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pieface_ie · 27-04-2012, 22:48

Hey lads hopefully someone has a few ideas on this problem I have.

Dell XPS M1530 laptop, motherboard failed yesterday (7th time).Dell calling Tuesday to replace it again.

Hard drive is encrypted, took it out and put it into an external caddy. Plugged it into another machine and booted it. Truecrypt asks for password as normal which I put in and it says Windows did not shut down correctly and gives me two options.

Start system recovery or start Windows normally.
Start Windows normally = BSOD and a automatic reboot.
system recovery cant find errors or cant find a previous image (I never created one). When I plug the drive into a normal running version of Windows it cant recognise the drive and says I must format it.

The thing is I have important college work that was due in today on the hard drive. I backed it up a week ago but in that time I have done a lot more work which I'm hoping is not lost.

At the moment I am downloading the Windows 7 image used to install the system to see if I can get some kind of recovery going through that.

The Windows 7 install was a update from vista and not a fresh install as such.

Any one with ideas I'd be grateful to hear them.

Pie

lkdsl · 27-04-2012, 23:19

If you have encrypted the entire drive then it will not be recognised - a truecrypt volume looks like an unformatted drive. You will need to try it in another machine as a slave (not the system volume) and run truecrypt from that. Then try to open your drive. If the drive is corrupt, you could have difficulty but truecrypt usually recovers files when they weren't shut properly. It will probably ask for permission to replace the header, which you should allow.

homer911 · 27-04-2012, 23:22

I know its not a help, but I would never ever encrypt an entire disk, not if its a home pc anyway. Even TrueCrypt doesnt recommend it. Create an encrypted file and mount it as a drive..

pieface_ie · 28-04-2012, 00:06

Quote:

If you have encrypted the entire drive then it will not be recognised - a truecrypt volume looks like an unformatted drive. You will need to try it in another machine as a slave (not the system volume) and run truecrypt from that. Then try to open your drive.

Thanks for the reply mate, this worked for me and I was able to access the files through Truecrypt. Has gotten me out of a hole. thanks again.

Quote:

I know its not a help, but I would never ever encrypt an entire disk, not if its a home pc anyway. Even TrueCrypt doesnt recommend it. Create an encrypted file and mount it as a drive..

Will keep this in mind in future thanks.

carbon nanotube · 28-04-2012, 00:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by homer911

I know its not a help, but I would never ever encrypt an entire disk, not if its a home pc anyway. Even TrueCrypt doesnt recommend it. Create an encrypted file and mount it as a drive..

yea, seems nonsense thing to do.

its not like i have a high security facility for the M15. Don't see why anyone should use this crap with data.

by all means encrypt some private documents, but the whole drive is ott

carbon nanotube · 28-04-2012, 00:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by pieface_ie

Thanks for the reply mate, this worked for me and I was able to access the files through Truecrypt. Has gotten me out of a hole. thanks again.

Will keep this in mind in future thanks.

lucky you...!

in future i would get a usb stick, and encrypt that until the cows come home

pieface_ie · 28-04-2012, 00:17

Quote:

its not like i have a high security facility for the M15

You'd be surprised!

**Capt'n Midnight** · 28-04-2012, 02:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by carbon nanotube

its not like i have a high security facility for the M15.

Glad to hear you got your files back

Oh and

I've been asked to tell you that it's MI5

LaughingJoker91 · 30-04-2012, 22:17

Not entirely relevant for the thread, but CloudFogger might be of use to the OP if they require encryption.

It creates a virtual drive (normally X: ) and you store files in that. Requires a password to unlock the drive (Also, if CloudFogger isn't started, the drive won't appear in Windows). Very nice, and also has the feature of automatically uploading encrypted files into Dropbox for double backup.

Also has a right click to encrypt function, which is very handy!

Uses AES, which is secure.

http://www.cloudfogger.com/en/home/index.aspx

27-04-2012, 22:48	#1
pieface_ie Closed Account Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 295 Adverts \| Friends	Any ideas to retrieve files Hey lads hopefully someone has a few ideas on this problem I have. Dell XPS M1530 laptop, motherboard failed yesterday (7th time).Dell calling Tuesday to replace it again. Hard drive is encrypted, took it out and put it into an external caddy. Plugged it into another machine and booted it. Truecrypt asks for password as normal which I put in and it says Windows did not shut down correctly and gives me two options. Start system recovery or start Windows normally. Start Windows normally = BSOD and a automatic reboot. system recovery cant find errors or cant find a previous image (I never created one). When I plug the drive into a normal running version of Windows it cant recognise the drive and says I must format it. The thing is I have important college work that was due in today on the hard drive. I backed it up a week ago but in that time I have done a lot more work which I'm hoping is not lost. At the moment I am downloading the Windows 7 image used to install the system to see if I can get some kind of recovery going through that. The Windows 7 install was a update from vista and not a fresh install as such. Any one with ideas I'd be grateful to hear them. Pie

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27-04-2012, 23:19	#2
lkdsl Registered User Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Limerick, Woodcock Hill Posts: 37 Adverts \| Friends	If you have encrypted the entire drive then it will not be recognised - a truecrypt volume looks like an unformatted drive. You will need to try it in another machine as a slave (not the system volume) and run truecrypt from that. Then try to open your drive. If the drive is corrupt, you could have difficulty but truecrypt usually recovers files when they weren't shut properly. It will probably ask for permission to replace the header, which you should allow.

27-04-2012, 23:22	#3
homer911 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: South Co. Dublin Posts: 2,741 Adverts \| Friends	I know its not a help, but I would never ever encrypt an entire disk, not if its a home pc anyway. Even TrueCrypt doesnt recommend it. Create an encrypted file and mount it as a drive..

30-04-2012, 22:17	#9
LaughingJoker91 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 1,177 Adverts \| Friends	Not entirely relevant for the thread, but CloudFogger might be of use to the OP if they require encryption. It creates a virtual drive (normally X: ) and you store files in that. Requires a password to unlock the drive (Also, if CloudFogger isn't started, the drive won't appear in Windows). Very nice, and also has the feature of automatically uploading encrypted files into Dropbox for double backup. Also has a right click to encrypt function, which is very handy! Uses AES, which is secure. http://www.cloudfogger.com/en/home/index.aspx