How to use the command 'photorec' (with examples)

Photorec is a command-line tool used for recovering deleted files. It is a recommended practice to write the recovered files to a separate disk from the one being recovered from. This article will illustrate how to use the ‘photorec’ command with two different use cases.

Use case 1: Run PhotoRec on a specific device

Code:

sudo photorec /dev/sdb

Motivation:

The motivation for using this example is to recover the deleted files from a specific device (/dev/sdb). This can be useful if files were accidentally deleted or the device was formatted.

Explanation:

• sudo: This command is used to execute the ‘photorec’ command with root privileges. It allows the command to access the necessary device/files.
• photorec: The main command used to initiate the recovery process.
• /dev/sdb: Specifies the device name on which the recovery process will be performed.

Example output:

Photorec will start analyzing the specified device (/dev/sdb) and will attempt to recover any deleted files found on the device. The output will display the progress of the recovery process and the recovered files will be saved to a location specified by the user.

Use case 2: Run PhotoRec on a disk image (image.dd)

Code:

sudo photorec path/to/image.dd

Motivation:

The motivation for using this example is to recover deleted files from a disk image file. Disk images are often created as backups or forensic copies of various devices. By running ‘photorec’ on the disk image, one can recover deleted files without modifying the original disk.

Explanation:

• sudo: This command is used to execute the ‘photorec’ command with root privileges. It allows the command to access the necessary files on the disk image.
• photorec: The main command used to initiate the recovery process.
• path/to/image.dd: Specifies the path to the disk image file (image.dd) on which the recovery process will be performed.

Example output:

Photorec will start analyzing the specified disk image file (image.dd) and will attempt to recover any deleted files found within the image. The output will display the progress of the recovery process and the recovered files will be saved to a location specified by the user.

Conclusion:

The ‘photorec’ command is a powerful tool for recovering deleted files. By following the examples provided in this article, users can effectively recover files from specific devices or disk images. It is important to note that the recovered files should be written to a separate disk to prevent overwriting any existing data on the original device or disk image.