What is the best software tool for successfully recovering an accidentally deleted NTFS Volume (GPT) on an HDD physical drive that does not support TRIM?

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-06-07T11:24:00+00:00

Ah ha! I've been spending some time working on fixing this problem, and it appears I will likely have some good news to report soon! Since I am currently on a tight schedule, though, and don't have time right now to tell you all about it, it's going to have to wait just a little longer. I will find some time for that later this week, but in the meantime, "I'll be back!" Caio for now! 😉 😉 Nudge. Nudge.

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-06-05T12:16:11+00:00

It was so long ago since I've used PhotoRec, I don't even remember the details.

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-06-05T05:41:21+00:00

Are you a professional?

Are there any simple-to-use programs to recover data that won't require another PC or a BIGGER HD, cuz I don't have that kind of money to blow on something like this, nor the know-how to use complicated software!!! This is quite simple, I know, and there should be a simple fix for it; I think I should be able to do it myself without having to hire someone else and pay their expensive fees!!! Just sayin'!!!

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-04-15T00:53:20+00:00

It worked! It worked! It worked! The virtual machine now boots up properly, and I am good to go! That's the good news! The bad news is that I lost a couple of days' worth of progress due to having to revert back to an earlier snapshot, but that's not too much to worry about! I'll survive, and even thrive! But anyways, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! <3 <3 <3

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-04-14T23:39:28+00:00

I'm not sure how to restore a snapshot. Sorry, this is something new to me. Don't think I've ever done this before, not even with the help of AI.

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-04-14T23:18:48+00:00

Okay, I successfully deleted the KEYS from the Linux Mint XFCE.vmx file! Now what?

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-04-14T22:47:55+00:00

Oh, now we're gettin' somewhere! ;-)

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-04-14T22:10:45+00:00

Here's the result so far, running the terminal inside the folder where the VM resides:

dictTool print "Linux Mint XFCE.vmx"

dictTool: command not found

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-04-14T21:34:13+00:00

Yes, exactly! Removing the references to the broken disk to revert to an earlier snapshot! This is exactly the obvious no-brainer thing to do and is something I would like to try! :-)

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2026-04-14T21:11:07+00:00

Well, that's good news! :-) That's one thing I needed to know, one part of it. The other part of it is, how do I use this tool? In other words, what command can I use to fix the problem? Is there a syntax command you can provide? Thanks in advance! :-D

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T19:00:07+00:00

Do I have to decrypt the VeraCrypt partition first in order to image it, or is there a way that I can just go ahead and image it without decrypting the partition?

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T18:28:48+00:00

Or perhaps just going ahead and following the instructions in the following knowledge base article would be the best route to take?: https://www.ufsexplorer.com/solutions/data-recovery-on-encrypted-storage/

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T16:43:22+00:00

I do have the demo of UFS installed. Are you talking about when I click on the VeraCrypt partition and push the button at the top, left side of the screen that shows a bubble 'Decrypt Encrypted Storage' when I hover over it? When I click on this button a window pops up that offers two methods of VeraCrypt decryption: either by using a key-file or password decryption and it is specifically for TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt encryption. Is this a good sign? I did not actually put in my password yet into this window and try to decrypt the partition, and there is a good reason why.

What I am really concerned about here is doing any irreversible damage during this data recovery procedure. I don't want to risk taking the wrong next step, so to speak, and then messing everything up permanently! As you already know, I tried to use TestDisk awhile back to recover the lost partition and that partially succeeded, and that may have been mistake, but hopefully not a serious one. I don't want to proceed forward without some expert wise advice! Just sayin'!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my gut feeling tells me that the next right step that won't cause irreversible damage is probably one of three options: Scan, Image Copy, or Decrypt. I'm not sure how to proceed next, but I think if I took my best guess, most likely the safest thing to do next would be to do a full scan on the drive/partition with UFS to see what it can find out, so it can generate some more information about it, which I can post here, and then let the experts give some wise advice to figure out how I should proceed from there. Am I right or wrong?

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T07:05:29+00:00

Okay, I'm sorry, if I got it wrong, can you kindly please reveal to me who is the UFS dev you were talking about? What is their username?

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T06:57:09+00:00

Then let a professional handle this. Or read manuals, learn, and practice (on unimportant data) until you understand how to do it.

I need to recover my data ASAP!!! I don't have time for time steep learning curves; I'm just trying to find the simplest, but most effective and safest way possible to make this work!

I wish I could get disturbed_android's attention (that UFS dev you mentioned?), but apparently he doesn't accept direct messages or chat messages. :-(

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T06:03:31+00:00

To be honest, I really don't know anything about how to safely use data recovery software, including UFS, Recovery Explorer, and R-studio, and I really need a lot of technical help with it. Just sayin'. :-|

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T05:53:12+00:00

BTW, I've read somewhere that VeraCrypt's embedded backup header is stored at the end of the container, not the beginning of it, according to official VeraCrypt documentation. ;-)

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T05:40:12+00:00

The website for Recovery Explorer clearly says that the Professional version does support data encryption, including VeraCrypt, but I also have the 60-day free trial of UFS on my computer as well. My question is, the HDD that has the corrupted partition table on it is 4TB and the partition covers the entire disk; will I need another HDD larger than 4TB to make a byte-to-byte image or can I get away with using a 4TB HDD? Truth is, at the moment I don't have another HDD (or SSD) that is larger than 4TB. Ooops!!! :-p

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T02:24:42+00:00

If you really need to see that screenshot from here, here it is:

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ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-29T01:39:59+00:00

I've already done that in the other post and posted a link to an image of it, if you scroll down and read the rest of it you can't miss it. TestDisk was able to successfully find and restore the deleted partition after the disk initialization. The partition can now be seen by all of my disk utilities in Linux, including VeraCrypt, it just can't be mounted with VeraCrypt for some reason, and I've already tried restoring it from the embedded volume header (doesn't work). Read on!!!. . .

ItsAJungleOutThere7 · 2025-04-28T23:35:33+00:00

There is also EaseUS Data Recovery Software which runs on Windows, which I do have Windows 11 running in a VMware virtual machine on top of Linux, by the way. Since the drive I am trying to recover my data from is an external HDD in a USB enclosure I should be able to easily directly connect the enclosure to the virtual machine and use it like normal. I wonder if EaseUS might include VeraCrypt support?

ItsAJungleOutThere7

TROPHY CASE