NTFS or FAT32 when booting to DOS

[dman]

OK, here is why guest is not working... only works with zip100 and 250

https://iomega-na-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/i...lva=16739&p_li=

seems you are out of luck with zip750 guest under DOS, and same with spinrite under XP. Do you have a win98 computer you could try it on. Else try another recovery program like Brandon suggested.

Edited June 28, 2005 by dman

[jaclaz]

Ok, let's clarify things (in ten points):

1) Spinrite will ONLY run under DOS, being it either MS-DOS 6.22 or MS-DOS 7.1 (the one that comes with wndows 9x/ME), it will NOT run under ANY flavour of windows, be it 9x/ME or NT/2k/XP/2003

2) from the PHOTOREC documentation:

Since version 5.7, Photorec has been extended to search for non audio/video headers. Here is the full list of recognised headers:

au: Sun/NeXT audio data

avi: RIFF audio/video

Known limitation: wav files are recovered as avi

bmp: BMP bitmap

Known limitation: prone to false positive, don't try to recover bmp if possible

bz2: bzip2 compressed data

c: Source code written in C

Known limitation: the signature is not 100% efficient.

crw: Canon Raw picture

ctg: Canon catalog

dir: FAT subdirectory

Usefull to improve the recovery of fragmented data

doc: Microsoft Office Document

Known limitation: Word, Excel... are all recovered with doc extension.

dsc: Nikon dsc

html: HTML page

Known limitation: the signature is not 100% efficient.

jpg: JPG picture

If paranoid mode is enabled, recovered jpg are checked.

mov: MOV video

mp3: MP3 audio (MPEG ADTS, layer III, v1)

Known limitation: prone to false positive, don't try to recover mp3 if possible

mpg: Moving Picture Experts Group video

mrw: Minolta Raw picture

orf: Olympus Raw Format picture

pdf: Portable Document Format

pl: Perl script

png: Portable Network Graphics

raf: Raw Fujifilm picture

raw: Contax picture

rdc: Rollei picture

rtf: Rich Text Format

sh: Shell script

tar: tar archive

Known limitation: because the tar data is not checked, others headers may stop the recovery of the file.

tiff: Tag Image File Format

wma: Microsoft ASF

x3f: Sigma/Foveon X3 raw picture

zip: zip archive

So, if the files are NOT in the list above, PHOTOREC is of NO use.

3) There are tens if not hundreds of Data Recovery programs out there that run from both DOS or NT/2k/XP, each of them has it's ups and downs, MOST are NOT freeware.

4) Sometimes a certain program will recover only a part of data, whilst another will recover another part.

5) There is no "best" program, as a rule of thumb, DOS based ones are better than NT/2K/XP based ones, due to the direct access DOS can provide to hardware (linux offers the same advantage), but a program run under NT/2K/XP could be more effective in some cases

6) Each and every program NEEDS to be used by a competent person to maximize results.

7) There are so many things that might have gone wrong on those disks that it is impossible to give specific advice, though I'll try to my best do so.

8) Theoretically it is POSSIBLE to use an USB ZIP drive under DOS, even if Iomega says it is not possible. There are reports on the net that this has been achieved, though there is no single way to do so, due to the incredible number of factors that might concur to success or fail (motherboard bus, BIOS, poorly implemented USB specs, Processor speed, etc.). NONE of the methods, EVEN if working are PROVED solutions safe enough to be used for such a delicate task as data recovery is.

9) As said before the MAIN thing in data recovery, EXPECIALLY if you are not an expert at it, is to NEVER work on original data, ALWAYS work on a copy (image) of the data.

10) If the data to be recovered is only "marginally" important, and you wish to make some experience, go ahead on a DIY job, being prepared to lose a LOT of time to study and learn how to do it; if data to be recovered is "important" you should evaluate the option to ask for professional help.

Back to your problem what I would do (mind that this is my personal advice, no warranty implied):

1) Make TWO images of the disk, using the programs I linked to in my previous post (or use, if you have it, another imaging tool)

2) Mount the image as a Virtual drive under windows 2K/XP, by means of these:

Driver:

http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vdk.html

GUI (by yours truly):

http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.n...ts/VDM/vdm.html

3) Experiment freely with TESTDISK on it

4) If nothing comes out of it, try this FREEWARE:

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

5) If nothing comes out of it, try with the evaluation versions of these (PAYWARE) apps (in order of my personal preference):

File Scavenger:

http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm

GetDataBack:

http://www.runtime.org/

(as said above there are MANY more)

There are even better (in my opinion) apps from x-ways:

http://www.x-ways.net/

and DFSEE:

http://www.dfsee.com/

but I would not use them if you are a beginner.

The other downloads either couldn't recognise my zip drive or they did not hang around any longer that about 0.5 of a second after starting them for me to even use!

Roadkil's DiskImage is a win32 GUI application, it "should" see your ZIP, maybe it does not.

RAWDISK is a win32 CONSOLE application, you DO NOT start it by double clicking it, you must start it opening a console window, navigate to the directory where the exe is, the typing the name of the exe and hitting enter, it will give you basic help about the parameters you need to pass it.

(btw, same applies to testdisk and photorec, though they can also start by double click, it is MUCH better to start them from console)

Another FREEWARE GUI diskimaging solution is this one:

editdisk/diskexplorer

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA013937/ed...sk/index_e.html

Another FREEWARE CONSOLE diskimaging solution is this one:

dsfok:

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/

(again these might work or might not)

jaclaz

[m8E]

Hi dman, will take that into account, I hope a windows 98 computer will make some difference when I try things out on one soon.

Thanks jaclaz, I've been through those and found that PC Inspector has done the best job yet of recovering files from my disks although it didn't recover the majority but better than none at all. As for making an image of my disks, I think all of the image software tried recognises my zip drive but I have not yet found one that will actually recognise there is a disk in my zip drive. This is frustrating but I will keep trying.

[jaclaz]

As for making an image of my disks, I think all of the image software tried recognises my zip drive but I have not yet found one that will actually recognise there is a disk in my zip drive. This is frustrating but I will keep trying.

...hmmm, possibly the Iomega (ither drive or disk) fails to "detect" that the disk is in, thus not assigning a drive letter?

RAWDISK and DSFOK should be able to connect to a device even if it is not "recognised" by windows.

jaclaz