Some people have asked about how to salvage files when a backup that uses
the HDBackup program to back up a large file (more than 800K) does not
restore properly.
One problem specifically mentioned occurred when the backup itself had been
completed without any problems, but when an attempt was made to restore the
file, a "Disk Full" message appeared after the last disk was inserted.
Unfortunately, recovering the data in such a situation can be difficult and
time-consuming; the recovery effort is compounded by the file being split
between two or more diskettes.
Usually, if the "restore from backup" fails, each diskette containing the
backed up information can be inserted, and each file copied with the Finder.
When the back-up data is split among many diskettes, recovering the data
depends on the type of file, the file format, and your persistence.
Here are some suggestions to aid recovery:
1. Make a copy of the files.
2. Recovering a file may be as easy as launching an application, then
choosing to display the file. Since the file is divided between two
diskettes, it needs to be rejoined using Copy and Paste.
3. If you're unable to open the file, consider changing the file type with
ResEdit to an appropriate file type, such as text if it is a word
processing file. This may enable you to open the files separately and
rejoin them using a text editor or word processor.
4. If the file is a spreadsheet or any "text-based" type of file, you
should still consider changing the file type to text. This may allow you
to open the file -- but would require more work to re-establish the
delimiters before exporting it back into the original file type.
If you are not able to recover any portion of the files by following the
suggestions above, then important file structures are either incomplete or
missing -- which means that more powerful data recovery tools are required.
FEdit or a similar disk editor may allow the files to be opened, then copied
and pasted into another file.
(NOTE: Running under MultiFinder will speed up the copying and pasting
process.)
More difficult recovery procedures involve using file format information
and a disk editor to perform specific repairs to the files -- namely, to
decipher and extract recoverable data. If the file is compressed or
encrypted, file recovery is likely to be very difficult. You must first
decipher the scheme used, then decipher or translate the data, byte by byte.
Getting access to the file format is essential -- and you will need lots of
time and patience as well.