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Solved I corrupted VeraCrypt volume. Please help!

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Hitthemomo

Hitthemomo

PCHF Member
Oct 20, 2023
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#1
I just damaged my VeraCrypt volume (.hc file) with this tool (Shred files). I started by mistake erasing very important volume with Gutmann Lite (performs 10 overwrites) algorithm, which lasted less than 2 seconds after which I (in panic) pressed cancel. Now I can't get access to this volume with very sensitive 72GB of personal data. The .hc file still weighs the same 70+ gigabytes, but I can no longer open it.

I screwed up so badly. Never did a single backup of this file and simply missclicked (in 4:00 AM, didn't sleep for 20h+). I can't even discribe how important this file to me. Please help!

Here is error:

1P0do0H.jpeg
 
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#3
g'day and welcome to the forums. :)

from the get-go, you only have bad news coming your way.

you had a strongly encrypted volume, which you then securely overwrote multiple times.
even though you stopped it quickly, the damage is done.
the file system will now be unrecognisable as the overwrite process most likely started at the beginning of the volume, destroying any system attributes like boot records, or file allocation tables and the NTFS file structures. then there are the the index records and you quickly have yourself a nice pile of nothing.

I've never used Recuva on an encrypted, partially overwritten, mounted volume, but luckily since you can mount it and have a drive letter, Recuva will see it and try to find files.
but because you have lost the file addresses, any fragmented file will be lost and most unfrag'd files will be corrupted.
but give Recuva by Piriform a crack and cross your fingers.

it bears mentioning, even though the horse has bolted in this case, critical data that lives in only one place can only be classified as not that critical! (y)

BACKUP!
 
#4
Bruce said:
g'day and welcome to the forums. :)

from the get-go, you only have bad news coming your way.

you had a strongly encrypted volume, which you then securely overwrote multiple times.
even though you stopped it quickly, the damage is done.
the file system will now be unrecognisable as the overwrite process most likely started at the beginning of the volume, destroying any system attributes like boot records, or file allocation tables and the NTFS file structures. then there are the the index records and you quickly have yourself a nice pile of nothing.

I've never used Recuva on an encrypted, partially overwritten, mounted volume, but luckily since you can mount it and have a drive letter, Recuva will see it and try to find files.
but because you have lost the file addresses, any fragmented file will be lost and most unfrag'd files will be corrupted.
but give Recuva by Piriform a crack and cross your fingers.

it bears mentioning, even though the horse has bolted in this case, critical data that lives in only one place can only be classified as not that critical! (y)

BACKUP!
Click to expand...
Unfortunately
 

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  • recuva64_AUan8DVgWl [20.10.23-10-22].png
    recuva64_AUan8DVgWl [20.10.23-10-22].png
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#6
Hi eveyone! I have good news. I was able to recover files with help of R-Studio (R-Tools Technology) app.
Before that, I tried recovering files with the Recuva, but it failed completely.

by Enigma2Illusion from Sourceforge Technical Topics said:
I would make a copy of the dismounted file container and use the copy of the file container for data recovery attempts.
If you can mount the file container in VeraCrypt, you can try to recover data within the mounted VeraCrypt volume using data recovery software.
Users on the VeraCrypt forum have had good results with paid edition of EaseUS Data Recovery and R-Studio. Other data recovery software are GetDataBack, File Scavenger, Photorec and TestDisk.
I would proceed to using data recovery software against the mounted volume using a Windows account with Administrator privileges.
Make a copy of the dismounted damaged file container for each recovery software attempt to recover as much data as you can by using each recovery software. You may only need to perform the data recovery once or it may require trying different data recovery software in the attempt to recovery all the data.
I would make a new file container to receive the recovered data that you copy from each recovery effort.

VeraCrypt / Forums / Technical Topics: Help! I damaged my volume

sourceforge.net sourceforge.net
Click to expand...
 
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#8
Bruce said:
that is indeed good news, and you certainly dodged a bullet there!

are the recovered files readable?
were you able to recover everything?

I need to look at R-Studio, and generally for a replacement to Recuva which, more often than not, fails to do its job.
Click to expand...
Yep, everything readable, R-Studio recovered everything. This two seconds of erasing as I can understand didn't damaged files that much.
 
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#10
try the free mostly, but did have the Pro versions of all the Piriform products back in the day when I was on their forum.
I thought the actual file recovery techniques between the Free and Pro versions were the same?!
but you may be right, would certainly explain the bad result I see with Recuva Free - but really, with a good backup regime - grave robbing your files should almost be redundant. (y)
 
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