kmbergem: As soon as I get home I will give you the directions.
~sjt0hrd

someone should register "www.fastconv.org" that has every solution from this and every other site, plus the program. then we can maybe get someone to write a GUI for everyone's favorite recovery tool

If you want to volunteer, I will host it

i know there are directions listed but im quite confused, but am very patient as i have been able to move on when i could not find any support for fastconv earlier during the summer. Good things happen to those who wait so i found this site off of google *cheers* and downloaded the fastconv thing

My operating system (win xp home sp2 build 2600) is installed on D:

I have my archive located at C:\USMT2.UNC and i have a temp folder located at C:\temp

When I run the FAST wizard and it crashes i don't know where to find the transdb file

next i typed in this on the cmd line "fastconv /v /i:c:\USMT2.UNC /s:c:\USMT2.UNC /d:c:\temp /t:c:\temp /k" (without the quotes that is)

Fastconv runs verifying and skipping decompression for "C:\temp\0000####.dat"

this goes on for a long time, the original archive was 4 gb or so. fastconv goes through most of the files creating a fat list then it gets stuck on "Veryifying: C:\temp\00002732.DAT Size: 47217430
Skipping decompression for: C:\temp\00002732.dat

I left it alone for a couple hours and no progress I can only assume that it froze.
Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks


Next time ill leave my backing up to me doing it the old fashioned way. Trusting microsoft with my files....who am i kidding seriously thinking that a files and settings transfer wizard would work...

This is what sjt0hrd wrote to me, and it worked fine:




I got all my data back, not in the right places, but I just moved them back and mostly everything worked.

But what I don't understand is if Microsoft knows this is a problem and that their ONLY backup solution is NOT working, why in Gods name didn't they fix it with the SP2???!!!!
They know what the problem is, since they have made a program to fix it, but why not fix the problem itself!!! Stupid Microsofters.

I tried using the cmd line you gave me but Im still having troubles with it.

the line was fastconv /S:C:\USMT2.UNC /D:C:\NEW /k

when i ran this, fastconv extracts the files but then part of the way through the program closes getting some kind of error "AppName: fastconv.exe AppVer: 5.1.3566.0 ModName: ntdll.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 Offset: 00011e58"

when i look at the folder C:\new its empty but in the \localsettings\temp i have 4 folders, 00000, 00001, 00002, 00003. Each of these folders is filled with various *.dat files

*dances* I go my files back, i just needed to skip a couple of *.dat files that fastconv keep freezing on. So all is well thanks kmbergem *dances*

Ok, I'm having a problem myself with this program.

I have a bunch of .dat files, labeled as so: data0.dat, data1.dat, etc.

The files are stored in c:\extract
FasConv is stored in c:\extract

My save file where I want the extracted files to go to is: c:\save

I am trying to extract them using the following command line:
fastconv /S:C:\extract /D:C:\save /k

But I'm getting the error: "Source Store is Invalid."

Can anybody help me out here?

TIA

hmm...

did you read through all the posts in this thread? maybe one of our situations will help you?

Yeah, I did, but no joy. Anybody?

are there any other files inside the folder where your .dat stores are? if so, remove them. also, try different combinations of spacing in your DOS line...sometimes DOS can be a bleep and not like spacing...and sometimes a different combination will get it to work

Need some MAJOR help here...
Trying all that has been shown in above posts, but I'm getting source store is invalid everytime. Any ideas at all? Please IM me at CatsFan03 (AIM, MSN, Yahoo).
Thanks SOOOO Much!
Ryan

Removed mail address so you wont receive spam - Grinler

hmm......well if you say you've tried everything in the above posts then there's really nothing I can think of. I'm sorry to be so negative but the FASTconv procedures are not an exact science, given the nature of file corruption in general. The one thing I can think of off hand is when you set the source store in the C prompt, direct FASTconv to the folder only where your original stores are located, not the stores themselves. Other than that...re-read all of the posts here carefully and make sure you try everything at least twice. Sometimes things like basic spelling errors or spacing errors in the C prompt can throw things off.

I've been using Fastconv to get back some old stuff that I used files and settings transfer wizard in xp back. I can get it to extract a lot of .dat files to a temporary folder in my documents but when it extracts a file called 0000F13F.dat it then says:

"Cannot read all images from source store. Error=13"

It then quits and I'm left with all these extracted .dat files in my temp directory and none of the files I want back in my destination directory. I read somewhere on this forum that a user was able to tell fastconv to skip certain .dat files, but I can't get it to do it using the /e extension. Does anyone know how to do that or somehow get fastconv to change those .dat files to files I can get back? I also tried to get the "transdb" file from F.A.S.T. but every time I run the wizard it automatically deletes all the files it extracted before it brings up the error and I can't get it to quit that. Thank you for all the help in this forum so far. I've been trying to get these files back for over 6 months. I just need this last piece and I can finally have my stuff back!

Hello, new to the forum, greetings to everyone etc. I have this probelm with the FAST thing. But ive trawled the net extensively and it seems i have done the biggest one anyone has had problems with.

I tried backing up about 120-130gb with FAST its compressed it all to 122gb to my new 160gb drive. I reinstalled windows (pro sp2) then tried to run the wizard and it completes but then says 'The following files could not be returned to their original location. Please return them manually' then it lists pretty much every file i really dont want to lose, about six years of my docs and pics, all my tv(about90gb) and countless other things. The weird thing is it seems to try and unpack all these files on the same disc as the USMT folder with the backups, obviously there isnt enough space on this drive as the backup folder is 122 itself it gets some of the folders out fine, some of my pics and tv etc, but only about 10% of it. So it looks like it would be able to unpack my stuff it just it doesnt have the space. So me and my mate, who is a lot better at dos, had a fiddle with FASTconv. he manged to get it to start to unpack, but again we dont have enough space to do it all, with the temp and the source and dest folders. my old drives is 160gb too, for the record. So again it pretty much just comes back to finding the command line for FASTconv to unpack a single 2gb chunk at a time. Or because we did make it error once at one of the chunks, if we could just make it skip that one, or do ten chunks at a time or something.

I read on another forum that this wizard worked fine under sp1 so i was considering trying to restore to an install of just plain xp or sp1, any thoughts. the same forum said that sp2 doesnt seem to work for files. it might be worth telling somewhere that does tutorials about this, to be very careful about using it, not to use files with it and not to back up about 120gb of data! I am in the same position as the above fella, i really dont want to give up because i know all my stuff is there. Microsoft have obviously been useless about all this. This could be the final straw for me re:microsuck

samt1man and me have the same thing going on.If someone can help that would be great

Thunderclap:

Please tell me what you have going on in more detail and I may be able to help you. Oh, and just for the record, if you try to use the Files and Transfer wizard and you have huge files that are being added, this is what seems to cause the problem. In the future if you ever use this god-awful program again, make sure to move those files over manually. Just a heads up

Thanks for the welcome
I have extracted dat files from the store till where I have a error but I have no clue how to get in to the dat files
Hope this explains enough for you
And I have already stoped using F.A.S.T except for IE and Outlook.I think this is bull MS should have a disclaimer on F.A.S.T. before someone loses something worth a few mils and sue there a--!!!

sjt0hrd you must be away because you have not got back to us.If someone else knows please help

Hi Thunderclap

You will find that you get a much better response if you post a new topic describing your particular problem in a new thread in the appropriate forum.

I'm getting the same error. I've modified the command line in every way possible. When I don't have the /s: pointed to the source directory, I get a list of command switches. So I know it sees the store. But I think the problem is that the TRANS.DB or whatever is missing.

Is there a way to rebuild the trans.db? I've tried rerunning FAST Wizard to restore but it gives the same error but doesn't leave a DB file.

Well, Ive tried the method posted earlier with the TRANSDB.DAT, and when the program came to TRANSDB.DAT (I assume its the alst file it wanted) it failed, and left me with all of the individual .DAT files in 10 directories: "00000 - 00009" and a "TRANS" Directory containing DB.DAT. I did this twice, but it fails at the end when it hits

Extracting: C:\tempe\TRANSDB.DAT Size: <whatever the file size was>"

I tried it once more but adding "/e:transdb.dat" to the command

oh, and the command im using is: fastconv /s:c:\usmt2.unc /d:c:\e /t:c:\tempe /e:transdb.dat

Ive come to realize that the hexadecimal named .DAT files within the "00000 - 00009" directories are the actual files themselves, but havnt been given their original file names yet. I have all of those files, but it doesnt do me any good to have 32.5 GB worth of .DAT files and not know what any of them were named.

Might there be a way to bypass the extraction process from the original large 2gb .DAT files and just do the filename conversions?

I really need to have these files, 1 years worth of sourcecode for a project that was due to release last weekend (haulted due to the inability to get my files back, thanks a lot Microsoft) and 2 years worth of graphic projects and website templates that I designed (my entire career's portfolio)

Big help would be appreciated, thank you very much in advanced for anything that you can do to help me.

---bump---

someone please, I really need these files, my beta testers are getting anxious but I cant do anything without the source codes.

well for one thing that is stuff you need to back up all the time to CDs or DVD`s.I would be able to help but I got no way of getting them changed form DAT files after I did the extracton.this would be a good stick post as it helped me and others alot and this is the most knowlage on this subject on the net to date(also my reason for not using a new post).

Umm for those getting the "source file is invlaid" thing don't forget to use the Rmv2opq Tool first then use fastconv on it's output

Just thought I would post my .bat that I used to help someone out. I am trying to make everything as simple as possible.
the UNC folder is the store, not the DAT. I think this is where a lot of people are getting confused.


I put these files in a folder I called "FAST" on root.
So I have a tree that looks like this
c:\FAST
\FASTConv.exe
\USMT2.unc
Be aware that the USMT2.unc Folder will contain two files \IMG00001.DAT and \status.
I then created a batch file called "convert.bat" that contained this string.
fastconv /s:USMT2.UNC /d:destination /t:c:\FAST\Temp
So now my tree looks like this
c:\FAST
\FASTConv.exe
\convert.bat
\USMT2.unc

I double clicked the batch file and let her run. It will create a folder called destination and a temporary folder called "Temp" that will be deleted at the end of the process. This restored everything. to the "c:\FAST\destination" folder.
For those of you with multiple UNC folders, try doing one .dat file at a time, move the other ones out and just name everything like I have above. Hope this works for you all.

The help has been muchly appreciated, however I think I'm one of the unlucky ones with a corrupted transdb.dat -- so I succeed up to file name restoration, and:

"Cannot load transport database. TRANSDB.DAT might be corrupted. Error: 3"

The fastconv app would crash and throw a gpe everytime it hit transdb.dat, so I /excluded it and the first part of the process worked.

Anyone figure out a way or know of a tool that can rebuild (even partially) transdb.dat?

I have a users files tied up in a FAST compressed set that won't load back. I have attempted to use FASTconv with little success. I suspected the file was completely bad so I performed a FAST wiz using my own small data set, tested it out by performing FAST wiz to restore to prove the set was good.

With the exception of the batch file, I have been attempting FastCONV on my known good set just as you have done. Unfortunately, the only result I get is "Source Store is invalid" which is the same issue I receive when trying to recover my user's files.

I did go ahead and use the batch method, with the same results.

Am I missing anything?

THX,

Michael

Found the post regarding the running of "rmv2opq" which works. Sorry. Now it seems that I am stuck with a bad DB file.

Hi All. I'll be honest and tell you I had NO luck with FastConv. HOWEVER, I was able to get the Files and Settings Transfer wizard to restore my files. Move all your .dat file into another folder... anything but the USMT2.UNC folder. Then run the files and settings transfer wizards, and choose the new folder you moved the .dat files to as your source.

Worked seamlessly for me.
Hope it helps!

Folks, I finally got it using the FAST wizard. After trying all these other methods of getting the data, I was sitting at the users machine and noticed that the image we used was still SP1 and that we ran FAST before the image on SP2. I updated her machine and ran FAST wiz again with 100% success.

In other words, on XP, make sure that the versions are the same!

where can you get the utility rmv2opq from

i lost my files also, but i didn't give up, last night i tried post#77 for about the tenth time and what do you know it worked just like RRah1 said.

RRah1 thanks so much for your batch file, it worked like you said it would, all file recovered, YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!
i owe you a drink RRah1

one difference might have been ... i work on a 64bit computer, i transferred the IMG000.. files to a 32bit computer, ran the batch file and everything worked

Don't ever use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. Don't do it. Ever. Never. Ever. As long as you live, never use it. Tell your friends, your family, co-workers, random people in line at the bank.
Go buy an external hard drive (or simply another one if you have a desktop computer) and a copy of Norton Ghost. It will save your rear end, your data, and anything in between. Being the computer person that I am, I sometimes screw things up. My data would not be in existence today if it weren't for Norton Ghost. I make a backup every friday night. It takes about an hour on my 60 gig hard drive and it runs while I sleep. If you do this, you will never have that horrible feeling when you realize all your files are locked in an archive you can't access.

I went through a month-long odyssey, including idiot Microsoft techs, sleepless nights, unproductive days, cursing, screaming, thinking, and everything else. I got my files back, but I vowed never again to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. I maintain my Norton Ghost backups and everything's perfect. I'll still answer a few questions, but everyone needs to do get this kind of a backup going. Losing data sucks...but you probably already knew that.


So please, get out of your chair right now, go to a computer store, and buy: an external (or second) hard drive and a copy of Norton Ghost. It will save your ass.
Or you can order them online. A good site is www.newegg.com

This sounds like windows for you I will try this it may take a bit till I can but I will and get back to you all

OK, ready for this? I've had files backed up in FAST for about 3 months now that I could not access and the original files were already deleted. It has taken me this long, on and off to figure out what's wrong. Microsoft updated the FAST wizard aka User Migration Tool in the past few months. What I backed up was on the old version which the new version will not decode and gives you the message that the files were created with a different version. I did a search for the file "migwiz.exe". I got two hits. One in c:\winxp\system32\umts and one in c:\winxp\$uninstallKBxxxxxx$ which was the old version. I copied the files from the uninstall directory to another subdirectory and can now run the older migwiz.exe program. It starts rebuilding the files correctly. At the moment, it stops midway with an error (nothing other than error). I think it's because my hard drive is out of space. We'll give this another go around with the appropriate amount of free space and see what happens.

As for the FASTCONV.EXE program. It works until the files are decompressed and it processes the TRANS.DB. I *think* this is because the fastconv program works with an even older FAST structure. I used to have the same problems everyone else has with getting the FASTCONV to actually find the directory. The reason is this: the program is already expecting to look inside of a USMT2.UNC directory. In your command line, send the path up to that branch and it will find it. ie:
Files are stored in c:\fast\usmt2.unc\
Send this path for the source: c:\fast
It knows the rest. Make sure that in the usmt2.unc folder resides the following files:
IMGnnnnn.DAT and STATUS.

If you need the FASTCONV.EXE program and can't find it, drop me a PM or EMAIL and I will send it to you. If you need the User Migration Tool for that was updated, I will do the same. If someone wants to host them I can send you the files.

It sucks that Microsoft writes these stupid little programs to help you and then does not include and backwards compatibility. Now off to complain on the Microsoft Tech Support forum....

Hey guys, first post here....
Ok so windows has reared its hopeless ugly head once again.... i have all my files extracted into the temp folder, and it loosk right as they total 26GB.. but thats it... fastconv isnt doing anything else.. no errors or anything, so just wondering what im supposed to do now?
i read further up all the .DAT files are my files.... but how do i get them named and put in the right places?

EDIT: I now have all my files extracted, but as 0006.DAT etc.. and i have no idea which ones are which.. how can i get them renamed to what therye meant to be?

Thanks in advance

Just a few points about FastConv and F.A.S.T. from my experience that may help some people:

The Files and Settings Transfer Tool is a good tool and can save a lot of work in getting a new computer set up the way you like it, but I would never rely on it to store the data. By that I mean always back up critical data to an external hard-drive, or if that is not an option then do not wipe or give away the old computer until you have installed the transfer file successfully on the new one.

As some posts have mentioned - there are two versions of FAST for pre-SP2 and post SP2 - do not mix them. Always use the FAST wizard files from the new machine to collect the files from the old one.

If things get screwed up and you have to use Fastconv I have found that the folder with the source files needs to remain with the name USMT2.UNC or you will get the "Source folder is invalid" error.

You need to have three times as much free space on the new hard drive as the files that you are transferring, unless you use an external drive. Once for the transfer file(s), once for the temporary folder that they are expanded to and once for the final destination. Otherwise you will get errors and messages about needing to transfer files manually.

I have not found any magic solutions for the cases where the transfer database file gets corrupted - you can only sort through all the dat files trying to find and rename the critical stuff.

I hope that this helps some people.

I used FAST to back up my settings and some files before reformatting my hard drive and re-installing my software. I used a cdrw drive with software (In-Cd by Ahead software) that makes it work like a big floppy drive. It took two CDs to do the backup and I ended up with one file on each CD named USMT2IMG.dat. Not knowing any better I assumed this was correct and proceeded to format my drive and re-install windows. When I tried restore my files and settings I got the error "insert disk 1" even after making shure the correct disk was in the drive and dirrecting FAST to the correct location. Can anybody tell me how to get my data back?

I`m giving up I used all windows I have and none work

Okay, so does anyone know whether you can use the tool to extract JUST a specific file? I used the /i:f:\USMT2.UNC\*.pst switch but I don't think that's going to work because I get the impression that it's not going to unpack the files, look at the original file name and check it against the string. Particularly since it's unpacking to a new folder NOT called USMT2.UNC.

I am going to guess therefore, that the /i: switch is used to designate which .DAT file to use, not which original files to extract? Can anyone verify this as it is currently running using the command above and hasn't errored out.

The reason I've started down this road is that I need to get my .pst file back out of the FAST store. Do I have to use fastconv.exe to pull ALL of the files (32G ) out of the store and then just go find the original .pst out of the restored directory?

Anyhow, everyone's help on this (admittedly old but still useful) thread is much appreciated.

yes you can but how to change the file to want it is ment to be after that I have no clue Im lost after the extracting as they come up as a bunch of other files

Whiterabbit,

Try this link to convert files which have been backed up to removeable media:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/fast.htm

and scroll to the bottom to find the "Rmv2opq" tool.

I had the same problem having run the File and Settings Transfer Wizard on a heavily infected PC, which I then formatted and attempted to restore the data. Following the advice found all over the internet I obtained every different version of "migwiz.exe" (5 different ones) and even downloaded and tried the "fastconv" utility. Absolutely nothing would work.

My further research led me to the Microsoft User State Migration tool, which is a command line version of the same application and is intended for network administrators involved in migrating users from older versions of Windows to XP (the latest version also supports Windows 2003). Success at last!!!

For the benefit of the many other people I found posting cries for help on forums all over the internet I have outlined the steps below; I have assumed a limited knowledge of command line utilities because I discovered that many people asked for assistance in this also ;)


1. First go to the Microsft User State Migration website and download the utility from the link on the page below (I used version 2.60 but I assume that later versions will also work as well):

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/desktopde...rstateusmt.mspx

2. Install the program using the defaults.
3. Open a Command prompt: "Start -> Run -> cmd.exe"
4. Navigate to the loadstate directory: "cd\usmt\bin"
5. Run "loadstate" with the store path as the parent directory of your "USMT2.UNC" directory. (For example, if your data is in C:\USMT2.UNC then the store path will be C:\)

If the EXACT same user profile does not exist on the new PC then include the "/lac" switch (local account create) and "/lae" (local account enable).

As an example, if you backed up the data belonging to "Fred B" from the old machine but have not created a user with that name on the new machine, and you have copied the USMT2.UMC directory to the root of the C drive your command will be:

loadstate c:\ /lac /lae


There are plenty of other command line options, but these are aimed at network administrators, and they can be explored by reading the included help files or by running "loadstate /?" at the command line. The utility also allows you to select specific files to extract but this relies on you creating various .inf files for it to reference. (I also used the /test option because it offered to run more quickly but make sure you have another copy of the USMT2.UNC directory somewhere because a power failure during the process will render the data inaccessible!).

Now it's a case of waiting for the utility to complete. If it fails check the "loadstate.log" file and check your file path and options. (Remember to point the store path at the parent directory as the application will look in that directory for the USMT2.UNC directory.)

Once it has completed you should now have a new user created on your PC with the same name as the user on the old PC and all the files and settings that you selected when you ran the File and Settings Transfer Wizard will have been restored under that user login.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Steve, ezipc.co.uk

I've tried absolutely everything with fastconv.exe, and no matter what I always got a error with a corrupt transdb.

But I think I've bl**dy cracked it (for me at least)!

I updated to the latest version of Files and Settings Transfer Wizard (FAST) by using [color=#3366FF]!KB896344![color=#000000]This is technically to provide support for migrating 32bit to 64bit systems. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896344

!Whether it's critical or not, i did a reboot before anything else!

I then ran FAST on the new machine, to create a backup for the new machine.
I then went to the new USMT2.UNC folder, and copied my original IMG*****.DAT files into it, but not the status file! This I left as the new one which had been written during the latest backup.
I then tried the restore using the new version of the wizard, pointing at the folder holding this new USMT2.UNC, and success.

I don't provide any guarantees, but it got there for me.

Regards and All The Luck In The World.

I just want to say thanks to the forum, after surfing the web and finding various sites in regards to FASTCONV and not understanding a word I was reading, I came across this site spent a bit of time reading the posts and I'm please to say the post below worked for me and my data is now restored.
So thanks to all for sharing their knowledge


QUOTE(kmbergem @ Oct 30 2004, 01:59 AM)

This is what sjt0hrd wrote to me, and it worked fine:



QUOTE
Ok, this is what I did. First, make a new folder under the root of the c: drive called new. I am just telling you this because that is what I did, and that is what the picture shows. Then, open a command prompt in windows, and type the following: fastconv /S:C\USMT2.UNC /D:C\NEW /k



Just go into your temp directory while it is running and you will see the data temporarily being put there. It's located here: c:\documents and settings\your name here\local settings\temp But that's not important. So when it is finished, go to c:\new and everything should be restored and it should be located under _c, I believe. Now, it won't put everything back automatically, but it should recover your data.

OMG Rob K!!!!

Thank you so much for posting that tip!!

It worked and saved 3 yrs of my life!

...and for the love of g*d people, make at least 1 other b/u with some other tool

TO ANYONE WHO EVER COMES ACROSS THIS THREAD IN THE FUTURE:

For the love of all things sacred DO NOT USE THE FILES AND SETTINGS TRANSFER WIZARD!!! Use Norton Ghost, use Acronis, hell back up everything manually on an external drive but NEVER under ANY circumstances use this horrid piece of software!
Tell everyone you know this information. Pass on what you have learned. Spread the word that the files and settings transfer wizard will f-ck you big time. I can't help every case that comes up just because I have 8,649 different things to deal with. But the people in this thread have all been through unique experiences and I'm sure all their accounts here will help even the most stubborn corrupted IMG file.

To anyone who reads this, get up off your ass and go buy an external hard drive. Then go out and get a disk imaging program and make backup images of your system every few days. Just do it. There's no excuse for f-cking up your precious data with Microsoft's crap tool.


Best of luck out there.

Hello,

My friend had this problem and I decided to help him. For those of you interested in extracting a .dat file using the fastconv utility, (from files created by the Microsoft Files and Settings Transfer Utility) let's take you through it step by step.

Most of us are terrible at DOS and the instructions for typing the dos commands for the fastconv.exe were horribly confusing. I have successfully extracted files, here's how you do it.

This guide is only for extracting a complete .dat file (most likely your .dat file is named (IMG00001.DAT).
It should be in a folder called (USMT2.UNC)

Follow these instructions exactly and you will be successful. Forget about everything you think you know and temp folders and all of that crap. Make it easy on yourself.

1: Create a new folder on the c: drive called “old” It should appear as c:\old

(This is where we will extract from once we copy your USMT2.UNC folder to it.)

2: Copy the USMT2.UNC folder into this “old” folder, making sure that what you should see in the “old” folder is the “USMT2.UNC” folder. Is should appear as this: c:\old\USMT2.UNC

3: Create a new folder on the c: drive called: “new” It should appear as c:\new

(This is where your extracted files will end up when we're finished.)

4: Create a folder on the c: drive called: “fast” It should appear as c:\fast

(Why? You'll see. We need to run this fastconv program from this folder. It will be simpler and easier.)

5: Download the fastconv program and unzip (or copy it) it to c:\fast
It has to be run from this folder in the command prompt. Go to step 6.

6: Go to the command prompt. (Start....Programs......Accessories......Command Prompt
By default it will end up at c:\Documents and Settings\Administrator(or user name)>

Now we need to go to the folder which fastconv is in and run it. This is the c:\fast folder.

7: Change the directory to c:\fast How? Do this by typing cd c:\fast

8: Hit the "Enter" key

9: Now it should say c:\fast>
Now we are in the directory where fastconv is located and we can run it.

10: Now type this exactly as you see it--NO CHANGES!!!:

fastconv /s:C:\old\usmt2.unc /d:C:\new

11: Your files should extract. They can be found here in the “New” folder which is seen as c:\new



Any questions?

Most of you are finding it difficult because the instructions out there include switches for temp directories and all of that crap. Using this method, you don't need to worry about which specific file to name------the only thing that matters is that you have a folder named USMT2.UNC and that you followed instructions.


Let's break the command down, for those of you who wish to alter it a little bit to suit your own needs.

fastconv (the command, with a space after it)
/s: (the swith saying where the folder is, no spaces)
C:\old\umst2.unc (the location where the usmt2.unc folder is located)

A space must come before we start with the /d:C:\new

We're halfway done! Let's tell it where to go now.


/d: (the switch saying where I'm going to extract my files to)
C:\new (the location where I want to extract to)


Once again the command is typed exactly like this: fastconv /s:C:\old\usmt2.unc /d:C:\new


There that should be easy! We simplified it by changing the language to terms we can understand.
We copied the usmt2.unc folder to c:\old
We copied or unzipped the fastconv utility to c:\fast
We extracted it using the command line to c:\new


Any questions?


There have been countless times in which I have learned things from other taking the time to help out. I hope this helps some of you out.

Keith

I've been trying to use the suggestions in this thread to recover some FAST files.. but I'm hitting a problem with rmv2opq ...


Any ideas? It's the same for all .dat files...