Hi,

from one day to the other I couldnt access my external HDD anymore and foolishly ran chkdsk to recover my Data without really knowing what I was getting into. In hindsight I guess that maybe the MFT wasn't correct and I could have solved that Problem easily with way less trouble. But here I am, having 500GB in .chk Files and all of the original Files are gone.
On a positive note, most of the files actually seem to be working. I am runnung on Ubuntu and am able to open a lot of them. Unfortunately, the most important files to me are my pictures which are in .NEF (Raw) Format and these I cant open. The .jpg files that where on the HDD seem to be fine. I think I have a rough Idea which of the .chk files are supposed to be my .nef files, since they all are ~10MB in size. But simply renaming them is not working.
Since the chkdsk desaster I am a little scared to perform any changes on the HDD. Is there any way, which might have some success in recovering the .nef files? Is there any use in using one of the Data Recovery Programs to look for the original .nef files or is that useless after running chkdsk? Any help is greatly appreciated.

search on this forum before posting your problem
its been discussed many times here

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Kuwait Data Recovery - UNIX GTC
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. By: Albert Einstein

@scubamaggo:

As you have unfortunately found, chkdsk is not a data recovery utility, and using it can result in loss of data, depending on the state of the filesystem when it is run.

Getting a better diagnosis of the cause of the original problem (after which you ran chkdsk), may be helpful. There are several posssible approaches from this point, but based on the limited info currently supplied, I just wanted to suggest that you make a raw clone (i.e. all sectors) of the existing disk onto additional storage before doing anything else, and don't do more (e.g. renaming files, as you suggested, or installing new software etc.) on the original disk. Run any recovery attempts against the clone. Making a clone will also tell you if there are any problems reading the original disk.

If the correct-sized chk files are not your NEF files, then some raw recovery (i.e. file carving) might be more successful, e.g. using PhotoRec (or commercial software, of which there are many) but success depends on things like the amount of file fragmentation on the original disk.

Any DIY recovery attempts have risks (e.g. incorrect use of recovery software, incorrect techniques, any latent hardware problem becoming worse etc. etc.) so if you want to minimise those risks, you may want to consider getting professional help. That has to be your choice, based on your skill level, your experience, your assessment of the value of the data etc.

Hi Vulcan,

thank you very much for your help. The original problem occurred, when the power plug wasn't connected properly and the hard drive turned itself on and off a couple times in a short amount of time. The hardware itself seems fine, I am able to connect to the drive normally now.
I will follow your recommendation and make a raw clone before doing anything else and then try my luck on the clone. Professional help is not an option for me due to the costs.
Thanks again.

Hi,

Thanks for the info.


One way that can screw-up a filesystem, is if writes to the filesystem are lost due to the power interruptions. FYI, as a result of power interruptions, you may also have some unreadable sectors if power failed mid-write, even though you think the hardware is OK.