From partition table repair to file undelete, TestDisk provides a comprehensive suite of tools for disk recovery.
TestDisk is specialized in recovering lost partitions. It scans your hard drive for partition headers and rebuilds the partition table based on what it finds. This is essential when a partition has been deleted accidentally or the partition table has been corrupted by a virus or software error.
When a disk becomes non-bootable due to a corrupted boot sector, TestDisk can rebuild it. It supports rebuilding NTFS boot sectors from its backup or from scratch, and can restore FAT32 boot sectors from their backup.
Rebuild boot sector and recover from backup.
Rebuild boot sector and fix MFT using MFT mirror.
Beyond partition recovery, TestDisk can undelete files from FAT, exFAT, NTFS, and ext2 filesystems. It also allows you to browse files on deleted partitions and copy them to another disk, even if the partition hasn't been restored yet.
This is crucial for forensic analysis or when you just need to recover specific important documents from a damaged drive.
TestDisk runs via a Command-Line Interface (CLI). This design choice ensures maximum compatibility, allowing it to run on servers without a graphical interface, or from a DOS boot disk when the operating system fails to load.
See the powerful command-line interface that professionals trust.
System areas TestDisk can repair and related commands for reference. TestDisk does not modify the Windows Registry.
bootrec /FixBoot bootrec /FixMbr bootrec /RebuildBcd
sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=~/mbr_backup.bin bs=512 count=1 sudo dd if=~/mbr_backup.bin of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
testdisk /log photorec /log
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