[SOLVED] Fatback and dd (or other FAT32 recovery programs)

camphor · 10-28-2010, 10:52 AM

I have a 250 GB USB hard drive with a FAT32 file-system that needs recovery. I'll admit that I accidentally wiped it. This should be easy to fix. However, it's usually recommended (with fatback) that you make an image of the drive you want to recover with dd before trying to recover it. I only have a 120GB hard drive on my netbook, so this is impossible. Is there any way to recover the contents of the drive without having space for an image, or should I seek more professional help?

feinbein · 10-28-2010, 11:04 AM

Depending on how much data was on the drive you might get away with less than 120GB if you compress the image. Unfortunately you dont know beforehand.
Before talking to the professionals (very expensive) you could just get another cheap 250GB usbdrive. That way you have a backup for next time you wipe your drive accidentially.
You will need a place to put your recovered files anyway while you are recovering them.