PhotoRec Step By Step
From CGSecurity
PhotoRec Step By Step
PhotoRec Etape par Etape
Run PhotoRec executable
If PhotoRec is not yet installed, it can be downloaded from TestDisk Download. Extract the files from the archive including the sub-directories.
To recover files from hard disk, USB key, Smart Card, cdrom, dvd..., you need enough rights to access physical device.
-
Under Dos, run photorec.exe
-
Under Windows, start PhotoRec (ie testdisk-6.9/win/photorec_win.exe) from an account in the Administrator Group. Under Vista, use right-click "run as administrator" to launch PhotoRec.
-
Under Unix/Linux/BSD, you need to be root to run PhotoRec (ie.
sudo testdisk-6.9/linux/photorec_static
) -
Under MacOSX, if you are not root, PhotoRec (ie testdisk-6.9/darwin/photorec) will restart itself using sudo after confirmation of your part.
-
Under OS/2, PhotoRec doesn't handle physical device, only disk image, sorry.
To recover files from a media image, run
-
photorec image.dd
to carve a raw disk image -
photorec image.E01
to recover files from an Encase EWF image -
photorec 'image.E*'
if the Encase image is splitted in several files.
To recover files from other devices, run
photorec device
, i.e.
-
photorec /dev/mapper/truecrypt0
to recover files from a TrueCrypt partition. The same method works with filesystem encrypted with cryptsetup/dm-crypt/LUKS. -
photorec /dev/md0
to recover files from a Linux software Raid device.
Forensics users can use the parameter /log
to create a log file named photorec.log
; it records the location of the files recovered by PhotoRec.
Disk selection
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Available media are listed. Use up/down arrow keys to select the disk that holds the lost files.
Press Enter
to proceed.
Partition table type selection
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Select the partition table type, usually the default value is the correct one as PhotoRec auto-detects the partition table type.
Source partition selection
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Choose
-
Search
after selecting the partition that holds the lost files to start the recovery, -
Options
to modify the options, -
File Opt
to modify the list of file types recovered by PhotoRec.
PhotoRec options
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-
Paranoid
By default, recovered files are verified and invalid files rejected.
Enable bruteforce
if you want to recover more fragmented JPEG files, note it's a very CPU intensive operation.
-
Allow partial last cylinder
modifies how the disk geometry is determined, only non-partitioned media should be affected. - The
expert mode
option allows the user to force the filesystem blocksize and the offset. - Enable
Keep corrupted files
to keep files even if they are invalid in the hope that data may still be salvaged from an invalid file using other tools. - Enable
Low memory
if your system doesn't have enough memory and crashes during recovery. It may be needed for large filesystems heavily fragmented. Don't use this option unless absolutely necessary.
Selection of files to recover
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Enable or disable the recovery of certain file types, e.g.
[X] tif Tag Image File Format and some raw file formats (pef/nef/dcr/sr2/cr2) ... [X] zip zip archive including OpenOffice and MSOffice 2007
The whole list of file formats recovered by PhotoRec contains more than 100 file families representing more than 180 file extensions.
Filesystem type
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Once a partition has been selected, PhotoRec needs to know how the data blocks are allocated.
Unless it's ext2/ext3 filesystem, choose Other
.
Carve the partition or unallocated space only
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PhotoRec can search files from
- from the whole partition (useful if the partition is badly corrupted) or
- from the unallocated space only (Available for ext2/ext3, FAT12/FAT6/FAT32 and NTFS). With this option only deleted files are recovered.
Select where recovered files should be written
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Choose the directory where the recovered files should be written.
-
Select
..
several times to get the drive list (C:, D:, E:...) -
Filesystem from external disk may be available in a
/media
or/mnt
sub-directory. -
Partitions from external disk are usually mounted in
/Volumes
.
Recovery in progress
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Number of recovered files is updated in real time.
- During pass 0, PhotoRec searches the first 10 files to determine the blocksize.
- During pass 1 and later, files are recovered including some fragmented files.
Recovered files are written in recup_dir.1, recup_dir.2... sub-directories. It's possible to access the files even if the recovery is not finished.
Recovery is completed
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When the recovery is complete, a summary is displayed. Note that if you interrupt the recovery, the next time PhotoRec is restarted you will be asked to resume the recovery.