File Share Encryption

Hello,

I'm using Windows 7 Professional 64 bit and PGP WDE 10.1.2. The use of PGP WDE is mandatory in our company.

Last Monday my computer crased while I was opening it from hybernation. I tried to restart and the windows repair console was showed instead of the intitial windows screen. After trying to repair the installation the windows program was unable to do it.

I left the computer to the IT support team. They use the PGP disk to restart from it. They decrypted the computer. It took all night. When we came the next morning (on Tuesday) it seems that the decryption finished. But I tried to restart the computer and now the Windows recovery console didn't start and it was like a loop, a message was showed: "reading windows files", nothing happens and then the BIOS screen again.

I read about fixing the MBR record. I used a Windows 7 DVD. The recovery console was shown and I use repair the problems. It take a night again and then, on wednesday I repaired the MBR. But the Windows didn't start. But now I can see the data of the disk in other computer but I cannot use the data, is corrupted. All the folders are in the same position with the same size than before but I cannot open the files.

I tried to use the PGP loading disc but the message was that it didn't find any PGP disk.

Is there any way to recover the data? How Can I redo the PGP decrypt again? My previous backup is from 6 months ago and I'm trying to find a way to recover this data.

Thanks in advance.

Was it the PGP WDE Recovery CD that was used for the decryption?

Did it specifically state that the decryption was complete?  Please note that when it first states that 0% is left encrypted, it actually means that slightly less than 1% is left encrypted - it has not completed.

When one uses the PGP WDE Recovery CD for the decryption, it must not be stopped until it is complete - there is no way to resume the decryption.

Hello,

The PGP WDE Recovery CD is the 10 version one.

When we left the computer at night it was in the 97%. In the mornig the computer had rebooted and it was trying to find the PGP disk.

Any option to recover the data?

Thanks

If the WDE Recovery CD was of a version earlier than the version used for the encryption, this may have caused corruption to the data.  Unless the disk was rather small, it should not have been able to decrypt 97% of it overnight (my high end machine with a 750 GB hard disk takes 5 days to decrypt with the WDE Recovery CD - it is slow 16 bit processing).  If you connect the disk to another machine with PGP installed, you can use the command line usage described in this Knowledge Base Article to assess the encryption status of the disk. 

It is also VERY important to make sure that you decrypt using a recovery CD from the same version number and build as the device that was encryped. Since you posted above that it was encrypted using 10.1.2, you would need to make sure and use the 10.1.2 recovery CD. failure to do so, could result in corrupted data on the disk.

However, it sounds like even though the decryption process was succesful (think of it as removing the wrapper off a candy bar). The data inside is still corrupted, or at least the boot loader (the candy inside is still broken up in bits).

I would try repairing the MBR first by booting your windows recovery disk and repairing the boot loader. If that doesn't work, I would try pulling the files off the disk (using it as a secondary drive in another machine) and then reinstalling windows.

if you are unable to access the data can try something like the windows checkdisk utility from a recovery CD (now that it is decrypted all the way). Or an ever better solution would be to use a file recovery utility such as getdataback or ontrack's easy recovery professional.

Hello,

Thanks for your support.

I used the Windows CD and repairing the MBR but It didn't work.

But I used the option "repair the system" in the Windows CD and it took all night but now I can access the data in the disk putting in a case and connecting to other Windows PC.

The data is there, same folders and same size of each file, but corrupted. Do you think that it can be recovered with the utilities you put there? Before looking at your message I was using iRecovery and it didn't finish.

Regards.

Hello,

Finally I have access to the data in the disk, but data seems to be corrupted because when I open an excel it tries to repair it and excel is not able to repair it.

I have tried Easy Recovery but I think that I need other Software. Is it possible to repair/recover my data?

Thanks.