multiple file selection

[ddenoff]

Same issue as user 'Tea' - running demo version completed analysis of external drive very successfully, all trees listed but checking the toplevel folder of the path I want only selects the first subfolder and files within that tree. i've tried both with the tree compressed and expanded - same result.  NOW if you claim that this behaviour is only applicable to the demo version, them i'm fine.

each subfolder is a DVD film containing VIDEO_TS folder containing normal DVD files (VOB, IFO, BUP) - perhaps the issue is just that since these filetypes don't seem to be known for validation, i can only recover one subfolder (DVD) at a time???

i'm also TRYING to purchase the full version but your cart vendor regnow doesn't seem to want to accept my email address, which is 'dd@fibernet.com', in either the shopping card, OR in their email contact form! strange.


ALSO - will the program give me the explanation of WHY the drive requires recovery? to prevent problems in the future.   i SUSPECT that it's because it's a FAT32 disc normally used on a PC, but i left it connected to a MAC overnight and Spotlight started to create it's folder structure on it - rendering the drive showing as unformatted on BOTH pc and mac.    it would be great to know WHY it was corrupted (MBR deletion perhaps?) and how it could easily be repaired.


thanks in advance

Douglas

[Joep]

Hello,

Yes, regarding the folder selection issue: you are dealing with demo behavior. Validation, filetypes etc.  have nothing to do with being able to select a folder or not. The demo will enforce files from within one folder only (no subfolders) to be selectable. It is fine if this folder contains 100s of files.

The email address indeed seems not to be accepted by RegNow. That is plain stupid but there is nothing I can do about it - maybe if you call them rather than ordering online, or use a different email address.

iRecover will not explain file system issues/corruption, we purely concentrate on what's valid and try to reconstruct a virtual file system from that.

[ddenoff]

thanks.  i purchased (using a different email!) and the recover seems to be working nicely.  appreciate the response (although the forum didn't email me to let me know that the response was there - another oddity)

happy i found your product - Ontrack wanted 20x the cost for the same recovery - next time i'm in Amsterdam, I'll invite you for a herring sandwich.

i DO wish i could understand what happened to the disc - i'm that kind of computer guy (goes back to the PDP-10 mainframe days)

thanks again!

[Tom]

Excellent, let us know how things turn out. I hate herring though, never understood the urge to eat raw fermented rotting fish...
If you want, creating and posting a DiskPatch support analysis log may (or may not) shed some light on what happened, but it does sound like a 'common' corruption thing. Just in case:
http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/dp_manual/guide_supportanalysis.htm

[ddenoff]

i'll have a look there.  but i didn't run discpatch - should I?

also, now that the recovery is done, i'm running into multiple instances of errors in the video files...some films are perfect - others seem to have sectors of other movies mixed in and freeze up.  is this because working with VOB files is still not perfected with irecover? my suspicion is that the source disc is intact (because of the way I think it might have been damaged) but i'm not 100% certain.  any ideas?

ahh - just read up on diskpatch - can't run it here - don't have any DOS machines - running XP in VMware on my mac.  have a native XP machine too - i suppose I could boot into DOS mode there but don' t know if it'll recognize the USB disc

[ddenoff]

i created a diskpatch CD, booted up my PC laptop and, regardless of selecting DMA or not, it seems to hang after Kernel: allocated 41 Diskbuffers.......even with just the PC's internal disc

[Tom]

Hmm, nevermind DiskPatch then. I thought it could be nice to find out a little more about the problem but it's not worth this trouble I suppose.

It's not about VOB files or any file type, some file types are used to validate the results but that's all. iRecover copies files to safety and the type is not relevant. What IS relevant is things like size and potential damage to the volume, and the volume type. Larger files are always more prone to damage, especially if fragmentation is an issue. VOB files are usually about 1Gb in size so they are susceptible to damage.
You could try another run, but I don't think the results will be different.

my suspicion is that the source disc is intact (because of the way I think it might have been damaged) but i'm not 100% certain

What does this mean? What happened to the volume?

[ddenoff]

what happened (i believe) is as follows:

this Seagate FAT32 disc was initially used for movie and other storage on a PC (win XP).  each film was in it's own /folder/VIDEO_TS/....  I was using it on a macbook G4 to transfer some files and left it plugged in overnight.   in the morning it could not be read on the mac, and when plugged back into the PC could not be read there either.

AND, since the disc now has some \SPOTLIGHT\ and other mac-based file structures on it (see below) i'm surmising that Time Machine, or some other OSX application started to mess with the MBR or something, and so now the disc shows as not formatted when connected to either a mac or a PC.  but clearly the files are there.  so is this an MBR issue or something else? that's why perhaps Discpatch could have been helpful - but not sure.

as to the corruption on the video files, this could have possibly even occurred prior to THIS damage - here's why - some of the films play up to a point and then intersperse with scenes from other films - films that were not even on this disc any longer when the damage occurred (they had possibly been there at one time but been moved off) - not knowing how those 'deleted' films might have left remnants which might have been then improperly mis-assembled back into them now it's hard to tell.

i'm going to leave the original Seagate alone in case another recovery algorithm surfaces or we have some other ideas worth trying - like another pass as you suggested.

\
   10/23/2006 9:29:34 AM             12,292                   100               Good        .DS_Store

   1 File(s)      12.00 KB in file data

\.fseventsd\
   9/10/2008 7:43:42 PM                  36                   100               Good        fseventsd-uuid
   9/10/2008 7:43:54 PM                   0                   100               Good        000000000322349e

   2 File(s)      36 Bytes in file data

\.Spotlight-V100\

   0 File(s)      0 Bytes in file data

\.Spotlight-V100\Store-V1\
   9/10/2008 5:36:08 PM                 348                   100               Good        VolumeConfig.plist

   1 File(s)      348 Bytes in file data

\.Spotlight-V100\Store-V1\Stores\

   0 File(s)      0 Bytes in file data

\.Spotlight-V100\Store-V1\Stores\59EB7585-1D27-4D51-9167-EA2C2C274D7C\
   9/11/2008 11:48:46 AM            131,072                   100               Good        PSID.DB
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM                 28                   100               Good        indexState
   9/10/2008 5:40:42 PM                   0                   100               Good        0.indexUpdates
   9/10/2008 5:36:08 PM              32,768                   100               Good        0.indexIds
   9/10/2008 5:36:08 PM               2,731                   100               Good        0.indexGroups
   9/10/2008 5:40:44 PM              71,408                   100               Good        0.indexPositions
   9/10/2008 5:40:44 PM               2,056                   100               Good        0.indexDirectory
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM              4,096                   100               Good        0.indexHead
   9/10/2008 5:40:44 PM              23,928                   100               Good        0.indexCompactDirectory
   9/10/2008 5:40:44 PM             153,044                   100               Good        0.indexArrays
   9/10/2008 5:40:44 PM              56,616                   100               Good        0.indexPostings
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM              4,096                   100               Good        0.shadowIndexHead
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM              4,096                   100               Good        live.0.indexHead
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM                   0                   100               Good        live.0.indexUpdates
   9/10/2008 5:36:08 PM              32,768                   100               Good        live.0.indexIds
   9/10/2008 5:36:08 PM               2,731                   100               Good        live.0.indexGroups
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM               4,096                   100               Good        live.0.indexPostings
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM               1,120                   100               Good        live.0.indexTermIds
   9/10/2008 5:36:08 PM               4,096                   100               Good        live.0.indexPositions
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM               1,120                   100               Good        live.0.indexPositionTable
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM               2,056                   100               Good        live.0.indexDirectory
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM                   8                   100               Good        live.0.indexCompactDirectory
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM               3,008                   100               Good        live.0.indexArrays
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM            135,168                   100               Good        STORE.DB
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM            135,168                   100               Good        .store.db
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM                   0                   100               Good        journalLive
   9/10/2008 5:36:10 PM                   0                   100               Good        journalExclusion
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM                   0                   100               Good        journalSync
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM              1,094                   100               Good        0.shadowIndexGroups
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM              4,096                   100               Good        live.0.shadowIndexHead
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM              4,096                   100               Good        live.1.shadowIndexHead
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM                 608                   100               Good        live.1.shadowIndexTermIds
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM                   0                   100               Good        live.1.shadowIndexPositionTable
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM             65,536                   100               Good        live.1.shadowIndexArrays
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM                  8                   100               Good        live.1.shadowIndexCompactDirectory
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM                  5                   100               Good        live.0.shadowIndexGroups
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM                  4                   100               Good        store.updates
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM              4,096                   100               Good        live.1.indexHead
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM                  0                   100               Good        live.1.indexUpdates
   9/10/2008 7:44:48 PM              32,768                   100               Good        live.1.indexIds
   9/10/2008 7:44:48 PM               2,731                   100               Good        live.1.indexGroups
   9/10/2008 7:44:50 PM               4,096                   100               Good        live.1.indexPostings
   9/10/2008 7:44:48 PM               8,192                   100               Good        live.1.indexTermIds
   9/10/2008 7:44:48 PM               4,096                   100               Good        live.1.indexPositions
   9/10/2008 7:44:48 PM               8,192                   100               Good        live.1.indexPositionTable
   9/10/2008 7:44:48 PM               8,224                   100               Good        live.1.indexDirectory
   9/10/2008 7:44:48 PM               1,024                   100               Good        live.1.indexCompactDirectory
   9/10/2008 7:44:48 PM              65,536                   100               Good        live.1.indexArrays
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM              2,056                   100               Good        live.1.shadowIndexDirectory
   9/11/2008 11:48:34 AM                  2                   100               Good        live.1.shadowIndexGroups

   50 File(s)      999.74 KB in file data

\0000 VIDEO VAULT\2001\VIDEO_TS\
   3/10/2006 1:18:44 PM              12,288                   100               Good        VIDEO_TS.BUP
   3/10/2006 1:18:44 PM              12,288                   100               Good        VIDEO_TS.IFO
   3/10/2006 12:47:22 PM         31,821,824                   100               Good        VIDEO_TS.VOB
   3/10/2006 1:18:44 PM             120,832                   100               Good        VTS_01_0.BUP
   3/10/2006 1:18:44 PM             120,832                   100               Good        VTS_01_0.IFO
   3/10/2006 12:47:22 PM          1,742,848                   100               Good        VTS_01_0.VOB
   3/10/2006 12:56:50 PM      1,073,739,776                   100               Good        VTS_01_1.VOB
   3/10/2006 1:03:12 PM       1,073,739,776                   100               Good        VTS_01_2.VOB
   3/10/2006 1:09:06 PM       1,073,739,776                   100               Good        VTS_01_3.VOB
   3/10/2006 1:16:14 PM       1,073,739,776                   100               Good        VTS_01_4.VOB
   3/10/2006 1:18:44 PM         352,053,248                   100               Good        VTS_01_5.VOB

   11 File(s)      4.36 GB in file data

[Tom]

Aha, the fact that this is a FAT volume plays a major role. A NTFS volume would have given you a much better chance of recovering files intact, FAT is very susceptible to fragmentation, which in turn affects large files. It sounds like the volume itself has been corrupted, but it might still be interesting to see a DiskPatch log.  Try again with this version (your earlier problems with DiskPatch were most likely caused by compatibility problems, this version has different boot files). Uninstall your current version first and create a fresh boot disk/cd.
http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/downloads/Demo/DiskPatch_Setup_w98dos.exe

[ddenoff]

thanks! i will give it a try this morning.

my thinking is that before the mac-overnight incident, there were other films stored on this disc - they were moved off to another disc to make room on this one, but traces of them remained since those sectors had not yet been overwritten....and yet the remaining films were probably fine...yet it's those traces that got mixed in during the iRecover copy process and perhaps the films that are left on this disc are actually still fine -

so perhaps a process of repairing the disc - or removing the stray fragments of files that were supposedly deleted from the FAT table so that they can't be improperly incorporated into the GOOD files will work.

i love that we're not giving up on this ! and I love that my punched paper-tape backups from the PDP-10 in high school are still readable by EYE (since they're 7-bit ASCII punches) - they're like vinyl records - basically analogue - and will last forever - something to think about for future backup technology!!

[Tom]

my thinking is that before the mac-overnight incident, there were other films stored on this disc - they were moved off to another disc to make room on this one, but traces of them remained since those sectors had not yet been overwritten....and yet the remaining films were probably fine...yet it's those traces that got mixed in during the iRecover copy process and perhaps the films that are left on this disc are actually still fine

Yes, that could very well be. If normal access to the volume could be restored (with DiskPatch), you might be able to simply copy files to safety. Mind you, that's IF.

or removing the stray fragments of files that were supposedly deleted from the FAT table so that they can't be improperly incorporated into the GOOD files will work.

That won't be possible, as such. Some other tricks may be possible (because it's FAT we could copy the backup FAT over the original one, but that's tricky stuff and no guarantees), but we'll have to see.

How many miles of paper-tape backup would you need to store one DVD...

[ddenoff]

HA! true.  miles.  but they'd be there forever. (got any 8" floppies around?)

can't seem to get the PC to boot off the 98 CD - the first CD works fine - the folder structure is there but it's not happy.  plan B?

[ddenoff]

by bypassing the startup files and then executing autoexec.bat, i was able to get the original version to load on the PC - but when I press enter on START DISCREPAIR i get 'loading' and then nothing happens.  and it can't find a storage location, even with USB drive plugged in.  going to have lunch now and ignore technology for a short while...soon to return.

dd

[Tom]

If you can boot from a USB key/stick, try that. The latest DiskPatch setup has instructions included, look in the start menu shortcuts. Note: only the regular setup (the one from the website) has this included, but the boot files used for the USB setup are win9x dos files, so compatibility shouldn't be a problem.

Do I understand correctly that booting a PC happens in emulation? That may cause problems. If you're serious about this disk it might be better to connect it directly to a PC and run DiskPatch directly on that PC.

[ddenoff]

sorry for the delay - just been on other projects.  will get back on this shortly but in answer to your question, no this is not in 'emulation' = i'm booting off the CD on a Sony Vaio laptop which normally natively runs XP SP2.

i DID try it on my VMWare virtual machine and that effort is noted in the post above I think.