Recover Deleted Files

It’s happened to us all once or twice… You delete a few files, empty your bin, then think “O crap, I needed those files”. Well the good new is there might be a chance to recover those selected files. All that really happens when you delete a file, picture, etc… is your operating system with remove any pointers to that data stored on your hard drive. This allows for your hard drive to overwrite this data again. If your hard drive is pretty big, or if you deleted the file not long ago, there is hope. There are programs made to go out to your hard drive and find data that had been deleted by your operating system. I recently tried out a few file recovery applications and thought I’d share for those who are in the situation described above.

Piriform’s Recuva

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Piriform’s Recuva was quick to download and was nice and easy to go on my way to recover the files I needed back. The scans were quick, even for all items. Within seconds it listed all the files that were deleted recently from my computer.

Within the list of files, it will also tell you where it was deleted from, the last modified date (When you deleted it), and the state of the file. Over all I was impressed by it’s ease of use and quick solution to the problem. For a person who just needs a quick application to try and recover a file or two, I would recommend this app for what you need.

PC Inspector

image (1)Next on the list is PC Inspector. Don’t let the interface fool you too much. This is still very much capable of recovering those list files as the app above. The interface however is for the slightly advanced user.

For someone who just needs a quick way to recover some files, I wouldn’t recommend this one for you.

Undelete Plus

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Undelete Plus was very similar to Recuva above. It quickly scanned the files I told it, describe its damage, and allow you to attempt to repair.

Again, for the user that needs to the quick file restored, this is another option for you.

Notes : For mac and linux, I would recommend CGO Scurity’s PhotoRec. It will handle most of what you need if you are not on a windows operating system.

Overall Winner : If  I had to pick just one above, it would be Recuva. The app comes from the respected software vendor who created the CCleaner appliction. It’s quick and accurate, and will get the job done.

Jacob Saylor

Software developer in Kentucky

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