Unknown File Type

determining file types

[willburrow5]

Hi All..
Im new to the forum but have a MASSIVE problem here with unknown file types..i wasnt sure where to post it but here goes..

I have a file (1.4GB) that was recovered from a crashed system and i need to know how i can determine what file type it is. I have run a simple hex dump and retrieved the following info:

File name: PF1
File size: 1504441KB
0000: 4E 44 42 21 7D 06 04 AA 4D 53 00 0E 00 13 10 10 NDB!}...MS......
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1F BF A0 00 05 C2 0C ................
0020: 00 01 32 9D 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 50 ..2............P
0030: 00 00 40 03 00 01 27 A2 00 00 1D DB 00 00 40 03 ..@...'.......@.
0040: 00 00 40 03 00 00 80 00 00 00 04 0A 00 00 04 50 ..@............P
0050: 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 50 00 00 04 50 ...........P...P
0060: 00 00 04 50 00 00 40 03 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 ...P..@.........
0070: 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 ................
0080: 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 ................
0090: 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 ................
00A0: 00 00 83 3C 00 00 00 00 5B D2 E4 00 5B D2 04 00 ...<....[...[...
00B0: 02 5A 0D 40 00 00 F0 00 00 05 C2 0B 1F B6 50 00 .Z.@..........P.
00C0: 00 05 C2 08 11 47 02 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .....G..........
00D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
00E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 06 00 00 00 00 00 ................
00F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 06 00 00 00 00 06 00 00 ................

I am not sure if it is web related file or something else.

Can anyone please help me?

[TheDoctor]

I had a look for pf1 on filext, but it couyldn't find it. Filext does, however, have a series of tips on what to do if you can't identify a file [filext.com], one of which you seem to have started on already.

[willburrow5]

thanks doctor..
yeah i had a bit of a look around in filext but couldnt find anything there either

[mcavic]

How was the file retreived? Are there any applications on the system that would use a 1.4gig data file? If not, then it's probably a backup, a disk image, or a pagefile. If it's a backup, what backup program(s) were in use?

I might be able to tell something from the first 512 bytes or the first 50k of the file.

[willburrow5]

it was most likely a .pst file but when i try to import it into outlook it says that it is not of the .pst file type

[mcavic]

Hmm. Compare the top of my pst file ... very similar, but with some byte swapping.

21 42 44 4e 07 b7 a7 0b 53 4d 0e 00 13 00 01 01 ¦!BDN....SM......¦ 
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 4a 28 00 75 a0 12 00 ¦........@J(.u...¦ 
19 38 03 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 6d 04 00 00 ¦.8..........m...¦ 
38 40 00 00 9c 52 01 00 c5 1f 00 00 38 40 00 00 ¦8@...R......8@..¦ 
38 40 00 00 22 80 00 00 03 04 00 00 6d 04 00 00 ¦8@..".......m...¦ 
00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 6d 04 00 00 6d 04 00 00 ¦........m...m...¦ 
6d 04 00 00 38 40 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 ¦m...8@..........¦ 
00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 04 00 00 ¦................¦ 

Perhaps there's some help here [google.com].

[willburrow5]

thanks heaps mcavic...ill give that a go