Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   bromberg
   Member

   I installed Mareew File Recovery on my USB thumb drive but when I attempt to execute it, it just hangs.
   Any suggestions would be appreciated.
   Dan

   Posted 9 years ago #
2. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   I didn't install the program but a quick review of the publisher's website says "Mareew File Recovery requires a valid registration key in order to save the recoverable files" so even if it ran it would be useless as a portable file recovery program unless you used one of the "make portable" applications (and that application worked).

   You don't specify what PC you're running it from, if it's not the same as when the program was installed then that could be the issue; if it is, then the program may be scanning the drive and not "hung".

   Recuva has a portable version but if the files are really important then it's best to image the drive, mount the image, and then run a file recovery program on the image. Mareew File Recovery supposedly has the functionality to do the last two steps but it's not an "out-of-the-box" portable application.

   Posted 9 years ago #
3. 

   bromberg
   Member

   ChrisS,
   I did get Mareew to run from my thumb drive after rebooting (and was surprised that it still accepted the license code after the giveawayoftheday 3AM deadline!?); during its 6+ hour execution there were over 4 million(!)files that it tallied as it was scanning. However, it did not recover any of my personal directories so, like Recuva, and a host of other recovery products I tried running from GAotD, it appears as if my data is gone (caused by a reformat of my HDD when my (Vista) system refused to boot).

   But just so I'm clear, any recovery software is meant to run from a thumb drive or with the failing HDD connected to a working PC in order to avoid extra writing to the HDD - correct?

   Thanks, and any other recommendations to recover my data would be greatly appreciated.
   Dan

   Posted 9 years ago #
4. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   You chances of recovering the data depend on how you formatted the drive and what you've done since the OS was reinstalled. If it was a "quick format" then any data that hasn't been subsequently overwritten as the computer was used is recoverable, if it was a "regular" format then the data was overwritten during the formatting process and it's gone for good. If you allowed the OS installation disk to do the work then it should have been a "quick format" and most of your data is still intact.

   You need to take the reformatted drive out-of-service ASAP because you're over-writing your data when you use it. So, you're going to need either:
   (a) another PC and an external hard drive; or
   (b) another boot hard drive in your existing PC with a functional OS and an external drive

   Next, image the drive using appropriate backup software. You don't want to work with, and potentially destroy, the "source data" when a copy is just as good. What you use will depend on your options to mount the image. If you plan to recover the data on a Windows 7 or later PC then you can simply use Disk2VHD and then mount the VHD using existing Windows functionality. If you're stuck with using Vista then you'll need another option. Macrium Reflect and Aoemi Backupper both have utilities that will mount their images and OSFmount will mount images from a Linux rescue disk like "The Ultimate Boot Disk" but you'll have to determine Vista compatibility. Remember, do not install anything on the reformatted drive as you'd potentially overwrite recoverable data.

   Once you've imaged the drive, make a copy of the image, mount the copy, and try the various free recovery tools on the mounted image. I don't know anything about Vista, or your hardware, so I can't really give any specific advice.

   Posted 9 years ago #
5. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   Addendum:

   I should have remembered the title of the post and not added needless complications. Since Mareew File Recovery will both make and mount an image you should try it first and make an image to an external drive. Then mount a copy of that image (never mess with your original) and see what Mareew File Recovery can recover. It's already installed so there's no over-write concern but remember to only work on the image located on the external drive.

   Note that the image Mareew mounts should also be accessible by other recovery programs. However, those programs should not be downloaded to, or installed on, the reformatted drive that you want to recover even though you've already imaged it. "Should be accessible" also contains the possibility that you'll have to reimage the drive and mount the image with other software.

   Posted 9 years ago #
6. 

   bromberg
   Member

   Hello ChrisS:

   This is the background of my recovery problem:
   When my Vista OS would not boot, I reinstalled the OS from the vendor partition that came with my PC and obviously lost all my data. I have not used the PC since then to avoid writing to it. I was hoping that Mareew File Recovery 5.1 would recover some or all of my data even though the HDD has been reformatted with a vanilla copy of Vista. While Mareew was scanning, it tallied over 4 million(!)files but the final output certainly did not contain nearly that many. It would have been nice to see how many in a report but I couldn't find one.

   I ran Mareew File Recovery 5.1 and it did find files under C:\Recovered files, but no specific directories were displayed that I recognized as containing files that were important to me. I am, however, concerned that Mareew wrote to my HDD which will lessen my chances for recovery when I explore other recovery software. If this is true, why would it do that?

   More importantly, in your evaluation, can you tell me your opinion of the likelihood of recovery since I reinstall my (Vista) OS from the vendor partition that came on my PC?

   Thank you very much for your in-depth explanations.
   With appreciation,
   Dan

   Posted 9 years ago #
7. 

   krypteller
   Member

   @Dan: lesson for the future. Partition your C-drive so that you have separate partitions for your system (C) and for your data (D). With Vista you will need some tricks to get Windows to store your data on D (see eg http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/moving-your-personal-data-folders-in-windows-vista-the-easy-way/). With Windows 10, you can accomplish this with just a few clicks in the Settings/System/Storage menu.

   In most cases a system re-install will not wipe C. So good recovery programmes should be able to recover something. But because of the formatting the folder information may have been lost forever.

   Posted 9 years ago #
8. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   Dan, the vendor OS recovery install is relatively small so it would not have overwritten much data. Since you're running Mareew File Recovery from the thumb drive I'd expect any temporary files it generates to be on the thumb drive but even if they're in a temporary folder on your hard drive it shouldn't be anything more than a list so it's not very big (even though it appears to be a long list). In addition, many defragging programs put applications at the front of the drive, where they'll load faster, and move data to the back of the drive. All of that bodes well for recovery of the data.

   However, you really need to image the drive to stop any bleeding. With a proper backup and restore program you'd be able to put your system back the way it is now so your problem won't get any worse. Additionally, since data is all 1's and 0's it doesn't matter to a computer if that data is on a hard drive or in a file, the numbers are the same either way and a recovery program will see a mounted image the same way it sees a physical drive. You need an external drive or another internal drive larger than your existing hard drive, and preferably one several times larger.

   I don't think Vista has a built-in imaging program so you're going to need another program. Some external drives come with backup software so that might be an option. However, it would still be a good idea to download and install Aoemi Backupper on the external drive and then create its boot disk. Then backup the hard drive using the "exact copy" option (the default "intelligent copy" option will only backup sectors that the PC says are in use and that would not include your missing data). You can do the same with Macrium if you prefer. Just be sure to install to the external drive, all you need from them at this point is an image, a recovery boot disk, and the ability to mount an image.

   Then mount a copy of the Aoemi image and let Mareew File Recovery do it's thing on the mounted image. The fact that it found 4 million potential files is a good thing but I'd consider running it with "doc", "xls" or other single file extensions to keep from getting overwhelmed by the results and to hopefully spot files that you recognize.

   I'll give your problem some more thought but one idea that probably won't work is trying to access the Shadow Volume copy. Download the portable version of ShadowExplorer to your thumb drive and see if it finds anything.

   Posted 9 years ago #
9. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   Dan, one other thing...

   See if you have a "Windows.old" folder. If you do then your data is in that folder and these two articles might be of some interest: How to restore your personal files after you perform a custom installation of Windows Vista or of Windows 7 and How to restore a computer to a previous Windows installation after you install Windows Vista

   Posted 9 years ago #
10. 

    bromberg
    Member

    ChrisS,
    You have been more than generous in offering your time and sharing your thoughts with me. Thanks to you I am re-encouraged that I still have a fighting chance to recover my data. I'll follow up on your recommendations and will keep you posted on my progress.
    With great appreciation,
    Dan

    Posted 9 years ago #
11. 

    ChrisS
    Administrator

    Dan, FWIW, I spent a little time over the weekend trying some of the data recovery tools available for download at MajorGeeks. For the test, I put about 8 GB of data on an previously used 16 GB NTFS formatted USB drive. I then imaged that drive with the utility in the trial version Mareew File Recovery, made a copy of the image, mounted the copy using OFSMount* and did a quick format of the mounted image (drive).

    The free Recuva and Puran, with the proper options selected, were able to recovery the files and file structure after the quick format. The results of the "free to look" versions of EaseUS Data Recovery and ReClaiMe File Recovery appeared to be identical.

    I then copied about 100 MB of data to the drive and repeated the test. The over-write destroyed some of the directory/file structure and data but what could be recovered still appeared to be more-or-less the same for the 4 programs (some files with names, others as FileXXXX.ext).

    So, the free tools appeared to be generally as good as the trial paid ones I tested (other paid programs could be better) and some file names were recoverable. Maybe you'll have similar success.

    FYI - the trial version of Mareew looks to be a "signature based" recovery program that just gives a generic file name and extension. The paid version that you installed may be different but I didn't see any particular difference in the trial version and the free Photorec "signature based" program.

    *Puran would not recognize the mounted image. I had to convert it to a VHD using qemu-img and attach as a VHD.

    Posted 9 years ago #

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