Corrupt File System

There are occasions when a complete data recovery that maintains the original file structure is not possible. Severe file system corruption will usually result in the directory structure being lost, and even file names and modification dates are lost. When this occurs, the data may or may not be recoverable. It depends on whether there has been any significant file fragmentation.

When severe corruption of the file system occurs, we will generally use a method of recovery called "carving". This involves doing a full scan of the drive, and pulling out files based on their header information. Each file type has a specific header associated with it. We simply use a database of known headers, and then search for those types of files throughout the raw data.

After we have carved out the data, it will be organized by file type. Let's say our customer only needed Microsoft Word documents, we would organize the data in a folder title "Microsoft Word", and the files within the folder would be numbered 001.doc, 002.doc, 003.doc, etc. As you can see, the original file information such as the file name, along with the last modification date would be lost. However, the contents of the file, will still be intact.

Having to use this method of recovery is not the norm, and it is very rare that it becomes a necessity. It just helps customers who may be desperate to get their data back, and know the file type, and will be happy just getting it back in whatever format possible.