Data recovery, possible to get the file structure back as well?

[Doug482]

Hi Apple Smarties,
I closed my laptop lid on my external LaCie drive without ejecting the drive first (smart one!). After that the external drive wouldn't mount. I've used Data Rescue 3 to recover all the files from the drive... however it's just lumping all the files into one big batch :-( ...anybody know if it's possible to get the files into the correct files structure they were at before the drive got corrupted?
Assistance would be HUGELY appreciated.
Many thanks
Kind regards
Doug

 

[miles01110]

Not possible.

 

[flynz4]

I am really surprised that putting your computer to sleep would corrupt a drive.

/Jim

 

[LiesForTheLiars]

Not possible.

Actually yes, it is possible.



Anyway, Disk Drill will allow you to keep your file structure in tact. It's a paid app, but the trial will allow you to clone your entire hard drive as a mountable image file. It will contain all the files from your drive inside the image file, you just have to mount it to retrieve them.

It can be found here: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/35373/disk-drill

Let me know how it goes.

 

[Doug482]

To: LiesForTheLiars

Thanks LFTL, another post response on another site recommended that I try R-Studio, so I created an image, then tried to open the image... now I'm scanning that image... my problem is that I'm not sure of the exact steps to follow with this data recovery process. I will try Disk Drill as well and let you know, thanks for the helpful response.

 

[LiesForTheLiars]

Keep us posted. Good luck!

 

[Doug482]

To: LFTL

Hi again, I download Disk Drill from your link, the first .dmg file when opened only shows me the message "no mountable file systems", I downloaded it a second time... that file allows you 1 step further to click on the 'agree / disagree' statement... then shows "image data corrupted". It doesn't get as far as to show me the actual Disk Drill program... heard of that before?

 

[LiesForTheLiars]

Hi again, I download Disk Drill from your link, the first .dmg file when opened only shows me the message "no mountable file systems", I downloaded it a second time... that file allows you 1 step further to click on the 'agree / disagree' statement... then shows "image data corrupted". It doesn't get as far as to show me the actual Disk Drill program... heard of that before?

Try downloading it directly from their site: http://www.cleverfiles.com/

 

[Fishrrman]

You have a -chance- (nothing more than a chance) of getting the file structure back (along with the data), but it's a small chance indeed.

Look at it this way...
The fact that the drive couldn't be mounted normally was probably caused by something that went wrong with the directory. Nothing wrong with the files -- just with the directory.

Data recovery apps are able to work around this by "going around" the directory (as if it didn't exist), and go right to the data with the drive's disk sectors. They scavenge what they can find, and then re-assemble as much as possible on a "scratch" drive.

But file/folder hierarchies are a "construct" of the drive's directory. Since the directory is not accessed, the data recovery app has no idea of how those hierarchies are supposed to be, so the app just lumps everything together, and YOU have to "sort it all out".

That's a relatively small price to pay, for getting back data that you thought was "gone"...

 

[Prosoft Support]

ABL Settings

Hi Apple Smarties,
I closed my laptop lid on my external LaCie drive without ejecting the drive first (smart one!). After that the external drive wouldn't mount. I've used Data Rescue 3 to recover all the files from the drive... however it's just lumping all the files into one big batch :-( ...anybody know if it's possible to get the files into the correct files structure they were at before the drive got corrupted?
Assistance would be HUGELY appreciated.
Many thanks
Kind regards
Doug

Hi-

Iy may be possible to use the ABL settings within Data Rescue 3 to view your original directory structure properly.

Here is a how-to guide on the settings:
http://www.prosofteng.com/support/datarescue3-abl.php

Feel free to contact us directly: support@prosofteng.com atten: Mike