Tag Archives: file recovery

Disk Drill Review | A real review (2 & 4)

Please note that this about older versions of Disk Drill and may not all reflect the current version! An updated review will follow soon. Update January 2025: I had another look ..  In all fairness, little of criticism I had back then survives the 2025 version. Disk Drill in 2025 is a more matured product.… Read More »

Tips on selecting the best file recovery software

In this post I’ll give you some tips on evaluating file recovery software. To tell good from bad data recovery software. If you have just lost data and are now searching for a solution you will find that are hundreds of tools available that all claim to be the best in getting your data back.… Read More »

The volume does not contain a recognized file system – RAW file system

The error ‘The volume does not contain a recognized file system’ CHKDSK error message, is what I’d call a ‘catch-all’ error message. It is very generic and it can have multiple causes, but in essence Windows and chkdsk have trouble determining the file system on a volume whether this is on a hard disk or… Read More »

Recovering fragmented photos and videos – the file system matters

One of the most frustrating things after file recovery is to discover your files are corrupt. Corruption can be caused by a few different things, IF we assume the software didn’t make errors like guessing the wrong file system. Parts of the file were overwritten after deletion. Overwritten data can not be recovered. File occupied… Read More »

Chkdsk turned all JPEGs into .CHK files

The other week I received a SD memory card on which chkdsk was automatically run. Chkdsk turned all JPEGs into .CHK files. When Chkdsk removes certain files from the file system, it saves the content of the clusters that belong to the file in .CHK files. They are typically written to a folder called ‘FOUND.000’. As… Read More »

JPEG File Repair Software

JPEG Repair software from Stellar is the one of the few photo repair tools to fix corrupt or damaged photos, images and picture files, having JPEG file extension. Stellar offers a wide variety of data recovery related software and services. NEW! I now offer an alternative for Stellar: DiskTuna JPEG Repair Software. JPG files can become… Read More »

CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives. How to recover your data.

CHKDSK is not available for RAW drives means the file system type of a volume can not be determined. As a result data may be inaccessible. The error indicates file system corruption. I need my files back now! Can you just give me your best recommendation … Yep. I am truly convinced that this is the most user friendly,… Read More »

Data recovery with original file names

When the need arises to recover your data, it is very convenient if data recovery with original file names is possible. Also, if you can restore the entire directory structure, then that’s also a plus. Whether data recovery with original file names is possible largely depends on to two factors: State of the file system… Read More »

The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable – Recover your data

As the error message suggests, “The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable” this is a case of file system corruption. It may happen when you try to access a specific file or folder. It can also happen that you can not access the entire drive (D:\is not accessible – drive letter varies of course). For… Read More »

Why photo recovery and undelete software recover corrupt jpeg files.

In this post I will try to explain why most tools fail recovering fragmented digital photos and instead recover corrupt JPEG files. If half the data is missing due to file fragmentation I can not repair the JPEG (see: JPEG Repair Service). It is better to have a tool that can recover fragmented files directly. Why… Read More »