UFS Explorer - general questions

[Iurii]

What's new in version 9.5:
Action for activation of partitions with no file system now can be configured;
Disk Imager:
- Rework (optimization) of configuration GUI;
- Fixed issue with attempting 'multi-sector retries' on defect blocks with 'system' read procedure;
Added setting of file system 'read policy' for storages with defect blocks:
- Enabled support of 'read policies' for FAT, FAT32, ExFAT, NTFS, ReFS, Ext, XFS, F2FS file systems;
Added Export/Import function for user-defined raw recovery file types:
- Selective export to own XML-based file format for backup or selective restore on different PC;
- Partial support of importing user-defined rules in some third-party XML formats;
Optimized 'Refresh' procedure; scan of logical drives is now made optional (by default it is 'on');
DeepSpar USB Stabilizer/Guardonix:
- Added recognition of devices with no media or when it is not powered on;
- Added power control and support of driver configuration;
ExFAT scan: added processing of CheckDisk .CHK files (when possible), fixed few more issues;
Raw recovery scan: found and fixed 'scan stuck' issue;
Update to S.M.A.R.T monitoring tool: added 'SSD life' indication and support of SCSI Log Sense;
Added indication of storage device type and rotation speed for HDD.

 

[Iurii]

What's new in version 9.6:
Updated function of opening LVM thin-provisioned volumes:
- Added interface to choose from volumes, defined in text configuration;
- Support of QNAP thin volumes implemented via Tier/Thin technology (tiering is not supported);
- Support of segmentation for thin-provisioned volumes;
- Opened volume now contains proper LVM ID, name and Unix-path;
Added support of WD Apollo 'cloud storage';
Added activity monitor for DeepSpar USB Stabilizer/Guardonix;
USB Stabilizer/Guardonix configuration: added option for 'Auto-repower by UFS Explorer';
Disk imaging with DeepSpar USB Stabilizer:
- Added explicit configuration of re-power options for read timeout and read errors;
- Error recovery after 'storage loss' now includes re-power cycle;
General disk imaging:
- Fixed issue with handling error of creation of plain disk image file;
- Fixed support of 4GB image chunk size on FAT32 target file system;
Restoration of file/folder attributes (hidden flag, permissions etc.) was made optional;
Mac software version now comes with native Apple Silicon CPU support and requires macOS 10.15 or later.

 

[Iurii]

What's new in version 9.7:
Linux LVM recovery module:
- Added 'address translation' of found text configurations to the base storage;
- Found text configuration now can be displayed with embedded viewer;
Added basic support of LVM thin-provisioned volumes (Linux only) via 'Find LVM' tool;
In Disk imager:
- Added option to shut down the source after completion (when power control is available);
- 'Entry name' field for EnCase format now can be customized (by default is the same as file name);
Reworked operations with defect maps:
- Updated 'map loader' GUI (more obvious configuration, added map preview function);
- Software now enables file-based maps (when possible) to speed up loading and reduce memory usage;
- New type of storage object with applied map now supports indication of imaged/defect/free spaces;
Fixed some reported bugs/issues:
- In hex viewer: incorrect base position for 'big block search', loss of colorer function for cached data;
- File system module: silent crash bug with bad F2FS;
- Handling of soft-defect blocks: extending of file map to whole block in scan result;
- LUKS decryption: using of SHA512 for hash function caused problems with decryption;
- Some minor GUI-related issues (under Windows OS).

 

[Iurii]

What's new in version 9.8:
* Added tool and tab for displaying of a map of block states (defects) applied to a storage;
* Map of block states is now integrated with Explorer and with the 'Go to content'/'Go to descriptor' tools;
* Added 'View map of file' function (displays the imaging status of a specific file);
* Information about defect blocks, recognized by a pattern now can be saved (cached) to a map file;
* Loading of maps of sector states (defective sectors):
- For maps in the ACE Lab format, added automatic section of sector size using the map size to drive size ratio;
- When the ACE Lab RAW map format is selected, software now also recognizes the range-based format (to avoid mistakes);
- For drives with DDI metadata: added an option to enable an external map of defective blocks;
* Block state information is now also passed to 'sub-range', 'transformed' and RAID0/RAID1/JBOD storages;
* Fixed bug with scan of chunks on VMFS6;
* SDLSP and VHDX image file formats now preserve information about the source storage (name and ID);
* Date/time entry fields replaced with the date/time selection dialog;
* In hex viewer, the 'hex search' function:
- Added a function to pause it to release the source storage for other operations;
- When stopped, the last searched position is stored as 'Next location' to allow a jump to it;
* NTFS file system: fixed issue with support of very fragmented files when the FileName attribute is outside of the main MFT entry;
* Fixed bugs with creation of big VHDX files (over 4TB);
* General modifications of maps of block states/defects:
- Native 'sdmf' map format is changed to the "sparse" format for better speed and lower storage usage;
- Reworked internal functions of the disk imager tool to support the sparse format;
- Information about the source storage is now saved to a map and is displayed when the map is loaded;
* SDLSP and VHDX image file formats now preserve information about the source storage (name and ID).

 

[Iurii]

What's new in version 9.9:
* Added 'activity monitor' tool to display the activity of the software instance with disks;
iSCSI support:
- Initiator (client) now doesn't require multi-host/cluster mode and works on single connection;
- The Target (server): fixed several network communication issues;
* Microsoft Storage Pools (Storage Spaces):
- Added support of 'Parity of mirrors' internal configurations;
- Added support of 'Three-way mirror' configurations (when the number of components is a multiple of three);
- Basic support of so-called 'dual parity' on Windows Server 2012R2 (also with adaptive reconstruction with single missing);
- Fixed bug with 'Two-way mirror' (in span, not rotation mode), created on Windows Server 2016 and later;
* When image file has associated map of defects, added automatic recognition of presence of that map:
- Software asks to load associated 'Attr.map' for 'TaskImage.bin' when it is present in the same folder;
- Added support of saving of map association to image files in VHDX format and software asks to load the map if the file is found;
* Software now uses 'storage with map' icon for 'defects recognition' and SDLSP with enabled internal map of block states;
* Linux software version:
- Added support of indication of OwnerID/GroupID for Btrfs, EXT2-4, UFS1-2, XFS and ZFS;
- OwnerID/GroupID is also preserved for scan results of these file systems;
- OwnerID/GroupID can also be preserved when data is copied (when copying of 'standard' attributes is enabled);
- Fixed one scenario of GUI-related crash bug;
* Fixed few bugs related to XFS file system scan;
* Updated HFS+ scan procedure to support file system recovery when main metadata locations are wiped;
* Updated Btrfs file system scan procedure for finding fragments of very fragmented deleted files;
* Fixed issues with support of text LVM configurations created by CentOS 8.

 

[Jared]

Awesome work as always. I hope you are staying safe over there in Ukraine my friend.

 

[Iurii]

What's new in version 9.10:
* Added a tool to open Microsoft Storage Space volumes manually (to select metadata source and volume);
* Assembled Storage Space volumes now provide sector map information (allocation and defects, if available);
* Reworked RAID1E module: added support of multiple missing drives and optimized data access procedure;
* Rework to Microsoft Storage Spaces module:
- Reworked procedure of automatic assembly of volumes to use only the latest version of metadata;
- Automatic assembly of volumes is now made optional (it can be disabled in the settings);
* Scan result (VRFS) now also can be saved from context menu of the root folder of a scan result;
* Added support of map files (log files) created by GNU ddrescue;
* Using of maps of defect blocks:
- Support of maps after storage transformation/remapping (e.g. for BitLocker encrypted volumes);
- Indication of defects on assembled RAID1E when pair of components missing or contain map of defects;
- Software-generated defects now do not interrupt quickly the partition detection procedure;
* Update to ReFS3 scan: fixed a couple of bugs in the scan completion procedure;
* Update to FAT32 scan: better file system recovery when superblocks are lost AND FAT tables are damaged;
* Simplification to disk imager: single 'location' for metadata and automatic creation of log/map files;
* BitLocker decryption now supports multiple recovery keys (when available) for the same volume;
* For BitLocker-encrypted volumes, partition properties panel now displays properties of encryption.

 

[Iurii]

What's new in version 9.12:
* TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt:
- Added support of 'chained' encryptions (such as AES over TwoFish etc.);
- Added support of VeraCrypt PIM (non-system volumes);
Reworked dynamic HTML report to different data model: this allows to open it much faster and to support hard links;
* In the 'Open thin-provisioned LVM volume' tool:
- Opening of volumes with damaged metadata is now made optional (it is possible to cancel it after notification about an error);
- Added the dialog window to display error location (with possibility to copy the offset) and with the option to open error location in hexadecimal viewer;
- Sub-partitions or encryption on the start of LVM data volume now don't mask it from detection by this tool;
* Activation of a LUKS-encrypted partition now activates the decryption procedure;
Default 'activate' action for a BitLocker partition is now changed to 'decrypt' with automatic opening of the decrypted partition (on success);
* List of file copying events is now limited to prevent uncontrolled memory consumption:
- Added configuration for maximum number of log records;
- In case of log overflow, added configuration how to handle it (stop logging, remove old items, log to a file);
* Added BitLocker properties indication for an incompletely decrypted BitLocker;
* In the scan finalization GUI now added more detailed indication of currently running operations, including number of found files;
* Added support of empty folders in scan results (to recover folder structures without files);
* NTFS file system scan:
- Added support of recovery of empty files, including files with only named data streams;
- Added procedure of restoration of lost file placeholders when there is no file descriptor (only a reference from a directory index);
* EXT3/4 file systems:
- Added support of empty folders and files of zero size in scan result;
- Fixed few issues with processing of journal and file names recovery;
* In disk imager: added support of import/export for lists of imaging ('include'/'exclude') fragments.

 

[Iurii]

What's new in version 9.13:
In sector state map tab UI:
- Added standard control toolbar;
- Added function of saving map information to a file in UFS Explorer SDMF format (any source format);
- Added option of saving map in inverted state;
Added 'Manage all tasks' dialog to set up automatic copying from more than one file at once;
Added 'set caching' function in RAID builder dialog (including 'set to all');
Added special tool for mass setting of saving processed data from multiple storages;
For Dynamic HTML report now added support of custom HTM-templates (for report 'branding'/'customization'):
- Added sample templates to installation for demonstration of dynamic report customization;
- Added 'include folders' flag to file search function;
Microsoft Storage Spaces:
- Added support of 'type 6' virtual disk descriptor records;
- Fixed issue with support of 'type chunk' records (format version 3 and above);
Fixed issue with resumption of 'scan status' (ssdb) of RAID-Z scan;
Added settings for handling map-defined virtual defects;
When loaded associated map of defects for disk image, default 'defect' action is now 'virtually reproduce defects';
BitLocker properties (Recovery key) now has link to open Microsoft Cloud storage of recovery keys;
XFS file system scan: fixed couple of issues with save/resume scan and deleted file names recovery;
BtrFS scan:
- Fixed issue with assembly of multi-component file system;
- Better recovery of virtual address space when virtual address space tree is lost;
Fixed detection of LDM on GPT meta partition at long offset.

 

[Iurii]

What's new in version 9.14:

* All file reports have been reworked to support splitting into files of roughly a fixed, configured size;
* Dynamic HTML report:
- Added 'recalculate folders capacity' sub-report type (for reports, saved from file system with no scan);
- Fixed numeric overflow bug in object IDs;
- Fixed issue with column sort function in search result;
* Added experimental support of Drobo Cache - for attempts to recover damaged blocks from cache;
* VMware Workstation - encrypted VMDK files:
- Added decryption of split-VMDK files (they have to be opened from encrypted VMDK metadata file);
- Added support of encrypted delta-files (including split) - setting up as a delta, indication of the parent file hint;
* Added support of custom LaCie/WD AnyRAID LUKS encryption:
- Added password transform function (when possible to apply);
- Initialization vector 'cbc-plain:sha1' is considered as 'cbc-plain' (32bit);
* Microsoft Data Deduplication:
- NTFS access: added support of non-deduplicated modification of deduplicated files via copy-on-write bitmaps;
- ReFS access: modified procedure for handling deduplicated files and added support of non-deduplicated modifications on them;
- File open procedure: is now much optimized for speed (by reducing the number of verifications);
- In scan: optimization for completion speed, fixed bug with 'hotspots' interference ('pending modifications' not yet supported);
* LUKS2 decryption: fixed issue with decryption of volumes with 4K sector size;
* Saving disk image files to E01 (EWF) format:
- Fixed bug with sudden appearance of extra blocks at the end of file;
- Added special warning message about 'correct completion' of disk image (padding with zeros);
- Added progress indication for file finalization (when imaging is aborted) with ability to abort correct completion;
* HFS+ scan: better reconstruction of lost folder names from journal;
* ExFAT scan: removed duplicate 'green'/'yellow' file systems in result;