Data recovery boot cd vs slaving drive

[ell]

Hi, I have a desktop that had a fresh format & reinstall of xp a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately the customer neglected to save some pics from her son's user acct before doing so, and now her ex(his father) was killed and the son is on her to get the pics back of him & his father. I booted with ubcd4win and went to work with recurva and getdataback for ntfs, (it locked up on deep scan) I managed to salvage a few pics, but not the ones he desires. My question is, would I get better results if I pulled the drive and put it in a usb enclosure or slaved it? I also left a message for her to try and get me his camera card, maybe I can still retrieve them from it, I don't know how successful that would be.

[hondablaster]

Hi, I have a desktop that had a fresh format & reinstall of xp a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately the customer neglected to save some pics from her son's user acct before doing so, and now her ex(his father) was killed and the son is on her to get the pics back of him & his father. I booted with ubcd4win and went to work with recurva and getdataback for ntfs, (it locked up on deep scan) I managed to salvage a few pics, but not the ones he desires. My question is, would I get better results if I pulled the drive and put it in a usb enclosure or slaved it? I also left a message for her to try and get me his camera card, maybe I can still retrieve them from it, I don't know how successful that would be.

STOP!

Take it to a place that specializes in this sort of stuff. Or your going to be on the hook if you cant get those back and down the road someone says to them 2 months from now

"why didnt you go to a Data recovery specialist"

Then suddenly your being attacked for a job that might be considered out of your scope of expertise. Was there a discussion about going to a specialist between them and you?
(forgive me if im wrong)

When dealing with stuff like that, and death of a loved one, emotions override logic and everyone needs a finger to point. I may be wrong but I would totally go to a place that does that and even be proactive and give that place a calll and get some rates to keep a good face!!!!!

Hondablaster

EDIT: I know thats not the advice you was looking for but that is the most intellectual response, unless you and them decided that a specialist was too much $$$ or unnecessary etc etc.

[ell]

STOP!

Take it to a place that specializes in this sort of stuff. Or your going to be on the hook if you cant get those back and down the road someone says to them 2 months from now

"why didnt you go to a Data recovery specialist"

Then suddenly your being attacked for a job that might be considered out of your scope of expertise. Was there a discussion about going to a specialist between them and you?
(forgive me if im wrong)

When dealing with stuff like that, and death of a loved one, emotions override logic and everyone needs a finger to point. I may be wrong but I would totally go to a place that does that and even be proactive and give that place a calll and get some rates to keep a good face!!!!!

Hondablaster

She lives in a small apt, first thing she asked was how much, I know she would not pay $$$ to get them back, I will suggest another place in town that specializes, I did have her sign a waiver, but can you answer my question?

[Kenhelms]

STOP!

When dealing with stuff like that, and death of a loved one, emotions override logic and everyone needs a finger to point. I may be wrong but I would totally go to a place that does that and even be proactive and give that place a calll and get some rates to keep a good face!!!!!

Hondablaster

I normally would say, go for it, gotta learn sometime...but....

he couldnt have put it better than that. Your dealing with something that could really blow up.

That said, your best bet is to run it via USB, running off a live CD can present a number of problems.

there are some of us here who specialize in data recovery and would be willing to help you, or you can use another commercial solution like www.drivesavers.com or the like.


Above all remember, the first data recovery is the best. So whatever you do, make sure you have made a copy image of the drive, and you are working with the COPY. NOT THE ORIGINAL. Never do that, you do not want to affect that unless you have to. there are a number of commercial imaging solutions out there that should help you.


Edit- Just saw the post above me.

If thats the case, just image, put it on USB, and run it. You should be able to pull it that way.

[hondablaster]

She lives in a small apt, first thing she asked was how much, I know she would not pay $$$ to get them back, I will suggest another place in town that specializes, I did have her sign a waiver, but can you answer my question?

I apologize, that is outside of my skills. Im sure someone on here has more knowledge on that. My comment was not trying to chastise you but make sure you would not be doing something that come to bite you in the butt later. If you didnt say photos of someone deceased I would not even comment.

Another saying that seems to be so true as a get older...

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Goodluck ell

[ell]

I apologize, that is outside of my skills. Im sure someone on here has more knowledge on that. My comment was not trying to chastise you but make sure you would not be doing something that come to bite you in the butt later. If you didnt say photos of someone deceased I would not even comment.

Another saying that seems to be so true as a get older...

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Goodluck ell

goodness, no I appreciate the warning, shes not that desperate, but I would really like to help her, I'm not charging her squat (I'm easy)

[angry_geek]

I agree with Ken. Working on an image of the drive is probably going to be best. That said, since an os was installed and, I assume, a format was done, I doubt you're going to get too much. If it was just a format, no problem. However, since an os was reinstalled, the sectors with your data have probably been overwritten.

[ell]

I agree with Ken. Working on an image of the drive is probably going to be best. That said, since an os was installed and, I assume, a format was done, I doubt you're going to get too much. If it was just a format, no problem. However, since an os was reinstalled, the sectors with your data have probably been overwritten.

Yes, I'm aware of that, and its also been 2 weeks! I explained that all to her, I just downloaded the newest version of getdataback, going to try one more time, I was surprised recurva recovered the old user acct and a few of the pics, just not the 10 hes looking for, I have those copied on a backup drive. Anyone ever recovered pics from a camera media card?

[Kenhelms]

. Anyone ever recovered pics from a camera media card?

yes I have

Its a lot harder, smaller cards tend to get rewritten faster. Timing is critical with those.

For reference, data recovery is usually 500-2700 with a firm for a HD.

[ell]

yes I have

Its a lot harder, smaller cards tend to get rewritten faster. Timing is critical with those.

For reference, data recovery is usually 500-2700 with a firm for a HD.

I know its not cheap, I already have a company that contacted me locally a few months ago, and their prices are like that. My way is a crap-shoot, surprised I actually found as many as I did, too bad they weren't the right ones. Thanks for the info on the cards, guess she may be out of luck.

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I agree with Ken. Working on an image of the drive is probably going to be best. That said, since an os was installed and, I assume, a format was done, I doubt you're going to get too much. If it was just a format, no problem. However, since an os was reinstalled, the sectors with your data have probably been overwritten.

Absolutely right. Whenever I get someone for data recovery, the first thing I tell them is if anything else has been written to the disk your chances of getting anything get slimmer. Basically I let them know if they stopped right that minute after the deletion and shut the machine down, that is the best chance of getting anything, otherwise its a crap shoot. Just so they don't get their hopes up.