Have you ever lost unwanted data, and desire to get all of them back? The best way to recover from unexpected data loss is to be properly
prepared. With one of the following tools on hand, you'll always be
ready to save your data from the Reaper.
While the best defense against data loss is redundant and real-time
backup, we understand that sometimes data loss sneaks right up on you.
Whether your vacation pictures didn't make it safely from your camera to
your computer or a bumbling roommate deleted the paper you've been
working all week on, having emergency data recovery tools handy is
crucial to getting your data back before it's gone forever. Earlier this
week we asked you to share your favorite data recovery tools with us.
We tallied up your favorites and now we're back with the nominees for
best free data recovery tool.
TestDisk (Windows/Mac/Linux)
TestDisk is a powerful open-source tool for recovering your data. Not
only can TestDisk perform basic file recovery like undeleting
accidentally deleted files from FAT, NTFS, and ext2 file systems, but it
comes with a host of additional functionality. With TestDisk you can
recover your boot sector from a backup, rebuild your boot sector, fix
FAT tables, fix your MFT, locate the ext2/ext3 backup SuperBlock, copy
deleted files from partitions to recovery media, and find lost
partitions in dozens of formats to help you locate your lost data. It's a
command line tool, so there's no GUI, but the menus and the
documentation in the wiki should get you started without much trouble.
Recuva (Windows)
Recuva is a user-friendly Windows-based tool. When you run Recuva, you
can resurrect missing files using either the file-recovery wizard or the
application's manual mode. The file-recovery wizard is handy when
you're sure your data is gone but you're not quite sure where it went or
how to get it back. The wizard lets you narrow your search type to
pictures, music, documents, video, or all files, and you can set the
search location to everywhere on your computer, removable media only, in
My Documents, the Recycle Bin, or a specified location. If you don't
need the wizard you can jump right into manual mode and get to work
searching where you know the file should be. Recuva uses a
green/yellow/red light system to indicate how probable the recovery of
your files will be, and when available, it can provide previews image
files available for recovery. Recuva also includes a tool to securely
wipe files you find, handy if you're attempting a file recovery just to
ensure the files are actually dead and gone.
PhotoRec (Windows/Mac/Linux)
PhotoRec is a companion program to TestDisk, also included in this Hive
Five. Like TestDisk, this app is also devoid of a GUI, but likewise is
quite powerful at file recovery. We're including PhotoRec independently
of TestDisk because many users distinctly prefer PhotoRec as a safer
alternative when deep disk recovery isn't necessary. This recovery tool
won't mess with your partitions or help you rebuild your master boot
record; it will, however, dive into your disks in a safe, read-only mode
and ignore partitions and file systems in an effort to seek out your
missing files. PhotoRec focuses on file types, is operating-system
agnostic, and despite its name, isn't relegated to just photos. Overall,
PhotoRec is a powerful tool for quickly and safely copying your deleted
files to another disk.
Restoration (Windows)
Restoration is a tiny, no-frills, portable recovery tool. You can use it
in all versions of Windows and Windows file systems. It lacks some of
the advanced functionality of other nominees but does have basic
file-name search and the ability to sort by file parameters such as size
and filename. Despite its tiny size, it performed just as well as the
other nominees when tasked with restoring files from our test disks.
Restoration weighs in at a mere 406k and would make a great addition to
any Windows-based USB toolkit.
Undelete Plus (Windows)
Undelete Plus used to be commercial software but has gone on a lengthy
"limited time offer" freeware run. This file recovery app works on all
versions of Windows and incarnations of the FAT and NTFS file systems.
Like Recuva, Undelete Plus assigns a recovery probability to files it
finds based on how damaged the file is. You can sort files by type, set
filters based on time and size to avoid sifting through every deleted
file on your disk, and keep folder structures intact when you perform
your recovery.
source: Goshareware Data Recovery Forum
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