Windows 10 the new Trojan Horse...

a reply to: mysterioustranger

You can use a friends computr to read.... Then put it onto an external or flash whatever drive.

Hehe sorry to say, but I ran out of friends a year ago when my best friend started sneaking behind my back with my ex (loooooong story)

So I dont really have other computers except for the one my dad replaced. I got the external drive out of its casing (the casing was a bit in the way, SATA cable weren't making good connection), and got the cables sorted. Our only last problem now is that the old computer needs to be made a Windows 7 pc again, or anything but Win10. It will take a while to get it running again.

Oh... and save a few extra copies elsewhere too.

Since this happened, I have heard that a few times hehe. I was thinking of making DVD backups as we recover my data, starting with the three most important categories of data. I wish I could write everything on DVD's, but I worked it out, and I would need 400 DVD's hehe.

But on a very serious note, Thank You so very much for all the help and advise. I've never been the computer fixer, just the computer user. And thanks for explaining what really happened and how it all works. I just hope and pray that the time will finally come where I can say "Thanks you, I got everything back!"

a reply to: IndependentOpinion

Libraries.. Local community colleges.. Civic centers all have avail. comptrs.

Win 95, XP, Win 7 etc... All those can read your stuff.

Apple can too as your art work, photos, music n such are basic-commonly created file ext names.

a reply to: IndependentOpinion

PS: IO? I'll be your friend!! Peace.

Best, MS

*deleted by member

a reply to: IndependentOpinion

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a reply to: mysterioustranger

Yes I know, theres a few internet cafes around me, but I think it will be easier to do it at home where i can transfer in most important data directly to my own computer and write backup disks at the same time. Hehe I know I may sound a bit stubburn, but this is my lifes work on there!

Hehe I already count a lot of you on here as friends

1) The original post by ArMap contained a "twistie" . Drop it down and it states all you have to do is open Windows Media Player and restore the original DRM

2) All you need to do is take Admin rights on the disk again. On some Windows Insider Preview versions , I had to do the same

3) Weep bitterly - the drive has reached EOL .

a reply to: IndependentOpinion

It's up to you... I personally stopped burning discs years ago.. Just drop on flashes or externals... I don't think I've got anything on a disc... Some original software maybe.

A few 64g and and maybe 32g flash drives... along with a 1t and a 2t externals... 100,000 picts, docs, 21,000 songs and around 450-475(?)full length movies, documentaries, s.ware programs....all fit in my pockets.

Its a personal choice...whatever works for you. For me? Grab and go..no discs. Go for it, and again good luck!!

Peace

originally posted by: IndependentOpinion
Since this happened, I have heard that a few times hehe.

Backups are your friends.

For daily backups I suggest Areca Backup, a free, Open Source program for Windows and Linux computers that I have been using for several years without a problem and that has a very easy way of recovering files.

I was thinking of making DVD backups as we recover my data, starting with the three most important categories of data. I wish I could write everything on DVD's, but I worked it out, and I would need 400 DVD's hehe.

Either on DVDs or on other support, one thing I sometimes use is parity files, as those can rebuild damaged files in a very useful way. For example, using QuickPar (the one I have installed in this computer), I can tell it to take 12 video files, set a redundancy of 25% and it will create 7 .par files that are able to recover any 3 missing files of those 12. If instead of missing the files have missing/bad data then it can recover more, even all, if the missing data is not much.

It has the disadvantage of occupying more space, but the big advantage of, unlike backups, being able to recover any damaged or missing file.

As I haven't presented any program that may recover the data from the disk (if needed), I'll list some of the programs I have used with good results.
- Piriform's Recuva (the free version has no limitations)
- EaseUS' Data Recovery Wizard Free (the free version doesn't recover more than 2GB of files)
- Christophe Grenier's PhotoRec and TestDisk (open source)

Hey all. Sorry it took me so long to come back.

Bad News, nothing worked, it curated for good seems to me.
Nothing will read it. I took it apart, but it in a Win7 computer, and after 50 hours of scanning, all I got was a list of unreadable files.

My last option is to save up and take it in to Data Recovery specialists, but that wont happen soon.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

When it comes to recovering any lost files, I use this free data recovery software - www.cleverfiles.com... . Frankly speaking, it's a limited version that allows to recover up to 100 mb. The paid version is pretty pricey, so I wouldn't pay money unless the data were of utter importance.

a reply to: IndependentOpinion

Try looking into some forensic software specifically designed to look for file artifacts. I've seen it used in all kinds of settings where other recovery software fails.

Off the top of my head, lookup ENCASE (there are a few other equivalents).
I believe there is a free version which is limited to certain things, but it might be able to help you out.
It's complex, I won't lie, but YouTube has a TON of videos doing exactly what you are looking to do.

ENCASE works at a very low level. So if your disk is unreadable by the OS, it should easily be readable by ENCASE. It works byte by byte, but you will have to do some fidgeting to get it work.

Unless there is a physical failure of the drive, and you haven't reformatted, you should still have your files accessible. We just have to find what tool can get them for ya.