OK, regular readers: stop right here. This blog post isn’t meant for you. The only reason I’m putting this out there is because it took me two days to figure it all out for myself, and although certain forum posts found through Google helped me along the way I’ve not yet seen any comprehensive guide to recovering files from corrupt Norton 360 backup disks. It certainly would have sped things up 
So, if anyone else finds themselves in the same situation, this is for you!
Here’s the background. A couple of days ago, a relative inadvertently wiped the data from her PC. Although she had a three-DVD set of a Norton 360 backup, they were refusing to restore anything and Norton’s technical support were – apparently – less than helpful. (Judge for thyself.) I didn’t want to poke around the PC, since I’m not a data recovery expert and didn’t want to overwrite anything, but did bring home the DVDs to have a look if anything could be salvaged.
This is a sample of what was on the disks:
Useful?
However, after searching about some more, it turns out that these backup files were simply the original files but without their file names or extensions! (So much for ‘encryption’ 
)
So, as promised, here’s how to restore at least the file contents:
1. Copy all of the backup files into one folder on your hard drive.
2. Download the supremely excellent TrID, by Marco Pontello. Note: for Windows, and I’m kinda assuming you are a Windows user here, given the circumstances, you’ll need to download both the Win32 zipped package and the ‘TrIDDefs.TRD’ package of file definitions from the bottom of the page.
3. Extract both of these zipped packages into the same folder housing your backup files.
4. Open a command line window at this location. Note: on Windows 7, the easiest way to do this is by holding down the shift key as you right-click on the folder. Then select ‘Open command window here’.
5. Type ‘trid * -ae’ (no quotes) and press enter.
At this point, TrID will run through all of your backup files and attempt to restore their extensions. If you have a large number of files, this may take some time, but it should be obvious that it’s working:
TrID running
P.S. I really don’t recommend you use Norton 360 as a backup solution…
P.P.S. A minor point, but yay once more for Windows 7! For a task like this, little things like grouping and moving files by certain criteria are just extra-easy.
P.P.P.S. If I do get any payment for this, I will definitely be giving some to Marco Pontello, promise.
Selfs (1989-1995 models)
Some more old family cine film has also been resurrected on DVD, so we’ve also been marvelling at footage of my mum toddling into the sea with the help of a As for me… I’m in a bit of a temporary limbo for a week or so until I find out whether my next project is a goer. Plenty of time for the thrilling final season of BSG, then! And also for avid reading of Sophie’s new blog from the US, which is written at the level that I sorta wish my own blog could be written at – particularly her latest post on immigration. Well worth a look.
In the latest instalment of my remedial film education, I sat down this afternoon to watch Back To The Future with dad and Katie. What fun! Indeed, it has just inspired me to prepare a tall glass of chocolate milk for myself – which, as everyone knows, is the sure-fire prerequisite to approaching attractive 1950s American girls in chrome-plated suburban diners and successfully asking them to the dance. Fantabulous!
(Of course, and here’s the weird thing, if I had to travel back in time to make sure that my parents got together I’d be round about the right time to go see that film in the cinema on first release. But then 1980s Britain would hardly be my first choice of time-travelling destination… [cue predictable ‘I wish the same could be said for David Cameron, eh?’ witticism. Aha. I’m here all week.])
Anyway, Back To The Future was a generous DVD loan from Paul last night at Abbi and Paul’s dinner party, also featuring Paul’s brother and cousin. This was my first time visiting their lovely new flat, but the potential for many more parties has already been well observed, assuming that we all band together and get them some more cutlery. (I did wonder, on my way there, what would happen if I ran into one of those public transport knife-searching efforts clutching my little bag of knives, forks, spoons, wine bottles and After Eights… threatening much?) A lovely evening, and delicious food too 
Now, holiday part #2: from Sunday to Thursday I had a wonderful time down in Deal with Oliver, Abi and Abi’s friend Helen. It feels like we did a lot, even though it was hardly packed with strenuous activity, from seaside fish and chips to Jenga Truth or Dare. We watched All About My Mother and the adorable My Neighbour Totoro, as well as lots of Black Books and (my contribution) The Day Today, and just generally had lots of fun – especially during the now infamous ‘why look, we’re running out of lemonade…’ vodka night. (Ahem.) And now, alongside photos, I have some tasty rhubarb jam to remember it by! Yum yum.
Little piggy pig
Always a good combination
Here we all are!
Oliver can never get enough praise for all of his cooking
Hey y’all. I’m back! Well, back for a little bit – from late on Wednesday night until Sunday, in fact, and then holiday part #2 starts on Sunday 
Croatia, unsurprisingly enough, was hot and sunny and very restful! I feel under a bit of pressure to blog well about it, though, since we were sitting around one evening discussing blogs – as families do – when my own mother opined that The Musings of a Red Dalek has gone downhill over the past six months. A stab to the heart is what it was, I tell you, a bloody heart stabbing incident indeed. (Between mournful gasps, I countered that at least it was still going, and has comfortably outlived most of its contemporaries. So there.)
Croatia woo!
If you’re short of time, this basically sums up my holiday
No Self holiday is complete without air hockey
Aww…
As you may have gathered, Tasha was having an eventful time doing other things this time round, so Katie and I held the generational fort with a raft of silly activities. These included a developing a serious addiction to German MTV – or Mighten Tighten Vighten, as it shall now forever be known – to the extent that I now have a bunch of German-only pop songs stuck in my head: an itch that Spotify sadly fails to satisfy. Wir war’n Geboren um zu Leben, mit den Wundern jeder Zeit!
I have to say, though, that acting as a family of four for a while did confirm to me that being one of three siblings is clearly best. I know this is controversial territory. Only children in particular can be rather militant in demanding equal rights these days, and I’m totally not prejudiced – some of my best friends are only children! – and liberal enough to believe if consenting adults don’t want to share their toys that’s alright, as long as they do it in private and don’t try to teach siblinglessness in schools. But just one sibling still isn’t enough. Don’t get me wrong: Katie and I got on great in Croatia, as we (almost) always do, it’s just that family mealtimes with five people are even more competitive in terms of getting a word in edgeways, and I rather enjoy this constant shouting healthy dynamism. Maybe even more would be even better…
Oh yes, and on the subject of me and Katie – we had a wonderful moment together in Split, after petulantly refusing to accompany our parents to see the interior of a church and opting instead to stay outside in the glorious sunshine. (It was borne of an immediate but nonetheless remarkably firm conviction that we rather liked our own shoulders, thank you very much, and weren’t about to cover them up without a more enticing incentive than, um, the interior of a church.) Yet the moment they went in without us a pagan alternative suddenly turned up outside, in the form of a bunch of toga-clad, crowd-pleasing ancient Romans. Hurrah! No matter how much gold was inside that church, in the coolness stakes our team totally won.
Down with Theodosius!
Also: mum, Katie and I went rafting, which was lots of fun…
Row, row, row your boat
…and included an optional rock-jumping stop. Now, before I conclude on a photo of said rock-jumping, I must say a word about Katie’s sneakiness. Because there’s also of photo of her jumping off the rock – a photo I won’t be blogging, because it makes me look stupid by comparison – with her arms outstretched and a carefree, isn’t-this-fun look on her face. Great. I, on the other hand, am clasping my life jacket like a fool. But, ladies and gentlemen, we were told to do this! Honest! Katie just abandoned health and safety in pursuit of a cooler photograph – it’s her that you should judge
Down, down, down, down, down
New shoes! Specifically, new shoes that I bought using a newly discovered and much valued technique: namely, gather a crack team of concerned girls together and get them to do it for me. So many thanks, Abbi, Maryam and Jules – you’ve collectively returned me to that (sadly always temporary) phase of my life when I don’t walk around with holes in my shoes.
Some of the shoe-buying team
(Oh yeah, Katie and I are building a Dalek btw)
This past week I’ve been working on another UCL(funding cuts)-QPCS summer school, and although the kids were all pretty sweet it does leave you with a sense of relief when you can return to talking to people your own age, tempered by a fear that you will inadvertently start shouting at your friends to stay in line or stop talking. For this reason, amongst others, it was very very nice to unwind in the pub with Matthew on Friday night – Matthew being someone that I see often enough to feel in touch with yet rarely enough that I feel compelled to blog his name. And then last night I went to the wonderful Alice’s birthday party, in which Elizer Eliezer and I were both mistaken for 23 (ahem), a corner of the room became dedicated to telling Jewish jokes and we all ate Emily’s delicious cake. It was great, and slightly nostalgic, for I remember being the age when you gathered at someone’s house for a birthday with vaguely illicit helpings of blue WKD…
Right, planned engineering work on this blog: I’m off on holiday to Croatia! (Again!) Have fun in my absence – and if you do find yourself without anything to do, try listening to a song about birds.
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