Rollback 9.1 uninstalled - help recover lost files

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by madmax1980, Mar 3, 2015.

  1. madmax1980

    madmax1980 Registered Member

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    Hello! An idiot friend of mine uninstalled Rollback Rx (probably version 9.1) - he rolled it back to the baseline, losing in the process all his personal files.

    I'm in the middle of downloading the scavenger and trying to see if finds anything. Anything else do you recommend for file recovery?

    Thanks.
     
  2. manolito

    manolito Registered Member

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    Sorry, this is a hopeless case. According to Froggie and also to my own experience the scavenger tool is useless. Never hurts to try, though...

    Cheers
    manolito
     
  3. madmax1980

    madmax1980 Registered Member

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    I tried the Scavenger - the instructions state to open file "shield.dat" or similar. The only dat file in the shield folder is called "128.dat" - once opened, the scavenger exits automatically :(
     
  4. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    The problem is that he didn't delete anything the file system is aware of. I fear he has just learned a lesson about the need for backup of data files.
     
  5. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    It may be possible to recover some or most of the data files but you would have to go to a professional data recovery service for this. These tend to be rather expensive so it depends on how important the files are to your friend. I would suggest you do a google search for the terms - data recovery service - for services and prices and keep your fingers crossed for him.
     
  6. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    MM, try any file with a "shield" FileName... there should be a .BAK file in that folder also.

    Prepare yourself (and your friend)... you may not be very successful.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2015
  7. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    The problem with that is most of them work with files windows are aware of. After RBx they would have to scour all the empty sectors and try to piece together data. Going to be brutally expensive.
     
  8. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    I did say it would be expensive,,,,it may well be brutally so, the only way to know would be for him to find out by asking a service.
     
  9. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    This is a good example why you should keep your OS and data partitions separate (I assume the op's friend had no reason to roll back a pure data partition).

    Any sort of backup/imaging software could potentially cause unexpected problems, be it software problems or human errors, the end results are the same - your data loss. You mess with your OS only, the worst case scenario would be an unbootable OS which can be easily fixed by doing a cold full restore; you mess with your OS+data, there is always a possibility that your data would not be recoverable.

    I wish I know how to help the op in this case, but I don't really known the software his friend used so I can only hope his friend can get his data back, at least partially.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2015
  10. pvsurfer

    pvsurfer Registered Member

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    As an RBrx user since 2006 I intentionally did this several times in order to test the ability of various backup procedures to restore lost snapshots. During those exercises I would try the scavenger tool (before restoring of course) but never had any success with it, so I regret having to tell you (and your friend) that without image backups recovering snapshots is a lost cause.

    pv
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2015
  11. madmax1980

    madmax1980 Registered Member

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    Unfortunately the Shield folder contains just a few files - a useless dat file and some text files (logs).
    Now, interestingly, I used Activeboot's partition recovery and I was able to see about 6-7 deleted partitions marked as "not bad". The file structure was intact and I could see the personal folders populated with files (full proper file names!). However when I tried to recover one of these partitions, I got an error message that it overlaps with another one and advises me to erase the other one. Unfortunately the "other one" is the entire "c" drive.

    I'm not willing to do any further writing/editing operations on the C drive as I'm afraid of further damage.

    But this gives me hope that the files are not lost and I might even have a strategy. Activeboot also has a file recovery option (rather than partition) which could pull off the files.

    I could also see if I can restore a shield.dat file and then use the scavanger. Any ideas are welcome!
     
  12. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    Use WinHex or Recuva pro or other data recovery tools to make an exact raw image of the whole disk, before you try data recovery software.
     
  13. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    Hello MadMax (great movies btw) Kurtis from Horizon Data Sys.

    It's going to be very tricky as no doubt everyone else here as told you and it's no guarantee. You should let your friend know that Drive Cloner's Ver 6 Beta does allow for a backup image file to be created, which would include snapshots. If your friend would be interested in this for the future, feel free to let me know via my email below. Sadly it won't do much good now, but as a HDS customer, I wouldn't want to see this happen again.

    Cheers,
     
  14. Masterblaster

    Masterblaster Registered Member

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    Installing a backup program at this point doesn't help his problem at all.
    And beware, the Drive Cloner 6 beta is far from ready for use. Some say it's closer to an alpha. The last thing you need is to introduce additional problems. I suggest you read their forum comments before installing this.
     
  15. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    Hello MasterBlaster,

    Probably won't help at this present moment, that said, we have virtualization software that can mount the snapshots, wherein we can explore the snapshots and recover files. I'd suggest submitting a ticket through our Support Portal as that's the best way to see if we can retrieve data.

    Drive Cloner 6 is in a new Beta MasterBlaster, and it is much farther along then the last version from a few months ago. I use it quite regularly, it's coming along well. I'm thinking Drive Cloner 6 will be a good solution post-issue.

    Cheers
     
  16. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Hi Kurtis, a significant number of folks (on this forum) who have tried to recover files using the scavenger tool have reported that it did not work. Can you address this please.
     
  17. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    Hi bgoodman,

    I can. The scavenger tool is sort of a last ditch attempt to gather those snapshots after RollBack Rx has been uninstalled. The tool itself is actually a very useful one, but what it comes down to is circumstances. The fact is that these snapshots start to get muddled in other programs, processes, etc.

    I have it on very good authority from my technical team that if you ever are in this case, do not do anything on the computer! Once you start initiating processes and programs, you start to bury those snapshots, and they become harder to find. In some cases, people have gone a few days to a week of standard use on their computer, and at that point it's very difficult to retrieve those snapshots. It's sadly not a guarantee, but we can increase the chances of positively retrieving those snapshots.

    I myself had an issue similar to this on my home laptop, I left it alone. Had technical support look at it, and I had all of my snapshots recovered. Just like that.

    So my words of advice: Leave the computer as is, file a Support Ticket, and we'll see what we can do.

    Cheers,
     
  18. Masterblaster

    Masterblaster Registered Member

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    Based on your forum, your last beta was November of last year and nothing since then. There are many problems reported with that version on your website. No updated since then. Based on your past history, I expect the final to be released in about 5 years.
     
  19. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I for one depend heavily on the robustness of any rollback/imaging system I use. I tried Rollback RBx several years ago, and also found it not stable. Current versions still seem to have issues. Kurtis your posts here still suggest there are problems that don't seem to have been adequately addressed, and now the yet to appear Drive Cloner seems to be HDS's answer.

    So I have to ask, since the stability issues have not been addressed in Rollback why should i have any confidence that Drive Cloner will solve any problems?

    You can see the robust, actually almost ridiculous tests to which we put macrium, and I have done the same to another rollback type of software. For me Rollback should survive on it's own, but certainly with Drive Cloner. Do you think it's up to the challenge?

    Pete
     
  20. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    Hi Pete,

    I think the stability of the program isn't quite the issue, it's what happens when hardware fails. If hardware fails, RollBack Rx can't protect you. Drive Cloner Version 6 has been kicked around for a while, and in earnest, it should be out by now. I know this, you know this. However, it's not, and that's why we're aggressively pushing to beta test the program, and give it all the features it needs.

    There have been internal discussions regarding whether or not to bundle Drive Cloner with RollBack Rx. It makes sense. RollBack Rx should survive on it's own, but sometimes in the course of development you find areas where things can be improved upon. This is one such area.

    While Drive Cloner Version 6 is a work in progress, I do believe that once it launches it will solidify RollBack Rx as an even stronger program.

    Cheers,
     
  21. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Kurtis

    If you are going to help HDS get on track it's time for a reality check. What you are saying is anyone here who has ever had Rollback trash their system(I did) it's because of a hardware failure. If you stick by that position, your credibility goes to something less then zero. I was going to email you about doing some testing, but now I just don't see the point, as a head in the sand position will never make progress.

    Let me say it plainly. Any type of Rollback program is always best backup by an imaging program, but it dang well better stand on it's own in terms of reliability.

    Pete
     
  22. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    I'm sorry to hear that. You're referring to failure of the program but I don't have anything to go off of, so how am I to know what sort of stability issues you're talking about? I mean, I'm aware of the hardware failures, but you sort of have to give me a bit more in terms of what sort of issues you're talking about. I'm sort of in the dark here and need more information, if it's not a hardware issue.

    You have to imagine my position, I have thousands of customers, and people aren't calling in droves about stability issues. If this is an issue, it would be great to submit it in our Support Portal or Forums; or even email me about these issues.

    Cheers,
     
  23. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Just do a search of this forum and you will find plenty of examples. Its rare that problems are caused by hardware failure, in fact I have not seen one reported on this forum, but the program imploding,,,,,,well thats all too common and ability to recover has been seen to be nil.

    Its too bad HDS trashed the old forum,,,,it was full of examples of Rx caused disasters that you could look at,,,,but thats probably why it was replaced,,,,
     
  24. Kurtis Smejkal

    Kurtis Smejkal Registered Member

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    Interesting. Well this is all news to me. If something happens, log it in our Support Portal. If you guys come on here and report these things, it won't do us much good. Letting our Tech team know is important. I don't know of any issues nor is our Tech Support or Dev teams. This is partially why I'm here, people have issues and aren't communicating them properly. At least if you log these issues in a ticket, we have a tangible thing that says "This is how many people have this issue"

    I've said I'm about transparency and being honest, I ran this by my tech guys, they haven't heard a peep about stability issues.

    I'll apologize for assuming this was Hardware related, but you guys have to start logging these issues if you want to see a response. If you want to ensure you get a response (and you should be anyways) email me your Ticket ID and I'll look after it personally.

    Cheers,
     
  25. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Kurtis

    WHen I had the issue the old forum was the one that was active, and I can tell you that posting and reporting issues was a waste of time. You mentioned you had one problem and the program you are recommending saved the day. Was that hardware. When you say your tech guys are unaware of any issues, then either they are all new, or they have their heads in the sand.

    You ought to search these forums. Many of the posters did in fact post on the old forum and put in support tickets, and got no where. Also are you absolutely sure the old forums aren't available, or is it they were hidden because they were to embarrassing.

    Kurtis I have to tell you what you are saying is doing nothing to help, but is in fact enforcing the feeling HDS still may not be trust worthy.

    I said I would test, and I would, but only in a Virtual Machine. I couldn't trust my machines to Rollback.

    In fact if you would like I am still willing. But I warn, I push software beyond the limit, as for me it has to be robust.

    Pete
     
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