Repairing Files: RAW Format Support

Read about fixing errors with damaged files that won‘t open after a virus attack, a disk failure or an attempt to recover deleted data. Although hardware manufacturers report of doubling the size of hard drives and memory cards with amazing regularity, the reliability of these media remains almost the same it has always been. Which means that chances are high that data may be lost due to hardware failures, power interrupts or jumps and errors in the file system. When accidents happen and valuable information is lost, an efficient data recovery tool is what every user needs.

Repairing Files: RAW Format Support

Why does this happen?

Hetman Uneraser will be there to help when all other remedies have been exhausted and will help restore files that seem lost forever.

Spending many years working in the data recovery business I’ve seen many successful, unsuccessful and partially successful recovery attempts. More often than not, customers would get some (or most) of their files back in perfect shape. Sometimes the storage devices are physically damaged to the point of becoming unrecoverable. Or the disk was so severely fragmented that the program only managed to restore the first fragment of the file only. And sometimes one or more important files are recovered by the data recovery tool, but cannot be opened by the editor. This includes corrupted office documents, damaged pictures, corrupted ZIP and RAR archives, and many other types of files.

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Just a few years ago we could not do anything with these files. Today, we can. Modern data recovery tools implement a handy feature allowing to repair files in certain formats, restoring the files back to their original specification.

One of such tools is Hetman File Repair. The tool was designed specifically to handle files that come out damaged after the recovery process. This includes files that were partially overwritten before a data recovery tool was used; incomplete files and files with corrupted headers, system structures and content.

At this time, Hetman File Repair supports a variety of formats including JPG, JPG, TIFF, TIF, PNG, BMP, as well as many RAW formats produced by professional photo cameras.

In order to repair a file, Hetman File Repair carefully analyzes its complete structure including headers, all sections (if any) as well as the actual content. This often allow repairing files that could not be opened by the viewer or editor.

Fixing the RAW Format

Many professional photographers shoot RAW. When it comes to recovering data, the RAW format presents some interesting challenges and opportunities. The RAW format packs several copies of an image in a single file. Of course, the compressed RAW output from the camera sensor is preserved; but in addition to that, RAW files contain small, medium-size and large JPG versions of the same image. These images serve preview purposes, allowing the camera to display pictures on the built-in LCD display without processing the RAW image every time.

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If a RAW file is damaged or corrupted, it is therefore possible to extract one or more of these images. The area containing raw output from the camera sensor is the largest and most susceptible to damage. The JPG “preview” versions are more likely to be undamaged, so a file repair program can usually extract these without a problem.

Earlier in our blog, we went over the advantages and disadvantages of using JPEG and RAW file formats.

Hetman File Repair can fix corrupted RAW files by analyzing their content and extracting parts of a file that are undamaged. More often than not, you’ll get at least the JPG versions of the photo. Sometimes the tool will be able to repair the file completely.

Oleg Afonin

Author: , Technical Writer

Oleg Afonin is an expert in mobile forensics, data recovery and computer systems. He often attends large data security conferences, and writes several blogs for such resources as xaker.ru, Elcomsoft and Habr. In addition to his online activities, Oleg’s articles are also published in professional magazines. Also, Oleg Afonin is the co-author of a well-known book, Mobile Forensics - Advanced Investigative Strategies.

Vladimir Artiukh

Editor: , Technical Writer

Vladimir Artiukh is a technical writer for Hetman Software, as well as the voice and face of their English-speaking YouTube channel, Hetman Software: Data Recovery for Windows. He handles tutorials, how-tos, and detailed reviews on how the company’s tools work with all kinds of data storage devices.

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