Data Recovery from an encrypted drive that was formatted

[vt2017]

By mistake I have formatted my external hard disk that had McAfee Encryption for removable media in place. There has been no action on this external hard disk subsequent to these steps. I tried some of the recovery tools, but none have helped. Is there any chance that I can recover my lost files? The disk is in perfect working condition and I have my password that I used to access the encrypted drive in prior to formatting.

[RolandJS]

If possible, usb or dvd boot any backup / restore / clone program and either make a one-pass clone or make a one-pass sector by sector full image of that source HD onto any external target HD; store that 2nd copy in a safe place.
"...I tried some of the recovery tools, but none have helped..." -- exactly what software and what steps have been tried so far?

[lcoughey]

Here is my approach:

1. get a full sector-by-sector clone
2. attempt to force mcafee to decrypt clone with saved key (assuming you have one)
3. scan decrypted drive for lost data

You cannot skip to step 3 without first doing step 2.

[pcimage]

We had one a while ago, it wasn't formatted but the clone wasn't good enough boot. It was an SSHD with bad heads we had to fix up and clone.

We had to get the correct version of the McAfee decryption tool, get a "code of the day" to activate it and then import the saved key to start the decryption process. Thankfully the clients support company were able to supply these.

It then took 5 days to entirely decrypt the clone and then we were able to scan and extract the data.

[ROb]

Here is my approach:

1. get a full sector-by-sector clone
2. attempt to force mcafee to decrypt clone with saved key (assuming you have one)
3. scan decrypted drive for lost data

You cannot skip to step 3 without first doing step 2.

I will go with "Icoughey"
i have recovered many drives with FORCE DECRYPTION Method. You will get all the data assuming it was just Formatted.

[MindMergepk]

Here is my approach:

1. get a full sector-by-sector clone
2. attempt to force mcafee to decrypt clone with saved key (assuming you have one)
3. scan decrypted drive for lost data

You cannot skip to step 3 without first doing step 2.

+1

[Martin]

It is very important what kind of version. For a new versions there are the soft for decryption, for old versions it is possible if the rescue disk has been created (nobody do this:)).

[vt2017]

ROb, Hi,
How do I get McAfee to force decrypt the drive? My IT Ops team tried, but McAfee does not seem to recognize this drive as being encrypted since it has been formatted. Any suggestions / pointers on how force decryption is done in such cases?

[ROb]

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