The current stable version (as of this writing) is 6.12 with NTFS-3G and ReiserFS support, but I’m using the development version 6.13 for my tests, because it has enhanced features, such as improved recovery of video/multimedia files and support for listing NTFS Alternate Data Streams.

TestDisk and PhotoRecĬhristophe Grenier initially wrote TestDisk as a partition repair tool under DOS, which explains the DOS-like command-line syntax, with /flag options instead of the Unix-typical -longflag or -shortflag syntax. In this article, I show you how to bring back lost partitions and files with TestDisk. I have to admit that I have also underestimated TestDisk and PhotoRec for a long time, and only recently have I discovered some advanced features that are not all available in the current Debian and Ubuntu TestDisk packages. If you dig a little deeper and read the TestDisk wiki pages,you will soon realize that TestDisk and its colleague PhotoRec are much more than ordinary recovery tools: Together, they are one of the best choices for rescuing data from partly damaged or overwritten filesystems, and they incorporate some of the best features from other data rescue tools, such as the well-known foremost. The important ability to restore damaged files is the reason why TestDisk has been part of the Knoppix base software collection for a long time. TestDisk is a name you might associate with a disk performance measuring tool, but Linux experts who specialize in data recovery know that TestDisk is a tool that can restore damaged or overwritten partition tables.

Testdisk recover data