Corrupted file system ... how to retrieve data from file.CHK? 5 software to repair the damage!

Sometimes, unfortunately, it may happen that the operating system (Windows) is no longer able to read some files. This typically happens because the file system has been damaged because of a problem software and / or hardware.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible remedy easily and, depending on the files or folders that have been damaged, it may become impossible booting the operating system!

Example: Checking the File System on Disk C:

The various versions of Windows (98, XP, VISTA, SEVEN, 8) over time have increased their level of security, and in the meantime the file system has changed (from FAT, FAT32, exFAT to NTFS) and has increased the its robustness to errors.

Reliability

"Under FAT or HPFS (1), if a sector that is the location of one of the file system's special objects fails, then a single sector failure will occur. NTFS avoids this in two ways: first, by not using special objects on the disk and tracking and protecting all objects that are on the disk. Secondly, under NTFS, multiple copies (the number depends on the volume size) of the Master File Table are kept." Microsoft Source

Note (1): HPFS file system is introduced with OS / 2. HPFS is only supported in Windows NT versions 3.1, 3.5 and 3.51. In Windows NT 4.0 is not supported, nor is it allowed to access HPFS partitions.

Even today, some computers have storage devices that use File System older and less secure (FAT). More simply, many of us often use USB keys that are usually pre-formatted with FAT32 (not NTFS).

When problems occur in the file system, often already during system startup or when you insert a USB flash drive, the operating system performs automatic procedures that attempt to correct errors using the controls and procedures are already in Windows:

1) Chkdsk: from a DOS command that checks and tries to repair the file system. For example chkdsk c: / ​​F / R

2) Scandisk: a Windows program that checks and tries to repair the file system. For example Scandskw.exe

If these steps fail to "fix" the file system often creates a hidden folder FOUND.000 that contains all the files or file fragments recovered. They are renamed in the form FILExxxx.CHK, where xxxx is a sequential number.

Files with the extension. CHK (Checkpoint) identify precisely lost file fragments and often contain files mixed together so unusable.

Unfortunately, this type of extension does not facilitate the inspection of the files to see if they are still usable or not, but they can rush to the aid specific software (some free) that help in retrieving data such as:

1) UnCHK Eric Phelps

2) FileCHK Martin Kratz (download from the website of Eric Phelps)

3) CHK-Mate of DIY DataRecovery 

4) TrID - File Identifier, Marco Pontello

All these software examine and replace the extension of file.CHK with the most appropriate depending on the nature of the files (photos, documents, music, etc..). In this way it is easier to open and check if they are valid.

In some fortunate cases the file is in fact intact and usable!

There are also other Shareware software (for a fee), but for which I have NOT been able to verify the effective capacity...

5) CHK File Recovery of CHEAP Recovery Solutions

Finally, for those who want to examine the contents of your files manually (e.g. with Notepad) I recommend watching the first few characters of the file and compare them with the legend below to understand the nature of the files examined and associate the correct extension.

PK: compressed file (.ZIP)

MZ: executable (.EXE,.DLLs, .OCX)

BM: image (.BMP)

GIF89: image (.GIF)

II: image (.TIF)

Rar!: Compressed file (.RAR)

By: Microsoft Office files (.DOC, .XLS)

ITSF: compiled HTML file (.CHM)

% PDF: Adobe Acrobat file (.PDF)

‰ PNG: image (.PNG)

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

Supports most fragile and sensitive to problems of file system are USB flash drives and external USB hard drives, especially when using the old FAT system. Often the errors on the file system appear after you have removed the USB stick from your PC without first having "disconnected" with the specific function of Windows system tray, especially when the operating system was still copying or saving data on the stick or still had open files on it.

I remember one day in a USB flash drive (FAT32) used with Windows XP, I happened to lose the contents of an entire sub-folder (which showed "strange" characters instead of the name of the file). By inserting the same key on a PC with Windows 7, the OS I was properly warned of the problem and unfortunately "correct" File System automatically transforming however corrupt files on more than 1300 files with. CHK!

Thanks to the above mentioned software are quickly able to recover at least a portion of the documents from 1300!

Then I used a utility for Low Level Formatting (Low Level Format) to clear the entire contents of the key, and reuse the usb stick, see here: HDD LLF: how to low level format the hard drive.

Council No. 1: when you buy a new USB stick, which occurs with the operating system will use mainly:

• If you use them only as a support for exchange between multiple PCs with different operating systems (XP, VISTA, SEVEN) then you need maximum compatibility then leave it as it is (pre-formatted FAT32).
• If instead you use to store important data (such as backups) and mostly with 1 PC and 1 single operating system (eg Windows 7) then re-format it immediately into NTFS (New Technology File System), as the latter is more robust to errors. It 's true that NTFS loses compatibility with some older PCs, but there is for them a special reading software (NTFS Reader for Win 95, 98, Me).

Council No. 2: If you have hard drives or USB PC that already contain some data (FAT32 file system), you can convert it to NTFS without losing data by using the system command convert. For example, to convert the C: drive just writes from the command prompt: convert c: / f's: ntfs

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How to print together multiple documents and files (PDF, DOC, XLS, DWG) or photos (JPG, BMP, PNG)?

Here some recurrent question:

• Can I print multiple PDF documents at once?
• Can you print multiple documents without opening them?
• How do I put multiple files into one PDF?

Do you need to automatically print multiple documents, present in a folder, without opening them?

On Windows 98, XP, VISTA there is not natively a function like that, so you need to use a third-party software.

Print Conductor is an utility that do this and I tried! It works very well and it's free!

You must download and install the software application, then you create the list of files to be sequentially printed by selecting the files with the dialog box "Open File", or dragging them with drag and drop, or by automatic scanning of a specific folder. You can also choose different folders or files of different types from those available.

Print Conductor supports 26 different types of documents, here they are: 

• Adobe ® PDF files, 
• Microsoft ® Word DOC and DOCX documents, 
• Microsoft ® Excel XLS and XLSX spreadsheets, 
• Microsoft ® PowerPoint PPT and PPTX presentations, 
• Microsoft ® Visio VSD drawings, Publisher PUB files, 
• Autodesk AutoCAD ® DXF and DWG drawings, 
• OpenOffice ODT documents, 
• JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, PCX, TGA, DCX and BMP images, 
• XPS, SVG, TXT, WRI, RTF and HTML files.

Print Conductor can print documents on any printer:

• Local printer,
• Network printer,
• Virtual printer.

Also, you can change the configuration of the printer selection before starting the printing process.

WARNING: The only condition you must abide is that on your PC, you must have already installed all the applications you normally use to open the same documents that you would like to print automatically. 

So for example, to print CAD files (DXF or DWG), you must have installed AutoCAD, to print Word or Excel files you must have a suite of Office installed, to print PDF files you must have Adobe Reader pre-installed, and so on.

The free version of Print Conductor has no limitation of use., but  insert a page of advertising in the print queue of your printer. Commercial version doesn't print advertising pages.

Print Conductor works well on 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. 

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2012 are supported, too. 

[Link features] Print Conductor features

[Download] Print Conductor

If you have Windows 7, 8 or 10 you can use this convenient feature natively in the operating system. Just open the folder containing the file to be printed and select those that interest you. To select multiple files with the mouse at the same time hold down the SHIFT key if they are contiguous instead if there are NOT contiguous hold the CTRL key. Immediately after you click on it with the right mouse button and select the item Print in the context menu. The important thing is that all the files must to be of the same type and NOT to be mixed (only PDF, only WORD, only EXCEL, etc..) The only downside is that the files are sent to print directly to the default printer, and then you can not choose your printer from the menu. With this method, normally you can select up to 15 files contemporary to print. 

An alternative method, with Windows Seven, is to search for the printer on "Devices and Printers" in the Start menu. Click with the right mouse button on the selected printer, then select "See what's printing" in the context menu. 

When appears the "queues" window of the printer, that you have chosen, you can drag and drop the files to print. 

Then another dialog box will appear asking if you want to "print multiple files at once." 

By clicking on 'Yes' all the files will be opened and printed in their entirety, with the default settings. With this method it is possible to mix different types of files! This method does NOT have limits on the number of files to be printed simultaneously.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: 

Print Conductor is intuitive to use and effective, I like it very much!

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