DispPatch abends at start

[Tom]

The abend was caused by incorrect disk detection; some attributes of the second disk came back as 0, which causes trouble. That means that detection there is not okay, could be caused by the laptop, could be caused by the disk (the disk causing the problem would seem to be second disk, looks like it's the 300+ gb, the clone target disk). So cloning on that laptop will not be possible as long as that disk is not detected correctly. I have no idea how to fix that, apart from buying a new machine (laptop?) and connecting the disks to it, and using direct connection all the way (get a laptop to pc converter for the laptop disk, if needed). Also, you said that it's a rather old laptop, so it may have problems detecting/dealing with large disks (through USB). Maybe you can fiddle with some BIOS settings, change USB detection and/or support.
In short, if the laptop doesn't recognize the disks correctly, and the current setup with disks connected through USB doesn't work, it leaves you with the iRecover option. Simple deduction. Unless your willing to spend money on extra hardware, in which case you can build a setup that has a better chance at cloning. That, obviously, will be pricey.

Will second clone start from the beginning or can I benefit from the clone work that has been done till now?

What was on the target disk will still be there, unless you did something to it. DiskPatch doesn't erase work done when aborted, that would be silly. So if you remember where you stopped you can pick it up from there. Otherwise, do the selective thing as discussed earlier.

[HaraldE]

Morning Tom,

I have now switched over to iRecover and it seems to have a real problem reading the bad disk. Either the disk is worse or the way iR does it is different to DP? iR has now been reading and reading since last night. This is done using iR in Windows XP and the bad disk on USB. I know it may be bad to use USB but had to start somewhere. And I used USB last time and it worked then

At this very moment iR window won't show up (it is probably busy) and don't respond. But the disk lamp is on all the time. This morning I saw it was on 9%.

Anyway ... I will let it run for some more time ... maybe rest of the day

With now iR being used ... do you want me to continue this thread or should I create a new one in iR forum?

Regards,  Harald

[Tom]

No, leave the thread as is, doesn't matter.
This doesn't sound good. It is very well possible that the disk has worsened. It doesn't help that you don't have the hardware to address this problem properly (the laptop's not really trustworthy, and the only alternatives are USB). Have you tried the iRecover route with the disk in the original machine? Remember, there's also the windows PE trick, if needed.
http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/irecoverpe.htm
You should have copied files when you had the chance. I know this comment isn't very constructive, but it has to be said. For now, make sure iRecover takes as little time with the read errors as possible, to lighten the load on the disk. Use the sliders in the read error control panel on the right. Apart from that, i don't really know where to go from here. I'll add later if things come to mind.
About the learning experience, i'm pretty sure you added at least one skill: creating backups.

[Tom]

Another trick might be to create a disk image of the volume you're trying to recover. That would mean you'd have to stop iRecover now and use it to create that image, and then try to read the files from the image. When letting iRecover create that image, make sure the disk read settings are set for dealing with a bad disk (this info can be found in the manual).
Try this, your current actions don't sound like they will be successful.

[HaraldE]

Thanks Tom,

About the learning experience, i'm pretty sure you added at least one skill: creating backups.

Totally agree and for my own machine I have periodic backups on to 2 separate disks. My daughter has now learnt this lesson the hard way.

iR doesn't stop and there is no window showing and the disk light is on all the time. Strangely enough the disk light didn't stop even during a re-boot. I have now done a power off to make sure the disk activity is stopped. I also have unplugged the disk now to be able to sort out a few things.

I am aware of BartPE and have such a disk with temp iR on it. But need to rebuild it to get the license code on. Will then try your suggestions. Building BartPE is done on same machine as where I can plug in the bad drive (=my own laptop) so I am doing quite some disk-swapping and using the screwdriver a lot.

>> Forgot to say I have already had one abend each inside iR and BartPE ... if the iR one is repeatable I will tell you

Regards,  Harald

[HaraldE]

Morning,

Bad going worse ... my disk has probably died. I feel it has been the long tries to get through that has killed it. Sadly I can now not see it as a drive letter in Windows anymore. I will do some tests over weekend to see if any tool gives me a contact. Now the disk light is red all the time and there is this unfriendly clicking sound.

In the end I will let my daughter decide whether it is worth handing it in to a shop specialising in these things.

I will be back ... all advice are welcome

Regards,  Harald

[HaraldE]

Bad getting better (;=))

Right now I have recovered around 100 images out of an estimated 1000 and this fels good. The bad drive is still not accesible but when thinking about it a brain wave hit me. The bad drive gave up during a clone operation which I stoped since it was taking too long time. The thought that hit me was I couldn't be sure how far this clone operation had gone. And when looking on the clone disk I found files on it ... lots of files.

So iRecover was started (from XP with the cloned disk as USB) and did its work ... gave me lists of Fragments and LostDirs and LostFiles. I was so thrilled I did a copy of everything (about 38Gb) over to my Cdrive. And from Cdrive did I select all *.JPG and *.DOC. And now I focus on *.JPG

Some JPG are duplicats (which doesn't surprise me) and some are ok (they can be seen in my photo editor). But many JPG are incomplete. When I bring them up in my photo editor (which is IDImager) I do not see the expected thumb but a red cross, indicating there is something fishy about this JPG. And when I open the file further (inside IDImager) the message is "JPEG Error #53 (0)". This message is followed by "Not a JPEG file: starts with 0x% 02x 0x%02x (0)". Same error message for all files I checked

So here I have some questions:
1: When I used iR I don't think I changed any of the settings. Since I can redo that operation, is there any changes that I should have done, any changes that motivates a second run with iR.

2: A few times iR told me it couldn'tt save and I read this to be the log file. I used the SAVE button at the end. Can I change this behavious so iR will be able to SAVE?

3: Does anyone know how to rescue the incomplete JPG I have. Untill I have tried very hard to recover all JPG the work isn't finished

Bottomline is that I see a silverlining on the previous dark clouds.

Regards,  Harald

[Tom]

1: When I used iR I don't think I changed any of the settings. Since I can redo that operation, is there any changes that I should have done, any changes that motivates a second run with iR.

No, probably not.

2: A few times iR told me it couldn'tt save and I read this to be the log file. I used the SAVE button at the end. Can I change this behavious so iR will be able to SAVE?

Usually, when iRecover talks of saving it's files, it's about the state file (the data file that contains scan information, to be used later so you won't have to scan the disk again). Not al that interesting at this point, although you should find out why that didn't work out. Using the state file may come in handy later on. Obviously iRecover needs a place that is normally accessible to Windows to save it's files.

3: Does anyone know how to rescue the incomplete JPG I have. Untill I have tried very hard to recover all JPG the work isn't finished

I don't know of any JPG repair tools but i'm sure it's easy to look some up on the net. I do know that JPG files are tricky to deal with when damaged (which is to be expected, considering the whole thing is heavily compressed). I'm not sure what to suggest next... the original disk seems to be dead and the clone is incomplete. I'm out of suggestions here. I'll add to the posting if something comes to mind.

[HaraldE]

Hello Tom,

This has been a long journey with a lot of help from you and your tools. And the journey isn't over yet. But it seems as if I am moving away to other tools, to try to save JPGs (if possible). If that ever happens I will let you know.

A small questions ... a bit late but anyway ... once you offered me a 45% discount on iRecover. I am not sure if that offer is still valid but would like to grab it, if still open. At that time I was so focused on saving images I forgot to comment back. This is not a request ... just a humble question.

Regards,  Harald

[Tom]

That'll be a bit tricky. The offer at the time was made before you purchased iRecover (and already had purchased DP) and i can't do a partial refund. What i can offer is this, weird though it may sound... I'll refund you the iRecover purchase and then you re-purchase with the discount. It's a little weird, after the facts and all that, but if that's what you want we can arrange that. You'd have to send me your purchase details for both orders (tom@diydatarecovery.nl).
The other offer was a refund for the tool that didn't work out. That still stands as well, seeing that you didn't get all the way with either tool. So it's up to you.