Recovery04

And there is also a Picture Rescue recovery option which can recover deleted JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, PSD, and / or Tiff
files from your computer system or digital camera media. File Rescue Plus claims it can recover files from all types of
media such as hard disks, digital cameras, 3.5 floppy disks, Jaz drives, Zip drives, Flash Media, Smart Media and more.
It works with Windows 2003 / XP / 2000 / NT / 95 / 98 / and Me. We loaded File Rescue Plus to a drive on the main
computer and began the search for the 10 gig folder on the external hard drive using the "cluster scan." We were able
to customize the program options to look for a specific file type. The thousands of files in the missing folder were of one
specific file type. File Rescue Plus went to work and in a few hours all the information from the 10 gig folder was found,
moved to a new folder, and put on another drive. The software did not retrieve the files in their original subfolders. But
that was okay. It placed all the files in a new folder. The one thing it did not do is it did not change the Name of each
file. It retrieved the files as they were. This way it made for easy identification. But wait, what about the other 51 gigs
and all the other missing files ??? Happy to report "File-Rescue Plus" by Software Shelf International retrieved all the
missing files. They went into new folders and were transferred to another drive. Norton also has a program called
Ghost. It tracks changes on your drives and creates an image in case you have to reconstruct files due to a crash or
virus destruction - a before it happens precaution. Okay now we are out of puter hell. Does it end there ? But n-o-o-o-o !

The next day the computer repair people advised us first off: the floppy drive did not work and that it would cost
$110 dollars for the floppy drive replacement part. Excuse me, the only thing that did work on the computer
(the only thing) was the Floppy drive. The service center got uppity, "are you making insinuations ?" I replied
with "I don't have to make any insinuations. I am in the middle of writing a -- recovery and retrieval story. All I
have to do is tell the story the way it unfolds." The engineer got defensive. At that point I made this man
understand he was dealing with a longtime member of the Press Corps to start. Then I said, "look don't come
to me and say something does not work when that is the only thing that did work. If you are going to come to
me, come with options -- a number of options." Buying a floppy drive for $110 was not an option. Especially
when a friend just brought a bunch of Sony floppy drives on the web for $7 each. I told one of our computer
savvy photographers the service people claimed "a bios error" on the floppy drive and it had to be replaced.

Some people have wondered where we went to ? The
Spring 2004 Issue was posted later than usual. In case
you didn't take notice -- the internet was flooded with all
sorts of malicious material, programs and viruses soon
after the new year began. We took note of a massive
surge immediately after the Feburary Fashion Shows in
New York. A virus or two got hold of the official Press
Corps registration email list. Viruses had hit the Press
Corps and Fashion insiders with more than double the
expected load of garbage mail, not to mention attacks on
the computer. Lucky for us we did not get hit even though a
huge amount of dangerous codes were floating around. As
we went into March a young man in Germany hit the world
with a new virus and just before he was arrested he launched
an updated version of that computer virus making people
even more miserable. We don't think we were hit there either.
Something else happened. We make it a strict rule of thumb:
"NEVER open attachments from anyone unless you know
exactly where it came from." Just as an FYI, you should be
aware there are updated computer viruses and worms that do
not require you to open an attachment for them to infect your
system. Now as we were readying the Spring Issue of the
Magazine an editor sent an associate a PDF Acrobat file. As a
favor we opened it for them ... and then ... that's when things
started to happen. It was going be an interesting journey.

When the event was over it was about picking up the pieces:
recovery and retrieval. This is what happened. We put the
PDF file on an external 80 gig firewire Maxtor Drive. The Maxtor
Drive was 24 months old, if it was even that old. Next was a
little copy and paste of the PDF file onto a Sony Laptop. When
we right clicked "paste" the open Window we were looking at
flashed white and half the file folders on the Maxtor Drive
DISAPPEARED. Wait ! The Maxtor Drive had 61 gigs of
information on it. And those files were not large video files.
Just pictures, text, and some small music loops. A lot of work.
As we stared at the open window (where obviously some
crash just took place), we blinked our eyes once and all of the
folders and files showing: disappeared -- Totally ! The screen
inside the open window was white, completely white. Not one
folder, not one file showing. In short, 61 gigs of work and
information simply disappeared. After reviewing the system
a number of times, and none of the files or folders on the
external hard drive would appear, we shut all the systems off.
And waited. Were these files backed up ? They were, except.
This drive was the backup. The original files were safe. But
they were spread out and would have to be put together.

We turned on the machines a few hours later and
the external drive. Half the folders were showing
again. We pulled down the view menu for folder
options and unclicked the hidden files. Looking
at the open window indicating the external drive,
aside from half the folders lost now showing,
there were some more of the missing folders
looking like ghosts in the machine. They were
yellow translucent. Evenso, this was a good sign.
Well not that good. Still there were many files and
folders on the drive overall that were not showing.
One of the missing folders was a folder with 10
gigs of information in it. Plus that one folder had
some 2500 files in subfolders. A large portion of
it was ... not backed up. This could be a big loss.
The key here, and to every hard drive recovery
and retrieval, is not do anything irrational. Which
means do not create any new files on the affected
drive (do not write anything new there). Then get
a retrieval program that will work for your needs.
We were lucky. Still -- this was definitely: an
experience. A little scary.

Friends heard about the happening. We tried
one program that worked very well if you needed
to retrieve a few particular files. In this case the
concern was a major folder. The program found
the folder and retrieved the files, over 2500 of
them. Except the program gave each file a new
name, like it had just been created. Now there
were thousands of files recovered but it was a
mystery as to which information was in what file.
Nothing identified one from the other aside from
file 001, file 002, etc. That would not work.

The next morning, as a coincidence, another
friend received an editorial story specifically
about hard drive crashes and two programs in
the $50 range meant to help in these situations.
He thought we might be interested. The first
program we tried which changed the file names
was a $1500 program used by large financial
institutions. We read the story our friend sent.
One of those programs looked questionable for
the amount of information we needed to retrieve.
The other had potential. It was File Rescue Plus
by Software Shelf International. We spoke with
their tech department who understood the folder
with the 10 gigs that is most important was not
to be seen anywhere on the drive but the space
used on the drive was showing the information
was still there. It was worth a try. File Rescue
Plus comes from Software Shelf International
as a Download or CD. The CD is a few dollars
more. Yet worth having around in case needed
and you can not get online. We ordered the CD
and Software Shelf gave us the download while
we waited for a snailmail backup. Could it be
true ??? Retrieving files from a really crashed
hard drive without having to spend a thousand
plus dollars or worse ... call it a total loss.

"File-Rescue Plus" says it is "a fast, thorough,
easy way to recover files that have been lost or
deleted from your computer." It has 3 different
detect options. Detect file scan: is a quick scan
of a hard drive or removable media. Cluster
Scan: scans hard drive clusters and allows files
to be retrieved from drives corrupted by the
operating system -- good for "quick formatted"
drives and virus damaged drives.

Computer hell was over -- so we thought, kinda.
We did all the computer scans, organized files,
and retrieved a ton of work. It took some weeks.
Then there were 5 full days that went by with all
things going well. Smooth. Getting caught up on
responding to emails. Preparing for new material
to surface. Fun. The evening of the 5th day, I was
working on my favorite little computer used mostly
for only mail, to build editorial news stories, and
web content. It was an older machine but a very
faithful one. Like that of some old time author
with his favorite pen. Imagine if The Pen did not
work ? Dare not. Well there it was, 5 days out the
"puter hell" and as while working on a project, the
computer crashes. Well when I did a restart of
the computer there was ...no Windows... program
at all. Aside from Microsoft Windows gone -- the
computer Registry was gone: completely. Matter
of fact you could not even boot the computer
without using a flopp start up disk.

The computer was a Sony desktop that was 4 or 5
years old. There were newer machines around that
are dedicated to specific job functions. But this was
old faithful. The files on this machine were backed
up with few exceptions. That was not the issue.
The issue is we wanted it to work, period. And we
wanted it to work like new. This machine, although
new in the box, never worked right. It had a Pioneer
DVD R114 in it that never worked, that the system
never recognized. When we purchased the machine
it was put right to work and there was no time to take
it back to the store. Worse is - if there came a time
when the original operating system had to be
reloaded it could not happen. Sony set their system
up so the recovery disks have to be executed from
the DVD drive. Forget that. What exactly was needed
was a complete clean install to make the machine
like new again. A friend who writes computer code,
and knows these machine well, confirmed what was
obvious. No registry, no windows program, nothing
worked except the floppy drive "A". We tried to install
the Sony Operating System Recovery disk program
from an external drive. Didn't work. It just said "bad
parameter."

We contacted a service repair shop on the corner of
John and Gold streets in Manhattan from the Sony
listings. We will not embarrass them by mentioning
their name. I questioned them thoroughly that they
would be able to load the software and operating
system exactly as if it was new out of the box. I told
them about the DVD player never working properly.
Not a problem. They would take care of it. Their cost
would be a flat fee around $125 for any and all work
needed ... parts would cost extra.

The savvy expert said that claim was bullshit: "computer jargon double talk." He said have them load the
software and get the machine back. We knew the DVD player had not worked since day one and now we
were in the day of the DVD Rewritable. It made sense, especially since the labor cost would be the same, to
make one change: an upgrade. We had the service center install a DVD Rewritable drive along with a clean
install of the operating system and prepacked software. Ten days later we finally got the computer home and
plugged in. Did the service center install the software and operating system "exactly" the way it was when it
came new out of the box ? The answer is NO ! Sony will tell you their systems have a C and D hard drive
partition. When the old faithful came back from the shop all it had was a single partition hard drive, just letter
C. Also did the service center's claim that the floppy drive does not work and had to be replaced hold true ?
Nope ! Actually you couldn't get further from the truth. The floppy drive says letter A ... and it works just fine.
Moral to the story: when you know something works, it works. Don't get ripped off. Know a lie when you hear
one. And just so you understand, any computer older than 2 years old is considered: very old (in this day and
age). Actually after working year after year 120 to 140 hours a week (every week), this would have been a
good place to pause for one quarter and not post. But we love a good story with a happy ending. So it goes
like this. Everything important survived. Onward. And into The Future. Back up your important files. There is
that old Murphy's Law that seems to hold true more than not. "if anything can go wrong it will" -- saith the
keepers of the crystal ball. Be wise. Be prepared. Our ancestors did not have to deal with the psycological
intensity of what is called: computer crash. They just had to worry about finding ink.