Photorec freezes on microsd recovery

Using PhotoRec to recover lost data
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bob514450
Posts: 3
Joined: 31 Oct 2021, 16:23

Photorec freezes on microsd recovery

#1 Post by bob514450 »

I try to recover files from a microSD that was in a phone. I recently changed my phone and my new phone is saying that my SD card has read-write issues. So I inserted the card in a SD adapter and tried saving the files on a computer. But either the normal Window copy tool and robocopy bugs. I found that few files are currupted.

I tried chkdsk. It didn't find any problem.

I tried Photorec, but it freezes at some point. How can we make it ignore the bad sectors?

Thank you!
Image

recuperation
Posts: 2729
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Photorec freezes on microsd recovery

#2 Post by recuperation »

Duplicate your SD-card as described in the manual. If the duplication process fails, contact a professional recovery service.
Have Photorec recover the duplicate drive.

bob514450
Posts: 3
Joined: 31 Oct 2021, 16:23

Re: Photorec freezes on microsd recovery

#3 Post by bob514450 »

Not sure what do you mean by "duplicate". Create an image? I searched the manual with keywords and didn't find this process.

I'm on windows btw.

recuperation
Posts: 2729
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Photorec freezes on microsd recovery

#4 Post by recuperation »

A duplicate is an exact copy. Image seems to be more like a file-oriented term.

Duplicate is honestly a bad keyword!
Which keywords did you use?
How about reading the table of contents of the manual and looking into interesting chapters?
How much time did you dedicate to the manual?

Please understand that reading the manual for forum users and telling them what chapter to read for cases where I think they could have find that information theirselves is really disappointing for me!

As opposed to Linux Windows is not a suitable recovery platform without special hardware because of its behaviour towards storage.

bob514450
Posts: 3
Joined: 31 Oct 2021, 16:23

Re: Photorec freezes on microsd recovery

#5 Post by bob514450 »

Sorry for bothering you with a question! I read the whole thing about "photorec" and "testdisk". There's nothing about what to do when the program fails.

Now, I understand you suggest using the ddrescue tool to first extract a .dd raw image.
And after run the photorec tool on the image instead.

The term used in the manual is "clone" or "disk image" btw.

Also, the manual isn't logic. It should say straight at the beginning that for corrupted files, it's highly recommended to run ddrescue first. Not hide the chapter about this tool at the very end!

Sorry again for bothering you!

Have a nice day anyway!

recuperation
Posts: 2729
Joined: 04 Jan 2019, 09:48
Location: Hannover, Deutschland (Germany, Allemagne)

Re: Photorec freezes on microsd recovery

#6 Post by recuperation »

bob514450 wrote: 01 Nov 2021, 22:25 Sorry for bothering you with a question! I read the whole thing about "photorec" and "testdisk". There's nothing about what to do when the program fails.
And that's why I gave you the hint
"Duplicate your SD-card as described in the manual. If the duplication process fails, contact a professional recovery service."
because your SD-card shows signs of physical dammage.
Now, I understand you suggest using the ddrescue tool to first extract a .dd raw image.
And after run the photorec tool on the image instead.

The term used in the manual is "clone" or "disk image" btw.
As I said already:
Image seems to be more like a file-oriented term. An image does not contain drive information. Therefore the term "duplicate".

Also, the manual isn't logic. It should say straight at the beginning that for corrupted files, it's highly recommended to run ddrescue first.
No, that only applies to devices with suspected hardware issues like yours. "corrupted files" may occur on a logical level without any hardware error which is like disorder in your file system.

Not hide the chapter about this tool at the very end!
But it works perfectly well, as one could see in your case. The truth is that the author has a job and family, programmed Testdisk and Photorec and is maintaining this site and it might be that his time budget does not allow for additional efforts. You get all this for free. For a perfect service you are probably better off using a professional lab like Kroll Ontrack and the like for three or four digit Euro amounts. And the best is: None of their staff will complain to you about not reading documentation! The documentation has grown this way and is referring to third party tools like ddrescue.

And yes, considering the widespread use of this tool by people like you might justify inserting a chapter on recovery basics. But I have a job either and nobody is cleaning my engine and is working on the brake lines of my old car to get it through technical examination.
Sorry again for bothering you!

Have a nice day anyway!
The same to you!

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