I have a thumbstick encrypted as a hidden volume. I cannot access any files on the stick right now: windows complains that the drive needs to be formatted. This is true whether or not I mount it with the normal password (mounts, but shows as unformatted) or the hidden volume password (correctly mounts as a hidden volume, but shows as unformatted.
I am not sure what to do next. I am guessing I somehow damaged the volume, maybe a dirty eject.
Here is what i tried:
1.) Unassigning the drive letter in disk management and remounting, same error
2.) Trying in a different PC, same errors.
3.) Before trying anything potentially destructive, I tried making a copy of the thumbstick using imageUSB, which worked, but I can only dump it as a raw .bin. I am not sure how I mount a raw .bin to work on it - Veracrypt won't mount it as a bin with either password. I did try mounting the bin with OSFMount And ImDisk, but it doesn't seem to mount with either.
I don't want to try anything else until I get some suggestions since I don't want to make it worse.
Thank you!
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Same here with USB-HDD-Drive!
Mounting works with password but Windows wants to format the mounted Drive.
The 465GB-HDD shows a 10GB normal Partition with Veracrypt portable on it. The rest is the hidden Veracrypt-Volume - which seems corrupted. Same behaviour on another Windows 64-bit.
Testdisk (from cgsecurity.org) does not work so far on the mounted Drive.
Any suggestions would be great!!!
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Or is the hidden Volume feature limited to THE Windows installation it was created on??
-> I did a new Windows install (change from MBR to GPT) and after that the problem occured!
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Any ideas on why this happened?
Even if the data seems lost without a solution:
it would be sweet to prevent this behaviour in the future!
Is using Container-Files more secure than using partitions? (as described in above the comments 1 partition normal / 1 encrypted for mounting with Veracrypt)
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I think it's because you went from MBR to GPT when reinstalling.
Full disk encryption is better in terms of security but is easier to lose data if things go haywire.
On the other hand, Veracrypt creates a backup of the headers at the end of your hard drive when using full disk encryption.
Using containers won't mess up your partitions or MBR/GPT table but might be slightly less secure than full disk encryption.
Disclaimer: I'm no expert so don't take my word for it!
Last edit: Anonyx 2022-01-20
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It's important to distinct between the encrypted media, which will be detected as "raw/ unformatted" by Windows and the partition of the volume after mounting.
When encrypting an entire media, Windows will complain about it being uninitialized. That's the nature of encrypted media.
When a mounted volume is shown as raw, it's likely to be damaged by dirty eject or whatever. In this case, one would have to use data recovery software to get data back.
Greets
Last edit: RealTehreal 2022-01-21
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Hello,
I have a thumbstick encrypted as a hidden volume. I cannot access any files on the stick right now: windows complains that the drive needs to be formatted. This is true whether or not I mount it with the normal password (mounts, but shows as unformatted) or the hidden volume password (correctly mounts as a hidden volume, but shows as unformatted.
I am not sure what to do next. I am guessing I somehow damaged the volume, maybe a dirty eject.
Here is what i tried:
1.) Unassigning the drive letter in disk management and remounting, same error
2.) Trying in a different PC, same errors.
3.) Before trying anything potentially destructive, I tried making a copy of the thumbstick using imageUSB, which worked, but I can only dump it as a raw .bin. I am not sure how I mount a raw .bin to work on it - Veracrypt won't mount it as a bin with either password. I did try mounting the bin with OSFMount And ImDisk, but it doesn't seem to mount with either.
I don't want to try anything else until I get some suggestions since I don't want to make it worse.
Thank you!
Same here with USB-HDD-Drive!
Mounting works with password but Windows wants to format the mounted Drive.
The 465GB-HDD shows a 10GB normal Partition with Veracrypt portable on it. The rest is the hidden Veracrypt-Volume - which seems corrupted. Same behaviour on another Windows 64-bit.
Testdisk (from cgsecurity.org) does not work so far on the mounted Drive.
Any suggestions would be great!!!
Or is the hidden Volume feature limited to THE Windows installation it was created on??
-> I did a new Windows install (change from MBR to GPT) and after that the problem occured!
Any ideas on why this happened?
Even if the data seems lost without a solution:
it would be sweet to prevent this behaviour in the future!
Is using Container-Files more secure than using partitions? (as described in above the comments 1 partition normal / 1 encrypted for mounting with Veracrypt)
I think it's because you went from MBR to GPT when reinstalling.
Full disk encryption is better in terms of security but is easier to lose data if things go haywire.
On the other hand, Veracrypt creates a backup of the headers at the end of your hard drive when using full disk encryption.
Using containers won't mess up your partitions or MBR/GPT table but might be slightly less secure than full disk encryption.
Disclaimer: I'm no expert so don't take my word for it!
Last edit: Anonyx 2022-01-20
It's important to distinct between the encrypted media, which will be detected as "raw/ unformatted" by Windows and the partition of the volume after mounting.
When encrypting an entire media, Windows will complain about it being uninitialized. That's the nature of encrypted media.
When a mounted volume is shown as raw, it's likely to be damaged by dirty eject or whatever. In this case, one would have to use data recovery software to get data back.
Greets
Last edit: RealTehreal 2022-01-21