Lost Data

[okashah]

I lost some data on the memory card of Nokia 9210i. Is there any utility to retrive the lost data? The data are sheets, documents, images, etc...

[deviat0r]

Hello,

Yeah, it might be able to be recovered. Sometimes yeah and sometimes no. Depends, some memory cards actually destroy data (blank with 00h) others just destroy the FAT.

I can help, (hopefully!) but I need either access to the memory card or to an image of the memory card.

If you are UK based, then physical access is better. If not, how much do you know about Linux? The reason I ask is because Linux has a disk imaging tool called DD which (with the right options set) will image the entire card including the areas marked as blank. Alternatively, I believe Ghost has simular options, although I don't know if you could use Ghost as it's DOS based and thus USB support is limited in DOS (yes it is possible).

Might I add, the more you do to it now (general use/recovery) may well reduce/destroy what can be recovered.

Let me know if you need help.

Oh yeah, try something like Norton Disk Edit (google it, it's out there) this will let you look at the card in hex mode on a sector by sector basis. If there is anything other than 00h then there is data that might be able to be recovered.

If you can tell as much as you know about how it happened, it may help. For example, was it formatted? Is it just an error? What partition type is it? (Depends on size, normally FAT12 for small and FAT 16 for larger cards.)

Hope that helps.

Dave!

[okashah]

Thanx Dave.
The problem that I can't access the card from any program on my PC. The communicator is connected through the COM port and the memory card can be accessed only through the PC Suite Program. If I can access the card as a drive in my computer, then it will be much easier retreiving the data.

The data was deleted by mistake and not format. In the memory card I have a documents folder which was deleted by mistake. The system folder is still exists.

I think it will be difficult making the image since the access of the card is through Nokia program. I thought that there is a utility to be installed in the communicator itself that will help to retrieve lost data.

[deviat0r]

Thanx Dave.
The problem that I can't access the card from any program on my PC. The communicator is connected through the COM port and the memory card can be accessed only through the PC Suite Program. If I can access the card as a drive in my computer, then it will be much easier retreiving the data.

The data was deleted by mistake and not format. In the memory card I have a documents folder which was deleted by mistake. The system folder is still exists.

I think it will be difficult making the image since the access of the card is through Nokia program. I thought that there is a utility to be installed in the communicator itself that will help to retrieve lost data.

Be careful, any utility that makes a half assed effort to recover the data may well destroy the data you are trying to recover!

To image it you will need a usb card reader. If you are really struggling, send the card in the post to me recorded delivery and I'll take a look.

I should stand a good chance of recovering the files and if I can't, all you've lost is a bit of time and postage!

Dave!

[okashah]

I already bought a card reader and used a utility to restore the data. It worked fine.
Thanks for your help.

[deviat0r]

I already bought a card reader and used a utility to restore the data. It worked fine.
Thanks for your help.

Cool, glad it worked

Dave!