Ontrack® Easyrecovery™ User'S Guide
Ontrack® Easyrecovery™ User'S Guide
Ontrack® Easyrecovery™ User'S Guide
Notice to Users
Ontrack EasyRecovery software has been developed, licensed and copyrighted by Kroll Ontrack Inc. Use of the software is governed by the terms and conditions of the end user license agreement contained within the software. This manual should not be construed as any representation or warranty with respect to the software named herein. Occasionally, changes or variations exist in the software that is not reflected in the manual. Generally, if such changes or variations are known to exist and affect the product significantly, a release note or README file will accompany the User's Guide and/ or the distribution CD-ROM, or will be available with EasyUpdate downloads. In that event, please read the release notes or README file before using this product.
Trademarks
Ontrack, EasyRecovery, EasyRecovery FileRepair, EasyRecovery EmailRepair, EasyUpdate and other names of Kroll Ontrack brand and product names referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Kroll Ontrack Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders.
Copyrights
Copyright 2000-2005 Kroll Ontrack Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into a language or computer language, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without the express written consent of Kroll Ontrack Inc. Printed in the USA.
Manual Conventions
This manual uses a number of conventions that make it easier to read and understand.
You will see this 123 graphic any time there are numbered steps or instructions.
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Notes contain additional information that may not directly relate to the current text, but is important to know.
Warnings contain important information that you must be aware of to avoid possible system problems.
The term click, as in Click Next to continue means that you move the mouse pointer over the specified area on your screen, and click with the primary mouse button. The term right-click, as in Right-click on the tray icon means that you move the mouse pointer over the specified location and click the secondary mouse button (the right button if youre right-handed).
Getting Help
THIS MANUAL
This manual will get you started installing and using EasyRecovery. It provides an introduction and explanation of the tools in EasyRecovery, and describes how to use each one.
ONLINE HELP
The EasyRecovery online help system is available by several access methods: Select the Help Topics item from the Help menu. All tool pages have help, click the Help button.
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TECHNICAL/CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Free technical support is available for one year from the date you purchase EasyRecovery. Please contact us if you have any EasyRecovery questions or problems. We would also be pleased to hear from you if you have suggestions or special requests regarding any of our products. Technical support and data recovery questions can be submitted electronically via e-mail or by visiting the technical support section of the ONTRACK website:
United States United Kingdom Germany France Spain Italy Switzerland Poland Austria Japan
www.ontrack.com/support/ support.asp www.ontrack.co.uk/support www.ontrack.de/technischersupport www.ontrack.fr/techsupport www.ontrack.es/ayuda www.ontrackrecuperodati.it/ supportotechnico www.datenrettung.ch/ technischersupport www.ontrack.pl www.ontrack.at/technischersupport www.ontrack-japan.com/support
You can get technical support by telephone for EasyRecovery software by calling: United States: United Kingdom: France: Germany: Spain: Italy: Switzerland (952) 937-2121 +44 (0) 1372 744 422 0820 09 87 72 +49 (0) 7031 644 244 900 112 212 +49 (0) 7031 644 244 +49(0) 7031 644 244 Poland Austria Japan (32) 20 19 008 +49 (0) 7031/644-244 +81-(0)42-932-6365
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Welcome to EasyRecovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Welcome to EasyRecovery Software! . . . System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing EasyRecovery . . . . . . . . . . . . Starting EasyRecovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . Updating Your Software (EasyUpdate) Removing EasyRecovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 2 3 4 5
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
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Table of Contents
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REPAIR FILES
Virus Damage
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Unreadable sectors due to hard disk or removable media failure Inadvertent application, operating system, or computer shutdown Random data corruption to critical areas Other events that cause damage to data within a file
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
EasyRecovery has the following minimum system requirements: Microsoft Windows 98 SE, Me, 2000, or XP
Though EasyRecovery requires the above operating systems for installation purposes, EasyRecovery is capable of recovering files from DOS and other Windows-based operating systems such as 3.x, 95, 98, and NT.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later Software program applicable to the type of files repaired or recovered Minimum of 64 MB of RAM (in most cases) Pentium-class processor 150 MB of free space (Windows version only)
Some EasyRecovery tools may have additional system requirements. See tool specific help files for more details.
INSTALLING EASYRECOVERY
We recommend that you run EasyUpdate to check for new releases as soon as you have installed EasyRecovery. We often put new releases, bug fixes, and
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software improvements on the Web site. Updates obtained via EasyUpdate are free of charge. Follow these steps to install EasyRecovery:
1. Insert the EasyRecovery CD into your CD-ROM drive. 2. The CD will automatically start. If it does not, click Run on the
Start menu, and type D:\setup.exe, where D is the drive letter of
3. Select the appropriate language. 4. Click Install EasyRecovery. 5. Follow the on-screen instructions.
If you downloaded EasyRecovery from the Internet, open Windows Explorer (or My Computer), locate and double-click the downloaded file. The installation process will automatically start.
STARTING EASYRECOVERY
The installation process created an EasyRecovery icon in the Program files menu. You can start EasyRecovery in one of two ways. To start EasyRecovery, do one of the following: Click the Start button, and then point to Programs. Point to EasyRecovery, and then click EasyRecovery. Double-click the EasyRecovery icon on the desktop. When EasyRecovery starts up, you see the main Home window. From the main EasyRecovery window, you can click any of the program buttons on the left side to access the tools. You can also access the Ontrack Web site.
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1. Make sure you are connected to the Internet. If you access the
Internet using a modem, you should already be dialed in, or your browser should be set up to automatically dial in.
2. Start EasyRecovery. 3. Click the EasyUpdate button from the main EasyRecovery
window (or click Software Updates, and then click EasyUpdate).
5. Select the items you want to update, and click Next. 6. Follow the on-screen instructions. 7. At the last screen, click Done. Depending on what you updated,
you may be prompted to restart Windows. The changes will appear in EasyRecovery the next time you run it.
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REMOVING EASYRECOVERY
To remove EasyRecovery:
2. Click EasyRecovery and then click Remove. 3. Click Yes when the confirmation dialog box appears. 4. Follow the on-screen instructions.
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EasyRecovery is designed to contain many add-on tool capabilities. Each new tool will be installed and grouped into related categories. The categories are listed along the left column of the main EasyRecovery window. The Software Updates and Crisis Center categories are standard and always included with EasyRecovery. Any custom categories that are purchased will appear above the Software Updates and Crisis Center categories.
This is an example; the category and tools you have installed may be different from the example.
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Just click on a category button to see the installed tool components for that category. Each tool provides you with the specified capabilities relevant to that category. You will notice that when you move the cursor over a utility button, the button becomes available for selection. Click on the button to select the tool.
This is an example; the category and tools you have installed may be different from the example.
All tools that appear within a custom category will have their own help file. Once you click on the tool, and click on the wizard bar Help button within that tool, you will be provided with Help specific to that tool component. If you click the Help button from other areas within the software, you will receive specific help on the use of the EasyRecovery software product.
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Disk Diagnostics Data Recovery FileRepair EmailRepair Software Updates Crisis Center
This is an example; the category and tools you have installed may be different from the example.
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DISK DIAGNOSTICS
The Disk Diagnostics category provides you with valuable system diagnostic tools. Tools included in this category are designed to quickly determine whether your system is experiencing hardware or on-disk structure problems. All tools in this category generate a detailed report on the condition of your system.
This is an example; the category and tools you have installed may be different from the example.
The DriveTests tool allows you to test the physical health of your disk drive. The tool will perform the following hardware tests. SMART Status Check Short SMART Test Extended SMART Test Quick Diagnostic Test Full Diagnostic Test
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SMART stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology. SMART tests will prevent data loss by predicting possible drive failures using special algorithms built into the firmware of your hard drive. The SMART Status Check will perform a quick status check of your hard disk, which takes a few seconds. The Short SMART Test will issue a short (around 90 seconds) self-test command where as the Extended SMART Test will issue a comprehensive (several minutes) self-test command to your hard disk.
Any drives reporting a SMART failure could likely to fail at any time and should be backed up immediately.
The Quick Diagnostic Tests and Full Diagnostic Tests are read-only tests designed to check the physical stability of your hard drive. The Quick Diagnostic Test will determine, with 90 percent certainty, in 90 seconds, whether your hard disk has a physical problem. The Full Diagnostic test will check/read the entire hard drive looking for physical problems on the drive such as unreadable sectors. In some cases, your drive may not have any physical problems but on-disk structure problems. The Partition Tests tool is designed to analyze on-disk file system structures for FAT and NTFS partitions. The tool will do an extensive scan of file systems structures generating a detailed report of the condition of your file data. This categories also includes diagnostic software to be used in the case where your system will not boot. Data Advisor is a self-booting diagnostic tool for assessing the condition of your computer system. Data Advisor quickly assesses the health of your hard disk drive, file structures, and computer memory by identifying problems that could cause data loss. SizeManager is a utility that displays disk usage on your computer system. SizeManager presents an instant graphic view of where space is being consumed on your computer, making it easy to locate oversized folders and files. SizeManager helps you determine which files are cluttering up space on your system. A typical end user will many times have difficulty in adding a hard drive to their system because they don't have direct access to jumper settings for hard
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drives. JumperViewer is a graphical, interactive Java applet for quickly finding jumper placements for IDE/ATA hard drives. This viewer is similar to the one found in Ontrack's popular Disk Manager family of hard drive installation utilities. This Internet-based version will allow you to have access to our most current database of hard drives.
DATA RECOVERY
The Data Recovery category includes a collection of recovery tools, which target recovery of file data. The Data Recovery tools will recover files from corrupted FAT and NTFS partitions. All tools are NON-DESTRUCTIVE and READ-ONLY. The tools are designed to recover and copy your data to another destination such as a removable drive, another hard drive, a floppy diskette, or a network volume. Each tool is a fully automated wizard, which walks the user through three simple steps:
2. Recover: The tool examines the file structures that remain on the
corrupted partition and constructs a virtual file system in memory.
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This is an example; the category and tools you have installed may be different from the example.
Mistakenly deleting files is one of the most common data recovery scenarios. The DeletedRecovery tool will give you quick access to deleted files, and has different options for scanning a partition. You can perform a quick scan, or a thorough complete scan for deleted files. You also have the option to enter a
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File Filter string, either with or without using 'wildcards', to quickly recover files of a specific name. Another common data recovery situation is accidental reformatting of a partition. The FormatRecovery tool will allow you to recover files from an accidentally formatted or reinstalled partition. This type of recovery will ignore the existing file system structures and try to search for structures associated with the previous file system. The RawRecovery tool allows you to scan severely corrupted partitions for files using a file signature search algorithm. This tool will help you recover files from a partition with damaged directory structures. Over 290 popular file signatures are available for scanning for your file data in this tool.
The number of file signatures available for scanning will depend on which EasyRecovery edition you have installed.
For the most difficult recoveries, the AdvancedRecovery and StandardRecovery tools provide you with advanced recovery options including recovering from mistakenly deleted partitions, virus attacks, and other major file system corruptions. Both tools give you a detailed graphical representation of the devices connected to your system including partitions associated with each device. Which tool you have installed is dependent on the edition of EasyRecovery purchased. The Data Recovery category also includes the EmergencyMedia tool that can create an emergency boot diskette or an emergency boot CD-ROM. The diskette and CD-ROM allow you to recover data from a partition even if you cannot boot to Windows. They include a DOS version of the Data Recovery engine used in the Windows tools. All recovery tools in the Data Recovery category allow the option to resume the recovery at a later time. The ResumeRecovery tool will load a saved recovery file to resume a previous recovery option.
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FILEREPAIR
The FileRepair category contains repair tools for Microsoft Office files and other file formats. Currently, tools are available for the following file formats.
Each file repair tool has the same basic characteristics. All tools are NONDESTRUCTIVE and READ-ONLY. Each tool is a fully automated wizard which use the same basic recovery steps:
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1. File Selection: The file selection window allows you to select files
for repair by browsing the folder on your computer. Within the selection window, you have the ability to specify the destination folder for the repaired file(s). You have the choice of repairing the select files(s) in their current folder or making a repaired copy of the selected file(s) in a different folder.
Most FileRepair tools have additional system requirements. See tool-specific help files for more details.
AccessRepair repairs and restores Access files created using Access 2.0, 95, 97, 2000, XP, and 2003. Features include the ability to recover and restore data from an inconsistent database, relationships between tables, password protected databases, and objects such as Queries, Forms, Reports, Pages, and Macros. Plus, the Access tool has support available for recovery of deleted table data (Access 97, 2000) and the ability to continue to repair and restore beyond internal file errors. ExcelRepair fixes and restores Excel files created using Excel 5.0, 95, 97, 2000, XP, and 2003. Features include ability to recover and restore formulas, text, cell formatting attributes (i.e. font, border), off-sheet references, multisheet structures, sheet names, and pasted graphics and images such as .tif, .jpg, and .gif. Plus the Excel tool has the ability to continue to repair and restore beyond internal file errors.
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PowerPointRepair fixes and restores PowerPoint files created using PowerPoint 97, 2000, XP, and 2003. Features include ability to recover and restore WordArt and formatting of text within shapes, properties of pictures within shapes, slide show transition settings, tables, action buttons, and all basic types of shapes. Plus the PowerPoint component has the ability to continue to repair and restore beyond internal file errors, recover drawings, pictures, and animation of objects in a slide, recover notes pages for a slide, and recover slide master, handout master, notes master, and regular slides. WordRepair fixes and restores .doc files created using Word 6.0, Word 95, Word 97, Word 2000, Word XP, and Word 2003. Features include ability to recover tables, bulleted lists, password protected files, and imbedded images such as .tif, .jpg, .gif, and .bmp files. Plus, the Word component has the ability to continue to repair and restore beyond internal file errors. ZipRepair fixes and restores files created by WinZip and ZipMagic. Plus, if the tool cannot repair the whole file, it salvages as many files in the archive as it can.
EMAILREPAIR
EasyRecovery EmailRepair is a do-it-yourself software solution that enables you to repair corrupt e-mail files quickly and easily, requires less technical sophistication than many software applications, and saves you time and resources. All EmailRepair tools follow the same basic characteristics of the FileRepair tools. See the FileRepair section for more details.
Most EmailRepair tools have additional system requirements. See tool-specific Help files for more details.
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EmailRepair has two components: OutlookRepair repairs Microsoft Outlook files. OutlookExpressRepair repairs Microsoft Outlook Express files.
Ontrack is continually developing e-mail recovery tools for other e-mail formats. For a listing of the latest e-mail file formats supported and detailed tool information, check www.ontrack.com/filerepair.
Below is a brief description of the current FileRepair tools available: OutlookRepair repairs and restores Outlook files that were created using Outlook 97, 98, 2000, XP, and 2003. You can use this tool to recover and restore corrupt Personal Folder Files (PST), corrupt Offline Folder Files (OST), deleted messages, and password protected files. You can also use this tool to recover Messages, Folders, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. OutlookExpressRepair repairs and restores Outlook Express files that were created using Outlook Express version 5.0 and later. You can use this tool to recover and restore corrupt Outlook Express DBX files containing message data. In other words, you can use this tool on any folder containing e-mail messages in Outlook Express.
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SOFTWARE UPDATES
Ontrack periodically improves EasyRecoveryadding features, enhancements, and making changes based on customer requests. The Software Updates section of EasyRecovery provides information on obtaining these new offerings:
EASYUPDATE
Programming updates (also known as patches) are also available to you through the Internet, and are free for a limited time. EasyUpdate downloads and installs program patches in minutes. For more information, see Updating Your Software (EasyUpdate) on page 4.
PRODUCT NEWS
Selecting this option will link you to the Ontrack website for information on the latest Category and Tool Components that are available. These new
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products are available for purchase and will integrate into your EasyRecovery product.
CRISIS CENTER
The Crisis Center provides information on software and services that can help you recover from a data loss situation. This includes free information and technical support on data loss situations, and additional solutions for recovering from data loss disasters. See Chapter 4 for a detailed explanation.
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On the other hand, if you disk has obvious physical damage, then you must send the disk into a data recovery service that has cleanroom facilities to clean the disk and can recover as much data as possible.
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CRISIS INFORMATION
If you are having difficulty recovering your critical data, submit technical support questions by contacting Ontrack at one of the following:
United States United Kingdom Germany France Spain Italy Switzerland Poland Austria Japan www.ontrack.com/support/ support.asp www.ontrack.co.uk/support www.ontrack.de/technischersupport www.ontrack.fr/techsupport www.ontrack.es/ayuda www.ontrackrecuperodati.it/ supportotechnico www.ontrack.de/technischersupport www.ontrack.pl www.ontrack.at/technischersupport www.ontrack-japan.com/support (952) 937-2121 +44 (0) 1372 744 422 +49 (0) 7031 644 244 0820 09 87 72 900 112 212 +49 (0) 7031 644 244 +49 (0) 7031 644 244 (32) 20 19 008 +49 (0) 7031 644 244 +81-(0)42-932-6365
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900 112 012 800 781 228 0800 880 100 +48 601 462 563 0800 644 150 0120-413-374
EXCLUSIVE OFFERS
For information about special pricing, please visit the Exclusive Offers page on our web site. Here you will find special offers and discounts exclusive to Crisis Center customers on Ontrack data recovery solutions. US: UK: Germany: France: Spain: Italy: www.ontrack.com/crisiscenter/offers.asp www.ontrack.co.uk/crisiscenter/offers.asp www.ontrack.de/crisiscenter/offers.asp www.ontrack.fr/crisiscenter/offers.asp www.ontrack.es/crisiscenter/offers.asp www.ontrackrecuperodati.it/crisiscenter/offers.asp www.datenrettung.ch/crisiscenter/offers.asp Austria: Japan: www.ontrack.at/crisiscenter/offers.asp www.ontrack-japan.com/crisiscenter/offers.html
Switzerland: www.recuperationdedonnees.ch/crisiscenter/offers.asp
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Chapter 5: Troubleshooting
Chapter 5: Troubleshooting
Even if you've had the worst possible disaster happen to your computer, you may still be able to get the data from it.
Problem/Symptoms Possible Causes What to Do
Search the complete partition for the file. Optionally, try the DataRecovery category to attempt to recover the lost file. Many of the tools will create more than one type of file as part of the recovery process. Be sure to try all destination files that have been generated. View the help file for the individual tool for more information. Some tools will create more than one destination file in an attempt to retrieve the data. EasyRecovery requires a healthy system. Use a PC maintenance product to diagnose and repair the system problem.
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Problem/Symptoms
Possible Causes
What to Do
My hard drive is making unusual grinding or scraping noises and generally sounds in bad shape
Back up everything important to another destination immediately. Turn off the computer. Get the computer checked out by a good technician. May have to replace the hard drive but before doing so, make sure you've recovered any data that hasn't been backed up using a data recovery software or service solution See Crisis Center for more information. EasyRecovery Professional contains a Disk Diagnostic utility that will scan the surface of the drive for bad sectors. Some bad sectors do not preclude a successful recovery, but can affect the quality of the recovery. If the drive is making noise or is reporting an increasing number of bad sectors, our in-house data recovery service is recommended. Install EasyRecovery on a functioning computer. In the DataRecovery category will be a selection to make Emergency Media. This will create a bootable data recovery tools media that can be run on the computer with the corrupt boot drive.
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GENERAL SETTINGS
When you first install EasyRecovery, there are a number of setup options and properties that are initially given default values. Once you become familiar with EasyRecovery, or if you are already an advanced computer user, you may want to review and change the default properties. To open the Properties dialog box, click the Properties button at the top of the EasyRecovery window. This opens the Properties window, in which you can change any setup options and other properties for EasyRecovery. When you first launch Properties, you see the global program settings:
m Properties for each individual tool can be set by clicking on the appropriate tool button located within the left bar.
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Index
Index
A
AccessRepair 16 AdvancedRecovery 14
F
FileRepair 15 FormatRecovery 13
H
help iii
B
boot diskette 14
I
installing EasyRecovery 2
C
categories and tool components 720 Crisis Center 2126 crisis information 24
J
JumperViewer 11
D
Data Advisor 11 data recovery 12 in-lab 25 Remote Data Recovery 24 DeletedRecovery 13 Disk Diagnostics 9 DriveTests 10
O
OutlookExpressRepair 18 OutlookRepair 18
P
partition tests 11 PowerPointRepair 16
E
EasyRecovery help iii installing 2 system requirements 2 uninstalling 4 EasyUpdate 4 EmailRepair 17 OutlookExpressRepair 18 OutlookRepair 18 emergency boot CD-ROM 14 emergency boot diskette 14 ExcelRepair 16 Exclusive Offers 26
R
RawRecovery 14 Remote Data Recovery 24 removing EasyRecovery 4 ResumeRecovery 14
S
SizeManager 11 SMART 10 StandardRecovery 14 system requirements 2
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Index
T
troubleshooting 27
U
uninstalling EasyRecovery 4 updating EasyRecovery 4
W
WordRepair 17
Z
ZipRepair 17
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