USB flash, folders visible but files corrupted. Help!

[snowy]

I have an 8GB USB flash disk I need to get important files from.
The disk has a live bootable linux installed that I rarely used and being lazy I was saving files to it just like a spare flash disk I had to hand when using a Windows 7 PC.

I may have booted it and not shut down correctly at some point but I don't remember.

LESSON: DO NOT SAVE FILES TO A LIVE USB!

When I insert the flash pendrive into USB on my WIndows PC, a box pops up saying:

"Please insert the last disk of the Multi-Volume set and click OK to continue."

There is a corrupted zip file on the disk so that could be why.

All the base folders are visible with the correct names and some folders work and the contents are fine.

However, some folders when clicked on, the folders and file names within are scrambled with wierd characters instead of the names and they don't work.

I copied the disk using DDRESCUE and then inserted it and clicked yes to the scan and fix option. This did not work. The folder I wanted vanished.

Is there any way I can get my files? Are there any softwares that can help?

Thanks

[Jared]

Were you ever able to see the files after a reboot of the computer? Most live USB's never actually save anything to the USB at all, they just use a RAM disk, so anything you download is only there until a reboot and then it's all back to original. There's a fair chance it was never saved to the USB unless you had specifically set up persistent memory.

[snowy]

Thanks for quick reply.

I made a live USB.
I booted from it a few times. Never saved anything duing the live sessions.

On a later date, the flash disk was in my pocket and I was using a windows PC. I needed to save some files so I just grabbed the disk from my pocket and put it in the PC I was using to save some emails and attachements.

When I put the disk in I could see all the special folders made on the flash disk for the booting OS. I just made new folders such as "emails" along side those and saved my files in there. It worked fine.

I kept using the flash disk like a regular USB flash disk just to save stuff to. So the live insatallation was still on the disk and new files were being saved in other folders I made.

I occasionally booted from the disk when I needed it for a live session. I may have crashed or not shut down properly but cant remember.

This week, I tried to read the files I saved when previously using it as a regualr flash disk but some of the folder names and files are corrupted.

The file names are just garbage characters see attachment pictures

[Jared]

I see. Looks like corrupted FAT to me. Have you tried scanning the drive with some decent data recovery software like R-Studio or GetDataBack?

[snowy]

I duplicated it onto another flash drive with DDRESCUE. On the duplicate, I first tried recuva. Recuva failed.
I then tried clicking yes to "scan and fix" when I inserted the duplicated drive into a windows PC. This resulted in the corrupted folders being removed.

Should I duplicate the damaged drive again and work only on the duplicate?

I will first try R-Studio undelete as it is free.

Are there any other free tools I can try?

It may be worth paying as i'm sure it will come in useful. Could it fix my external hard disk too?

external-hard-disk-turned-raw-after-sleeping-t3734.html

Thanks

UPDATE.

I tried getdataback and r-studio undelete but the files I clcik on are empty. In fact the emails folder is not even shown!

Is there anything else I can try?

[pclab]

Did you get any errors when doing the image?
Try UFS.

[snowy]

I used the command ddrescue -f /dev/sdd /dev/sdc logfile.log to clone it to a blank usbdrive.
There were no errors during the cloning.

I tried r-studio undelete and getdataback. Both failed.
When I use getdataback and I click on a file or folder that is lost, the preview window opens but is empty. M.jpg is full of zeros.

I will investigate UFS. thank you.

[pclab]

It could be that the controller already is spitting out errors and now you can't get nothing.
Probably you need a chip-off recovery.

[lcoughey]

If it has been sitting for a while, it could be data loss due to NAND cell losing their charge.