Recently there was a discussion in our forum about data recovery. I am quite surprised to know that many people don’t think that data recovery software works. In my experience, it does work and it saved my @$! many times after accidentally deleting important files or after formatting a hard drive and forgot to backup some files. There was only once, I wrongly formatted my external hard drive and somehow I wasn’t able to get back all my files. I have 7 external hard drives, all with the same casing and no label. I guess the reason I wasn’t able to get back my files is because I might have copied some files to another hard drive.
When recovering data from accidental deletion, there are some simple rules to follow:
1. Try to stop using the hard drive or partition you want to recover from because if you’re trying to recover files from your C drive for example, any activity might accidentally overwrite them.
2. Do not install, download or extract the data recovery software on the hard drive that you want to recover.
3. Do not save the recovered files on the hard drive that you’re recovering from (some recovery tools will warn you).
Do take note that these are my top 10 picks for FREE data recovery software and are in no particular order of preference. Number 1 does not mean it is better than number 5.
1. Recuva
1. Recuva
- Recuva is a free Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as i
mages and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. By using the more thorough Deep Scan mode you have a better chance to recover files, damaged or formatted partitions. Recuva also has a useful secure file eraser.
The zip file is only 2.4MB in size and it’s portable (an installer version is available) giving Recuva an advantage over some other tools which need installing.
2. PC Inspector File Recovery
- PC Inspector can recover data from most FAT and NTFS partitions even if the boot sector has been erased or damaged. You can also save recovered files onto network drives and files such as video, audio, pictures and archives with damaged headers can be recovered using a special mode.
The setup file is 3.3 MB in size. The FAQ says it’s not compatible with any o/s above XP although it ran OK on Windows 7 32-bit when I tried it.
3. Pandora Recovery
- Pandora Recovery recovers files permanently removed from the Recycle Bin or files deleted directly via the DOS Prompt etc. There is a powerful search option and a preview window allowing you to view deleted images and text files. Pandora includes a Surface Scan mode which is helpful for damaged or reformatted partitions or a corrupt file allocation table. There is a useful wizard when you start the program to help with the recovery.
The setup file is 3.1 MB in size and Pandora Recovery is listed as compatible with Windows 2000 to Vista, but seems to work OK on Windows 7.
4. TOKIWA DataRecovery
- This little tool is a plain and simple one to undelete files from FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS partitions. It can also recover NTFS compressed files, EFS encrypted files and files using a partial filename search string. A Wipe button can permanently delete recoverable files, although you can’t wipe files on the C drive in Vista or above.
The zip file is only 200KB in size and the extracted executable is 400KB, no installation is required and it’s portable.
5. SoftPerfect File Recovery
- SoftPerfect File Recovery is another simple but effective file recovery tool. It can restore deleted files from hard drives, floppy disks, USB flash drives, most types of memory cards and other storage media. It supports compressed and encrypted file systems like NTFS and NTFS5 as well as the standard FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32. The program is about as easy to use as you can get, select your drive and press the button.
SoftPerfect is a standalone portable executable so no installation is required. The program is only 500KB in size and supports Windows 2000 to Windows 7.
6. Wise Data Recovery
- This utility is fast, looks good and is intuitive. Wise data recovery can find deleted files from local drives, USB drives, cameras, memory cards, removable media devices etc. As well as being easy to use, it also includes a fast search filter by selecting file extensions using the file’s type.
An installer executable or portable version is available. The program is compatible with Windows XP up to Windows 8.
7. FreeUndelete
- This is another simply and easy to use deleted file recovery tool. There is support for NTFS 1.0, NTFS 2.0, FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 file systems. A couple of wildcard filters are there to narrow down the search. Make sure to save the Change to location if you’re recovering from C.
The setup file is just under a Megabyte in size. It can be extracted with 7zip but the extracted files must have the “fru.” prefix removed from the file names.
8. ADRC Data Recovery Software Tools
- ADRC Data Recovery Software Tools is a small collection of data recovery tools which includes a file undelete feature. Data can be recovered from hard drives (basic or dynamic volumes), floppies, zip drives, compressed or fragmented files, external memory cards, USB drives and MP3 Players. The other tools are a disk image backup/restore, copy files from drives with bad sectors, basic disk cloning and a boot sector backup/restore.
The program is a portable executable of only 132 KB. Listed as compatible with Windows 95 to XP only. Seemed to Work OK on 7 32-bit though.
9. Glary Undelete
- Glary Undelete is another free and pretty easy-to-use file undeleting program for most types of FAT, EFS and NTFS file systems. Recycle Bin deletes, DOS window deletes, and those files deleted from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down can be recovered. The program supports recovery from basic and dynamic hard drive volumes, floppies and just about any external media. Click the Preview tickbox to view images to be recovered.
This is the same undelete tool that is found in the excellent Glary Utilities suite, and as there is a portable version of that software, I would recommend you download that as it doen’t need installing. The Glary Undelete setup is 1.6 MB in size or the portable Glary Utils zip file is around 8MB. Works on Windows 2000 to Windows 7.
10. Avira UnErase Personal
- Although Avira UnErase dates back to before Vista, it still seems to work fine on the latest operating systems. It recovers data that has been deleted from local hard drives including compressed or encrypted NTFS and FAT16/FAT32. It also supports dynamic disks, software and hardware RAID, volume sets and stripe sets.
The setup installer file is 402 KB in size but you can extract the installer with 7zip to make it portable.
Hopefully one of the above tools should help you get your data back. If you don’t have too much data to recover, you might want to have a look at EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition. This is a powerful tool to recover data from lost, RAW, formatted or corrupt partitions on internal and external drives and memory media. The full version is $70 but the free version can recover 1GB of data so worth a look if it’s enough. Visit the EaseUs Data Recovery Wizard webpage. Another freeware that I can recommend is Roadkil’s Undelete which is a small and portable tool that can undelete files from Windows 98 to the current Windows 7.
Source: http://www.raymond.cc/blog
Top 10 FREE Data Recovery Software
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Reviewed by Ossama Hashim
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January 19, 2013
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