How to recover data from a hard drive with your own hands. Recovering deleted data from hard drive

It is difficult to find a user who has never had to bite their elbows, for example, after accidentally deleting an important document from a disk or an interesting photo from a memory card - this can happen in the hustle and bustle, or simply due to banal absent-mindedness. Of course, bringing a file deleted from your hard drive in the usual way back to life using Windows is not a problem - you just need to restore it from the recycle bin. However, the Recycle Bin is more or less regularly emptied by special cleaning utilities, and data is often deleted bypassing the Recycle Bin using the Shift + Del key combination (in order to save time and space) - in this case, it will no longer be possible to restore an accidentally deleted file from the Recycle Bin using Windows tools. As for deleting files from USB drives and memory cards, they do not go into the recycle bin at all - which means that it is impossible to restore them using the built-in Windows tools. And finally, accidentally deleting files is not the only way to lose valuable information. You can lose important data in other ways: as a result of a system failure, incorrect operations of a particular program, exposure to viruses, formatting a disk, deleting a partition, etc. In all these cases, Windows tools will not be able to “revive” the files.

So, should you immediately rush to a data recovery specialist when you lose your files? It is not at all necessary if you have a reliable utility to recover accidentally deleted and lost files. As a rule, with its help you can restore at least part of the information without any problems. The main thing is not to waste time and follow certain rules of the game.

In a nutshell about file loss and recovery

You shouldn’t immediately give up on accidentally deleted files, although they, for example, are not displayed in the corresponding Explorer folder and are not in the Recycle Bin. In reality, deleted files still remain on the media, since deleting them using the operating system does not physically destroy the files. It is not the body of the file that is deleted, but only its header; while the clusters in which it was written are simply marked empty and can be read until they are overwritten by new data. That is why deleted documents, presentations, pictures, etc. can be recovered using specialized utilities.

Recovering lost files is also possible in a number of other situations. For example, after quickly formatting a hard drive - after all, with such a procedure, information about the initial recording of allocated files is reset (for example, in NTFS - in the MFT area), and all other areas of the disk remain unchanged. Some utilities can also recover data from disks that have a damaged file allocation table, a deleted data partition, etc.

However, it would be reckless to say unequivocally that any file (even just deleted from the recycle bin) can always be restored. Alas, this is not the case, and failure is largely due to incorrect user actions. The fact is that any computer activity on a disk from which data was accidentally deleted can lead to the fact that the clusters in which fragments of the corresponding files are located will be overwritten, because the operating system now perceives them as empty. After this, restoring the corresponding files will be more than problematic. Of course, with partial rewriting, a number of utilities restore such files, but it is not at all a fact that such files can then be used (the exception is text documents, individual saved fragments of which can be worked with in the future). As for pictures, music, videos and other things restored after partial re-recording, this is usually futile. That is why, first of all, it is necessary to prevent the possibility of overwriting clusters - that is, do not write anything to a hard drive partition, flash drive or memory card with lost data, otherwise the chances of returning lost information to life will become minimal.

In addition, the possibility of recovering lost data may be associated with a number of circumstances that are no longer dependent on the user at the time of recovery. Thus, the chances of success are higher when recovering files from media formatted in the NTFS file system rather than FAT. The success of restoring a particular file also largely depends on the degree of its fragmentation: if the file is highly fragmented, then you can only hope (and even then with reservations) for its recovery in the NTFS system, but on FAT media it is most likely pointless. Naturally, for this reason, it is especially difficult to recover very large, frequently overwritten files on a heavily filled disk, which, due to circumstances, as a rule, always turn out to be highly fragmented.

It is also worth adding that none of the programs will be able to recover data after guaranteed destruction of information using specialized solutions, as well as low-level formatting.

How to recover files

The most important thing is to start recovering accidentally deleted and lost files as quickly as possible (ideally, immediately after deleting the file), although in practice there are often cases of recovering even long-lost data. However, there is no guarantee that the document you need will be among these invisible “long-livers”, so you should not hesitate.

First, you need to stop any computer activity on the media of interest, since the operating system can write some other data in place of deleted or lost files (even if you yourself did not write anything down at all), run the utility installed on your computer to recover lost files and scan it carrier. The situation becomes more complicated when we are talking about restoring data on the system disk, to which the system is constantly writing something. In this case, it is optimal to remove the hard drive with deleted files and connect it to another computer as a secondary one, and only then begin the recovery process.

As a rule, the default tools in the corresponding tools are a quick scan, carried out by analyzing file records. If during such an analysis the required file cannot be found (this is possible if the disk has been formatted, the partition has been deleted, etc.), then it makes sense to resort to advanced analysis. With this analysis, a deep scan of the disk is carried out with a complete scan of all sectors - it takes more time, but can be more effective. In order to speed up the process, you can resort to limiting the search area by data type (images, documents, etc.), file name, etc.

Under no circumstances should you restore data to a scanned disk, although in a number of solutions this is possible (again, due to the danger of overwriting the sectors of interest). Therefore, usually the recovered data is saved to another hard drive, another hard drive partition, or a flash drive.

Before you begin any data recovery efforts, you should consider the possibility that the loss of files may also be caused by a physical malfunction of the device. Most of the solutions discussed in this article will not be able to help in this case, and the process of recovering information in such situations requires certain professional knowledge and experience. In addition, further work with a faulty device may make it completely impossible to recover important folders and files from it. Therefore, in case of loss of critical information, it is wiser to abandon independent experiments and immediately contact specialists.

Utilities for recovering lost files

Until recently, utilities for recovering lost files were among the few categories where the bulk were very expensive commercial products, the capabilities of which are completely incomparable to what affordable, let alone free, utilities can offer. Now the picture has changed noticeably, and today home users, if they wish, can easily find effective programs on the market with which they can not only easily recover accidentally deleted folders and files, but also bring back to life data lost as a result of quickly formatting a disk, deleting a partition, and etc. It is precisely these - affordable or even free solutions for recovering folders and files - that will be discussed in this article.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery 6.6

Developer: MiniTool Solution Ltd

Distribution size: 5.64 MB

Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7

Distribution method: shareware (http://www.powerdatarecovery.com/download.html)

Price: Commercial license - $119; Personal license - $59; Free Edition - free (allows you to recover no more than 1 GB of data; only for personal or home use)

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a comprehensive solution for recovering data from hard drives (IDE, SATA, SCSI, USB), memory cards, flash drives, CD/DVD and Blue-ray drives, iPods and other storage media. The program supports FAT12/16/32, VFAT and NTFS file systems and can recover files deleted from the Windows Recycle Bin, find and restore lost data (due to a virus attack, power failure, accidental formatting, partition deletion, etc.). Additionally, you can use this tool to recover data from damaged hard drives, as well as damaged, scratched, or defective CD/DVDs.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery includes five built-in data recovery modules: Undelete Recovery, Damaged Partition Recovery, Lost Partition Recovery, Digital Media Recovery and CD & DVD Recovery (Fig. 1). Each one focuses on different data loss scenarios. The Undelete Recovery module is designed to recover files and folders deleted from the Recycle Bin or using the Shift+Del combination. Works with hard and flash drives, as well as memory cards. Damaged Partition Recovery tool allows you to recover lost data from existing but damaged or formatted partitions. Partitions with MBR and dynamic disks are supported: Simple Volume, Spanned Volume, Stripped Volume and RAID-5 Volume. The Lost Partition Recovery module is used to recover data from a deleted or lost (for example, as a result of disk repartition) partition. The Digital Media Recovery module recovers data from digital multimedia devices (flash drives, flash cards, memory cards, iPods, etc.) and is focused on recovering lost or deleted photos (including in RAW format), music (mp3 files, MP4 files) and video files. The CD & DVD Recovery module is used to recover lost and deleted files from damaged, scratched or defective CD/DVD discs. This module works with various types of CD/DVD (CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R and DVD-RW), supports multisession discs, some UDF discs (recorded using DirectCD, InCD , packetCD) and can recover data from RW disks formatted using quick format.

Rice. 1. MiniTool Power Data Recovery window
with five built-in modules

Despite the lack of Russian-language localization, it is not difficult to understand the nuances of recovering deleted and lost files in this utility, since all operations are performed under the control of a step-by-step wizard. For example, in the simplest case - when recovering accidentally deleted files - you just need to activate the Undelete Recovery module, specify the device to be scanned (Fig. 2) and click the button Recover, after which the program will immediately display a list of found folders and files. In most modules, scanning can be quick or full, the latter takes more time but is also more effective. Folders and files found during the analysis are marked with icons in the form of a cross, a question or an exclamation mark - the cross serves to indicate accidentally deleted files, and other icons indicate lost data and RAW files, respectively (Fig. 3). Images and text files can be viewed directly from the utility before recovery.

Rice. 2. Run disk analysis for deleted files

Rice. 3. Presentation of scan results
in MiniTool Power Data Recovery

Auslogics File Recovery 3.3

Developer: Auslogics Software Pty Ltd

Distribution size: 3.69 MB

Work under control: Windows XP(SP2 and above)/2003/Vista/7/2008

Distribution method: shareware (15-day demo version that allows you to recover no more than ten files no larger than 100 KB in size - http://www.auslogics.com/ru/software/file-recovery/download/)

Price:$49.95 (in the Allsoft.ru store - 990 rub.)

Auslogics File Recovery (formerly Auslogics Emergency Recovery) is a program for recovering accidentally deleted files, as well as files lost due to viruses or system failures. Using this utility, you can recover documents, music, photos and any other files from hard drives, floppy drives, USB drives and flash memory cards. In this case, you can recover not only files accidentally deleted in the usual way, but also files lost during deletion of a disk partition or quick formatting. As additional functionality, the utility includes tools for guaranteed data deletion and creating disk images.

Recovery in Auslogics File Recovery is carried out under the guidance of a wizard (Fig. 4) and does not require any effort from the user (it is enough to decide on the media, file types, analysis option and, if necessary, set restrictions on the search area). The program has two scanning options: normal and deep (it is very long) - with deep scanning, it is possible to recover files lost after a quick formatting of the disk. To speed up the scanning process, you can resort to limiting files by type, setting up an exception list that includes files and folders that will be ignored during scanning, etc. Files found during the search are displayed in the main program window, indicating the program’s “opinion” regarding their status ( Fig. 5). The structure and names of folders, as well as file names, are displayed unchanged even during a deep scan for lost data. You can preview files - pictures, photographs, videos, text and PDF documents.

Rice. 4. Configuring settings for searching for lost files
in Auslogics File Recovery

Rice. 5. Result of disk scanning by the program
Auslogics File Recovery

Handy Recovery 5.5

Developer: SoftLogica

Distribution size: 2 MB

Work under control: Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Me/XP/2003/Vista/7

Distribution method: shareware (30-day demo version that allows you to recover one file per day - http://www.handyrecovery.com/download.shtml)

Price: 49 dollars, in the Softkey store - 950 rubles. (we are talking about the latest Russian-language version of Handy Recovery 4.0)

Handy Recovery is a convenient utility for recovering lost files. The program supports FAT12/16/32/64(ExFAT) and NTFS/NTFS 5 file systems and can recover data from a hard drive or other storage media, including CompactFlash, SmartMedia, MultiMedia and SecureDigital memory cards. The range of recoverable files covers a variety of formats: MS Office documents, archive files, email databases (Outlook and Eudora), photos, music and video files, etc. At the same time, you can recover not only accidentally deleted files (deleted from the recycle bin, deleted bypassing the recycle bin) , but also files damaged as a result of virus attacks and crashes, and files from deleted or formatted volumes. In addition to this, the utility provides the ability to create exact disk images for delayed recovery.

In Handy Recovery, the developers have implemented two scanning modes: standard (produced by analyzing file records and helps to recover deleted files if these records were not damaged) and extended, which allows you to find even data when the information in file records has been partially overwritten or damaged. Scanning in standard mode starts automatically immediately after starting the utility (Fig. 6); at the end of the process, a list of identified folders and files will be displayed in the program window; For convenience, lost files and folders are marked with a red cross (Fig. 7). For each file, the probability of its successful recovery is indicated. The contents of a number of files (Word and Excel documents, graphic and text files, archives) can be viewed before recovery in the preview window. As for advanced scanning, it is resorted to in cases where, after analyzing the disk, the files of interest were not found. With such scanning, you can search for strictly defined types of files (for example, images), lost file records, and also conduct a more thorough analysis of data deleted from the recycle bin (with a standard search, some of such data may not be found). The structure of the found folders and file names based on the scan results are displayed unchanged.

Rice. 6. Run disk analysis in Handy Recovery

Rice. 7. Display of data found during analysis
in Handy Recovery

Recuva 1.43

Developer: Piriform Ltd

Distribution size: 2.44 MB

Work under control: Windows 98/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7

Distribution method: commercialware (http://www.piriform.com/recuva/download)

Price: Business - $34.95; Home - $24.95; Free - free

Recuva is a very easy-to-use file recovery utility from the developers of popular solutions such as CCleaner and Defraggler. This tool allows you to recover photos, documents, music files, videos, etc. in FAT (including ExFAT) and NTFS file systems from hard drives, as well as from any rewritable media (flash drives, external hard drives, memory cards, etc.). Using this utility, you can recover accidentally deleted files, return files that were deleted as a result of system errors, crashes or virus attacks, and also try to recover files from formatted or damaged disks. Additionally, the program can be used to ensure guaranteed data deletion. In addition to the standard edition, the utility has a portable edition, which can be installed on a flash drive or external hard drive.

By default, the file recovery process is carried out under the guidance of a wizard (if desired, it is easy to disable the automatic launch of the wizard) - fig. 8; using the wizard allows you to narrow the search area, limiting yourself to only searching for images, music, documents, etc. The scan can be quick or deep. Deep scanning allows you to identify a larger number of files “buried” on the analyzed disk, but it also takes much more time. If necessary, advanced users can switch to the advanced operating mode and fine-tune the search parameters - use a filter by file type to narrow the search area, enable folder structure restoration, etc. Upon completion of the scan, a list of deleted files is displayed in the main program window (Fig. 9 ); Each file found is marked in green, yellow or red (the color indicates the chances of recovery). In advanced mode, the program additionally shows details about the file, an image thumbnail, and an assessment of the quality of the restoration.

Rice. 8. Run disk analysis in Recuva

Rice. 9. Result of searching files via Recuva

Pandora Recovery 2.1.1

Developer: Pandora Corp.

Distribution size: 3.11 MB

Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista

Distribution method: freeware (http://www.pandorarecovery.com/download/)

Price: for free

Pandora Recovery is a simple utility for recovering files in a variety of formats: photos, music, videos, documents, etc. The program supports FAT16/32, NTFS, NTFS5 and NTFS/EFS file systems and allows you to recover data from local, network drives and flash drives. It is possible to recover accidentally deleted files, as well as lost ones (if the MFT record was repeatedly overwritten by the OS, the disk is formatted, the file allocation table is damaged or is missing). In addition to the free standard edition of the utility, there is a commercial portable edition of Pandora Mobile Recovery, distributed on 1 GB flash drives ($19.95 per disc). It does not require installation and can be launched directly from a USB drive.

File recovery, as a rule, is carried out under the guidance of a step-by-step wizard, and this process does not cause any difficulties, especially since the wizard starts automatically when the program is loaded. To start the search, you need to specify the disk and select the file search method (Fig. 10) - there are three options here: search for all deleted files, search for deleted files taking into account the file name, its size and date of creation/modification, or a full scan of the disk (Deep scan ). The latter option is used to search for data on disks with a corrupted file allocation table, recently formatted disks, etc. Unfortunately, with such a search, file names and paths are not restored, only certain types of files are detected (images of the most common formats, MS Office documents, MP3 files, PDF documents and ZIP archives), and the scanning itself takes much longer . Additionally, this method only works on unfragmented files. Found deleted and lost files are marked with red crosses, while the names of files with partially or completely overwritten clusters are displayed in red, the names of encrypted (EFS) files in green, and compressed files in blue (Fig. 11). In addition, the program provides an assessment of the success of recovery of detected data in the form of a percentage of overwrites: the higher the percentage, the less chance of successful recovery. Before recovery, you can view images of popular formats and text files.

Rice. 10. Run disk analysis in Pandora Recovery

Rice. 11. Result of searching files through Pandora Recovery

Testing utilities

It was very interesting to try in practice to evaluate various programs for recovering lost data in terms of scanning speed and the effectiveness of their identification of deleted and lost files, which is what we tried to do. To do this, all the utilities in question were installed on one of the hard drive partitions, and a 3.7 GB flash drive was allocated for the experiment. This flash drive was among the working ones, and therefore contained certain information - in particular, a lot of software distributions, drivers, etc. In one of the driver folders there was a Chipset folder, which included six subfolders with numerous subfolders and 914 files with a total volume of 176 MB. It was this folder that was selected as one of the test folders (of course, the contents of the folder for further analysis and comparison were copied to the hard drive in advance).

After that, the flash drive was formatted in the FAT32 file system using the built-in Windows tools so that nothing was left on it. Then the Delete_files folder, previously prepared on the hard drive, was copied to the flash drive, including 50 files with a total volume of 66.8 MB. The files were in a variety of formats, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, PDF files, ZIP, RAR and 7z archives, images (JPEG, TIFF, RAW, etc.), applications, music (MP3, WAV, MID) , ISO images, SWF files, AVI videos, etc. Then all files from the Delete_files folder were deleted, bypassing the trash (Shift + Del). After that, we conducted the first experiment on information recovery using each of the software solutions. The results are presented in the table.

At the next stage, in order to complicate the task, five new files with a total volume of 78.4 MB were written to the root directory of the flash drive. Obviously, the last operation should have significantly worsened the recovery results (compare the volumes of deleted and newly written files - 66.8 and 78.4 MB), since there is a high probability that a considerable part of the clusters in which the deleted files were originally located ended up partially overwritten when copied with other data. Then we subjected the experimental drive to analysis by each of the utilities discussed in the article to search for accidentally deleted files (the Delete_files folder), and then, to the extent possible, we tried to recover the deleted files. Finally, we conducted an experiment to identify lost files and folders (Chipset folder).

Based on the testing results, it is clear that any of the utilities discussed can be successfully used to recover newly deleted data. And it is equally obvious that the result of restoring such files after writing new information to disk with an impressive volume (that is, when some sectors were overwritten) is disappointing. All this only confirms the most important recovery rule: do not write anything to the media and generally stop any work with it immediately after an emergency.

As for recovering files and folders lost after formatting, the results are mixed. The MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free Edition and Handy Recovery programs coped with the task best, but using Recuva utilities for these purposes, and even more so Pandora Recovery, turned out to be problematic due to the lack of folder structure and file names in their scanning reports. In addition, in Pandora Recovery the situation is further aggravated by the fact that the list of formats supported during Deep scanning is quite limited. Although you shouldn’t discount these programs anyway - these are some of the best free software products in their class, which are very easy to use and do an excellent job of restoring “freshly deleted” files.

Conclusion

Gone are the days when you always had to turn to professionals to recover lost files and this undertaking cost a very large sum. Today, there are many fairly easy-to-use utilities on the market that allow you to return files that were accidentally deleted or lost as a result of a computer failure, virus attack, or other computer disaster. Some solutions are offered at affordable prices for home users or are free for non-commercial use. Therefore, in simple situations when it comes to accidental deletion or loss of files, for example, as a result of quick formatting, it makes sense to restore the data yourself. But if the cause of file loss is damage to the hard drive at a mechanical or electronic level, then you should not experiment - it is better to entrust the data recovery operation to professionals.

When restoring on your own, you should act wisely and take care in advance that such a cataclysm does not take you by surprise. In other words, you should keep at hand (that is, on the disk in installed form) a couple of suitable utilities and, if possible, resort to data recovery as soon as possible in compliance with all mandatory rules (exclude the possibility of writing other data to the storage medium, save recovered files to another carrier, etc.). In addition, if you fail with one utility, be sure to give another a chance - their media scanning algorithms differ, so it is possible that the second utility will be more successful. And finally, do not forget that not a single solution, even the most expensive and powerful one, guarantees absolute success, and therefore no one has canceled the backup of valuable data.

Recovering files from a hard drive is an issue that worries many personal computer owners.

This includes the loss of valuable information and the time required for its successful recovery.

Specialized services charge a lot of money for this, but if the media is in good condition, it makes sense to try to recover the data yourself.

Reasons for losing information

If the storage medium is undamaged, the main reason may be:

• errors that occurred in the partition table or file system devices. Most often this happens due to incorrect shutdown of the personal computer, failures, malfunctions in hardware and software;
• the harmful effects of viruses, as well as user errors, often lead to the loss or corruption of data. With such failures, the information usually remains on the disk, but data about its location is lost. This is expressed in the loss of several disk partitions, displaying the partition as unformatted;
• Inaccurate file system entries can also lead to partial or complete loss of individual files and directories.

The main causes of malfunctions that lead to loss of information

Or maybe files, important data were accidentally deleted or the partition in which they were located was formatted. Information recovery is carried out using certain software in manual or automatic mode.

When using the appropriate programs, all information that exists on the media is scanned. Based on the detected information, a “map” of fragments of recovered data is created. It contains information: which file belongs to which sector, names, sizes and other parameters of the elements of the system being scanned. The selected data is then transferred to another drive.

What to do if data is lost?

If nothing was written to the sectors from which information was deleted, then the data was not physically destroyed, but information about its location was distorted or lost. First of all, it is necessary to determine exactly where the sectors that store the necessary information are located, and also to reproduce it in the correct sequence.

If information was written to the disk from which the files were deleted, for example, formatting and installation of a new operating system, there is a high probability of physical destruction of the data. In these cases, the feasibility of successful information recovery depends on the ratio of lost and recorded data. For example, if you delete 2 gigabytes of databases and write 100 gigabytes of music and movies in their place, the probability of successful recovery approaches zero.

Data recovery mechanism using programs

• media scanning;
• Based on the scanning results, a map of the location of pieces of information is compiled, based on the detected service records, and a directory tree is built;
• the map contains data about which file belongs to which cluster, the name, size and other parameters of the file system elements;
• if the information received is not enough, then certain extrapolation methods are used;
• folders and files that need to be restored are selected in accordance with the compiled map and transferred to another medium.

This article will review a variety of programs, both paid and free, and analyze their strengths and weaknesses so that the reader can quickly choose the most suitable software for his request.

5 Best Data Recovery Software

Recuva

Recuva is one of the most common programs for recovering lost data or formatted disks. The high demand for this program can be explained by its simple and intuitive interface. Recuva does not require experience or special knowledge in the field of data recovery, it is very convenient and easy to use. You can download it from here

The program scans the selected hard drive in detail (various hard drives and flash drives are supported). Information can be recovered even if the drive has suffered any physical damage or was formatted using a standard system command.

It is recommended to perform recovery using the program without changing the standard settings, unless, of course, you are an expert in the field of data recovery. This utility has a simple interface and will provide effective information recovery, even if the user does not have the necessary knowledge.

The program will prompt you to select the type of file to be restored. When searching for a specific file (music, picture, document), it is worth specifying the category to save time necessary for the recovery operation. But, if you do not know the file type or want to find data from different categories, specify “Other” and the program will search for all deleted information.

Choosing WHAT to look for

Next, you need to select the location where the file was located before deletion. You can select not only a separate folder, but also more extensive areas, for example: “My Documents” or “On a memory card”, and the program will check the selected area for the presence of the necessary data. If the exact location is unknown (the file was deleted using special programs or simply disappeared), you should leave “Exactly unknown” by default so that the utility scans the entire surface of the media.

We choose WHERE we will look

A window appears when you are ready to perform the restore operation. It is recommended to conduct an in-depth analysis: it takes longer, but its efficiency will be many times higher.

It is worth waiting a while while the program searches for files. If you did not choose in-depth analysis, the operation will take very little time.

Selecting information to restore

A window will open indicating the deleted data found. From this list, you should select the information that needs to be restored, after which the program will prompt you to select a folder for recovery.

It is important to correctly select the folder where our files will be restored, because this will affect the efficiency of their recovery. Restoration should be carried out to a drive other than the one from which the recovery is being carried out. This is especially true when returning a large number of files. You can connect an additional hard drive or flash drive to return data to them. The space should be slightly larger than the size of the files being restored.

The recovery procedure will not take much time and depends on the number and size of files.

R-Studio

R-Studio is a convenient and functional program for recovering information from various drives that was deleted by mistake. With its help, you can scan various media and recover lost data not only from hard drives, but also from flash drives. You can download the utility from the website http://www.r-studio.com/ru/Data_Recovery_Download

Initially, you should decide on the choice of version: demo or full. If you do not perform data recovery on a regular basis, it is better to choose the demo version. A 20-day period is more than enough to restore all information.

If you are not a pro, it is better to use the demo version

In addition to recovery, the utility can also perform a preliminary scan. This operation will speed up and increase the efficiency of the recovery procedure. It is worth noting that you can scan the device with third-party programs, and upload a file with a report on the work done to R-Studio. The utility always conducts a detailed scan by sector. This may take some time, depending on the size of the partition being scanned.

We scan the selected partition

After the scan is completed, it will be possible to view all the files that it was able to detect and then select those that can be recovered. In order to restore a file, you need to right-click on it and select the “Restore” command.

R-Studio is convenient and multifunctional

If you don’t know exactly what was deleted from the device, and you are going to recover all lost files, in this case, right-click on the desired media and select “Recover all files.”

At the end, simply select the partition where to restore

At the end, you will need to select a folder where the seized information will be restored. Important! It is imperative to take into account that the folder should not be located on the hard drive from which the information will be returned, because during the recovery of some files, others may be completely overwritten by them.

After selecting a folder, you need to wait while the program diagnoses the drive and restores lost information.

Easy Recovery

Easy Recovery can safely be called a high-quality program for professionals, which can be mastered by an ordinary user. It has gained popularity due to its excellent efficiency and, at the same time, ease of use in comparison with similar utilities. The advantage of this program is that it can also perform preliminary diagnostics of the media. Download the program

Click on “Disc Diagnostic” and select the required command. If the utility was downloaded in order to recover data, then we conduct a deep scan “SmartTests”. In addition to scanning, the program will perform diagnostics and determine whether the hard drive has problems, for example, unreadable sectors or any others, in order to prevent troubles.

Diagnostic menu

After selecting the command, the type and number of media that are currently running on the device are determined. We choose which one we will work with and where to restore the information.

For the most accurate and complete diagnostics, select “Run extended SMART test”. First of all, you should be patient: the verification will take a lot of time.

Be patient and choose scanning

To restore files, go to the “Data Recovery” section and select the mode that is interesting to us. In this program, modes are selected depending on the specific situation.

For example, if you accidentally formatted your hard drive, select the “Format Recovery” category. Next, select the file system of the drive and the partition that was formatted.

If there is a need to recover deleted files, then select the “Deleted Recovery” function - the disk selection menu opens and the formats of the recovered files are determined.

Recovering lost files

If the data is lost as a result of a software failure or the reason for the loss is unknown, select the “Advanced Recovery” option. After scanning, the program will find information that was deleted within a certain period of time.

We choose what we need to restore. Typically, the diagnostic and recovery procedure does not take much time. This will depend on the amount of data that needs to be returned.

PhotoRescue Pro

PhotoRescue Pro is a utility that will help you recover deleted photos or videos. Today's digital devices provide ample opportunities for recording, dubbing and optimizing media files. If you accidentally deleted the necessary files from a digital gadget, this utility will solve this problem.

With this program you can recover data from any type of flash drive, hard drive or mobile phone. It is possible to recover data even from damaged and formatted media.

Working with PhotoRescue Pro is very convenient and accessible. You can download it from here. The program supports many languages, including Russian. After selecting the language, a window appears in which we click the “Next” button and the registration window appears. If you just want to recover a few photos, there is no point in registering the program, but if you constantly work with your camera and this problem occurs to you quite often, it is worth purchasing the full version.

First, we select the drive from which we will return information. The utility works with several file systems at once, which is very beneficial. Click “Next”.

Analyzing the content

After selecting the drive we need, click “Next”, wait a couple of seconds - the utility will check the partition we have selected. A list of folders is displayed; we need to select the one that interests us. If the location of the file is unknown, click on the checkmark at the very top to highlight all the data found. "Next"

Select the desired folder

We select the formats of the files that interest us. To avoid mistakes, it is better not to uncheck individual formats so that the utility can find as much information as possible. Next, select the required files. Click “Next”.

Select the desired folder

Once you have completed selecting formats, the scanning operation will begin. The verification time will depend on the volume of data and will take from a few minutes to a couple of hours.

Scan duration depends on data size

The advantage of the program over analogues is that it simultaneously checks the drive for the presence of unreadable sectors. Thanks to this, you can not only restore lost information, but also carry out diagnostics and troubleshooting.

All that remains is to restore the data

After scanning is completed, a list of files opens. It is possible to search for files by categories (video, photo, audio) and formats, and not by sections and various folders.

The program shows how much data was found and what was deleted. Thanks to this, you will quickly find out which files were found and which were irretrievably lost.

GetDataBack

GetDataBack is one of the most effective and most powerful. With its help, you can recover data in almost any situation. The developer divided the program into two subtypes: the first for the NTFS file system, and the second for FAT. Download it from here: https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm

We recover all deleted files for effective results

This utility must be installed on a foreign hard drive. You cannot restore to the media from which files will be restored, since the necessary information will be overwritten.

After opening the program, a menu of four items appears. For maximum efficiency, it is recommended to select the fourth option – “I want to recover deleted files” (I want to recover deleted data).

Select the required section

In the list of local drives that opens, which the utility will find while scanning the hard drive, you need to find the partition where the deleted files were located. The program provides many possibilities in the field of data recovery, but if you just want to return information from the drive and do not know where it was, you should select the “Physical drives” category.

A file system window opens and you need to select the one that is supported by this version of the program (in our case, NTFS). Modern computers use different file systems simultaneously, so check the box next to “Show recommended”.

Select the file system we are interested in

After a detailed scan, the utility will open a folder explorer, simple and easy to understand. The contents of the selected folder will be displayed on the right; if the information was deleted, after recovery GetDataBack will show the files in strikethrough font for ease of classification. Each file is equipped with a special marking, which can be used to determine the type of information found.

Data recovery is easy and convenient

As a result, we select the data we need and start the recovery. Once finished, the recovered file will be available in the editor

Restoring files using this program in the FAT file system is carried out in the same way.

Conclusion

This article discussed, in my opinion, the most popular and effective programs for recovering deleted data from a hard drive and various media. For beginners, the popular Recuva with a simple interface is suitable; if you lose media files, you should choose PhotoRescue Pro, it can recover data from almost any modern gadget; for constant work with returning information, GetDataBack is ideal - it has powerful functionality, is efficient and at the same time has an ergonomic main menu.

If for some reason you were unable to recover your data, but the information is valuable, it makes sense to contact specialists. They have more powerful software and can help where these utilities are powerless.

Hello.

Not long ago I had to recover several photos from a flash drive that was accidentally formatted. This is not an easy matter, and while we were able to recover most of the files, we had to get acquainted with almost all popular programs for data recovery.

In this article I would like to provide a list of these programs (by the way, all of them can be classified as universal, since they can recover files both from hard drives and from other media, for example, from an SD memory card or flash drive USB).

The result was a rather small list of 22 programs ( further in the article, all programs are sorted alphabetically).

Website: http://7datarecovery.com/

OS: Windows: XP, 2003, 7, Vista, 8

Description:

Firstly, this utility immediately pleases you with the presence of the Russian language. Secondly, it is quite multifunctional; after launch, it offers you 5 recovery options:

Recovering files from damaged and formatted hard drive partitions;

Recovering accidentally deleted files;

Recovering files deleted from flash drives and memory cards;

Recovering disk partitions (when the MBR is damaged, the disk is formatted, etc.);

Recover files from Android phones and tablets.

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.file-recovery.net/

OS: Windows: Vista, 7, 8

Description:

A program for recovering accidentally deleted data or data from damaged disks. Supports working with multiple file systems: FAT (12, 16, 32), NTFS (5, + EFS).

In addition, it can work directly with a hard drive when its logical structure is damaged. In addition, the program supports:

All types of hard drives: IDE, ATA, SCSI;

Memory cards: SunDisk, MemoryStick, CompactFlash;

USB devices (flash drives, external hard drives).

Screenshot:

3. Active Partition Recovery

OS: Windows 7, 8

Description:

One of the important features of this program is that it can be run under both DOS and Windows. This is possible due to the fact that it can be written to a bootable CD (or flash drive).

This utility is usually used to recover entire hard drive partitions, rather than individual files. By the way, the program allows you to make an archive (copy) of MBR tables and hard disk sectors ( boot data).

Screenshot:

4. Active UNDELETE

Website: http://www.active-undelete.com/

OS: Windows 7/2000/2003/2008/XP

Description:

Let me tell you that this is one of the most versatile data recovery programs. The main thing is that it supports:

1. all the most popular file systems: NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, NTFS5, NTFS+EFS;

2. works in all Windows OS;

3. Supports a large number of media: SD, CF, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, ZIP, USB flash drives, external USB hard drives, etc.

Interesting features of the full version:

Support for hard drives larger than 500 GB;

Support for hardware and software RAID arrays;

Creating emergency boot disks (about emergency disks);

The ability to search for deleted files using a variety of attributes (especially important when there are a lot of files, the hard drive is capacious, and you definitely don’t remember the file name or its extension).

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.aidfile.com/

OS: Windows 2000/2003/2008/2012, XP, 7, 8 (32-bit and 64-bit)

Description:

At first glance, it is not a very big utility, and also without the Russian language (but this is only at first glance). This program is capable of recovering data in a variety of situations: software error, accidental formatting, deletion, virus attacks, etc.

By the way, as the developers themselves state, the percentage of file recovery with this utility is higher than many of its competitors. Therefore, if other programs cannot restore your lost data, it makes sense to take the risk of checking the disk with this utility.

Some interesting features:

1. Recovers Word, Excel, Power Pont, etc. files.

2. Can restore files when reinstalling Windows OS;

3. A fairly “strong” option for restoring various photographs and pictures (and on different types of media).

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.byclouder.com/

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8 (x86, x64)

Description:

What pleases us about this program is its simplicity. After launch, it immediately (and on the great and mighty one) prompts you to scan the disks...

The utility is capable of searching for a wide variety of file types: archives, audio and video, documents. You can scan different types of media (albeit with varying degrees of success): CDs, flash drives, hard drives, etc. It’s quite easy to learn.

Screenshot:

7. Disk Digger

Website: http://diskdigger.org/

OS: Windows 7, Vista, XP

Description:

A fairly simple and convenient program (does not require installation, by the way), which will help you easily and quickly recover deleted files: music, movies, pictures, photos, documents. The media can be different: from a hard drive to flash drives and memory cards.

Supported file systems: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS.

To summarize: a utility with fairly average capabilities will help mainly in the “simplest” cases.

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/free-data-recovery-software.htm

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8/Windows Server 2012/2008/2003 (x86, x64)

Description:

Excellent file recovery program! It will help in a variety of troubles: accidental deletion of files, unsuccessful formatting, partition damage, power failure, etc.

It is possible to recover even encrypted and compressed data! The utility supports all the most popular file systems: VFAT, FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS/NTFS5 EXT2, EXT3.

Sees and allows you to scan a wide variety of media: IDE/ATA, SATA, SCSI, USB, external hard drives, Fire wire (IEEE1394), flash drives, digital cameras, floppy disks, audio players and many other devices.

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.krollontrack.com/data-recovery/recovery-software/

OS: Windows 95/98 Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista/7

Description:

One of the best programs for data recovery, which will help in case of a simple error during deletion, and in cases when you no longer have to rely on other utilities.

Separately, it is worth saying that the program allows you to successfully find 255 different types of files (audio, video, documents, archives, etc.), supports FAT and NTFS systems, hard drives (IDE/ATA/EIDE, SCSI), floppy disks (Zip and Jazz).

Among other things, EasyRecovery has a built-in function that will help you check and evaluate the condition of the disk (by the way, in one of the articles we previously discussed the issue).

The EasyRecovery utility helps to recover data in the following cases:

Accidental deletion (for example, when using the Shift button);
- Viral infection;
- Damage due to power outages;
- Problems creating partitions when installing Windows;
- Damage to the file system structure;
- Formatting the media or using the FDISK program.

Screenshot:

10. GetData Recovery My Files Professional

Website: http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7

Description:

Recover My Files is a pretty good program for recovering various types of data: graphics, documents, music and video archives.

In addition, it supports all the most popular file systems: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and NTFS5.

Some features:

Supports more than 300 data types;

Can recover files from HDD, flash cards, USB devices, floppy disks;

A special function for recovering Zip archives, PDF files, autoCad drawings (if your file fits this type, I definitely recommend trying this program).

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.handyrecovery.ru/

OS: Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7

Description:

A fairly simple program, with a Russian interface, designed to recover deleted files. Can be used in a variety of cases: virus attack, software failures, accidental deletion of files from the recycle bin, formatting a hard drive, etc.

After scanning and analysis, Handy Recovery will give you the opportunity to view the disk (or other media, for example, a memory card) just like in a regular Explorer, only along with “normal files” you will see files that have been deleted.

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.icare-recovery.com/

OS: Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000 pro, Server 2008, 2003, 2000

Description:

A very powerful program for recovering deleted and formatted files from various types of media: USB flash cards, SD memory cards, hard drives. The utility can help recover a file from an unreadable disk partition (Raw) if the MBR boot record is damaged.

Unfortunately, there is no support for the Russian language. After launch, you will have the opportunity to choose from 4 masters:

1. Partition Recovery - a wizard that will help you recover deleted hard drive partitions;

2. Deleted File Recovery - this wizard is used to recover deleted file(s);

3. Deep Scan Recovery - scanning the disk for existing files and files that can be recovered;

4. Format Recovery is a wizard that will help you recover files after formatting.

Screenshot:

13. MiniTool Power Data

Website: http://www.powerdatarecovery.com/

OS: Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8

Description:

Quite a good file recovery program. Supports several types of media: SD, Smartmedia, Compact Flash, Memory Stick, HDD. It is used in a variety of cases of information loss: be it a virus attack or erroneous formatting.

The good news is that the program has a Russian interface and you can easily figure everything out. After launching the utility, you are offered several wizards to choose from:

1. Recovering files after accidental deletion;

2. Restoring damaged hard drive partitions, for example, an unreadable Raw partition;

3. Recovering lost partitions (when you don’t see that there are partitions on your hard drive at all);

4. Recovery of CD/DVD discs. By the way, it’s a very useful thing, because... Not every program has this option.

Screenshot:

14. O&O Disk Recovery

Website: http://www.oo-software.com/

OS: Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP

Description:

O&O DiskRecovery is a very powerful utility for recovering information from many types of media. Most deleted files (if you did not write other information to disk) can be recovered using the utility. Data can be reconstructed even if the hard drive has been formatted!

The program is very easy to use (besides, there is a Russian language). After launch, the utility will prompt you to select the media to scan. The interface is designed in such a style that even an unprepared user will feel quite confident; the wizard will guide him step by step and help recover lost information.

Screenshot:

Website: http://rlab.ru/tools/rsaver.html

OS: Windows 2000/ 2003/XP/ Vista/Windows 7

Description:

Firstly, this is a free program (considering that there are too many free programs for data recovery, this is a compelling argument).

Secondly, full support for the Russian language.

Thirdly, it shows very good results. The program supports FAT and NTFS file systems. Can recover documents after formatting or accidental deletion. The interface is designed in a minimalist style. Scanning is started with just one button (the program will select the algorithms and settings independently).

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.piriform.com/recuva

OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8

Description:

A very simple program (and also free), designed for an untrained user. Using it, step by step, you can recover many types of files from various media.

Recuva scans the disk (or flash drive) quite quickly, and then displays a list of files that can be recovered. By the way, files are marked with markers (well-readable, which means it’s easy to recover; medium-readable - the chances are small, but there are; poorly readable - there’s little chance, but you can try).

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.reneelab.com/

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8

Description:

A very simple program for data recovery. Mainly intended for the recovery of photographs, pictures, and some types of documents. At least, it shows itself better than many other programs of this kind.

This utility also has one interesting feature - creating a disk image. It can be very useful, backup has not been canceled yet!

Screenshot:

18. Restorer Ultimate Pro Network

Website: http://www.restorer-ultimate.com/

OS: Windows: 2000/XP/ 2003/Vista/2008/ 7/8

Description:

This program dates back to the 2000s. At that time, the Restorer 2000 utility was popular, and by the way, it was not bad at all. It was replaced by the Restorer Ultimate program. In my humble opinion, the program is one of the best for recovering lost information (plus Russian language support).

The professional version of the program supports recovery and reconstruction of RAID data (regardless of the complexity level); It is possible to restore partitions that the system marks as Raw (unreadable).

By the way, using this program you can connect to the desktop of another computer and try to restore files on it!

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.r-tt.com/

OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7/8

Description:

R-Studio is probably the most famous program for recovering deleted information from disk/flash drives/memory cards and other media. The program works simply amazing; it is possible to recover even those files that I did not “dream of” before launching the program.

Possibilities:

1. Supports all Windows operating systems (except: Macintosh, Linux and UNIX);

2. It is possible to restore data via the Internet;

3. Support for just a huge number of file systems: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5 (created or modified in Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/Win7), HFS/HFS (Macintosh), Little and Big Endian variants of UFS1/UFS2 (FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD/Solaris) and Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 FS (Linux);

4. Possibility of restoring RAID disk arrays;

5. Creating disk images. Such an image, by the way, can be compressed and written to a flash drive or other hard drive.

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.ufsexplorer.com/download_pro.php

OS: Windows XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8 (full support for 32 and 64-bit OS).

Description:

A professional program designed for data recovery. Includes a huge set of wizards that will help in most cases:

Undelete - search and restore deleted files;

Raw recovery - search for lost hard drive partitions;

Restoring RAID arrays;

Functions for recovering files during a virus attack, formatting, repartitioning the hard drive, etc.

Screenshot:

Website: http://www.wondershare.com/

OS: Windows 8, 7

Description:

Wondershare Data Recovery is a very powerful program that will help you recover deleted, formatted files from your computer, external hard drive, mobile phone, camera, and other devices.

It’s nice to have the Russian language and handy instructors who will guide you step by step. After starting the program, you are given 4 wizards to choose from:

1. File recovery;

2. Raw recovery;

3. Recovering hard drive partitions;

4. Resumption.

See screenshot below.

Screenshot:

22. Zero Assumption Recovery

Website: http://www.z-a-recovery.com/

OS: Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7

Description:

This program differs from many others in that it supports long Russian file names. This is very convenient when restoring (in other programs you will see “kryakozabry” instead of Russian characters, as in this one).

The program supports file systems: FAT16/32 and NTFS (including NTFS5). Also noteworthy is support for long file names, support for multiple languages, and the ability to restore RAID arrays.

Very interesting digital photo search mode. If you are restoring graphic files, be sure to try this program, its algorithms are simply amazing!

The program can work in case of virus attacks, incorrect formatting, erroneous deletion of files, etc. Recommended to have on hand for those who rarely (or don't) back up files.

Screenshot:

That's all. In one of the following articles I will supplement the article with the results of practical tests, which programs were able to recover information. Have a great weekend and don't forget to back up so you don't have to restore anything...

Many times you have faced the problem of losing valuable data on your computer or portable device. This can happen due to accidental deletion, virus infection, formatting, volume resizing, and many other reasons.

At the time, you probably regretted, “If only I had backed up all those important files that I really need.” Well, now there is no point in thinking about missed opportunities. We need a quick solution to the problem. You will need data recovery software.

Below we'll look at how to recover files not only from hard drives, but also USB drives, laptops and other devices such as music players and mobile phones, using a couple of simple utilities.

When files are deleted and you are going to recover them, do not do anything to the hard drive or other device from which you want to retrieve the data.

• information on hard drives (solid drives) is in a magnetic and non-volatile state, which means that no power is required to store it;
• each magnet has a plus (+) and minus (-) pole, which is equal to two values ​​and thus represents a binary code;
• The storage unit on the hard drive contains a ferromagnetic surface, which is divided into small areas called magnetic domains;
• HDDs store data in the direction of magnetization of magnetic domains. Each magnetic domain can be magnetized in one direction and represents one of two values: 0 or 1.

There are two technologies for recording data to a hard drive.

1. Until 2005, the recording layer was oriented parallel to the surface of the disk (horizontally), which means that the binary code was represented by directional left and right magnetization (longitudinal recording).
2. Around 2005, new technology was introduced and data began to be recorded by magnetizing segments vertically, that is, up and down (perpendicular recording).

This made it possible to expand the distance between the magnetic domains and increase the storage capacity.

What happens when information is deleted

When computer systems delete files, they don't erase them, they simply make room for new ones. Let's imagine that your hard drive is a block of apartments. Deleted files are not evicted, but their apartments can be occupied by others.

This means that you have a chance to return the files, but you need to do this as quickly as possible. Use your computer to a minimum, thereby minimizing the likelihood that any other files will take the place of old ones. This most widely applies to old-school hard drives with moving parts. On solid state drives (SSDs), things are a little more complicated - you can get the data back, but not all of it.

Before you do anything else, check the Recycle Bin (Windows) for files. Then restore them by right-clicking.

If the files are nowhere to be seen, check other places where they may have been copied, such as an online photo library. You can recover files without much difficulty using Microsoft OneDrive and Apple iCloud if you use these built-in services.

And by the way, we recommend setting up the above or similar services like Dropbox or Google Drive, as they will automatically back up your most important files online. If you lose your laptop or something happens to your home, you can recover your files using the web interface of these platforms.

Recovering files using Recuva

Let's try using the portable version of Recuva, a simple file recovery program. Run it from a CD or USB drive.

Note! Please note that the physical hard drive or must be different from the location where we are restoring the data.

Additional options and checking file integrity using Md5 checksums

Recuva also has advanced options.

Option I. One option is that we can enable deep scanning when checking deleted files.

Option II. The second is the advanced mode, which you can switch to when displaying a list of files. Here you will see some of them, such as images as shown in the screenshot below.

Verify file integrity using Md5 checksums. To do this, you must have md5 checksums of the source files. For testing purposes, copies of the original files were saved to a folder on the hard drive before copying, and then deleted from the USB drive.

When the recovered file is an exact copy of the original, the Md5 checksums match (good)

Other utilities

Apart from Recuva there is other software like PC Inspector.

It also supports data recovery from formatted hard drives (where a quick format has been performed). PC Inspector allows you to recover data from disks with a damaged partition table or deleted partitions.

Other file recovery software is Pandora. Well proven DMDE And EaseUS Data Recovery. Users with macOS installed can try Disk Drill or MiniTool Mac Data Recovery.

Advice! In fact, it's a good idea to run the scan on multiple programs if possible, since they all use different recovery methods.

The bad news is that none of these utilities, even premium or paid ones, can guarantee the recovery of all deleted files. There are too many variables in this matter.

Video - How to recover deleted files from your hard drive

Losing data from a hard drive is, unfortunately, a common occurrence. If this happened due to its malfunction, then to restore data you need to contact service centers that are engaged in retrieving data from damaged storage media.

However, if the hard drive is working properly, then in most cases you can recover deleted data yourself using specialized software, which will be discussed below.

Reasons for lost files

The reasons for losing data from a hard drive can be different. They are divided into two categories: mechanical and software.

Mechanical reasons include:

• blows;
• shaking;
• overheat;
• failure of the hard drive controller.

Photo: recovering information from hard drives

The second reason includes software glitches and user errors:

1. computer viruses;
2. sudden power outage;
3. errors;
4. formatting;
5. accidental deletion.

Deleted files disappear completely

If data was lost due to errors, formatting or accidental deletion, it can be completely restored. For example, when formatting, the data itself is not deleted; only the header is erased, which contains information about its location on the hard drive.

The same applies to accidental deletion. The operating system marks the sectors that store data as write-ready and displays them as free space. At the same time, the files themselves remain on the HDD up to their sectors with new information.

In some cases, even in the event of mechanical damage, for example, due to shock, it is possible to recover data from the hard drive, but this is only done by service centers.

Video: Data Recovery

What to do if important information is deleted

The most important thing is not to panic. The likelihood of recovering a newly deleted file is very high. In this case, users have a completely reasonable question: how to recover data? Special programs will come to the rescue that will scan specified areas of the hard drive and help perform recovery even after a full format.

To reduce the risk of complete loss of information, you should adhere to the following tips:

Overview and operating principles of utilities

Recovery utilities provide the user with various tools that, when used in a timely manner, give almost 100% results.

In their work they use the following recovery methods:

• reconstruction of the file system (FS) structure. Used in case of quick formatting or deleting a logical volume. In this case, the directory structure is not disrupted, which makes it possible to restore entire directories and subdirectories while preserving the paths.
• file recovery. This method involves reading FS service records from which the software determines the location and attributes. This method works if there has been no data replacement.
• ability to restore information using signatures. Performed by sector-by-sector scanning for the presence of known signatures. In this case, their paths and names are not saved, and the result is sorted by their type. The method is used if the FS is damaged and its reconstruction is impossible.

Modern programs use all three methods. This approach ensures maximum and efficient results from the required software. The article presents the most popular and powerful programs. Many of them are free, but there are also paid versions.

PC Inspector File Recovery

A simple but powerful application that allows you to recover not only data, but also deleted partitions. Detects HDD even if there is no boot sector. Supports work with network media and FAT file system. PC Inspector File Recovery can be installed both in Windows OS and can create a boot floppy disk, which allows you to run it even in the absence of an OS or in case of damage to the FS.

PC Inspector File Recovery is free and supports the Russian language, but the quality does not always correspond to what is stated. In this case, developers offer to use paid services. Overall, the app is great for most users due to its ease of use.

Working with the program

The interface is convenient and most importantly simple. The work is performed step by step.

When starting, you will be asked to choose one of three operating options:

1. search for deleted files. Used for accidentally deleted information;
2. search for lost data. The option will help restore data in the event of a system failure or quick formatting;
3. searching for a lost volume. If the drive is inaccessible or has a missing drive letter, this option will fix the problem.

After selecting the mode, PC Inspector File Recovery will start scanning and display information about available volumes.

Then the desired section opens, where the user selects the search area, noting the start and end sectors of the scan. The application will find all the lost data in the specified range and display it in a window from where you can save it.

Similar actions are performed for the other two modes. Despite its simplicity, the utility effectively searches and saves deleted data.

Recovering data from a hard drive using the R-Studio utility

R-Studio is considered one of the best programs among its analogues. If the loss is not related to physical damage to the media, then in most cases R-Studio is highly likely to save the deleted data.

Initially it was intended for restoration specialists, but over time its capabilities expanded and R-Studio became available to ordinary users.

Photo: R-Studio Data Recovery program

Key features of the program include:

1. Supports all major file systems on Windows, Linux and Macintosh;
2. extraction from damaged, formatted and reformatted media;
3. the ability to view content of any type and assess the chances of successfully returning it;
4. processing of bad sectors;
5. presence of a hexadecimal editor;
6. A professional RAID reconstruction module that is comparable to specialized software packages.

R-Studio can be used on almost all operating systems of the Windows, Linux and Macintosh family. It is also possible to create bootable media.

The application has an intuitive interface. When launched, it displays available media (including removable media).

To start scanning, you need to select the volume from which you want to recover data and click the “Scan” button. After this, the search process will begin.

Easily able to recover lost data, even in the most difficult cases.

Recovers data that was lost as a result of:

• virus attacks;
• system failure;
• improper shutdown of the computer;
• FS damage;
• formatting (including full);
• errors when creating volumes.

There are cases when the operating system does not start due to the loss of system files, in this case you can create a boot floppy disk and save them.

Thanks to a powerful algorithm, Ontrack Easy Recovery is able to restore damaged ZIP archives, as well as text documents created in the MS Office software package. The unique Ontrack Data Advisor module can diagnose the general condition of disks and identify bad sectors.

Ontrack Easy Recovery interface

Perfect for anyone, from home users to specialists in service centers. A discreet but simple interface allows you to quickly understand the controls and get to work immediately.

In the main program window, you only need to select the media type and click the “Continue” button, then a window will appear with a list of partitions, in which the user selects the drive with which to work.

After this, access to the tools opens:

1. view logical volume;
2. return after formatting the partition and deleting it;
3. drive diagnostics;
4. disk tools.

The last paragraph includes the following operations with the partition:

• creating an image;
• deploying a volume from an image;
• copying;
• viewing;
• update.

Depending on how the files were deleted, the appropriate tool is selected and the scan of the marked area begins. Compared to other software packages, this process is quite fast. Upon completion, the viewing window will display the information found, which can be saved.

The program supports the Russian language, but is paid.

Bootable floppy disk with Windows Easy Recovery

Windows Easy Recovery will help save data in case the FS is damaged or the operating system is unable to start. It saves all data to a working HDD, partition or removable media. The application is loaded into RAM and runs from it. This is convenient if the media has a damaged file system.

Its interface is no different from any other software running in the Windows environment. Unless all names will be shortened to 8 characters. To create a floppy disk, you need to download a special installer and go to the “Make Emergency Boot Diskette” item.
Windows Easy Recovery is free, but unpopular, even though it works well.

Power Quest Lost & Found

An effective utility for recovering deleted data. Works only from bootable media. It differs in the need to have an additional storage device with you for saving (flash drive or second hard drive), since Power Quest Lost & Found does not save to the restored partition in order to avoid overwriting them.

The program installer serves only to create a boot floppy disk with the DOS operating system and the necessary tools for work. After this, the computer boots from the floppy disk, and Power Quest Lost & Found is ready to use. Its recovery reliability is very high. The application itself runs from the computer's RAM.

Recovery process

Power Quest Lost & Found works in a step-by-step mode; after launch, it immediately begins scanning the surface of the media for the presence of bad sectors, which you will be asked to skip. Upon completion of the scan, the user can select the partition to be restored and the media on which the data will be saved.

After the scan is completed, the utility will display a tree structure of all directories, and also indicate the likelihood of their recovery:

• green and yellow – high;
• red – low;
• gray – impossible.

To save, you need to select the necessary files, then click “Start Recovery”. Depending on their size and number, the process can take up to several hours.

Note: Since control is only carried out using the keyboard, you will need to become familiar with the required key combinations. To do this, call up the help menu using the F1 key.

Restorer 2000

Another interesting application that can be called an analogue of R-Studio, but with poorer functionality. Despite this, Restorer 2000 performs its assigned tasks efficiently. Works with FAT and NTFS file systems, and also supports the creation of backup images.

The interface is similar to the R-Studio shell. To start scanning, you need to select an object and press the scan button. The detected data will appear in the right window, where you can view its contents.

In general, Restorer 2000 fully copes with its tasks, but purchasing a paid version is not advisable, since there are analogues with more functions and tools.

GetDataBack

A powerful tool for recovering lost information. Distributed separately for NTFS and FAT file systems. The latter is suitable for removable media (memory cards, flash drives). Regardless of the type of deletion, GetDataBack will most likely return them completely intact, but only if no write operations were performed on the drive.

Its distinctive feature is the ability to recover both after a full format and from media with physical damage, however, here the developers do not provide a 100% guarantee, but the possibility itself is a huge advantage.

In addition, GetDataBack includes the following features:

• search for lost items based on service records;
• the ability to restore files using signatures;
• reconstruction of the FS;
• work via the network;
• flexibility of settings.

These features allow the program to occupy a leading position among both professionals and ordinary users.

Stages of work

Initially, the software package is supplied in German, but you can download the localization language separately. The interface is the same as its counterparts - step-by-step. The first step is to select a work scenario that will configure it for the appropriate mode.

There are several modes:

• I don't know and will use the software settings (default settings);
• quick scan (used when a volume is lost or accidentally deleted);
• loss of FS, for example, after formatting or markup;
• significant losses of FS, for example, after installing a new operating system;
• recovering deleted files.

After selecting the script, GetDataBack will open a window where you need to mark the disk or partition to be restored. After this, the application will start scanning and open a tree structure of files and directories in a new window. Viewing and saving are also performed there.

Overall, GetDataBack is very good and does the job well in most cases.

Acronis Recovery Expert - recovering data from a hard drive

Last on the list, but a well-known program, characterized by flexible functionality and high quality search for lost information. However, Acronis Recovery Expert's specialty is the reconstruction of partitions that were lost for one reason or another. If there are no accidentally deleted volumes on your computer, the program will not be able to scan.

The main features of the program include:

• the ability to recover disappeared partitions with any file system and any size;
• the ability to work from a boot disk or floppy disk;
• support for almost all types of hard drives with IDE and SCSI interfaces.

Principle of operation

Unlike other programs, Acronis Recovery Expert tries to recover the entire partition with all data, reading information about it from the MBR and MFT. However, despite the popularity of the program and the manufacturer, it has its pitfalls.

Acronis Recovery Expert works efficiently when the disk space is partially full. If most of the space was occupied, then there is a high probability that the utility will not only not recover, but will also corrupt the data, since it writes information to the same section, thereby increasing the risk of overwriting information.

Interface

A feature of all Acronis products is a clear and intuitive interface. The work can be done automatically or manually. The first one is suitable for beginners. Manual mode provides the user with information about the structure of volumes, as well as the ability to select a search location. After this, the process will begin, which may take several hours.

Recuva includes the following features:

• search for data deleted from the recycle bin, player or flash drive;
• support for all file types;
• support for almost all types of removable media;
• multilingual interface.

For “everyday” data recovery from a hard drive, recuva is ideal.

Losing important files is not a new phenomenon, so it is always recommended to make backup copies of them, as well as keep one, or better yet, several utilities on hand that will help you recover data even if the operating system crashes. It is important to remember that after losing files, you cannot write any information to the disk. The ideal option would be to launch using bootable media.

Here are some tips to help minimize the risk of data loss due to a software glitch:

1. Always keep the disc clean. Don't clutter it with useless data;
2. Clean up temporary files regularly;
3. Defragment and check for errors regularly;
4. There should always be at least 10-15% free space on the media.

Important! After the file is deleted, defragmentation and error checking are strictly prohibited! This may result in complete data loss and impossibility of recovery.