Question Veracrypt encryption process failed, now I need to recover my files.

[THVCHE]

So Veracrypt has left me with an unusable drive with a lot of important files on there. It was most of the way through the process and now will not continue. I cannot figure out how to get it to continue or even why it isn't working now. I did not stop the process without deferring.

Operation failed due to one or more of the following:

• Incorrect password.
• Incorrect Volume PIM number.
• Incorrect PRF (hash).
• Not a valid volume.

Source: ResumeInPlaceEncWaitThreadProc:346​

I can't access the drive until I format it. Should I format it and try to recover the files? What are my chances of a full recovery if I perform it immediately after the format?

 

[rgd1101]

none. that what encryption does.
where is the backup?

 

[popatim]

^^^ This sadly.

 

[USAFRet]

What are my chances of a full recovery if I perform it immediately after the format?

0%

 

[ex_bubblehead]

This is when you revert to the backup that you made before you started. That data is gone (permanently) now.

 

[hang-the-9]

Personal story about failing encryption and need for backups and testing. Years ago I worked for a company that started encrypting their servers at store sites. Servers were re-imaged every year with a backup of the data placed back onto the server (yes that is pretty silly but the home office people though clean server setup yearly was a good idea).

Procedure we got was "image the server, copy backup, encrypt". After first 10 servers I did crashed during encryption 1/3rd of the time I changed the procedure to "image server, run disk test, encrypt, copy from backup. It saved hours of wasted time restoring a backup only to have a faulty disk crash encryption procedure and waste another half day replacing disks and doing an image again.