TC won't decrypt after a crash. All my data will be lost.

Hey guys, I really don't know what to do, I hope you could help me with my problem.
I am using windows Vista Ultimate 64bit and WDE encryption with Truecrypt.
Yesterday, after the windows automatically installed a few updates, my computer got stuck in a loop of restarts (with the message 'Configurating updates: stage 3 of 3 - 0% complete').
I read on Microsoft's support site that to solve this I had to insert my Vista DVD and choose recover drive (or something like that). I didn't see the option there, so I restarted my computer to try to boot log on to windows again.

Now, after I entered my TC boot password, it said that it couldn't find any bootable drive, and got stuck on 'booting'. I inserted my TC rescue CD and tried to decrypt. It decrypted about 10GB (out of 250) and than said something about bad sector, and it asked me whether to skip it not. I tried both options, but none gave me any results.

My whole life is on the drive- Photos, documents and much much more. I must save it, I need everything there.

By the way- I am using now an old Ubuntu live CD I kept for emergencies like this (is there a way to run TC from here and decrypt everything?)

Your help is very much appreciated.
Thanks.

 

Damn man should have kept back ups of important info on a USB or portable hard drive.

Try maybe to install windows on another drive and decrypt the first drive from there?

 

yeah, I know that now...

Not possible. I used whole disk encryption- so basically there is no unencrypted partition, and if I try to do anything to the existing ones- it will most probably cause the deletion of my important data.

I now installed Ubuntu on a flash drive. Maybe there is something I can do from here?

 

Not to throw water on this seemingly disaster, but i have always held to the belief that encrypting an entire drive while claimed privacy proof, at some point in time and who knows what and when, could suddenly go awry and then all your data, documents, and purchased programs can literally go up in smoke.

As a word from the wise, before undergoing such extreme steps that are IMO never a fail-proof 100% guarantee, a couple of good backup images beforehand and even during unencrytpted activities can certainly take some of the sting from out of a mishap should an encryption go south.

Just some safe food for thought if it's any consolation in such a disappointing situation such as that.

For safety sakes for heaven's sake prepare next time by exercising an authentic fool-proof measure so you're never left gasping in panic again over a software malfunction.

EASTER

 

This post almost sounds like you are telling me to give up, reinstall my OS, and just stop thinking about the data loss.
Is it that hopeless? -is there really no way to somehow save even a part of my data?

 

Did u post over their forums?

 

No, it didn't let me.
I know their forum should be open for registration, but after I registered there, I haven't got the verification email. I am still waiting for it to arrive, but it doesn't seem like it is going to happen (I checked the email address. It was the correct one).

 

ok guys... I guess there is no solution that will either fix my computer or save my files. Thanks for your help- but it seems like the only thing I can do is reformat my hard drive, and hope that at least some files may have survived.

 

No, no. Not yet I think.

IMO you must try again on their forums. I neverv used such software so I have no idea but i can guess it must be a fairly common problem. Also try dslreports forums.

Also wait a while here for more replies.

 

danjones, maybe there are ways to solve your problem, so you would better keep that encrypted drive and get a new one if you really want to reinstall. You said something about "It decrypted about 10GB (out of 250) and than said something about bad sector"... What do you mean, TC decrypted a part of your HDD correctly? Then there is no reason for it to not decrypt the rest, even it can't read a sector.

As for using TC to store your personal data... I know it's a bit late to give you an advice, but you should encrypt only the data that you REALLY don't want anyone to find, not all the data you have.

 

See this pls.

 

If all else fails, you can try Spinrite, it recovers bad sectors, and it has saved me before, you just need to burn it to a cd, boot with it, and follow the instructions.

 

When you chose to skip the bad sectors, did you give the decryption process enough time to continue? It could be very slow at this point, to the point where it might take days to finish, but it doesn't normally stop completely unless you interrupt it.

The last time I checked this you had to register using a non-webmail-based email account. Could that be what's going on?

Here's some info from the documentation that might have helped you:
"If Windows is damaged (cannot start) and you need to repair it (or access files on it), you can avoid decrypting the system partition/drive by following these steps: Boot another operating system, run TrueCrypt, click Select Device, select the affected system partition, select System > Mount Without Pre-Boot Authentication, enter your pre-boot-authentication password and click OK. The partition will be mounted as a regular TrueCrypt volume (data will be on-the-fly decrypted/encrypted in RAM on access, as usual)."

You could have used this feature to back up your data before attempting to decrypt the drive, but now that you are stuck halfway I don't think you can do this anymore. But don't give up, you're not the first person this has happened to and I'm sure there's an approach that you can follow. Use the Truecrypt forums Search feature, as well as posting your problem in the "Problems - System Encryption" forum.

 

NO

Not at all, please dont read it that way.

I'm just cautioning you IN ADVANCE in case this does turn out for the worse.

But don't give up untill you've tried everything possible to recover your good data. I would never suggest dismissing that option beause i been exactly where you are but under different circumstances where a malware deleted an entire partition of mine and after trying every conceivable app i had and what i could conjour from the internet, i finally was able to recover my files (85%) of them intact with TESTDISK that found and re-wrote the partition again but the files were all renamed, so i used PhotoRec i think it's called to recover them and boy i had a long drawed out affair in identifying again and renaming those files back to their original types. It was a gloomy prospect, much like yours, only you need to get to them period and hope many are still preserved enough to still be useful for you.

EASTER