testdisk

Start testdisk interactively

$ sudo testdisk

$ sudo testdisk [/dev/sdX]

$ testdisk [path/to/image.dd]

$ sudo testdisk /log [/dev/sdX]

$ sudo testdisk /cmd [/dev/sdX] [commands]

$ sudo testdisk /d [path/to/recovery_dir] /cmd [/dev/sdX] [commands]

testdisk [/log] [/debug] [/d recupdir] [/cmd device commands] [device|image_]

TestDisk is a powerful open-source data recovery utility designed to recover lost partitions and repair boot sectors. It can restore partition tables, recover deleted partitions, rebuild boot sectors for FAT and NTFS, and fix corrupted file systems.
TestDisk supports a wide range of file systems including FAT12/FAT16/FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ext2/ext3/ext4, HFS/HFS+, JFS, ReiserFS, XFS, and many others. It works with various partition table types including DOS/MBR, GPT, Mac, and BSD disklabels.
The utility operates in an ncurses-based interactive menu by default, guiding users through the recovery process. For automation, scripted mode is available via /cmd. TestDisk also includes a file recovery feature accessible through its Advanced menu, allowing recovery of deleted files from supported file systems.

/log

Create a testdisk.log file recording all operations and analysis results.

Enable debug mode with additional detailed output.

Specify the directory to store recovered files (should be on a different device than the one being recovered).

Run in non-interactive scripted mode with the specified command sequence.

The disk device to analyze (e.g., /dev/sda, /dev/nvme0n1).

A disk image file to analyze instead of a physical device.

Root privileges are required when working with physical disk devices. When recovering files, always save them to a different disk or partition to avoid overwriting recoverable data. TestDisk is primarily a partition recovery tool; for file-level recovery from damaged partitions, consider using its companion tool photorec.

TestDisk was created by Christophe Grenier and initially developed as a partition repair tool for DOS, which explains its /flag command-line syntax. The project became part of CGSecurity and was open-sourced under the GPL. It is bundled with PhotoRec, a file carving tool for recovering files regardless of file system. The current version 7.2 supports modern partition schemes and file systems.

photorec(1), fdisk(8), gdisk(8), fsck(8), ddrescue(1)