Recovering deleted files on Ext3 filesystem

[nihil]

Like I said:

roadkil's "unstoppable copier"

http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=29

It works with Windows or Linux, and doesn't care about the file system format.

As long as the drive still spins it will go for it, even if the files/drives are damaged.

Because it works at such a low level, it takes a long time, but it will recover even parts of damaged or corrupted files without whining and crapping out like the rest of these so called recovery tools do.

The guys who recover from physically damaged or non-functional disks first try to repair the drive, then just use standard recovery tools. If they can't then they take the drive apart and try to read each platter.

OK.............you need a $250,000 spin-up table, a clean room (another $150,000) and the rest of the recovery kit and qualified technicians.

That's why they can charge what they like

You might have noticed, however, that NONE of them offer to recover data from a drive that has been overwritten even once?

Just keep watching NCIS

[metguru]

You might have noticed, however, that NONE of them offer to recover data from a drive that has been overwritten even once?

Just keep watching NCIS

Even Gutmann, the guy who came up with the..what was it...35 pass method of deletion said it was completely unnecessary. I always use one pass of pseudo random data and then 0's, and I think that's more than enough.

Anyways, back on topic, this is what I've always used when people come whining to me about lost data.
http://www.pcinspector.de/default.htm?po=1&language=1

I started using it a while ago, so there may be better software now. Nihil, have you any experience with using that 'unstoppable copier' in actual tests in comparison to other software?

[gore]

NCIS isn't exactly going to help with that I'll give you Brits Ducky, as he's a super good guy on the show, and one of my favorite Brits, but Ziva David, is the **** on that show. Without Ziva and Gibbs and Ducky that show would suck. My Wife is biased towards Abby of course, and I do like Abby too, but MAN do I get annoyed with some of the rest of the team lol.

By the way, anyone else ever notice while watching NCIS that EVERY agent's desk contains the following machines? :

A Dell Desktop... big deal... What I really was surprised by was the fact that if you watch closely, you'll see that they also have an SGI monitor on their desks.... GOD I almost fell over the first time I noticed that there was an SGI Monitor on the desk.

The same thing happens in Jurassic Park; There are TWO scenes in that movie that I particularly talk about:

One, I always bitch about the Raptors who jump on the desk and land on the SGI machine. I don't know how many times I've screamed at my TV "GET OFF THE ****ING SGI YOU STUPID LIZARD!!!!".... And then of course, do to the sheer number of mistakes in that movie, I once looked up on the net to see if I'd missed any mistakes, because that movie has GAPING holes in it, and it's kind of sad considering who directed it, and the fact that the guy who did it actually hires people to make sure a continuation problem doesn't occur (Like a guy's watch isn't taken off by accident between scenes) and in Jurassic Park, not only is it obvious that the T-Rex scene is crap (I mean come on now, the T-Rex is in this cage, eating a SHOW animal, but a minute later, they're hanging over a CLIFF in the same spot the T-Rex was standing??? Really???) And of course at the beginning, the rich guy who is cleaning a glass with a Cloth, it changes colors every other scene, AND the Trailer they go inside to meet him, the guy opens the door from one side where the handle is located, and then you see from the other side, the next scene, the door actually opens from the OTHER side....

Mistakes like that are just funny. Like for example when the girl is sharing Ice Cream at the table when the power is out... The Ceiling Fan is spinning in that scene yet apparently the Power is out? And the guy reaches over to give her a spoon full of Ice Cream and just reaches over to give her a bite. When they pan out, the table is like 30 feet long!

Seriously how long are this guys arms?

Anyway, one of the things I found was people saying "Well the part where the little girl says "This is a Unix System! I know this!" blah blah blah that isn't Unix!" lol.... Actually it IS Unix. The 3D File Viewer the girl uses is actually an SGI Product. So that was actually not a mistake at all. SGI makes that product for IRIX.

It does say something about how amazing SGI is though; You KNOW you're a good Company when you make products so good and so futuristic that even computer people don't Believe they exist lol.

[Cider]

Gore, I see you wrote a tut , think it was BSD? Not sure though, will go have a look.

I am liking your idea RE: an FTP - could you maybe write a little tut for us newbies ?

[gore]

Gore, I see you wrote a tut , think it was BSD? Not sure though, will go have a look.

I am liking your idea RE: an FTP - could you maybe write a little tut for us newbies ?

Already did a long time ago

http://www.antionline.com/showthread.php?t=260371

That was for SUSE and it's pretty dated, but, I think I did put the portion about configuring the text file, and in BSD, or Linux, once you've configured the actual service, you just type it like any other command to start it and you're good.

Just remember to lock the box down! You don't want people using it for other stuff

And yea, the new one is for installing FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE, and it's like my others where it's step by step instructions. I love how some of the others on other forums see it and think "This isn't very good, the normal docs are much simpler" and it's like, well, no, you just don't want an average user to be able to say they got it installed because then YOU can't say that and make it mean you're good at it lol.

http://www.antionline.com/search.php?searchid=491393

WOW have I ever written a lot of **** on here. I just searched to find the FTP one for you and forgot half of those. They're all on my server but wow.

[nihil]

@ metguru

Nihil, have you any experience with using that 'unstoppable copier' in actual tests in comparison to other software?

Yes,

I only use it as a last resort, or if I know that the drive is about to die, and I will probably only get one shot at it. Most regular recovery tools read the drive first and give you a list of what they can recover and how well. If the drive is dying that could in itself lose you more data? the "unstoppable copier just goes right ahead with its first pass. It is a non-destructive process as it doesn't try to rebuild fille tables or repair things..........it just copies.

Also, most recovery tools I have tried do not like damaged drives or scrambled files, and give up. The UC doesn't care

It takes a hell of a long time, and requires you to have a drive or partition of the same size or bigger, as it tries to recover the lot, rather than specific files & folders.

For more mundane recoveries I generally use "Recuva" from Piriform. They are the guys who do CCleaner; their website is here:

http://www.piriform.com/recuva


"Defragler" (their defragmenter) is interesting, as it claims to defragment freespace, which I guess could be useful prior to installing stuff?

Otherwise I would use Auslogics' disk defragmenter, and take the "optimise" option. That will move most stuff to the beginning of the drive, which should, in theory, have pretty much the same effect?