Microsoft FAT32 and Integrated Data Recovery

Online Backup

With several years in the data recovery industry there are, like all things, a metamorphosis from one method of recovery to the next. In the beginning there were simple file systems and simple drives and a coarse data recovery method was used in … [Read more...]

Recovering a badly fragmented Outlook PST file after a few rounds with chkdsk The Final Installment

Welcome back!  As before, we still have the problem where chkdsk was run on a RAID with a stale drive.  We have had a brief explanation of how NTFS 5 works and how the data is stored on the volume.  Lets take a much more detailed look as to how … [Read more...]

View It Now Software Tool

I am a pretty visual guy and because of that my problem solving skills are based on viewing.  When trying to recover data from a corrupt file system I like to use a hex editor and view the system areas of the drive to make sure that everything is … [Read more...]

FAT32 Recover File Entry Table On-Disk Layout Using a C Structure

In my last installment Recovering FAT 32 With File System Markers, I offered a brief outline of a case that destroyed a FAT32 file systems major components. This was done by formatting the drive using an operating system that is not native to the … [Read more...]

Recovering FAT32 with File Entry Record Data Only

External USB hard drive devices have been a real 'boon' for the hard drive recovery industry. From the fact that they dissipate heat poorly, they are susceptible to vibration, and your dog walking past your computer happily wagging its tail can … [Read more...]

Remote Logical Hard Drive Recovery

I have over the past few years had customers with hard drives that I knew I could fix their problem easily if I just had access to the drive. In these situations I will usually offer the customer a logical recovery, which entails them sending us the … [Read more...]

Partition Types in a Soft Spanned Set

Spanned Set Partition List

  Last time I explained the basic premise of a spanned set.  I used the example of a clients RAID that contained 3 36 GB SCSI drives. In a standard set each one of the drives would use one partiton for the entire drive and then the set would be … [Read more...]

What File System Components are affected by FDISK

As I have mentioned before we have all either by design or by accident fdisked an NTFS file system. In doing so all of the files become inaccessible and the assumption for many years was that they could not be recovered. Many of the more recent … [Read more...]

Recovering from Accidental FDISK using Free Software

Like many of us I have accidentally used 'fdisk' to partition a drive that I had never intended to. Whether it be adding a new drive, repartitioning and formatting a USB device, or just trying to reload the operating system there has been more than … [Read more...]

Analyzing RAID parity

Last time I discussed how to find the RAID data offset for a SNAP OS 4.x RAID handler. To put it briefly it was just a simple matter of finding Cylinder Group zero on the first drive in the array and back tracking 48 sectors. Once the RAID data … [Read more...]

Recovering Data From A Laptop

Last month I purchased a Dell Inspiron 1720 with all the RAM and processing power that I could get. I also picked a 320GB hard drive to store my data files. Being involved with data recovery in one way or another for the last nine years has certainly … [Read more...]

MFT Data Recovery

Over the years I have recovered many hard drives configured with NTFS. One of the leading reasons that data recovery is performed on these hard drives is an anamoly developed in the Master File Table. This area of the drive is the single most … [Read more...]

Data Recovery Services From DTI

DTI Data Recovery has been in business for decades. Our technicians and engineers have unique experience in all types of data recovery. DTI is one of the few companies in the world that not only performs hard drive repair, but also creates and sells … [Read more...]

Hard Drive Recovery Software

There are a lot of websites and blogs that talk about hard drive recovery. Most of the content out there is really just fluff, written to drive hard drive and data recovery type ads in Google AdSense. These ads can make webmasters and site owners a … [Read more...]

The Decline Of Data Recovery Services

After the fallout of the tech boom of the late 1990’s, Internet marketers had few money making options left. The get rich quick scheme based on a potentially good idea was no longer feasible. However, one market did stand alone, unwavering; the … [Read more...]