If you accidentally deleted the information you need from the hard drive of your computer, this does not mean that you completely lost it. Any file, even after hard formatting you can restore it successfully. Especially if after its removal on hDD no new information was recorded. But even if after the deletion of the files and the time passed, and new files were written to the hard disk, the chances of a successful recovery still remain. To restore the information you will need a special program.
You will need
- - computer with Windows OS;
- - application Filerecovery;
- - program TuneUp Utilities.
Instructions
The application Filerecovery will help you to recover lost data. Find this program on the Internet, download and install it on your computer. After installation, run it. In the left part of the main menu of the program you will see all sections and all hard disks, which are installed on the computer. Mark that section hard drive or directly the hard drive from which you want to recover information.
After the hard disk partition is marked, select Quick scan from the top of the toolbar. The process of scanning the hard disk partition starts. Upon its completion, all found files in the form of a list will be displayed in the program window. Select the files with the left mouse button, and in any part of the window where the found files are displayed, click the right mouse button. The context menu, in which click on the command Recover. All files will be restored.
If you need, for example, to recover not a large number of files, but only one, then this method is better for you. Download the program TuneUp Utilities from the Internet. There are its free trivial versions. Install and run the program. In the main menu, select the "Correct problems" tab, and then click "Restore" deleted files". Next, in the window, select the partition of the disk from which the data will be restored.
In the next window, enter the name of the file in the "Search Criteria" row (you can be approximate) and click "Next". Wait for the process of searching for files with the selected name. If a file is found, it will be displayed in the program window. Click on it with the right mouse button, then select "Restore". The file will be restored to the original folder. If the original folder has been deleted, you will have to choose which folder you want to restore the file to.
As you know, the life of optical disks is not long. The disc may stop reading for a variety of reasons - it is the appearance of scratches, and physical wear, and poor-quality material from which the disc was made, etc. The data on this disk can not be read and copied by the operating system, although the files and folders on it are displayed in good faith in windows Explorer. It is clear that it is necessary to think about such situations in advance and in time to worry about the presence of the quantity backups. But in practice, it often turns out not to be so at all, because many of the users until the last moment postpone the operation of reservation to "later" (in the secret hope that everything will be all right). And in the end, at one point, they are faced with the fact that the most valuable for them images, video clips, music clips, and sometimes even important documents and distributions are completely inaccessible. At the same time, it is possible that the data can still be read using special utilities. The fact is that the OS, if it is not able to correctly read the information from the damaged part of the disk, interrupts copying and deletes the already copied part of the file. And specialized utilities, using other mechanisms of reading data, can eventually read such files and copy them (although they do not guarantee 100% recovery of all files). These utilities read information from CD / DVD-ROM drives by direct access to them, bypassing the standard windows tools. They make repeated attempts to read the damaged part of the disk, and at the same time they can continue reading / copying the information after the resulting reading errors, which often allows you to "extract" the coveted information from its discs in its original form. If this number does not pass, then most of these programs, without further ado, simply replace the unreadable sectors with zeros - it is natural that at this point in the file there will be some defect in the end. It is clear that in practice not all files restored in this way will be suitable for further use. Say, in the case of text documents after such a restoration, a couple of paragraphs will disappear, but this is undoubtedly better than the complete loss of an important document that you wrote during the whole month. In the case of audio and video data, everything can also be quite decent - unpleasant, of course, if at some point during listening to your favorite melody or watching a video you will hear some strange sound or you will see incomprehensible phantoms on the screen, but again, it will be better than completely lose the treasured materials. With the software it's more difficult, but it still makes sense to try to restore the data, because the ill-fated bad sectors can appear on some auxiliary file, which you do not need at all.
CDCheck 3.1.14.0
Developer: Mitja PerkoDistribution size: 1.48 MB
Spread: Shareware CDCheck is a popular utility designed to diagnose and recover information from damaged CD / DVD-ROM drive (almost all formats are supported), ZIP drives, USB devices and other media. When creating this program, developers were guided by the principle that it is better to take timely measures to save data, without waiting for a critical line. Therefore, the first task solved by CDCheck is a detailed scan of the disks and detection of corrupted files, if any, and the program will usually even be able to name the reasons that led to such a sad state of the disk. In the case of optical disks, the utility also provides comprehensive information about the manufacturer, type, speed characteristics, etc. The second task is to restore data from bad drives, with which CDCheck also copes successfully. In addition, the program can be used to compare the original disk with its copy on the hard drive by bitwise file comparison. In general, the utility is easy to use and copes well with its task, but it processes information more slowly than other solutions considered here - perhaps this is due to a more thorough study of the data. The program (there is a Russian-language localization) can be used for free by home users, provided they receive a free license on the developer's site. The cost of the license for commercial users is $ 75. The CDCheck interface is simple - at the top there are buttons for performing basic operations, to the left - a disk tree, to the right - statistical information. First, try to test one of the folders on the disk, in which, according to our information, there are bad sectors. To do this, select the folder, click the "Check" button and, if necessary, adjust the scan settings.
When processing data by the program, you can observe detailed statistics of the process: the average read speed of the data, the estimated time of their processing, the number of files and folders scanned. In addition, if a broken file is detected in the lower window, its name with an error code is displayed.
To restore the files of a particular folder or the entire disk as a whole, select the corresponding object, click on the "Check" button and specify the folder for copying data. The recovery options are configurable - in particular, you can specify the number of retries to read bad sectors and set the level of statistical correctness that you want to achieve when data is restored.
This operation is also extremely clear - the progress of recovery is displayed, the files are listed, the recovery of which had problems, and the final status of their recovery is indicated.
BadCopy Pro 4.10
Developer: JufsoftDistribution size: 869 KB
Spread: shareware BadCopy Pro is a worldwide recognized solution for recovering corrupted and lost data from badly read or unreadable floppy disks, CD / DVDs (including CD-R, CD-RW, DVD + R / W and DVD-R / W), maps memory, ZIP-drives, flash drives, hard disks etc. The program supports the restoration of all types of files and provides recovery of files from scratched or bad CD / DVD-ROM, deleted or lost photos in digital cameras, documents from corrupted ZIP-disks, etc. It can help you read data from problem multisession CDs, revitalize files on disks formatted by fast formatting, and return deleted data from floppy disks. The demo version of the program (Russian-language localization is absent) with blocked storage is not limited by the time of testing. The cost of the commercial version is 39.50 dollars. Restoring information in BadCopy Pro does not require any additional settings and is done under the guidance of the masters, and therefore nothing particularly complicated does not represent. The program window is two-paneled - through the left panel you access the right type of media, on the right, you configure the data recovery settings. In total, five groups of media are represented on the left panel: "Floppy Disk", "CD and DVD", "Memory Card" (memory cards used in digital cameras and mobile devices), " Flash Drive and Zip Disk "(Flash-drives and ZIP-disks) and" Other Media and Storage "(here the developers attributed hard disks and other media). Since we are interested in recovering data from CD / DVD, the first step is to select the option "CD and DVD" in this panel, and then specify desired disk (if there are several) and recovery mode. The choice of the desired recovery mode depends on the problem being solved. In the case of recovering corrupted data (that is, our case where it is assumed that the files are displayed in Windows Explorer but can not be read by the OS), the "Rescue Corrupted Files" mode is selected. The two remaining modes ("Rescue Lost Files - Mode # 1" and "Rescue Lost Files - Mode # 2") are designed to recover lost data - that is, data not visible in the operating system.
After that, specify the data that you want to copy from an unreadable disk image - this is not implemented in the most user-friendly way, because you can not select the list of folders together with the files and other folders attached to them, and only single files are allowed to be specified. As a result, you will have to restore the information in each folder separately - long and hard. At the same step, it is easy to adjust the depth and speed of scanning through the "Recovery Option" switch. It can be set in one of three positions: "Max Data", "Normal" and "Max Speed" - in the first position the maximum depth of scanning is reached, and in the third - the maximum speed. The second option is intermediate, it is selected by default and is considered optimal for most cases.
The recovery process starts immediately after clicking the "Next" button, and the program informs about its effectiveness, displaying the copied files, their final status (that is, the file is restored or not) and the progress of the operation.
At the end, the program will ask, in which folder on the hard disk to save the read files.
In the same window you can view the restored text files (TXT, BAT, INF, LOG) and images (BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, etc.) by selecting the file of interest and clicking on the "Preview" button. Other files are only displayed in hexadecimal format.
IsoBuster 2.6
Developer: ISO BusterDistribution size: 5.14 MB
Spread: shareware The program IsoBuster - a comprehensive solution that provides tools for working with disk images and data recovery from broken CD / DVD-ROM drive. It supports all standard image formats and allows you to extract data from them, as well as directly run files. The utility can also be used to recover information from broken optical media of any format, including Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, and to recover data from DVD + RW discs that have been subjected to Quick Erase or Quick Format operations. However, it is very simple to use. The program (there is a Russian-language localization) is presented in several editions - for the general public, the editions Free and Pro may be of interest. The first is free and has a basic set of capabilities, which, however, is sufficient for solving the problems considered in this article. The second has extended functionality and is offered on a commercial basis. A detailed comparison of the editions is available at the following link. The edition of Free can be downloaded and used for free, the cost of editing the Pro is $ 29.95. During the installation process, in addition to traditional questions, IsoBuster will ask about the choice of file associations - if it is intended that the utility will be used only to recover data from damaged CD / DVDs, then establish associations does not make sense. Otherwise, you should put a tick in front of those extensions, with the images of which you practice in practice. The main IsoBuster window is two-pane - in the left panel there is a window for selecting images, sessions, disks and folders, and in the right is the file tree. Understand how to use the data recovery program with broken disc, not difficult. Run the program and insert a CD / DVD into the drive, make sure that this particular drive was selected in IsoBuster. After that, the layout of the disk (tracks and sessions) will appear in the left pane, and on the right - folders and files, if those on the disk can be found. If there are no files or they are not shown in full, developers recommend starting the process of searching for such data by selecting the command "Search for missing files and folders" from the context menu on the track icon in the left panel.
After that, to start data recovery, which can be done for the entire disk as a whole, and for individual folders and files, you need to select the object to restore and call the "Extract" command from the context menu, and then specify the folder to save this data.
In the process of data recovery, the program only reports the file being read at a particular time and the overall progress of the operation.
If they hit the bad sector, which the utility finds for some reason less than other analog programs tested for this review, it stops and asks whether to try to read this sector again or skip it. Attempts to re-read the initially unreadable sectors, as in other programs, are often successful. At the same time, at the first hit on the failed sector, it is possible to configure the utility to pass all such sectors in the future. In our opinion, such obsession is tedious - it was much more reasonable for the developers of other solutions, in which the user is initially asked to determine in one way or another (through the number of attempts to read bad sectors, the choice of the recovery method, etc.) the data quality ratio and the speed of the operation. Although in comparison with the fact that the whole program restores the data quite successfully, it's just trivia.
Quite often, PC users are faced with an unpleasant situation when it is necessary to recover data from the hard disk that were erased by mistake or accident. Such a data system marks "zero", after which they can be written on top of other information. When writing other data when the user fills in the released data disk space, the original files will be lost forever.
What not to do, but what better to do:
- In no case do not install programs and do not save files to the disk on which the lost files were located - this will increase the chances of their successful recovery.
- For further work, it is recommended to use an external disk.
You can refer to specialists to extract data, but their work is usually too expensive. To make a restoration is also very real.
How to recover data
There are special programs that allow you to restore all the necessary files. For the most part, they are suitable not only for working with computer disks, but also for external media.
There is a possibility that the information will be restored only partially, but this will have to be reconciled. To get the best result from the data recovery program, you need to install it on an external drive, run it from there and follow the instructions.
In this article we will look at the process of recovering files from a USB flash drive using the free, but very effective R.Saver program (official site), which can:
- recover deleted files;
- to reconstruct damaged file systems;
- recover data after formatting;
- restore files by their signatures.
At the end, a list of other programs will be provided, with which you can try to recover your lost data.
We will check how R.Saver restores files after the standard removal from the storage medium. To do this, take a USB flash drive with the NTFS file system, create a separate folder on it, save several different files in it, and then delete them.
Then download the archive with the program, extract the files (you should not extract the files to the partition from which the recovery will be made) and run the r.saver.exe file. The tool is portable, works without installation.
In the main window of the program we call the context menu and select "Search for lost files".
In the next window click "No", because we have deleted the files manually, and not by formatting.
We are waiting for the scanning process to finish.
After scanning, we will see the remote folder, and inside it - our files.
Determine the location of the save, click "Select".
That's all. The files were successfully restored and saved to the local disk computer.
Other programs for recovering deleted information
Recuva
One of the most promising products. The program is free, Russified and does not cause difficulties in mastering. Recuva will find the deleted files from the computer or on external media and immediately restore them. After downloading and installing it on a computer or an external disk, you should do the following:
- After the Restore Wizard starts, check all the data that you want to restore;
- Mark the section or folder where the data was lost;
- After that, scanning of the marked folders begins and search of the deleted files. Longer in time, but showing better results, there will be a function of in-depth scanning;
- Then Recuva will output the data that was lost from the hard disk or external media. For external media, the sequence of actions will be the same as for the hard disk;
- The program highlights different colors all found data. Green - which were completely seized, yellow - which were partially restored, red - that were left with the loss of all the information.
At the final stage, you should mark the folder where all the files will be saved.
R-Studio
Paid, but professional program. In demo mode, it allows you to restore files no larger than 256 KB. Recovers all data that is accidentally lost or lost after formatting or virus attack from the hard drive or from removable media. The list of supported all popular versions of Windows. A practical interface and advanced functionality with additional features will please the most demanding users. The algorithm of actions after download will be the following.
People have long been told that a person does not appreciate what he has, and who has lost - cries. And this is true, and it concerns even the computer industry. It is on this principle that the majority of PC users operate. The files are scattered about where the antivirus is long gone and does not even start, and then the person is surprised when and how his files disappeared. The reason may not even be in poor supervision of documents, but in malfunctioning hard disk. Then everything becomes much more serious. To restore the data will have to use the services of masters, and for the repair of the device will have to pay a round sum.
A hard disk is a device on which, in most cases, a variety of files are stored. And the fact that they are not protected - often makes them a victim of harmful programs. Also, the problem can arise because of the human factor. A small and curious nephew will cope with important documents faster than any virus. Also, the data passes by the basket when the technique is not safely turned off with the Shift + Del keys pressed.
Recovering data from a hard disk is not a difficult process. First you need to figure out what caused the loss of the files. The factors that lead to the loss of information are divided into two groups:
If for the second variant some technique and skills are necessary, then it is very simple to fix logical errors.
Where are the deleted files
Also, the user needs to find out where the deleted files go. Some people think that they fly away into oblivion and they can be forgotten forever. But this is not entirely true, they do not go there immediately.
After the deletion, the data remains in its original place. But from other files they have differences. Table HDD puts near them "0", which means those files that can be replaced with new ones. And only the recording of new data will now accurately send the "zero-pointers" into oblivion.
This is the key factor for data recovery. To recover lost files, you need to use special programs that easily restore deleted data from storage media.
This happens not only when deleting, but also when formatting the disk. This process redistributes the files, but is not permanently deleted. The vacant places on the hard disk are simply formed, from which old "workers" leave, and new ones come. Such a peculiar turnover of staff.
What is the most important thing to remember? It is necessary to understand that the restoration of important information from hard disks is an operational process. There is no need to hesitate here. Also, remember that after accidentally deleting or formatting a hard disk, you can not download new files. They simply replace accidentally deleted ones. Experts advise not even to run operating system, because she can use memory for her own purposes. Especially it concerns the system disk C.
How to recover data
Many people ask how to restore the hard drive. This can be done with the help of unique programs that study disk space, determine the structure of files and help to find exactly those lost data that the user needs. It is impossible to be completely sure of the return of a damaged or lost file. This process requires promptness and the right approach. If you do everything on time, most recently deleted data can be recovered. To recover data, the program can be started from another HDD device, and not to write new files to the space of the damaged disk.
The principle of operation of special utilities is simple: they scan the storage space of information at a certain depth. During the scan, not only files are tracked, but also a boot record. The required types of data can be found by special headers. Also, if the file is damaged, it will only be partially recovered. During recovery, data may lose its name and storage location.
Best Recovery Software
There are a lot of such utilities, we will try to acquaint you with the most popular and useful:
- Recuva;
- R-Studio;
- MiniTool Power Data Recovery;
- Ontrack Easy Recovery;
Recuva
This is one of the most popular programs for this purpose. Its significant advantage is the free version. Each user of computer equipment with the help of Recuva will be able to recover lost data not only from the hard drive, but also from a flash drive, and from memory cards. Also in the program is the ability to search for a specific type of data. If the user searches for photos, the program will not search for other types of data.
Also in the program very convenient wizard for recovery, but the functionality of the software is not at the highest level. Without a problem, you can return only those data that were lost recently and only if the storage medium was not used at all after that. But the utility can not cope with the return of the damaged file. Also Recuve will not be able to recover files after formatting and when the computer reports: "The disk is not formatted."
R-Studio
Specialists consider this program to be one of the best in its field. But you will have to pay for it. When asked how to recover their data, they often answer: use R-Studio. And it's not strange, because the program can:
- Recover deleted files from different media (CDs, memory cards, flash drives and hard disk);
- Restore RAID arrays (including even RAID 6);
- Recover the data of the damaged hard disk;
- Return formatted partitions;
- Support work on OS Windows, Mac Os and Linux;
Proceeding from this, the program R-Studio can be considered a professional restorer, which will help to recover files that were lost after removal, formatting, damage to media. Unlike Recuve, this program Do not be afraid of the message "The disk is not formatted." If there are problems with running the OS, the program can be started from a third-party media in the form of a disk or a USB flash drive.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery
A good reputation also deserved this utility. It is known for recovering data from a damaged hard drive. Scanning by this program also differs by its deep check, which allows you to work with data that other programs simply do not find.
The "highlight" of the program is Power Data Recovery. This is the so-called intuitive use. The utility is equipped with a wizard that first scans the hard disk's memory, and immediately saves the data on another hard disk from which the scan is performed.
Ontrack Easy Recovery
This utility is one of the most effective for file recovery. It is paid, and a license for one year costs from 500 to 3000 US dollars. Each version has its own price. But even the "cheapest" option of $ 500 speaks about the commercial purpose of the program. It is used in many service centers and repair shops.
Ontrack ER can be installed on its operating system or run from other storage media. Using a bootable diskette, you can restore information even without the installed OS.
In comparison with other programs, it will be able to find even files with which others can not cope.
Despite its impressive price and professional purpose, the program is very convenient, but everyone can understand it in its interface. Immediately after the utility is turned on, the wizard starts scanning the system and displays the file structure.
Also Ontrack Easy Recovery marks deleted files and those partitions that are invisible to the OS, and which are actually recovered. The user selects a disk with information that is not available to the operating system and starts its scanning. Next, he will see a whole list of data that can be returned.
The names of all data will be reduced to 8 characters. Also, the files named Cyrillic will be shown as unreadable names. To select those files that need to be restored, you just need to put a tick near them.
In contact with
Looking for how to recover files deleted from the hard drive, flash drives? Have you deleted an important MS Office document, DVD video, mp3 file or photo? Do not know how to recover files deleted after formatting a hard, external disk, flash drives or logical nTFS partitions, FAT? Do you want to restore files deleted from the Recycle Bin or using the "Shift" + "Del" keys?
Recovering files with the program
Starus File Recovery
Recovering deleted files is a process accessible to everyone! And your personal assistant in this critical case will be the application Starus File Recovery. Having an effective disk analysis algorithm, Starus File Recovery is the fastest tool for data recovery in the entire market.
The process of scanning a disk and building a list of deleted files and folders will take seconds. After that, you will immediately see your files. User-friendly interface and rich functionality of the product meet the needs of professionals in the field of data recovery of various companies. Starus File Recovery - recovery of deleted data, accessible to everyone!
Program installation
The program uses a handy wizard to help you easily and quickly install the product on your computer. When installing the program, consider from which disk you are going to restore the files - you can not install the program on a disk or in a partition that contained recoverable information.
Recover files with preview
After installation, in the main program window select the drive from which you want to restore the files. Starus File Recovery will analyze the selected disk and display its contents. After analysis on the left side, the program displays a list of folders on the selected disk. By selecting the required folder on the left, you can view its contents in the main part of the program. You can use the "Search" option to find the required file.
For convenience, use the "Filter" option ("View" - "Filter") to see only deleted files and hide existing ones. Use the main panel to view, select and restore the necessary files and folders. If the option "Preview" is active, then selecting the file, you can immediately view its contents in the right upper part of the program. In the central part, select the files and folders that you want to restore, click the "Restore" button in the panel. The File Save Wizard opens.
Restore files in step-by-step mode
A convenient step-by-step restore wizard for analyzing, searching and saving deleted files can be used from the very beginning. To start the wizard in the "File" menu, select the "Wizard" option. In the window that opens, you just need to follow detailed instructions master. Next, the wizard will offer you a list of disks that are on your computer and the devices connected to it.
By selecting a disk or device, the wizard will prompt you to select the type of analysis you need ("Normal Scan" or "Deep Analysis"). Normal scanning will allow you to find deleted files on the available information in the file system. Using this option, you can restore all information about your files (file name, date, attributes ...). Using deep analysis, the program will search for deleted files by their signatures (search by contents of files). In this case, you can not restore information about the files (file name, date, attributes ...)
Next, you will be asked to specify the types of files that you need to restore. Additional options allow you to select the necessary criteria for searching for files. You can search for all or only deleted files, you can include or exclude hidden and system files. Also you can search files a specific date or size. In the process of in-depth analysis, the found files will be automatically added to the file list. You can change the display type and the file sorting method. Also you have the ability to view or change the properties of files.
After the analysis is over, mark the files necessary for recovery and click "Next" to save them.
How to save files
Follow the instructions in the wizard to successfully save the recovered files. You can select the desired method of saving files and other necessary options (saving to hard disk, writing to CD / DVD, creating a virtual iSO image, saving on the Internet via an FTP server).
Saving to hard disk
The program allows you to save the recovered files to the hard disk, USB-media or any other physical or removable disk. It is strongly recommended that you do not save files on the same disk from which you are recovering! Select the folder to save the recovered files.
In order to restore only deleted files and skip existing ones, select the option "Recover only deleted files". (This option is available only if you save the files directly from the program, and not from the recovery wizard).
If you want to restore the directory structure in which the deleted files are located, select the option "Restore the folder structure". If this option is selected, all subdirectories will be restored, and all files will be stored in the same folders as before they were deleted. Otherwise, all files will be saved to one selected folder. (This option is available only if you save the files directly from the program, and not from the recovery wizard).
Along with the main data of the file, you can restore alternative data streams (only supported on NTFS file systems). To do this, select the option "Restore alternate data streams".
When restoring some files, the first letter of their names is lost, it is replaced by a "?" There are files in which other parts of the name are lost. In order to automatically replace all unknown characters when saving files, select the option "Replace all unknown characters with", if this option is disabled, you will be prompted to replace the characters during the recovery process.
Burning to CD / DVD
The program allows you to save the recovered files to CD or DVD-media. Also here you can clean the rewritable disk. First you need to select the media for recording from the list of CD / DVD drives installed on your computer and, if desired, clean the rewritable disc.
The following window allows you to select the necessary options for writing files to disk: specify the name of the disc, select the write speed of the disc and file system. To create or continue multisession, specify the option "Multisession disc". If a multisession disc is inserted in the drive, you will be asked to start a new session or select a track to continue the existing one.
In the next window, select the files you need to restore and click "Burn" to start burning them to disk.
Creating an ISO image
By selecting the option Create an ISO virtual image, you can save all the recovered files to one ISO file - a virtual CD image data or DVD disc. Here you can specify the name of the disk and the file system. In the next window, select the files you need to restore and click "Create" to start creating the virtual image.
Saving to a remote server
An integrated FTP client will allow you to download the recovered files to the server. Specify the necessary options for saving files. In the next window, check the files necessary for recovery and click "Next" to continue. Specify the settings for your FTP server. You can enter the path to the desired remote directory on the server so that when connecting, the program automatically opens this directory.
