Data Recovery and Booting

This document explains how to recover data with the R-STUDIO utility and a bootloader with the Boot Repair ISO.

Data recovery#

To simulate data loss, in Windows I will delete a folder of files using the Shift + Del key combination. The deleted folder was located on the Desktop.

Once there are no visible traces left, I will open the R-STUDIO utility:

In Recover, I select the drive where the deleted files were located.

Then, in the Recover Marked section, I navigate to the old location of the files.

The folder is there.

I select it and, in the pop-up menu, I choose the destination location and accept to save the changes.

I restart the system and check that the files have been restored to the chosen location:

I check the SHA-256 hashes of the old files and the new ones to see whether they remain intact or have been altered.

For the hash of each new file, I use the following command:

Get-FileHash <RecoveredFileName>

Now I compare the old hashes with the current ones:

Unfortunately, only 3_Lorem Ipsum.docx and 4_test.pdf remain the same. This indicates that some files were partially recovered or had corrupted sectors.

It has not been my best recovery .

Boot recovery#

For this simulation, I will move the grub boot configuration file from my Lubuntu machine:

sudo mv /etc/grub.cfg /etc/grub.cfg.bak

Note: to make it realistic, I will omit the solution of booting the machine with a Live system and manually restoring grub.

I check that the system cannot boot because the bootloader is damaged:

For this recovery, I use the Boot Repair ISO.

Once inside the ISO, a pop-up window will appear. I select the Recommended repair option. I wait for it to finish and restart the system.

Now, if everything has gone well, the grub menu will appear again:

And the systems can be accessed without problems:

Conclusion#

This document demonstrates two common failure scenarios and their recovery using specialized tools, highlighting the importance of acting quickly and verifying data integrity.