RECOVER Floppy Pro v1.0
RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32/16/12 v3.0 Release 3
RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2

Targeting 100% Data Recovery - How to


Targeting 100% Data Recovery by using RECOVER Floppy Pro v1.0

Targeting 100% Data Recovery by using

RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32/16/12 v3.0 Release 3
or
RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2

Analyzing a Damaged Floppy Disk

Floppy Disks having Bad Boot Sector / damaged FAT / damaged ROOT Folder:

WINDOWS XP displays this error message when a floppy disk has a bad Boot Sector / damaged FAT / damaged ROOT Folder
The disk in drive A: is not formatted
Do you want to format it now

 Yes              No
WINDOWS 2000 displays this error message when a floppy disk has a bad Boot Sector / damaged FAT (even just one sector) / damaged ROOT Folder (even just one sector)
The disk in drive A: is not formatted
Do you want to format it now

 Yes              No
WINDOWS NT 4 displays this error message when a floppy disk has a bad Boot Sector / damaged FAT (even just one sector) / damaged ROOT Folder (even just one sector)
Drive A: is not accessible
Data Error (cyclic redundancy check)
or this error
The Drive cannot find the sector requested
WINDOWS 98SE displays this error message when floppy disk has a bad Boot sector:

The disk in drive A: is not formatted
Do you want to format it now

 Yes              No
WINDOWS 98SE displays this error message when floppy disk has a bad first FAT sector in FAT copy 1 (even if Boot sector is really good and whether or not ROOT Folder has a bad first ROOT Folder sector):

The disk in drive A: is not formatted
Do you want to format it now

 Yes              No
WINDOWS 98SE displays this error message when floppy disk has bad sectors (or a single bad sector) at the very beginning of ROOT Folder:

A: is not accessible
The system cannot read from the specified device

        Retry           Cancel
To analyze your floppy disk please download ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v0.3 FREEWARE



Achieving 100% recovery of files from a floppy disk is easy when
  1. floppy disk has a bad Boot sector.


  2. A recent defragmentation of the file system on the floppy is NOT a requirement here.

    Requires command line switch -SBn.

    About Switch -SBn



  3. floppy disk has erased/damaged File Allocation Tables (there are always two copies of FAT in a FAT file system).


  4. A recent defragmentation of the file system on the floppy is put forth as a requirement here to achieve 100% recovery of files. If you do not set a target of 100% data recovery, then the file system need not have been defragmented. However, defragmentation is not a requirement when you want to recover files from a floppy disk that had been quick formatted / reformatted before files were saved to it or was a brand new one when files were saved to it or if files on it had been deleted before new/updated files were saved to it.

    Requires command line switch -I (if entire FAT was lost).

    About Switch -I

    Requires command line switch -R (if a few sectors in FAT were damaged).

    About Switch -R



  5. floppy disk has erased/damaged Root Folder (Root Directory) but the Root Folder was backed up before the erasure/damage.


  6. Here also a recent defragmentation of the file system on the floppy is NOT a requirement. But if 100% data recovery is your target, the Root Folder has to be available as a file from backup. If 100% data recovery is not your target, and the Root Folder on disk is only partially damaged, all folder entries in the not-damaged sectors can be recovered and saved as a file by RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32/16/12 v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2; then RFD can be made to look for folder (directory) entries in the file instead of on disk. While DOS / WINDOWS cannot access file / folder entries beyond the damaged sector(s) in the Root Folder, by using RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32/16/12 v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 you can recover these good file / folder entries beyond the damaged sector(s) and recover all files in those folder (directory) paths that the OS cannot do.

    Requires command line switch -LDirEntriesFile

    About Switch -L

    When no safeguards have been provided (i.e. when no backup is available):
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    If 100% data recovery is your target even when no backup is available to fill in for the damaged Root Folder, and if only a few sectors got damaged, you can recover the not-damaged part of the Root Folder and save it as a file first and then recover files. Switch -BR does the job for you. It recovers the Root Folder and saves it as a file with a name which is AROOT.DIR, or BROOT.DIR for drives A:, or B: respectively. This file is the starting point for recovering files by supplying it on command line through Switch -L.

    If subfolder entries got trapped in the damaged Root Folder sector(s), by using a sector level disk utility, you can find and save the raw structures of the subfolders (subdirectories) whose entries got trapped. That is, you take out the real folders whose entries got trapped in damaged sectors in their parent folder. Once this is done, 100% data recovery is an easy target. You can use RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32/16/12 v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 to recover all files in all those folder paths easily.

    If file entries got trapped in the damaged Root Folder sector(s), your target has to be a bit lower than 100% because these files cannot be recovered except by using a sector level string search utility.

    Requires command line switch -BR to recover Root Folder

    About Switch -BR

    Requires command line switch -LDirEntriesFile

    About Switch -L



  7. floppy disk has a bad Boot sector and erased/damaged File Allocation Tables.


  8. 100% data recovery is possible if the floppy disk was defragmented recently. A recent defragmentation of the file system on the floppy is put forth as a requirement here to achieve 100% recovery of files. If you do not set a target of 100% data recovery, then the file system need not have been defragmented. However, defragmentation is not a requirement when you want to recover files from a floppy disk that had been quick formatted / reformatted before files were saved to it or was a brand new one when files were saved to it or if files on it had been deleted before new/updated files were saved to it.

    Requires command line switches -SBn, and -I (if entire FAT was lost).

    About Switch -SBn

    About Switch -I

    Requires command line switches -SBn, and -R (if a few sectors in FAT were damaged).

    About Switch -SBn

    About Switch -R



  9. floppy disk has a bad Boot sector and erased/damaged Root Folder.


  10. 100% data recovery is possible if Root Folder had been backed up and is available as a file. A recent defragmentation of the file system on the floppy is NOT a requirement here. If you do not set a target of 100% data recovery, and if only a few sectors in the Root Folder had been damaged, you can work without a backed-up Root Folder available as a file. For more, read case (3) above and come back here for the command line switches.

    Requires command line switches -SBn, and -LDirEntriesFile

    About Switch -SBn

    About Switch -L



  11. floppy disk has a bad Boot sector, erased/damaged File Allocation Tables and erased/damaged Root Folder (Root Directory).


  12. 100% data recovery is possible if the Root Folder on the floppy disk was backed up and is available as a file and the floppy disk was defragmented recently. A backed-up Root Folder available as a file is put forth as a requirement here if 100% data recovery is your target. If you do not set a target of 100% data recovery, read case (3) above to recover as many files as possible. Again a recent defragmentation of the file system on the floppy is put forth as a requirement here to achieve 100% recovery of files. If you do not set a target of 100% data recovery, then the file system need not have been defragmented. A backed-up Root Folder and recent defragmentation are both required to achieve the 100%. However, defragmentation is not a requirement in the following cases:


    Requires command line switches -SBn, -LDirEntriesFile, and -I (if entire FAT was lost).

    About Switch -SBn

    About Switch -L

    About Switch -I

    Requires command line switches -SBn, -LDirEntriesFile, and -R (if a few sectors in FAT were damaged).

    About Switch -SBn

    About Switch -L

    About Switch -R



Achieving 100% recovery of files from a Hard Disk Drive / Partition is easy when
  1. the drive has erased/damaged File Allocation Tables (there are always two copies of FAT in a FAT file system).


  2. A recent defragmentation of the file system on the drive is put forth as a requirement here to achieve 100% recovery of files. If you do not set a target of 100% data recovery, then the file system need not have been defragmented. However, defragmentation is not a requirement in the following cases:


    Requires command line switch -I (if entire FAT was lost).

    About Switch -I

    Requires command line switch -R (if a few sectors in FAT were damaged).

    About Switch -R



  3. the drive has erased/damaged Root Folder (Root Directory) but the Root Folder was backed up already.


  4. Here also a recent defragmentation of the file system on the drive is NOT a requirement. But if 100% data recovery is your target, the Root Folder has to be available as a file from backup. If 100% data recovery is not your target, and the Root Folder on disk is only partially damaged, all folder entries in the not-damaged sectors can be recovered and saved as a file by RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32/16/12 v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2; then program can be made to look for folder (directory) entries in the file instead of on disk. While DOS / WINDOWS cannot access file / folder entries beyond the damaged sector(s) in the Root Folder, by using RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32/16/12 v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 you can recover these good file / folder entries beyond the damaged sector(s) and recover all files in those folder (directory) paths that the OS cannot do.

    Requires command line switch -LDirEntriesFile

    About Switch -L

    When no safeguards have been provided (i.e. when no backup is available):
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    If 100% data recovery is your target even when no backup is available to fill in for the damaged Root Folder, and if only a few sectors got damaged, you can recover the not-damaged part of the Root Folder and save it as a file first and then recover files. Switch -BR does the job for you. It recovers the Root Folder and saves it as a file with a name which is CROOT.DIR, DROOT.DIR, or EROOT.DIR and so on for drives C:, D:, or E: respectively. This file is the starting point for recovering files by supplying it on command line through Switch -L.

    If subfolder entries got trapped in the damaged Root Folder sector(s), by using a sector level disk utility, you can find and save the raw structures of the subfolders (subdirectories) whose entries got trapped. That is, you take out the real folders whose entries got trapped in damaged sectors in their parent folder. Once this is done, 100% data recovery is an easy target. You can use RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32/16/12 v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 to recover all files in all those folder paths easily.

    If file entries got trapped in the damaged Root Folder sector(s), your target has to be a bit lower than 100% because these files cannot be recovered except by using a sector level string search utility.

    Requires command line switch -BR to recover Root Folder

    About Switch -BR

    Requires command line switch -LDirEntriesFile

    About Switch -L



  5. the drive has erased/damaged File Allocation Tables and erased/damaged Root Folder (Root Directory).


  6. 100% data recovery is possible if the Root Folder on the drive was backed up and is available as a file and the drive was defragmented recently. A backed-up Root Folder available as a file is put forth as a requirement here if 100% data recovery is your target. If you do not set a target of 100% data recovery, read case (3) above to recover as many files as possible. Again a recent defragmentation of the file system on the drive is put forth as a requirement here to achieve 100% recovery of files. If you do not set a target of 100% data recovery, then the file system need not have been defragmented. A backed-up Root Folder and recent defragmentation are both required to achieve the 100%. However, defragmentation is not a requirement in the following cases:


    Requires command line switches -LDirEntriesFile, and -I (if entire FAT was lost).

    About Switch -L

    About Switch -I

    Requires command line switches -LDirEntriesFile, and -R (if a few sectors in FAT were damaged).

    About Switch -L

    About Switch -R


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