Need assistance with TrueCrypt

Right after my son passed (3 years ago) I went out and bought a Seagate 320GB external hard drive to store all his photos on because I have had several cpu's crash in the past and didn't wanna loose these now. I am no computer genius and may not know how to communicate with you guys and tell you the information you need to be able to help me, so please, if you have any question that may help, please ask it.

Anyways, I used TrueCrypt to encrypt and partition off a part of this drive (75gb) and stored my son's photo on there. I used true crypt to create a login file on my external drive but kept the password in my head.

The problem is I know the password and I am positive it is correct. True Crypt even lets me in using it but when I try to access the drive it says:

You need to format the disc in drive Z: Do you want to format the drive?
Then when I click NO, I get an error message that says:

Z:/ is not accessible.
This volume does not contain a recognized file system.
Please make sure all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupt.

--- I have used this hard drive and this encrypted partition several times since its creation so I know it has worked in the past.

HELP! Is there any way I will ever be able to see the photos of my son again?

I am trying to access the drive using windows explorer after connecting to it using TrueCrypt that is running from the main partition on the external hard drive.

I thank all of you in advance for any input you may have.

 

Could be a corrupted header or the filesystem itself could have problems. Have you checked the TC docs? Specifically look at the "troubleshooting" section. I will quote it for you:

I would try this first. But before you do anything, make a BACKUP COPY of the truecrypt container right now and put it somewhere (on an external disk, or wherever). You do not want to corrupt your only copy of the container irrevocably.

If this does not work, I suggest going and signing up to the TC forums and asking there.

 

Thank you Chronomatic, I will give that a shot.

 

Hi

this may be of use...
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/242003-truecrypt-recover-corrupt-container.html

Popcorn

 

I had the same problem happening to me once, it turned out that since the hard drive was fairly new, as I suspected the problem was Windows OS and not corrupted data.

I mounted the drive using a Linux live CD with Truecrypt, Parted Magic is the one I used (http://partedmagic.com/), the CD includes Truecrypt. I did not feel like reinstalling Windows but it might have solved the problem too, I just transferred the files to a new drive.

BTW: Do not ever click on yes to format the drive or you will lose everything.

 

So your TC password is being accepted? That's a good start.

Are you sure that you're selecting the correct drive letter in Windows Explorer? Make sure you select the drive letter that you mounted the volume to in TrueCrypt, not the encrypted partition's original drive letter. It doesn't have to be Z, it can be any free drive letter that you use to mount the volume.

If both of the above are being done correctly then the most likely explanation is that your encrypted volume has a damaged file system. Try using the evaluation copy of GetDataBack (by runtime software) to explore your mounted volume to see if it can locate any known file or folder names. (You can try using other data recovery programs as well if you prefer a different one.) This will show us whether or not your volume is decrypting properly and whether or not you are on the right track. (In the GetDataBack interface, make sure you select the 'logical' drive letter that you mounted the volume to, not the physical drive.)

If GetDataBack cannot locate any recognizable data then you may have other problems that we'll have to consider.

Let me know how the above turns out and then I will make further suggestions. I normally recommend performing backups and running data recovery software before attempting to repair the damage (via checkdisk, testdisk, etc.), as doing this can sometimes make things worse.

 

ot posts removed

 

Thanks dantz,

1. It does accept my password and shows it is attached to the drive.
2. Yes, I am also sure I am selecting the correct drive letter like you suggested.

I downloaded the GetDataBack program and ran it but it does't appear to have been able to locate the mounted drive.

I have taken a few screen shots and uploaded them to a webpage if that might help. I really appreciate your assistance, I am way out of my league with this.

Click Here to see Screenshots

 

Things I would try:

Make a few copies of that container for safety.

Rename the container with a .tc extension (won't hurt, but may not matter, but hey, we're desperate).

Do a new install, or run TC Portable, on an entirely different computer and try.

When it get's mounted in the TC GUI, try 'Repair File System'.

Try mounting it with the Embedded Backup Header.

Try mounting it in some version of Linux.

PD

 

Mount the volume and then try GetDataBack again, and this time look a little lower on the list. It's a logical drive, that's why it doesn't show up on the list of physical drives.

I notice it's a hidden volume. These are frequently damaged by users who forget to turn on hidden volume protection when adding data to the outer volume. The symptoms would be just what you're seeing, a mountable volume with a damaged file system. Could this possibly be what happened to you?

 

Yes, that sounds very possible. I do not remember turning on any hidden volume protection. I screwed up, didn't I Dantz? Oh man, does this mean it's lost forever?

 

Thanks PD, i will keep this in mind and give it a shot. Let you know how it turns out.

 

Nice catch!

Ouch if true.

PD

 

Sounds like what has happened..... depending on how much data you've been adding to the outer volume, you have likely been overwriting the hidden volume data.
The outer volume in truecrypt isn't really designed to be used much.... for this reason, its really just a decoy for the hidden data....
I hope you can get some photos back, but it is looking dire I would say, sorry...
You are going to have to run data recovery software on the mounted hidden volume, you may still be able to get some data back.....

 

If GetDataBack doesn't find anything, try PhotoRec. It's signature based, so it doesn't rely on a file system.