Nothing Found On Data Recovery Using Recuva & MiniTool Power

[syedbilal07]

Hi guys, i am new here. I would be thankful if you guys help me out to solve this issu.e I brought 3 pen drives of my fiance. One SD Card, One MP3 Player and the last one was a thumb drive. I tried to recover data using Recuva & MiniTool PowerData Recovery but the results were strange.!. Recuva showed nothing, nothing means no file names or nothing. Although there were files on those drives before. On the other side, MiniTool PowerData Recovery showed only "System Volume Information" folder and no other files.
I then tried to using WinHex on these drives and all the sectors were '0' except the Sector 0. Maybe there is System Volume Information reside on Sector 0, i don't know much about it.
So i want to know if the data was wiped? If yes, then which data sanitization method shows no file on the drive. I also wiped my drives but file names can be viewed in RED after wiping but those drives showed nothing. I would be thankful for you guys, i need help. Waiting for the responses.

[syedbilal07]

How is it possible to delete everything ? Which data sanitization method is used ? Means those drives in your opinion were wiped ?

I'll buddy, but first help me out by pointing out the method name, as i have read many methods of data sanitization but every method leaves file names when we recover them, can you suggest me that particular method which deletes even file names ? Thanks!

[rogfanther]

And many times even a format /u or diskpart clean all would give that effect

[labtech]

DMDE demo version has a nice "Fill sectors" feature.

[syedbilal07]

Thanks to all of you for the reply. I have used 4 different softwares & saved their results in notepad and succeed in wiping everything.
Posting the results here so anyone can get help. Sorry for bad English as i wrote it in a hurry!

I have two drives for operation, 8 GB Card & 16 GB USB.
Have four softwares for data wiping named Macrorit Disk Wiper, Disk Wipe, Lowvel & HDD Low Level Format.
Two data recovery softwares named Recuva & MiniTool PowerData Recovery.
One Hex Viewer Named WinHex.

Wiped 8 GB Using Disk Wipe & Macrorit Data Wiper. Results :

DISK WIPE : (8 GB)

Disk Wipe Showed Nothing On Recovery On Recuva.
In MiniTool PowerData Recovery, It Showed System Volume Information & Other Useless Temp Folder.
WinHex Showed Data Only In Some Sectors In The Last & Only On First Sector

MACRORIT DISK WIPER : (8 GB) - Failed Because Showed "TempFiles" Named Files

Macrorit Data Wiper Showed "TempFiles" Named Files In Recuva.
In MiniTool PowerData Recovery, It Showed System Volume Information & Other Useless Temp Folder.
WinHex Showed Data In Last Sector. Other Sectors Were '0' & Some Sectors Were Written With A 'F'


HDD Low Level Format - (16 GB)

Recuva Showed Nothing.
In MiniTool PowerData Recovery, It Only Showed System Volume Information
WinHex Showed "UNREADABLE SECTOR" In Every Sector & Showed Random Characters In Every Sector


LOWVEL: (8 GB)
Lowvel Showed Nothing In Recuva.
In MiniTool PowerData Recovery, It Showed System Volume Information, Lost Files Folder & Recycle Bin Folder But No Data Has Been Found.
WinHex Showed Data In First Sector. Other Sectors Were '0' & Some Sectors Were Written With A 'F'

[rogfanther]

As you see, data is erased. Files you find later, as System Recovery folders, are created when you click on the drives after erasing them, more so if you are formatting them in windows ( or if the tools you used format the drives ) .

Also, software in the computer ( antivirus, whatever ) could be writing to the disks also, changing its contents. Or even something in your procedures could be writing again to the disk before you inspect it with the data recovery softwares.

[syedbilal07]

@rogfanther, you're right, thanks for the help but how can we read Hex values? should i need to disassemble them into more readable high level language ? Any idea about it?

Also, one more thing, is there any possibility, any possibility that the data cannot be recovered without wiping it ? We wipe it to make it gone forever. Except data sanitization, is there any way that the data can get wiped on its own.?

Thanks

[rogfanther]

You are mixing a lot of different concepts, and not undestanding many of them.

Hex values are values, just that. You do not need to change them into anything. If the drives were erased, you will see the records for partition tables, boot sectors and the like.

If you wipe the data , it is deleted. Gone. When data is needed, you cannot "wipe" it . Like breaking an egg first then trying to put it back together.

You are mixing the concept of data sanitization with other things. Also, how does it get from "pendrives from your girlfriend" to "data sanitization recovery methods" ? If she wiped her usb drivers, probably she really didn´t want other people to look at her files, as Spildit already said to you. It seems you do not want to tell us what you really want to do, and are "beating around the bush", to use a popular saying.

And yes, from user error ( more probably ) or some defect in the hardware, the disk could wipe itself. Or burn and stop working, or it could be a fake usb drive, where if its hacked firmware gets corrupted it could do strange things to a drive ( or write over what the user thinks are the first files put in the drive )

[syedbilal07]

@rogfanther, i wanted to recover the data and to know whether the drives have been wiped or not and which methods can be used to do such operations. About hex values, so you must know that we can see by using hex viewer that the drives have been wiped or not and i was in a sense of confusion that's why i posted the question here! Although i'm posting some pictures for you to see, to clear out the confusion and to close this thread.!