I totally lost my computer's hard drive for which I was using Vercrypt to encrypt a file container holding 1 file. I recovered the container and I know the Password and Volume letter. On another computer I have installed Veracrypt and have placed the encrypted container in the same folder as before.
Is there any way to recover / open the container and recover the encrypted file in an unencrypted form?
Regards Jeff
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Hello Enigma,
I'm not sure if the container was damaged or not. The computers issue is that it doesn't recognize the hard drive. The continer I am trying to recover did not come from the damaged hardrive, it came from a backup. I am trying to use another computer with a fresh install of Veracrypt to recover the containers contents. So far that has not worked. So what I want to know is there a way to recover the container? Regards
Last edit: Jeff Bracey 2024-01-26
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Yes the cotainer was not mounted during te backup. The backup came from onedrive. I have now been told the the computer guy that all files where recoverable. I do not remember if a PIM code was used during encryption and if so I've lost the code. Where can the backup header be found?
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Since you are using OneDrive, I assume that you were synchronizing to OneDrive after you dismounted the file container which would sync the entire file container's size.
However, for OneDrive to automatically recognize that a change has been made to the file container, you would need to have previously unset the default in VeraCrypt Settings > Preferences > "Preserve modification timestamp of file containers".
Or did you sign into your OneDrive account and perform an manual sync to OneDrive for the folder/file after dismounting the file container?
The embedded backup header is part of the VeraCrypt volume. In your case the file container.
On the mount screen after you enter your password, click the Mount Options button and select "Use backup header embedded in volume if available".
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Using the option "Use backup header embedded in volume if available" worked. I did find my old Key file. I guess I should reencrypt the file using a new key file or my old one ti get back to normal. Regards and Thank you.
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If it were me, I would create a new file container, mount both old & new file containers and use Windows Robocopy on the mounted old volume to copy all the files to the mounted new volume.
Or if there are only small number of files, use Windows Explorer.
Do you know why you could not mount the file container using the primary header instead of the embedded backup header from the backup?
Creating a new file container does not solve why the old file container is corrupted.
Perhaps run some tests on a smaller file container to see if OneDrive is causing the damage.
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There was only three files in the container.
I do not know why the primary header did not work if there is a header when using a fresh install of Veracrypt on another computer.
I do not believe the container was corrupted, remember the other (old) computers HD was not accessible on startup and just cycled during bootup.
I am going to reencrypt the files to create a new container with the original keyfile. I bet it will work just fine.
Thanks for all your help!
Regards
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I totally lost my computer's hard drive for which I was using Vercrypt to encrypt a file container holding 1 file. I recovered the container and I know the Password and Volume letter. On another computer I have installed Veracrypt and have placed the encrypted container in the same folder as before.
Is there any way to recover / open the container and recover the encrypted file in an unencrypted form?
Regards Jeff
Hi Jeff,
If the file container was damaged on the original computer, data recovery software will not be able to fix the unmounted file container.
Hello Enigma,
I'm not sure if the container was damaged or not. The computers issue is that it doesn't recognize the hard drive. The continer I am trying to recover did not come from the damaged hardrive, it came from a backup. I am trying to use another computer with a fresh install of Veracrypt to recover the containers contents. So far that has not worked. So what I want to know is there a way to recover the container? Regards
Last edit: Jeff Bracey 2024-01-26
Hi Jeff,
Was the file container unmounted when you performed the backup?
Was the backup using Windows Explorer to copy or using MS Robocopy or third party backup software?
You may have backed-up the damaged file container.
Have you tried mounting the file container using the optional embedded backup header?
Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2024-01-26
Yes the cotainer was not mounted during te backup. The backup came from onedrive. I have now been told the the computer guy that all files where recoverable. I do not remember if a PIM code was used during encryption and if so I've lost the code. Where can the backup header be found?
Hi Jeff,
Since you are using OneDrive, I assume that you were synchronizing to OneDrive after you dismounted the file container which would sync the entire file container's size.
However, for OneDrive to automatically recognize that a change has been made to the file container, you would need to have previously unset the default in VeraCrypt Settings > Preferences > "Preserve modification timestamp of file containers".
Or did you sign into your OneDrive account and perform an manual sync to OneDrive for the folder/file after dismounting the file container?
The embedded backup header is part of the VeraCrypt volume. In your case the file container.
On the mount screen after you enter your password, click the Mount Options button and select "Use backup header embedded in volume if available".
Using the option "Use backup header embedded in volume if available" worked. I did find my old Key file. I guess I should reencrypt the file using a new key file or my old one ti get back to normal. Regards and Thank you.
Hi Jeff,
If it were me, I would create a new file container, mount both old & new file containers and use Windows Robocopy on the mounted old volume to copy all the files to the mounted new volume.
Or if there are only small number of files, use Windows Explorer.
Do you know why you could not mount the file container using the primary header instead of the embedded backup header from the backup?
Creating a new file container does not solve why the old file container is corrupted.
Perhaps run some tests on a smaller file container to see if OneDrive is causing the damage.
There was only three files in the container.
I do not know why the primary header did not work if there is a header when using a fresh install of Veracrypt on another computer.
I do not believe the container was corrupted, remember the other (old) computers HD was not accessible on startup and just cycled during bootup.
I am going to reencrypt the files to create a new container with the original keyfile. I bet it will work just fine.
Thanks for all your help!
Regards
Hi Jeff,
FYI: Both the primary and embedded headers are part of the VeraCrypt volume except for system encryption which uses the VeraCrypt Rescue Disk.
Hence, something corrupted your primary header. Mounting using the primary header on another computer should have been successful.
Last edit: Enigma2Illusion 2024-01-31