last recovered file is giant gz archive

Using PhotoRec to recover lost data
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Lemsip
Posts: 1
Joined: 18 Apr 2013, 18:32

last recovered file is giant gz archive

#1 Post by Lemsip »

Hi!

1. Thank's for PhotoRec, it just saved my ass!!! It's a great piece of software!

2. During reinstalling Kubuntu I accidentally ticked the format checkbox for the home partition.
I ended up with a nice system without any data left in my home folder.
PhotoRec took one night and it seems like everything is back.
Folders and filenames are gone, of course...

The very last file in the very last folder (recup_dir.64) is one 199GB .gz archive.
Inside is just one file. I don't know what that is. Is it some sort of the empty space?

It would be great if anybody can comment on this special file.

Regards
Lemsip

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cgrenier
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Posts: 5432
Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 15:08
Location: Le Perreux Sur Marne, France
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Re: last recovered file is giant gz archive

#2 Post by cgrenier »

PhotoRec doesn't always detect the end of file, so this file has probably a lot of garbage at its end. You should still be able to decompress it anyway.

dandan2300
Posts: 2
Joined: 16 Jan 2014, 10:33

Re: last recovered file is giant gz archive

#3 Post by dandan2300 »

I have a similar problem I am getting a tonne of .gz files which are extremely large. I have tried expanding them with command, stuffit and mac but keep getting an error. Error 1 - Operation not permitted.

Any way to get around this and see the contents?

Thanks

checksix
Posts: 3
Joined: 26 Feb 2014, 03:14

Re: last recovered file is giant gz archive

#4 Post by checksix »

Dandan2300;
I have used PhotoRec before and it was useful BUT Testdisk seems to do a much cleaner recovery of files "if you can get the program to list the files". With PhotoRec the file is stripped of identity and it is quite some process to go thorough to get the information re-identified. Of course I may not have approached PhotoRec properly.

I am in the process of recovering data from a 2TB dead drive that was almost full. Luckily I was able to list the files although I wasn't able to recover the drive. I have been using the Copy process in TestDisk to recover all files in a folder at a time. I had a couple of false starts but found a solution to one of the long waits in the program. I copied the TestDisk folder to the recovery drive and started the program from there so when it asks for the location to send files it goes to the recovery drive first so it doesn't have to search other locations.

The process is not fast but patience pays off. The first file copied took about 22 hours. I forecast the folder would take a month or so but pressed on. The next file only took 10 hours so I let it run overnight. In the morning the count was up to 60 and it accelerated from there (Like popcorn). The final result was a couple of days to recover 400+ 2BG files - With all of the information associated with each file. It is quite possible that my time was longer than average as I used a little HP NetBook with a whole 2 GB of memory. Remember to turn off any shutdown of sleep commands (except screen). Great Program.
Good Luck!!

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