Recover data using RIP Linux
RIP Linux, is a collection of many free utilities. One of the application of RIP Linux is Data Recovery.
Download RIP Linux from here : http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-r...LinuX-11.3.iso
After downloading it you can write it to a CD or else boot it from USB using Universal USB Installer
Once you boot into RIP Linux you'll see something like this :
Using up and down arrows. Just select Boot Linux System to X! (32-bit kernel). I can't tell you confidently that it will work with 64-bit systems. So, try it yourself as I don't have 64-bit system. If Boot Linux System to X! didn't worked then you have to choose Boot Linux System (64-bit kernel), but it is CUI, if you want that tutorial too then leave a reply. I'll show that when I have time :p.
Select No in Console Keyboard menu, because we all have US Keyboards.
If you have other keyboard then select Yes and then choose the appropriate keyboard.
After pressing No in above window, you'll goto the below screen. By using up and down arrows, move to your country and then press space bar to select it. Next hit enter
Next select ok
Now don't worry if you see a blank blue screen. Just right-click on the screen to get menu.
Now select Mount/Unmount
A new window will open. It will show the drives of your HDD. If any external hdd is connected it will also show them. So, better select them first. and then click ok.
Tip : Note down the device names, especially the drives from which you want to recover and to which you want to restore.
Again Right-Click on blue screen and goto Applications. You'll see so many applications. But in this article I want to show you how to recover lost data.
Under applicatins hover over Partition tools.
Under partition tools select photorec
Now photorec is loaded.
From now on you have to work from Keyboard itself as photorec is CUI.
Now hit Enter to Proceed.
Now select your machine type and hit enter. Even if you use AMD just select Intel, it represents whole Windows family irrespective of system architecture.
In the next menu you have to select the partition from which you want to recover data. Disk identification has to be done based on size or else using 7th screenshot.
The first partition with star is bootable one. All remaining hard drives are listed under extended.
Before you start the search for deleted files you have to do one more thing. You have tell photorec what type of files you are interested in. Not compulsory. But is important because if file type is not selected then all files will be restored. This leads to time and space wastage. If you know what kind of files you want to recover i.e. doc,docx,mp3,avi etc then its best to select file types. Mostly we are interested in recovering photos, videos and documents...
Now hit tab and then right arrow and select File Options and hit enter.
Now a list is shown to you
By default all filetypes are selected. It will be difficult to deselect unnecessary types and keep necessary ones selected. So, press "S" so that all are deselected and select the necessary ones. In my case s trick didn't worked. So I manually scroll down one by one using down arrow and pressed right/left arrow to deselect it. I deselected all and only left necessary files formats selected.
I selected most commonly used file formats like amr,ape,asf,doc,dv,flac,flv,jpg,mid,mp3,mov (mov,mp4,3gp,3g2,jp2),ogg,pdf,ra,rm,riff(wav,avi,c dr), swf,txt. There are so many file types to choose from, including san andreas save file. Photorec can recover almost any kind of file. :)
so patiently select all the necessary file format types which you want to recover. Once all filetypes are selected press b to save settings and hit enter to quit from that menu.
back in the menu. now you select search. In next menu select type of file system.
Now in next menu select whole. It will be best.
Now comes the critical part, where to save recovered files? If you have external HDD connect it before the 6th screenshot. If you don't have external drive you can select another partition. For example, if you are recovring C: drive then you save those recovered files to D: drive. By default you'll be in Root Folder. You have to go level/folder up to choose the target partition. To go up select the second option with two dots. Select it and hit enter you'll go one level up.
After moving one level up. select mnt. and hit enter
Inside mnt, select the HDD to which you want to save the recovered files. Choose the device name.
Once you go inside drive press Y. Now RIP Linux should start the recovery....
I hope that this tutorial will be helpful to everyone.... :pray:
