File recovery

[Faded_Mantis]

Hello,

I have an external HDD which I switched off before doing the stop USB device thing in XP. It popped up to say "cannot be disconnected right now..." and since it's normally ok to just disconnect it...also because the HDD hadn't been used since the computer was last turned off I figured it'd be ok. Turns out that the master file table is now corrupted, and I was hoping to use a file search/recover programme to find the files on it and restore them.

Is there a programme you recommend (either from use or from good word of mouth etc) which will work with Puppy linux, and can recover files from an NTFS file system through a USB port? If not on puppy, what about on one of the other lite linuxes like DSL?

The reason why I mention puppy/DSL is that I have an old Pentium II 233mhz PC which I'm wanting to do this on, and reason I want to do it on this old computer is that I don't want my main PC or laptop tied up for ages while it does the scan.

So the programme needs to support NTFS file system, attatched through a USB port, and HDD's of 320gb size.

[EDIT
Just before I get a "google it" answer. With the search terms I was using I was either getting linux software aimed at recovering ext2, ext3 reiser etc, or a windows one aimed at FAT and NTFS.

My search was fairly brief.

[oz]

The best apps that I know of for file recovery are TestDisk and PhotoRec, but I'm not sure they are what you are looking for:

TestDisk - CGSecurity

I'm sure that at least TestDisk comes on the PartedMagic LiveCD, which can be run from USB if needed. It's a small download and quick burn to CD, so they might be worth checking out.

Let us know if they work, or if it's something else that you are looking for.

[Faded_Mantis]

Can:
...
* Fix MFT using MFT mirror
...

Runs under:
...
* Windows (NT4, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista),
* Linux
...

Looks perfect. But I couldn't find if it works on external drives

Oh another bit of info that might help, after the message about the "$MFT" (Master File Table) not being writen to the HDD, it doesn't show up in windows explorer anymore...You don't know how strange it feels to say that last line in a linux forum.

[Faded_Mantis]

Well looks like I don't need the programme anymore. I had tried disconnecting and reconnecting the HDD when this first happened, and it wouldn't show up like I said above. I had run an "evaluation scan" from one of these pay for programmes to see if it could find what I wanted. I cancelled that scan after 24 hours (turns out selecting the most thorough scan wasn't a good idea). I then disconnected the HDD.

I reconnected it just now in preparation to try TestDisk, and what do I hear, the ding dong noise to let me know a USB device was just connected (didn't get this before) I had a look and everything is back to normal.

The only thing I can think of which might have made a difference is that the PC was still on when I was doing the initia disconnect/reconnect to try and fix it, where as the PC had been restarted between those times and this time.