Here it is: https://we.tl/t-CZgLaCA7VE

I tried a few JPEGs. None have a JPEG signature. They all look like the first few sectors have been stripped from the file. The Sony JPEG contains a small 160x120 thumbnail image.

The MP4 files also appeared to be affected in the same way.

I don't understand how any software, especially R-Studio, could make such a mess out of file carving. :-?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

what are your thoughts? I would really love to learn more about this case of mine

I have no explanation for your results.

Try different software, eg DMDE. Also, try R-Photo.

To see the problem for yourself, examine the headers of good JPEG and MP4 files, and compare them against your bad ones.

HxD is a freeware hex editor:

https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

R-photo couldn't find anything, not a single thing. I will try DMDE

DMDE actually worked, found many files and folder names intact. how and why r-studio failed in a case like this? I feel like I won't be buying rtt software anymore

try an older version, it might be a bug or something... or misuse?

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Adatmentés - Data recovery

I've been using it for more than a year, I had many successful recoveries

I can't explain why R-Photo found no signatures, but R-Studio seems to be offsetting the first cluster of the file by 64 sectors. It seems to be finding the directory records of each file. These records contain the file name, file size and starting cluster. Since the file system metadata have been destroyed, R-Studio would need to calculate the LBA of the first cluster in the file system and then offset the starting cluster of each file relative to this. Maybe that's where it is going wrong? Is it time to submit a bug report?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I e-mailed them about this yesterday, they keep insisting that I am doing something wrong. Still an ongoing discussion

Yeah, the JPEGs are full of JPEG data, but as Franc says, no "header".

Does JpegDigger detect JPEGs? Let the tool detect cluster size. If it takes > half hour then there's probably no file signatures.

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service

I do not know about JpegDigger, DMDE already did the job. But I can test it if you like, Dr. Tuna

Oh sorry, missed that. I responded to a post @ Reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/datarecovery/c ... _recovery/

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service

@Pandemicc, can you show us the Partitions tab in DMDE?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

sure, here https://imgur.com/a/iMFRfMt

I was wondering if DMDE would find the old exFAT volume at a different location. Apparently not.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

It's curious that your exFAT volume begins at sector 64. Is that just a coincidence?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I have no idea, I would love to provide more information if needed

I'm wondering whether the original configuration was a "super floppy" with a boot sector at LBA 0. A subsequent repartition and reformat would destroy the boot sector, and perhaps R-Studio then assumes that LBA 64 is the original boot sector location. This 64-sector offset would account for the loss of the first 64 sectors of every recovered file.

You could examine LBA 0 to LBA 63 and look for non-zero sectors. If you find something, you could carve out that area and upload it. DMDE has a Tools -> Copy Sectors function for this purpose.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

That is something that I am very much not familiar of, Im going to need more guidance