Problem Description

Formatting a volume effectively means erasing it in its entirety. Formatting is usually done to remove sensitive data on a volume, or it may be done to prepare a volume for fresh usage (usually done after corruption), or it may just be the result of plain human error. Whatever the reason, the end result is that the user cannot access data. Phoenix Novells advanced software engine can recover data from formatted volumes.

Technical Aspect of the Problem

Formatting a volume, in reality, means removing the current pointers to the data in the volume and redesigning the organizational structure of the actual data in the volume.

Each Volume has its own Volume Table which contains information regarding the organization of the actual data. This Table has pointers or references to the actual data in the volume. A particular configuration of a Volume Table is known as a File System. The two file systems that Novell follows is NSS (Novell Storage System) and NWFS (NetWare Traditional File System).

When a volume is formatted, the actual data in it is not erased instead, only the pointers to the data are removed. This means that none of the data is now accessible. This is similar to a house without an address or a person without a name - they exist, but there is simply no way to refer to them. Phoenix makes use of this fact and can effectively scan and recover data from a formatted volume.

Technical Aspect of the Solution

Phoenix Novell is a Windows based application and can only be installed on a Windows based hard disk. Therefore, the failed Novell based disk needs to be attached as a secondary disk to a Windows based disk with Phoenix installed in it. After the damaged disk is attached, Phoenix needs to be run from the working disk.

The software first detects all the disks along with the associated volumes/partitions and displays the list. It then scans the selected volume and displays the list of found data some or all of which can be recovered. If the recovery is not satisfactory, there is an option to change the linking mode. The three linking modes are FAT1, FAT2, and Contiguous. The Contiguous mode is the most intensive, as the software scans the volume itself, as opposed to FAT1 and FAT2 where the software scans only the Volume Table (File Allocation Table (FAT) + the directory tree). The Contiguous mode is especially effective in formatted volumes, since the new File Allocation Table (created after the formatting) is irrelevant.

Working of Phoenix Novell

The damaged server disk needs to be connected as a secondary to a working Windows based disk with Phoenix Novell installed in it. The software is then run to start the recovery process.

Clicking Select Netware Partition will display a list of hard disks with their respective volumes. Select the damaged volume on the server disk to start the scan process. The entire list of found data is then displayed.

Any number of files can be selected for recovery, and clicking Recover Selected will restore the selected files. Alternatively, clicking Recover Deleted will recover all the files listed in the displayed list of files. If the recovery is not satisfactory or if some of the files are recovered improperly, clicking Tools -> Change Linking Mode -> Contiguous Mode will change the linking mode to Contiguous which is a much more comprehensive scan of the volume, especially if the volume to be recovered has been formatted.