What is Disk Recoup v2.1?
Disk Recoup v2.1 is a disk copy utility developed by QueTek, a company that specializes in data recovery software and services. Disk Recoup v2.1 uses both hardware-level disk commands and intelligent algorithms to copy the raw data from the source drive to another hard drive. Disk Recoup v2.1 accesses the source drive strictly in read-only mode and presents no risk to the source drive except for normal wear and tear.
Disk Recoup v2.1 can copy a faulty hard drive that is not completely dead. For Disk Recoup v2.1 to work, the drive must still be detected by the computer BIOS at boot time and respond to basic disk commands. In other words, Disk Recoup v2.1 can clone hard drives with bad media spots (bad sectors), Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) errors, IO errors and other non-critical hardware faults that may cause other data recovery utilities to hang.
In the best-case scenarios, the newly-cloned destination drive will be accessible normally in Windows Explorer after the copy operation is complete and the computer is rebooted. In other scenarios, the drive is not directly accessible but the files and folders it contains can be recovered using a file recovery utility such as File Scavenger, another product from QueTek. See "What is copied?" for more details.
How does Disk Recoup v2.1 work?
Disk Recoup v2.1 works by copying the data from the source drive to the destination drive in small chunks called clusters. A cluster is typically 512 bytes or 4096 bytes depending on the drive format. Disk Recoup v2.1 tries to read each cluster from the source drive and write it to the destination drive. If a cluster cannot be read due to a hardware fault, Disk Recoup v2.1 will skip it and mark it as unreadable on the destination drive.
While copying a faulty hard drive, Disk Recoup v2.1 and even Windows may hang on reading a bad spot on disk. That usually requires a reboot. When it is restarted, Disk Recoup v2.1 will intelligently avoid the bad spot and continue to copy other parts of the hard drive. A badly damaged drive may require a few reboots. Eventually Disk Recoup v2.1 will copy all readable data.
What is copied?
Disk Recoup v2.1 copies all data on the source drive regardless of its format or content. This means that Disk Recoup v2.1 can copy any type of storage device, such as hard drives, SSDs, flash drives, memory cards, etc., as long as they are detected by the BIOS and respond to basic disk commands. Disk Recoup v2.1 can also copy any type of file system, such as NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, HFS+, EXT4, etc., as well as encrypted or compressed volumes.
However, copying all data does not mean that all data will be usable or recoverable on the destination drive. Some data may be corrupted or lost due to unreadable clusters on the source drive. The usability or recoverability of the data depends on several factors, such as:
The amount and location of unreadable clusters on the source drive.
The type and structure of the file system on the source drive.
The type and format of the files on the source drive.
The availability and quality of a file recovery utility.
In general, the more unreadable clusters there are on the source drive, the less likely the data will be usable or recoverable on the destination drive. Also, some file systems and file formats are more resilient to corruption than others. For example, NTFS is more robust than FAT32, and JPEG is more tolerant than ZIP. Finally, a good file recovery utility can help recover files and folders from the destination drive even if they are not directly accessible in Windows Explorer. QueTek recommends using File Scavenger for this purpose.
How to use Disk Recoup v2.1?
To use Disk Recoup v2.1, you need to have two hard drives: a source drive that is faulty but not dead, and a destination drive that is healthy and has enough space to hold all the data from the source drive. The destination drive should be either the same size or larger than the source drive. You also need to have a computer that can connect both drives and boot from a CD, USB drive, or floppy disk.
Before using Disk Recoup v2.1, you should backup any important data on the destination drive, as it will be overwritten by the data from the source drive. You should also disconnect any other drives from the computer to avoid confusion and mistakes.
After preparing the drives and the computer, you can download Disk Recoup v2.1 from QueTek's website. You can choose to download either the Setup file or the Program file depending on how you want to run Disk Recoup v2.1. The Setup file is for direct installation on a hard drive, while the Program file is for installation on a portable storage device (a floppy disk, memory stick, CD, USB hard drive, etc.). You also need to download and save the Help file to a portable device.
Once you have downloaded Disk Recoup v2.1, you can run it either from the hard drive or from the portable device. You will see a simple user interface that allows you to select the source drive and the destination drive, as well as some options such as cluster size, copy direction, and log file. You can also view the status of the copy operation, such as elapsed time, remaining time, copied clusters, skipped clusters, etc.
After selecting the drives and options, you can start the copy operation by clicking the Start button. Disk Recoup v2.1 will then begin to copy the data from the source drive to the destination drive cluster by cluster. If Disk Recoup v2.1 or Windows hangs on reading a bad spot on disk, you will need to reboot the computer and restart Disk Recoup v2.1. Disk Recoup v2.1 will resume the copy operation from where it left off.
The copy operation may take several hours or days depending on the size and condition of the source drive. When the copy operation is complete, you can exit Disk Recoup v2.1 and reboot the computer with only the destination drive connected. You can then try to access your data on the destination drive in Windows Explorer or use a file recovery utility such as File Scavenger to recover your files and folders.
Conclusion
Disk Recoup v2.1 is a disk copy utility that can help you recover your data from a faulty hard drive that is not completely dead. It can clone hard drives with bad media spots (bad sectors), Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) errors, IO errors and other non-critical hardware faults that may cause other data recovery utilities to hang. It copies all data on the source drive regardless of its format or content, but some data may be corrupted or lost due to unreadable clusters on the source drive. You can use a file recovery utility such as File Scavenger to recover your files and folders from the destination drive after copying.
If you have a broken but not dead hard drive that contains important data, you can download Disk Recoup v2.1 from QueTek's website and try it yourself. You can also contact QueTek for more information or assistance with your data recovery needs.
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