TrueCrypt

I recently had the need to expand on my storage capacity. I had an external drive that was getting full so I bought a larger one. Because I am storing some business, financial and personal files on it, I decided to try some encryption software and had read about Truecrypt. I downloaded the software and read the tutorial. I followed the instructions, created the volume on the new drive and came up with a secure and meaningful password. I copied a few files, shut down the system and re-accessed the new drive. Everything worked fine. Did this several times to assure myself that the files were safe and, because most of them were irreplaceable, that the software worked as promised. Once I was convinced, I put all of these files onto the new drive and once again ran a test. Everything seemed fine, so like a fool, I erased all the files on my pc and the old external hard drive. The next day, I tried to access the new hard drive and got the message that I was using an invalid password. I KNOW that is not the case. I have tried everything to access these files to no avail and am, frankly, heartsick that these files are apparently lost to me forever. I suspect I am just screwed but you folks have helped me so often in the past, I thought I would get your input. Is there anything I could possibly do to retrieve this information? If not, I just want to use this post as a warning to others who may want to do the same thing I just did. It seemed counterproductive to keep these files duplicated on another drive for security reasons, but now I wished I had. Anyway, thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

In case you can't get the encrypted files I'd suggest trying to undelete the ones that you previously had.

www.recuva.com is a good utility for that. The less you use the computer the better chance you have to retrieve files before they get overwritten so if you can download it on another pc or to another drive.
Use the "deep scan" if the regular scan doesn't find any of them.

Not going to happen. I used Eraser to write over them.

yeesh.

Perhaps others here can help with truecrypt... I haven't used it. Although there have been times using other encryption programs where I've accidentally hit the space bar after typing a password and that takes a while to figure out.

Also... I don't know what backup programs you use, if any, but I've saved my butt a couple of times after having deleted/wiped something I need and then remembering I have a disk image (eg -Acronis true image) that still had the files.

Thanks, fink. But I have typed this password so many times trying to access this drive that I doubt I am doing it incorrectly. I have even tried various permutations of the password but like I said, I tried this several times before I placed my trust in the software and it always worked. There are no backups of these files. The whole point of encryption was to keep them secure and I figured, incorrectly as it turns out, that having backups would negate the whole purpose of encryption.

If you KNOW that the password you are entering is the correct one, then more than likely there is some sort of corruption either on the external drive or with the data transfer. The only thing you could try is to remove the drive from the enclosure and connect it directly to your computer, and see if you can access that way. You may want to save that as a last resort, in case it causes further problems.

This is why I use encrytption only for files on media that others may have access to. You should always have at least one unencrypted copy of your data stored at a secure location (safe deposit box, etc.). Once you have encrypted a file, there is always a chance you won't be able to unencrypt it again, for a variety of reasons.

Are you booting from the Truecrypt rescue disc or not? If so, you need to use the password from when the Truecrypt RD was created.

Midknyte, I was never prompted to create a rescue disk or I certainly would have.

RonJohn--UPPER CASE or lower case?
FWIW--
From http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=199
"Darkness: People who had this problem with the "incorrect password or not a truecrypt volume" - i had the same problem, and i thought all my data is lost...
Then i tried few thing with the tool, and it HELPED!!!
I started the truecrypt, chosen the volume and then i've clicked "Volume Tools -> Restore Volume Header". In the window i've chosen the first option, the tool said "done etc." and then IT WORKED! Try it, maybe it will help you too... "

I found another reference. It comes from PirateBay (a Torrent) so I opened the Google-cached version. http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache...&ct=clnk&gl=us
Pretty much up to you if you want to see the original and suffer whatever malware might be included.

Otherwise most references say it is essentially impossible to recover data on a volume that has be encrypted with TrueCrypt and the password is lost.

Nice find Jim.

There's more help below that too.. read to the bottom.

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Had the same problem and is probably caused by Windows XP. I normally first dismount a Truecrypt Volume before shutting down. Sometimes I forget, sometimes Truecrypt asks for a forced dismount because the volume is in use (Windows). After the last time a forced dismount had to be done, at least that's my conclusion now, I could not mount the volume anymore, resulting in what CBM mentioned.
I upgrade from version 5 to 6 with no result. Tried to restore the header resulting in wrong password.
Here's the trick. Mounting the volume as a removable media gave me access again. The only flaw up till now is that I can't mount it normally anymore. If I do Truecrypt hangs and cpu usage goes to 100%.
Apparently some Windows traces are left, e.g. System Volume Information, referring to things that are not there anymore.
If this is the case it should be possible to mount the volume from within Mac or Linux. Had no time to try this.

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Originally Posted by RonJohn

Midknyte, I was never prompted to create a rescue disk or I certainly would have.

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http://www.truecrypt.org/docs/

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During the process of preparing the encryption of a system partition/drive, TrueCrypt requires that you create a so-called TrueCrypt Rescue Disk (CD/DVD)

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I appreciate the find Welshjim, but unfortunately, the procedure didn't work for me. I didn't get the "done" response. The second reference was not helpful.
Midknyte, I'm telling you that I was never prompted to create a rescue disk or I certainly would have. Maybe that is the case if you are using the program to create a volume on your PC, but mine was on an external drive. In any event, I ran this program more than once and it never required me to create a rescue disk or I would most certainly have done so. I also notice that a thumbdrive I had used TrueCrypt on as a preliminary experiment also won't open now. I did all this on a Vista PC and even though I am an administrator, it often treats me as if I'm not. I have tried right clicking on the program and choosing "run as an administrator" to no avail. Do you think it would be worth deleting the program and downloading it again? I know the chances of recovering my data is very slim at this point but I don't want to don't anything to further limit my chances.

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Do you think it would be worth deleting the program and downloading it again?

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No that wouldn't make a difference. Even if you download it again, you will never get the same encrytion key values.

Boy, it's tough to read this! Sorry RonJohn!

I have used TC off and on and never had any issues. I too have never made a rescue disk but then again, I've never used TC on an entire drive/partition (which is the focus of the rescue disk I believe.)

TrueCrypt has a support forum that you might try. I've heard rumors that they are VERY touchy about criticism. So you might want to avoid getting too emotional with them while you are asking for help (this is not something I could do very well if I were in your shoes!!!) http://forums.truecrypt.org/

Good Luck!