Recovering Mac files w/Windows 64bit version of R-Studio

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WebGuy
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Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:33 am

Recovering Mac files w/Windows 64bit version of R-Studio

Post by WebGuy » Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:04 am

Hello All,

I have searched the forums but have found nothing regarding my questions. I have recovered dozens of Windows based file systems and a few Linux drives with R-Studio, but since this is my first attempt at recovering Mac files I have some questions.

Here's my situation: I am running the Windows version of R-Studio on a Windows 7 Pro 64bit OS machine. I am attempting recovery of files from a Mac file system on an External Western Digital 1TB "My Book for Mac". The drive has been removed from it's enclosure and placed in a hot-swap SATA "tray-less" drive tray. During all my previous recoveries, I've noticed that file extensions are pervasively utilized in the scanning and recovery processes. Macintosh does not use extensions. Once the scan is finished, how do I know what files types I am looking for and what to recover with no extensions?

Are there some settings I need to tweak in the "Scan" dialog? e.g. Do I turn off everything except HFS in the File System section? Will it work with the default settings?

The particular job I am working on right now is a photographer's external drive which contains RAW image files and JPEGs. My initial scan shows several text files, very few JPEGs, lots of GZIP archives (there should be none) and I am not even sure what to look for regarding the RAW files. There is 10 hours left on the scan (currently at 24%) which is going smoothly aside from a dozen or so CRC errors very early in the scan (first GB or so, none since).

Is there any sort of tutorial out there someone can point me to regarding recovering Macintosh files from a Mac filesystem on a Windows machine running R-Studio. 5.3.133533? Am I just going to see the file structure when the scan is done assuming there is no media damage on this drive?

Also, once I have them recovered, how do I get them back onto a brand new "My Book for Mac?" (I do not own a Mac.)

I hate to sound like a stupid newbie here, but I sure feel like one at this point even though I am an R-Studio veteran of sorts.

Anyone?

Alt
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Re: Recovering Mac files w/Windows 64bit version of R-Studio

Post by Alt » Tue Mar 08, 2011 7:25 am

Well, it's just hard to say much about the actual data without seeing it, so my recommendations can be only general.
Generally, recovering files from a Mac disk doesn't differ much from a file recovery from any other disks. The problems might be only with previewing some Mac-specific files.
Mac OS do use file extensions to determine the program to open a particular file. So, when the scan is finished, you're going to see a file/folder structure that was previously on the disk. Provided, of course, that there's no serious damage to that structure is done during the crash.
When scanning a Mac disk, you may leave only the HFS file system selected, but if you leave the default settings, (all file system are selected), nothing bad would happen.
R-Studio supports for search for RAW file for digital cameras of most vendors. They are in the Graphics/Picture file section of the Known File Types. Moreover, RAW images of digital cameras has the structure of the TIFF file type, and R-Studio places them under that type, if it cannot recognize them more precisely.
Saving recovered files for Mac users may be a bit of problem, as Windows machines cannot write to Mac OS drives directly. A way out, apart from buying a commercial third-party HFS driver for Windows, is to ask your customer to bring a Mac notebook, connect it to your network, and copy the recovered files to it. Or use an external FAT32-formatted disk, if recovered files don't exceed 2 GB limit.

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