My mum's best friend came to me in a panic because her external hard drive, which holds all the family's memories (and of course, there's no backup), seems to be empty now. She mentioned her son-in-law did something to it, and ever since, she can't find anything. When I plugged it in, I noticed a bunch of folders labeled by year, but they contained strange files like 'adb.chk', 'adb.log', 'repository.adb', and 'temp.adb'. I'm really concerned. Could this be a result of a ransomware attack? Is there any way I can recover these files? Does anyone know what these types of files are?
3 Answers
I wouldn't panic just yet. Those files are commonly generated by certain backup tools and might just be in a different format. You can try accessing them with Veeam’s software as a starting point. Their help center has guides that might help you navigate the recovery process.
Honestly, the file formats you mentioned don't specifically point to ransomware. They could have been created by backup or recovery systems. If you suspect any malware, run a deep antivirus scan just to be safe, but I wouldn't jump to conclusions about ransomware just based on the file types.
Those file types you've listed, especially the adb series files, are actually pretty standard and not necessarily indicative of a ransomware issue. More likely, your drive was just improperly ejected or there's been some corruption. You might want to try using data recovery software to see if anything can be salvaged. Also, make sure to check if there's any malware on your computer that could have affected the drive.
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