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• Testdisk Mac Tutorial

Dec 21, 2020 • Filed to: Recover & Repair Files • Proven solutions

1. TestDisk for Mac is an open-source data recovery utility developed by CGSecurity, the same software company that’s behind PhotoRec. The main purpose of TestDisk for Mac is to recover lost partitions and make non-booting disks bootable again. Apart from macOS, TestDisk runs on Windows,.BSD, SunOS, and even DOS.
2. Install testdisk on Mac OSX. June 23, 2017 Amber. App name: testdisk; App description: TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery utility.

TestDisk is a low-level utility that can bypass all the OS level restrictions and read what’s directly saved on the disk physical cylinder. TestDisk is a powerful data recovery utility. It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty.

If you are searching for a way to get your lost files back, this is one of the most helpful places you have landed upon. In this article we have discussed all the possible ways through which you can get your file(s) or folder back into your computer, just you have to follow the steps that are shown right below in this article. You will learn how to use testdisk to recover files, and what are the other ways. All you have to do is follow step by step and we will help you to get your data back. Cheers!!

Part 1: How to use testdisk to recover files on windows

With growing malwares and a lot of errors, losing data is a common scenario nowadays. If you are searching for a tool that can recover your data, testdisk is probably the best and widely known tool you’ve heard of. Let’s see how to use testdisk to recover files. The solution given below will work on Windows 10/8/7.

Testdisk Mac Tutorial

Step 1: First thing first! Launch the TestDisk on your PC followed by pressing the “Enter” key once it is launched.

Step 2: Secondly you have to select the “create” option in the menu and press the “Enter” key. Now the TestDisk will begin to scan the connected hard drives.

Step 3: Subsequently, you will be presented the scanned hard drives on your screen. Take the help of the arrow keys and go to the disk you want to scan for your file. After you have come to the disk, press “Enter” key.

Step 4: As you move forwards, you will be asked to choose the partition table type. You have to select “Intel” and after that, hit the “Enter” key.

Step 5: After you have done with the above processes, you have to select “Analyze” and hit the “Enter” button. Now this will let the TestDisk start analyzing the hard drive you have selected.

Step 6: After the analysis process is completed make sure to take the help of Quick Search to scan the drive.

Step 7: After everything you have done successfully, you can see the list of all the lost and deleted items that you have been searching for. Now all you have to do is navigate to the folder or file you want to recover and hit the 'C' key to copy the file to your computer.

Step 8: Lastly you have to select the destination of testdisk recovered files. To start the copying process you have to hit the “Y” button. Once the file you wanted to recover is copied to the desired destination you wanted, you will see the message 'Copy Done!' on your computer screen.

Part 2: Other Ways to Recover Lost Files

Apart from using testdisk to recover files, there are some other ways as well. In this section, we will be sharing some of them. Please scroll down to learn!

1. Recover Deleted Files in Windows 10 with Command Prompt

In this method, we are using the Command prompt to recover the deleted files. Here is how you can do that.

Step 1: Type “cmd” in the Start menu.

Step 2: Now right-click on the “cmd” and select the option saying 'Run as administrator'.

Step 3: Then, type the command 'chkdsk X: /f' and press the “Enter” key. Note: “X” will be removed with the name of your hard drive.

Step 4: After that, key in the command: 'ATTRIB -H -R -S /S /D X:*.*' and hit the “Enter” button. Again, you have to replace 'X' with the letter your hard drive is named with.

That’s about it! The recovery process will begin!

Note: Please be patient while executing each process as it may take a while to execute some steps. Do not interrupt the computer while the process is going on. If you will interrupt the process it might happen that the file will permanently be lost or would get rewritten on your computer.

2. Recover the Permanently Deleted files from an Older Backup.

If you are not comfortable with the commands, here is the other method than testdisk file recovery to get the task done. Follow the steps given below to restore your file from the backup.

Step 1: Go on the Start menu and type “Backup” followed by pressing the Enter key on your keyboard.

Step 2: Now select the option 'Go to Backup and Restore (Windows 7)' this is located under “Looking for an older backup?”.

Step 3: After that click on the option saying 'Select another backup to restore files from' and pick out your backup.

Step 4: Once you have done, all you have to follow the instructions after clicking “Next”.

3. Recover from Recycle Bin

It might be the case that you have deleted the file and it has been gone into the recycle bin. Go on the desktop and double click on the recycle bin icon to get into it. Check the file you are searching for and after that right click on it and select the “Restore” option. Your file will be transferred to the original location.

4. Recover Everything using a professional Third-Party Tool – Recoverit

If none of the above works for you, Wondershare Recoverit comes to your rescue. It is a tool designed to help users recovering documents and any kind of file lost under any circumstance. Whether it is internal storage or external, this tool knows how to help its users hassle-free. Let us know how you can work with it.

Step 1: Select a location

First you need to install the software on your computer and open it. Once you will open it, you will be asked to select the destination where you have lost your data. Once you will select the location, click on the 'Start' button to begin the scanning process located at the bottom right corner.

Step 2: Scan the location

After hitting the “Start” button on the screen, you can see the scanning process. All the files that have been lost so far from the location that you have chosen will begin to appear. While the process is running you can check the files and find the file you are looking for. Also, you can select the type of data you want to scan (search the location). Once you’ve got the file you were searching you can stop/start the process, preview the file, and do much more.

Step 3: Preview and recover files

Once you have found the file(s) you were looking for, you can check it by previewing it. Suppose you want to recover multiple files all you have to do is select the file(s) you want to recover and click on the blue “Recover” button. You can also select the location where you want to recover the file. It is recommended not to save the file at the location where you have previously lost it.

FAQs

1. How do I recover a Windows file?

Answer: To recover the windows file all you have to do is open a window followed by browsing to the folder that contains (or might be still containing) the data you wanted to recover. Right-click the file/folder and select Restore previous versions.

2. What causes files to disappear?

Answer: If the file in your computer is getting disappeared from your hard drive, external hard drive, or any other storage media, it would be the case of malware or your file is corrupted. Also, check your file if it is hidden or not.

3. How Do Convert a shortcut to an original file?

Answer: To access the original file of the shortcut you need to have the original file located on your computer. You can check the properties of the shortcut file and search the location of the original file.

The Bottom Line

In this article, we have talked about how you can recover your lost file using some of the best ways you can find on the internet. The article will enrich you with the knowledge of how to use testdisk to recover files, and what are all the other ways to get your useful file back to you. At the end of this article, we have introduced some of the most asking questions by the people and how you can also get through those problems.

One of the most exciting things you will see in this article is the tool called Recoverit. This tool is insanely good for you if you are wishing to dig out your useful data.

Rescue & Fix Files

Recover Document Files

Repair Document Files

Recover & Repair More

Clear & Delete File

This recovery example guides you through TestDisk step by step to recover a missing partition and repair a corrupted one. After reading this tutorial, you should be ready to recover your own data. Translations of this TestDisk manual to other languages are welcome.

Example problem

We have a 36GB hard disk containing 3 partitions. Unfortunately;

• the boot sector of the primary NTFS partition has been damaged, and
• a logical NTFS partition has been accidentally deleted.

This recovery example guides you through TestDisk, step by step, to recover these 'lost' partitions by:

• rewriting the corrupted NTFS boot sector, and
• recovering the accidentally deleted logical NTFS partition.

Recovery of a FAT32 partition (instead of an NTFS partition) can be accomplished by following exactly the same steps. Other recovery examples are also available. For Information about FAT12, FAT16, ext2/ext3, HFS+, ReiserFS and other partition types, read Running the TestDisk Program.

One condition:

• TestDisk must be executed with Administrator privileges.

Important points for using TestDisk:

• To navigate in TestDisk, use the Arrow and PageUp/PageDown keys.
• To proceed, confirm your choice(s) with the Enter key.
• To return to a previous display or quit TestDisk, use the q (Quit) key.
• To save modifications under TestDisk, you must confirm them with the y (Yes) and/or Enter keys, and
• To actually write partition data to the MBR, you must choose the 'Write' selection and press the Enter key.

Symptoms

If this hard disk's primary partition contained an operating system, it would most likely no longer boot up - due to its corrupted boot sector. If the hard disk was a secondary (data) drive or you can connect the drive to another computer in its secondary channel (usually where a CD/DVD drive is connected), the following symptoms would be observed:

1. Windows Explorer or Disk Manager displays the first primary partition as raw (unformatted) and Windows prompts: The drive is not formatted, do you want to format it now?
   [You should never do so without knowing why!]
2. A logical partition is missing. In Windows Explorer, that logical drive is no longer available. The Windows Disk Management Console now displays only 'unallocated space' where this logical partition had been located.

Running TestDisk executable

If TestDisk is not yet installed, it can be downloaded from TestDisk Download. Extract the files from the archive including the sub-directories.

To recover a lost partition or repair the filesystem from a hard disk, USB key, Smart Card, etc., you need enough rights to access a physical device.

• Under DOS, run TestDisk.exe
• Under Windows, start TestDisk (ie testdisk-6.13/testdisk_win.exe) from an account in the Administrator group. Under Vista, right-click testdisk_win.exe and then 'Run as administrator' to launch TestDisk.
• Under Unix/Linux/BSD, you need to be root to run TestDisk (ie. sudo testdisk-6.13/testdisk_static)
• Under MacOSX, if you are not root, TestDisk (ie testdisk-6.13/testdisk) will restart itself using sudo after confirmation on your part.
• Under OS/2, TestDisk doesn't handle a physical device, only a disk image. Sorry.

To recover partition from a media image or repair a filesystem image, run

• testdisk image.dd to work from a raw disk image
• testdisk image.E01 to recover files from an Encase EWF image
• testdisk 'image.???' if the Encase image is split into several files.

To repair a filesystem not listed by TestDisk, run testdisk device, i.e.

• testdisk /dev/mapper/truecrypt0 or testdisk /dev/loop0 to repair the NTFS or FAT32 boot sector files from a TrueCrypt partition. The same method works with filesystem encrypted with cryptsetup/dm-crypt/LUKS.
• testdisk /dev/md0 to repair a filesystem on top of a Linux RAID device.

Log creation

• Choose Create to instruct Testdisk to create a log file containing technical information and messages, unless you have a reason to append data to the log or you execute TestDisk from read only media and must create the log elsewhere.
• Choose None if you do not want messages and details of the process to be written into a log file (useful if for example Testdisk was started from a read-only location).
• Press Enter to proceed.

Disk selection

All hard drives should be detected and listed with the correct size by TestDisk:

• Use up/down arrow keys to select your hard drive with the lost partition/s.
• Press Enter to Proceed.

If available, use raw device /dev/rdisk* instead of /dev/disk* for faster data transfer.

Partition table type selection

TestDisk displays the partition table types.

• Select the partition table type - usually the default value is the correct one as TestDisk auto-detects the partition table type.
• Press Enter to Proceed.

Current partition table status

TestDisk displays the menus (also see TestDisk Menu Items).

• Use the default menu 'Analyse' to check your current partition structure and search for lost partitions.
• Confirm at Analyse with Enter to proceed.

Now, your current partition structure is listed.Examine your current partition structure for missing partitions and errors.

The first partition is listed twice which points to a corrupted partition or an invalid partition table entry.
Invalid NTFS boot points to a faulty NTFS boot sector, so it's a corrupted filesystem.
Only one logical partition (label Partition 2) is available in the extended partition.One logical partition is missing.

• Confirm at Quick Search to proceed.

Quick Search for partitions

During the Quick Search, TestDisk has found two partitions including the missing logical partition labeled Partition 3.

• Highlight this partition and press p to list your files (to go back to the previous display, press q to Quit, Files listed in red are deleted entries).
  

All directories and data are correctly listed.

• Press Enter to proceed.

Save the partition table or search for more partitions?

• When all partitions are available and data correctly listed, you should go to the menu Write to save the partition structure. The menu Extd Part gives you the opportunity to decide if the extended partition will use all available disk space or only the required (minimal) space.
• Since a partition, the first one, is still missing, highlight the menu Deeper Search (if not done automatically already) and press Enter to proceed.

A partition is still missing: Deeper Search

Deeper Search will also search for FAT32 backup boot sector, NTFS backup boot superblock, ext2/ext3 backup superblockto detect more partitions,

After the Deeper Search, the results are displayed as follows:
The first partition 'Partition 1' was found by using backup boot sector.In the last line of your display, you can read the message 'NTFS found using backup sector!' and the size of your partition.The 'partition 2' is displayed twice with different size.
Partitions listed as D(eleted) will not be recovered if you let them listed as deleted.Both partitions are listed with status D for deleted, because they overlap each other. You need to identify which partition to recover.

Testdisk Mac Bad Cpu Type

• Highlight the first partition Partition 2 and press p to list its data.

• Press q for Quit to go back to the previous display.
• Let this partition Partition 2 with a damaged file system marked as D(deleted).
• Highlight the second partition Partition 2 below
• Press p to list its files.

It works, your files are listed, you have found the correct partition!

• Use the left/right arrow to navigate into your folders and watch your files for more verification
  

Note: FAT directory listing is limited to 10 clusters - some files may not appear but it doesn't affect recovery.

• Press q for Quit to go back to the previous display.

• The available status are Primary, * bootable, Logical and Deleted.

Using the left/right arrow keys, change the status of the selected partition from D(eleted) to L(ogical). This way you will be able to recover this partition.

Hint: read How to recognize primary and logical partitions?
Note: If a partition is listed *(bootable) but if you don't boot from this partition, you can change it to Primary partition.

• Press Enter to proceed.

Partition table recovery

Testdisk Mac Reddit

It's now possible to write the new partition structure.
Note: The extended partition is automatically set.TestDisk recognizes this using the different partition structure.

• If all partitions are listed and only in this case, confirm at Write with Enter, y and OK.

Now, the partitions are registered in the partition table.

Testdisk Mac Tutorial

NTFS Boot sector recovery

The boot sector of the first partition named Partition 1 is still damaged. It's time to fix it.The status of the NTFS boot sector is bad and the backup boot sector is valid.Boot sectors are not identical.

• To copy the backup of the boot sector over the boot sector, select Backup BS, validate with Enter, use y to confirm and next OK.

More information about repairing your boot sector under TestDisk Menu Items.The following message is displayed:

The boot sector and its backup are now both OK and identical: the NTFS boot sector has been successfully recovered.

• Press Enter to quit.

• TestDisk displays You have to restart your Computer to access your data so press Enter a last time and reboot your computer.

Recover deleted files

TestDisk can undelete

• files and directory from FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 filesystem,
• files from ext2 filesystem,
• files from NTFS partition since version 6.11.

If it doesn't work or for other filesystem, try PhotoRec, a signature based file recovery utility.

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