[SOLVED] better software to recover files

[barleysinger]

I have an old external WD UDS HDD. It's a 4TB "My Passport". I am trying to recover files. I did find errors on a surface scan. I have Minitool Partition Manager Pro, and was going to use to to get back whichever files are retrevable but I've found a rather large issue with the software. I need a better tool.

In MiniTool, when you go to [Data Recovery], select a drive and then have it find whatever it can recover, the program doesn't built a saved application-friendly list of recoverable files as it goes along. That means if anything serious goes wrong (like a surface error) the application will hang. It will not leave behind a record of the files that were discovered before that point that the software can use to continue the process.

It is supposed to be allowed to scan the entire HDD before you recover any files, although you can step in an grab some if you wish. This is not preferable, and of course you won't know about all of the files if you stop to do this part way through.

The trouble is you cannot know which files are recoverable without allowing it to complete the scan first. But if it hits a significant error the entire application hangs irretrievably & since it doesn't have a list to go back to you must start over. You cannot kill the running (hung) process. You either reboot the machine of you unplug the USB HDD. Either way you lose your work to that moment and are then unable to tell the software which files to try and grab. The software does not build a table of files (and how to recover them) as it proceeds.

Now scanning a USB drive is already very slow. It takes 120+ hours. And when it encounters a significant error you have to start over. You (of course) have no way of knowing this is going to occur. The software doesn't leave behind a file that it can use to go back and continue the process, or to let you grab the files it knows about (up to that point).

The company is aware of this bug. I have a hunch that they are using WIndows OS rountines for the software instead of writing their own more robust routines.

So what better software is there that will run on Win 7 pro 64?

 

[Bob.B]

I have an old external WD UDS HDD. It's a 4TB "My Passport". I am trying to recover files. I did find errors on a surface scan. I have Minitool Partition Manager Pro, and was going to use to to get back whichever files are retrevable but I've found a rather large issue with the software. I need a better tool.

In MiniTool, when you go to [Data Recovery], select a drive and then have it find whatever it can recover, the program doesn't built a saved application-friendly list of recoverable files as it goes along. That means if anything serious goes wrong (like a surface error) the application will hang. It will not leave behind a record of the files that were discovered before that point that the software can use to continue the process.

It is supposed to be allowed to scan the entire HDD before you recover any files, although you can step in an grab some if you wish. This is not preferable, and of course you won't know about all of the files if you stop to do this part way through.

The trouble is you cannot know which files are recoverable without allowing it to complete the scan first. But if it hits a significant error the entire application hangs irretrievably & since it doesn't have a list to go back to you must start over. You cannot kill the running (hung) process. You either reboot the machine of you unplug the USB HDD. Either way you lose your work to that moment and are then unable to tell the software which files to try and grab. The software does not build a table of files (and how to recover them) as it proceeds.

Now scanning a USB drive is already very slow. It takes 120+ hours. And when it encounters a significant error you have to start over. You (of course) have no way of knowing this is going to occur. The software doesn't leave behind a file that it can use to go back and continue the process, or to let you grab the files it knows about (up to that point).

The company is aware of this bug. I have a hunch that they are using WIndows OS rountines for the software instead of writing their own more robust routines.

So what better software is there that will run on Win 7 pro 64?

Give Recuva a test drive.
https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

 

[fzabkar]

Your drive sounds like it has developed head/media problems. A SMART report may confirm this.

Your best approach is to clone the drive with HDDSuperClone or ddrescue. These tools understand how to work with bad sectors. Other tools will just thrash the drive until it breaks.

HDDSuperClone has a Live CD.

Once you have cloned your drive, you can then run data recovery tools against the clone. DMDE (US$20) and RAISE (US$25) are probably the cheapest of the good tools. The free version of DMDE can recover 4000 files from any one folder. If your clone has an intact file system, then you may be able to access your data without any tools.