Accessing TrueCrypt Volume on Ext drive suddenly reported as RAW by Win 7

[Hannay]

Windows 7 Home Pro / Truecrypt


Would someone please check my logic ... I have been working through things and am now too close to it and think I am missing something very obvious!

I have a 1TB ext drive. 400GB is a Truecrypt Volume, the rest is a second-backup location for selected things in case there is a problem with my first-backup drive.

The TrueCrypt Vol holds confidential business documents/details/data going back over 20 years, and the 'Backups' portion plus two other portable drives contain Work, 1st-backups, and the selective 2nd-backups.

I was moving the second-backups off the 1TB drive to a different location, making it a business-info drive where I could then archive some things as well. It was simple bulk A-to-B transfer stuff.

So afterward it should have been the same drive with just the TC Volume left on it.

I stepped out while it was dealing with the final batch-transfer, but when I returned to it not ten minutes later there was a window saying there was no file system, that it was a RAW drive, and it needed to be formatted.

I felt however that Win 7 only thought it was RAW when actually it wasn't, and I reasoned that if I removed the drive-letter Windows wouldn't prompt me to format it first and I could mount the Volume and go from there! But I couldn't check that out because with no drive letter Windows didn't see the drive and so I couldn't point to it to mount it!

To verify that the TC Volume was still there I used "icare Data Recovery Pro" which can see RAW data, and it easily found all the moved-off normal folders/files which it then offered to recover and I have subsequently done with zero loss.

Importantly it also found a separate 400GB 'file' which was the TC Volume with the correct dates, size etc. I copied that off expecting to be able to mount it, but all that happened was the "Incorrect password or not a TrueCrypt Volume" window still appeared. But the password was fine, and the TC Volume is good, copied direct off the drive it has been stored on all the time!

SO .....

... what am I missing please?

I have the TC Volume clearly sitting on its drive inside an alleged RAW fog - can I make Win 7 see it there so I can (hopefully) mount it?

Separately I also have the TC Volume out on its own, but TC either doesn't recognise the correct password or it thinks it isn't a TC Volume. I'm sure there must be a way to get that mounted?

I have just tried my final option to "use backup header embedded in volume if available", however no change - still the popup window stating "Incorrect password or not a TrueCrypt Volume" ... neither of which is the case.

So now I am beyond the limit of my ability.

Any observations or workarounds that could lead either to making the alleged RAW (suspected not) drive readable by Windows so I could mount the TC Volume from there as before, or to an ability to mount the same TC Volume that I was able to extract/copy/recover from that drive using icare Data Recovery Pro, would be a total lifesaver and I'd be massively grateful!

Thanks.

 

[ravi prakash saini]

@Hannay I have no experience with TrueCrypt so can't say anything,however I use Linux when face this kind of hard disk related problem. you can download any distro and make bootable pen drive., and sometimes I just open the hard disk in Linux and shutdown the system and then boot in Windows and Windows recognises it without doing anything.

 

[Hannay]

Ravi: thank you, that is interesting!

I will certainly see if it helps at all, plus if I instal TrueCrypt to Linux just in case it can read the Drive, the TC Volume can be mounted right there and then for me to access the content also ... that would be a perfect result!

I should be able to try a little later ... I will let you know.

Thanks again.

 

[ravi prakash saini]

@Hannay if you have found any solution,please share with us so that we all get a chance to learn something new

 

[Hannay]

Still trying to home-in on a workaround ...

There's many posts on many forums addressing variations of the same problem, with no definitive fix but a few successes that however relate ONLY to an OP's specific rig'circumstances etc .

There has to be some core logic to build from however, and the search goes on ....

Sadly your suggestion of taking a shot utilising Linux didn't produce anything for me, however maybe with some modification it could - so I haven't written that off yet.

As soon as I have something, you'll have it too!

 

[Hannay]

Well, I've learned a lot about Linux in a short time trying to see if it might be part of some workaround, however I can't find an option for my problem that does that.

I even installed Truecrypt to Linux in a final desperate attempt to see if at some unknown level it would be happy to accept my password and mount the Truecrypt Volume - you will remember that I was able to extract/copy that off the suddenly-RAW drive, but that truecrypt/Windows7 won't recognise my password nor the Volume.

Sadly however it popped-up the same report as in Windows: "not a truecrypt volume / password not recognised". I know for absolute-certain that one of those statements is wrong, and strongly believe the other is as well!

Right now I am pinning my hopes on posts quite a while ago from a very obviously Truecrypt expert who used the name of Dantz on the Wilders Security forums. I don't think he is there any longer, but in the past he (?) has advised more than a few people in immense fine-detail about how to get in to the data's bits and bytes at an almost molecular level, literally holding their hand and guiding them through a complex series of steps.

These all were mount/recovery fixes specific to each OP's problem/circumstances however, not fixed process that anyone could apply straight. So I am reading and rereading all of these looking for patterns, crossover-sense and more, and making notes and trying to understand WHY they work so that I can figure out HOW they do it ... if I can get to grips with that and with some tools that are new to me, possibly I can apply a version of it to my own problem.

However, I can only describe it as being like translating Martian in to Venusian and then in to English without losing any of the vital Martian nuances!

I am entirely out of my depth exploring binary data via WinHex for example, identifying number-string codes in order to test certain states and block-constructs with even a rudimentary ability to also know what I am seeing and how to interpret it.

I am perfectly happy to operate diagnostic software that I know nothing about, if someone who knows what they are doing is able to take me through the steps and make determinations accordingly. But formulating a tailored-fit plan that needs absolute precision because if I am off by just a single byte in millions it will be going nowhere or might even make things worse, is beyond daunting!

But thanks anyway Ravi, and if you guys all know each other in broad terms and you know this Dantz person, ask him/her for me if he/she would come out of retirement ... just for the one time ... please?

I'll let you know if I make any progress with the Mars/Venus/Human approach, though don't hold your breath waiting ...