TestDisk 7.0 doesn't have undelete option

Question

I tried using TestDisk 7.0 to undelete a few videos I made a week ago, but the undelete option doesn't show up.

I tried the list/copy option instead but it doesn't seem to work either. They just show up as a 10 second display of other random image files.

What's the filesystem? I think undelete isn't available for every one. And the files were deleted a week ago? Has the drive been used daily since then? And what's the 10 second display mean, it automatically disappears? Doesn't sound normal — Xen2050, Nov 24 '18 at 02:45
the filesystem is ext4, it's been used daily. What I meant is it shows up as a video that displays a random image file for 10 seconds for some, and is either not showing up at all when I try to play them or I need permissions for them. — LinuxWizzerd, Nov 24 '18 at 05:52

score 5 · Answer 1 · edited May 15 '20 at 15:26

5

Testdisk cannot undelete individual files from every filesystem.

The documentation states that individual files can only be undeleted from the following file system types:

1.3 TestDisk - File recovery When a file is deleted, the list of disk clusters occupied by the file is erased, marking those sectors available for use by other files created or modified thereafter. If the file wasn’t fragmented and the clusters haven’t been reused, TestDisk can recover the deleted file for various filesystem: • FAT • NTFS • exFAT • ext2

Testdisk documentation

edited May 15 '20 at 15:26

j0h

15,413

answered Aug 04 '19 at 17:59

CuriousIndeed

163

1

Therefore, since TestDisk does not support recovery features for ext4 file system, for restoring files on a ext4 partition what tool is finally recommended? – cestpasmoi Jan 18 '23 at 10:08
1

Still no answer? – iMitwe May 12 '24 at 11:16

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 06 '20 at 03:41

In line with CuriousIndeed's answer, the PDF mentions at the beginning of chapter 8:

For other filesystems or if sought-after lost files are still missing, give PhotoRec a try. PhotoRec is a signature basedfile recovery utility and may be able to recover your data where other methods failed.

PhotoRec was already installed on my system, either by default or due to having just installed testdisk. It was also pretty intuitive to use, similar to TestDisk: photorec, then use the menu to recover your files.

Warning: photorec creates a bunch of /recup_dir/ folders in the directory you're recovering from.

Part 2: Use grep -ri 'my string' to recursively find a string in the contents of a file, if that's what you need.

TestDisk 7.0 doesn't have undelete option

2 Answers2