Yandex Disk Data Center Incidents Leave Photos and Videos Inaccessible, Custom Recovery Tool Emerges

Following incidents at Yandex data centers in Sasovo and Vladimir, large numbers of photos and videos stored on Yandex Disk became unavailable for normal download. The company attributed the restrictions to load reduction, yet analysis indicates permanent loss of certain data clusters with no confirmed backups. Photos remain partially recoverable through lower-resolution S3 copies such as XXXL and XXL, while videos suffer from missing byte ranges that produce truncated or corrupted files. A researcher developed a specialized tool using mitmproxy to intercept browser requests and download available file variants in parallel streams. The utility also attempts block-by-block video retrieval to salvage whatever segments remain accessible. Users are warned that continued use of the tool may violate service terms and risk account suspension. The developer advises downloading data immediately rather than waiting for potential further degradation.

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Following incidents at Yandex data centers in Sasovo and Vladimir, large numbers of photos and videos stored on Yandex Disk became unavailable for normal download. The company attributed the restrictions to load reduction, yet analysis indicates permanent loss of certain data clusters with no confirmed backups.

Photos remain partially recoverable through lower-resolution S3 copies such as XXXL and XXL, while videos suffer from missing byte ranges that produce truncated or corrupted files. A researcher developed a specialized tool using mitmproxy to intercept browser requests and download available file variants in parallel streams.

The utility also attempts block-by-block video retrieval to salvage whatever segments remain accessible. Users are warned that continued use of the tool may violate service terms and risk account suspension. The developer advises downloading data immediately rather than waiting for potential further degradation.

Analyst Eldar Murtazin of Mobile Research Group stated that some data appears permanently lost. Yandex has not provided additional details on backup status or recovery timelines.

The recovery program requires installation of mitmproxy, Python, and FFmpeg. It operates on Windows, Linux, and macOS by capturing requests while the user manually scrolls through the Yandex Disk photo feed.

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