IsoBuster Pro - Mini-Review

[IainB]

Originally posted:	2013-12-12
Last updated	2015-06-28

Basic Info

App/Service Name

[attach]

[4wd]

You need to change the App URL. 

[IainB]

You need to change the App URL. 

Oh, thanks. That's my Textarea Backup Greasmoneky script. When I start a new Mini-Review, Textarea Backup restores the last Mini-review I did and puts all the text from it into the data entry panel. It's pretty handy, because it includes all the template too, but of course I should check and delete/update all the content...   

[mouser]

Thanks for the mini-review Iain 

[IainB]

UPDATE: 2014-08-25 2213hrs: IsoBuster v3.4 (2014-08-22).
Now gets 5 x from me.
There's been a progressive developmental upgrade path from the IsoBuster developers.
The latest changes are also impressive - see the spoiler below: (from http://www.isobuster.com/news/isobuster_3.4_release_notes)
(Copied below sans embedded hyperlinks.)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: (generic)

Here's a list of all the changes and improvements:

Changes:

    IsoBuster now also provides access to logical drives (C: D: etc.) instead of only Physical drives (see options). This gives access to Windows volumes. So on a higher level, which means that drivers can translate the data first before IsoBuster gets it. This is particularly useful in case of encrypted volumes, for instance TrueCrypt mounted volumes
    Dialog for experts with a [Professional] license to work with, test and complete managed image files
        Once an IBP file is loaded, right mouse click the drive-selection control in the left corner and choose "Change or Test managed Image File Properties (Expert)"
        Count the amount of errors inside a specified range
        Change the status of an area
        Complete the image file inside a range
    Command line parameters /CI: /RANGE: /FROMTO: and /EP:NPC to complete a managed image file, inside a range or not
    Ability to create an empty IBP/IBQ file set (no actual reads executed) via /ET:E to allow investigators to complete regions via /CI: and /RANGE: or /FROMTO:
    Allow managed image files to be completed at the end with dummy data if the input drive is "*" (/D:*)
    Implemented ability to reverse read (during extraction), using a given range
    Ability to reverse read via command line parameter: /RR:[Interval]
    Detect if the Linux EXT(2-4) file system is present and show an icon for it (exploration of EXT itself is not implemented but now an investigator knows it's present)
    Detect if the Unix UFS(1-2) file system is present and show an icon for it (exploration of UFS itself is not implemented but now an investigator knows it's present)
    Detect if the Linux Reiser(1-4) file system is present and show an icon for it (exploration of Reiser itself is not implemented but now an investigator knows it's present)
    Detect if the Unix XFS(1-4) file system is present and show an icon for it (exploration of XFS itself is not implemented but now an investigator knows it's present)
    Ability to load an additional LibEWF.dll next to the already present, embedded, libewf-20130416 version. A libewf.dll and its dependables need to be put in the /plugins/ folder
    IsoBuster will now always first try to load the dynamic version (assumed to be more recent) before falling back on the embedded libewf-20130416 version. The embedded version may be removed over time to reduce the size again, we'll see
    New option that defines how strict surface scanning is and whether there should be an abort after an error

Improvements:

    Improved device naming if Inquiry fails
    Improved determination of HD vs USB stick/Flash etc.
    Improved user feedback while cleaning up (sanitising) NTFS so that the user has an idea about where the process is
    Create sparse files when extracting sparse files and no filters are in use for that file
    Ability to drag files to IsoBuster's TreeView, to open as image file, when IsoBuster is running in an elevated state
    Popup warning when extracting from the ISO9660 file system, when other better file systems are present
    Support for the *.image disk file format
    Show attributes for Tracks, Sessions and Partitions in ListView (instead of N/A)
    Fixed it so that HDs larger than 2 TB are seen as 2 TB instead of less, so that at least that space can be fully adressed and explored
    Rewrote the automatic skipping and retry-count reducing mechanism, during extraction of a managed image file, to perform much better
    Allow <%FN> in the filename, in case an image is extracted via the command line
    Dependency on cc3250.dll for old Win2K OS in combination with multi-language support has been removed
    You can now always choose the installation folder. Before this was dependant on previous installations
    Show the object Type, cfr. Windows, in the ListView (for instance "JPG file") and allow to sort this new column (column may be hidden by default, right mouse click the ListView columns to enable)
    Added more sort options that will be performed right after the low level file system / folder exploring is done
    Various other smaller GUI improvements

Fixes:

    Fixed an exception error that happened if auto-folder-scanning was interrupted by closing the application
    Fixed an issue that could cause the last part of Video not to be saved to a file, when this video was being filtered via: "Extract but filter only MPG frames"

[IainB]

UPDATE: 2014-11-22 0851hrs: IsoBuster v3.5 beta (2014-11-21).
I have also added details to the table in the OP of this mini-review:

• To summarise a list of the range of media IsoBuster can recover data from.
• To provide a link to a Testimonials page.
• To provide a link to reviews in PC forums and discussion groups.

[IainB]

IsoBuster Pro - today only on BitsDuJour 50% discount - at time of posting this.
I reckon this is probably a worthwhile piece of emergency recovery software to have in your back pocket.

IsoBuster - Recovery Software - 50% off Discount for PC
Flash drives, SD cards, CDs, DVDs, hard drives, and Blu Ray discs are great for offline storage. That is, of course, until they're damaged! Then the panics sets in, with fruitless trips to the geek squad, frantic internet searches, and the lingering feeling that you'll never see those photos, movies, documents, emails, or crucial powerpoint presentations again.

Never fear, IsoBuster is here to save the day!

IsoBuster is a data recovery tool specifically designed for retrieving data from just about any damaged storage device or disc. This powerful, flexible recovery tool supports countless optical, image, and storage formats, including CD, DVD, MMC Media, Micro SD, ISO, USB flash, mobile phone memory cards, Blu Ray, SDH, IMG, and HD DVD, and much, much, MUCH more!

Check it out folks! Data recovery from physical media is only part of what IsoBuster can do. It's also a one-stop source for opening and extracting ISO, IMG, and other disc image formats!

Using IsoBuster is so easy. Just insert a disc or drive, select it, and let IsoBuster mount the media. In seconds, you'll be looking at all of the tracks and sessions located on the disc, along with Explorer-like file access.

With IsoBuster's improved error handling, you'll be assured of recovering the data that you're after. Just copy the ones that you want to save to a secure location, and BAM, you're a hero!
Today's promotion includes the following:
IsoBuster PRO - Personal ($19.97)
IsoBuster PRO - Professional ($29.97)

[IainB]

UPDATE: 2015-06-28 0008hrs: IsoBuster v3.6 released (2015-06-19).
_________________________________

Release notes: (Copied below sans embedded hyperlinks/images.)
_________________________________
IsoBuster 3.6 Released!      June 19, 2015

IsoBuster 3.6 was released today and it features a ton of new functionality, improvements and has some important bug fixes as well. IsoBuster 3.6 is a great update again and if you're running a 3.x version you should definitely (and freely) upgrade to this new version! If you have a 1.x or 2.x license you can still upgrade with a nice discount!

Here's a list of all the goodies:

Changes / New:
    Support for the Linux EXT file system
    Support for Rimage mastered CD/DVD discs with manifest file
    Support for Nintendo GameCube file system
    Support for GEMDOS / Atari - ST FAT12-16 variant
    Support for High Sierra on CD-ROM (the predecessor to ISO9660)
    Implemented internal device caching, especially used during File System recognition. Many file systems start from similar addresses.
    Caching avoids having to re-read blocks for every file-system that is checked
    Detect if the Nintendo Wii file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    Detect if the Linux RomFS file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    Detect if the Unix/Linux JFS file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    Detect if the Unix/Linux ZFS file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    Detect if the Unix/Linux Minix file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    Detect if the Linux BtrFS file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    Detect if the Linux SquashFS file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    Detect if the Linux CramFS file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    Detect if the Linux BeFS (BFS) file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    Detect if the Microsoft ReFS file system is present and show an icon for it (*)
    New and much faster way to find deleted files and folders in an NTFS file system

(*) Full exploration of this file system is not implemented but now an investigator can see if it is present

Improvements:
    Extra tests to make sure a child folder doesn't have subfolders that are a parent folder, creating circular links, in buggy or
    recovered file systems
    Added a 'Paranoid mode' when creating managing IBP/IBQ image files, to make sure all data is flushed to the destination
    without system caching, and structures are updated regularly
    Allow to complete a managed image file from media of which the layout doesn't fully match, but the risk is manageable [Professional]
    Allow to complete a managed image file from another non-managed image file [Professional]
    Improved speed when updating the IBP managed image file
    Added various extraction type switches via the command line: /ET: A, IBP, WAV, RAW, R2U, RUN, DLL
    Added new file system switches via the command line: /EF: see the various newly implemented file systems
    Added Pinnacle Studio mastered DVDs to the IFO/VOB recognition sequence ("PCLE UDFLib")
    Added ability (via right mouse click) to see the properties-window-text as text in a memo field (for easy copy and paste)
    Support for underscores in function names in the libewf.dll, so that Borland bcc32 built dlls can be used as well
    Always display FileName:StreamName, with or without [ADS] appended, for NTFS Alternate Data Streams
    Removed registration dialog nag when doing a surface scan on BD media
    Improvements in the Extract From-To functionality, dialog and warnings
    Make sure testing for encrypted partitions only happens once, not every time the visual node is created (e.g. when switching
    devices in GUI)
    Do not read extra blocks to test for partition encryption if there are enough cached blocks
    Updated the 'Agent' string when doing an online query, to check for a new version, to be more compatible with modern servers
    and systems
    Reverse the order of AVDP parsing, LBA 512 first rather than 256 first, in case of a CeQuadrat made UDF disc, to deal with
    CeQuadrat UDF bugs
    Get the proper volume name for CeQuadrat made UDF CD-R discs
    After an image file has been made, save its filename to the recently opened image files, so that it can be opened immediately
    from the recent image files' list
    Improved .GI image file interpretation, specifically improvements in finding the header size
    Show files and folders with the System property in another color
    Show special files, file entries that are not used in the classical way by Unix/Linux file systems, in another color
    Show Windows overlay icons and add the shortcut overlay icon to EXT symbolic link files
    Added checkbox to options to uncheck using CD-Text in filenames, when audio tracks are extracted
    The file-exists dialog now also allows to auto-rename a file, instead of over-writing or ignoring the file (non-Windows file systems
    allow duplicate but caps-sensitive names in the same folder)
    New dialog to auto-rename filenames that are illegal in Windows but OK in other non-Windows file systems
    Auto-rename folders, during extraction, when they contain illegal Windows-filename characters or a Windows-reserved file/folder name.
    Show Endianess in UFS, XFS, ISO and SquashFS and other File System properties
    Improvements in drag&drop functionality and the use of the temporary folder. Better clean-up afterwards
    Possibility to always get the RETRY SELECT ABORT error dialog (instead of RETRY OMIT ABORT) on file extraction
    Various improvements, changes and re-writes in the core code / engine, as this is a living project and to deal with the ever=growing
    new functionality
    Various GUI improvements

Fixes:
    Fixed GUI issue that caused incorrect values to be displayed in certain error messages
    Fixed possible hang when EWF image files are loaded
    Fixed that sometimes the sanitizing part after finding missing files and folders on a FAT volume could take 'forever', due to
    bad FAT records
    Fixed data-corruption issue, introduced in 3.5, while extracting files with more than 10 extents (fragments would be extracted
    in the wrong order)
    Fixed it so that when an IBP/IBQ is made twice in a row from the same media (without a refresh) the bitmap is still fully written
    out to the IBP
    Avoid exception error on bad IBP without (enough) bitmap data (rare test case)
    Fixed extraction of named streams of an NTFS folder (not file)


Download IsoBuster 3.6 here.

Please tell people about it, like it in facebook, share it via facebook or via twitter, post it on forums etc. Stuff like that is really appreciated. Start with clicking the "Recommend" button below if you're on Facebook.

Peter Van Hove,
Founder and CEO
_________________________________