Recovering Deleted Files with PhotoRec

When to Use

• When recovering deleted files from a forensic disk image or storage device
• When the file system is corrupted, formatted, or overwritten
• During investigations requiring recovery of documents, images, videos, or databases
• When file system metadata is unavailable but raw data sectors remain intact
• For recovering files from memory cards, USB drives, and hard drives

Prerequisites

• PhotoRec installed (part of TestDisk suite)
• Forensic disk image or direct device access (read-only)
• Sufficient output storage space (potentially larger than source)
• Write-blocker if working with original media
• Root/sudo privileges for device access
• Knowledge of target file types for focused recovery

Workflow

Step 1: Install PhotoRec and Prepare the Environment

# Install TestDisk (includes PhotoRec) on Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install testdisk

# On RHEL/CentOS
sudo yum install testdisk

# On macOS
brew install testdisk

# Verify installation
photorec --version

# Create output directory structure
mkdir -p /cases/case-2024-001/recovered/{all,documents,images,databases}

# Verify the forensic image
file /cases/c…