I usually try to copy drive to drive when possible.

I was trying the Atola image to file option because I had a drive where I know the partition was damaged. I split the image files into CD size chunks. When I was done there was no option to restore image to drive. Since the partition was damaged the Atola would not allow me to use the file recovery feature.

The split image would not import into any of the software tools I use. I was only able to import the split image one at a time into R-Studio. I would like to mount all of the images as one drive, so I can properly scan it. Since it partially worked with R-Studio I would suspect that it will work if I image a drive to one file instead of splitting it. Well since splitting is an option I would like to know what would be the best way to merge the images, so I can scan the data as one drive.

If partition is damaged try to repair the partition first before cloning the drive
Normally that is the procedure I follow when I work with drives with damaged partitions. I repair the partition then proceed on to recover or clone them.

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Iorana Haraharaini

In R-Studio you can use a virtual drive set to import all the pieces at once and make them into a single drive.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

I like to get a copy before I try the repair partition function. That way if the bad sectors cause problems that I can not recover from I will already have a copy of most of the data. I have had heads stop functioning properly during the repair function, so now I always try to get a copy before actually altering data on the drive.

The virtual drive set did not work with this image. I will try on a different image and see if it works.

Are there any other recommendations that may assist in mounting multiple .img files into a virtual drive, so I can use other software to analyze it.

Hello,

An option to create multiple chunks was just introduced in the latest Atola Insight and was meant to be used on relatively healthy drives mainly for back up purposes.

At this point I can recommend two options:
1) joining all chunks into one
or
2) re-imaging the drive into a generic image or onto another hard drive

You can join all chunks by following these steps:

1. Open notepad.exe
2. Insert the following text:

3. Save this text as "glue_chunks.cmd" (put it into the folder where your chunks are located)
4. Run the .cmd file specifying the very first chunk (without the .part001 extension) as a parameter. Example:


This way you can get a single image. Just make sure you have enough free space. Also, make sure that the partition you're using to store chunks is not FAT16 or FAT32 (FAT does not support files larger than 2/4 GB).

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Dmitry

I am in the process of gluing the images together.

I am also using the media recovery tools to see how long it takes to remap the errors.

So far the image gluing is going a lot faster.

Thanks to all for your suggestions, keep up the hard work Dmitry.

You are very welcome!

Today we've thought this issue over; in future releases we will add a feature to combine images together into a single image + writing these images onto a healthy hard drive for more convenience.

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Dmitry

It was a timely process, but it all worked out in the end. I do appreciate you guys sitting down and going over feedback, so that you can improve the product. That's what I like to see in a business.