on any forum has been able to figure out what to do about it, so I suppose the only option is to attempt to recover the data somehow with testdisk.

Since the volume can't be mounted anymore (obviously), how would one go about recovering it? Testdisk seems to indicate that it is indeed damaged somehow, but I can't figure out what to do exactly in this case, since it is partially encrypted. I'm on Windows 7 if that helps.

Thank you.

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cgrenier
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Re: Recovering a partially decrypted truecrypt volume

#2 Post by cgrenier »

Try to clone the disk to new empty one using gnu ddrescue
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Damaged_Hard_Disk
Once it's done, try to decrypt the volume on the clone. I wonder if the original disk contains bad sectors.

GOAT
Posts: 2
Joined: 12 Nov 2014, 10:46

Re: Recovering a partially decrypted truecrypt volume

#3 Post by GOAT »

Thank you for the reply. I'll try this out as soon as I get home.

djphrost
Posts: 6
Joined: 06 Nov 2014, 05:16

Re: Recovering a partially decrypted truecrypt volume

#4 Post by djphrost »

cg, if there are bad sectors do you think this would work?
I have another post here and I think this may apply.

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