The best free data recovery tool: 1. We’ve all deleted files and folders by mistake, or formatted a drive, and subsequently realized that we wanted or needed some or all of the lost data. The good news is that, depending on your use of the hard drive after deletion, most or all of the data still might be there, potentially salvageable with the right data recovery tool. But which is the best free data recovery tool? This post will compare the performance a number of these tools in order to answer that question, for both FAT3. NTFS drives. After a head- to- head test, we were able to categorize these programs into 1st tier programs that you would want to use, and offer the best performance, 2nd tier programs that you might try if you need to, and 3rd tier programs which you shouldn’t bother with. This article last updated: Oct 3rd, 2. Note on this update: the results here and conclusions are different than those from the previous published version. However, we are confident that the additions and modifications make for a much better article and much better recommendations. The tools: including version tested. Wise Data Recovery (3. No-registration upload of files up to 250MB. Not available in some countries. LeaderTask Download Free Keygen Serial Key LeaderTask Cracked Software with Unlocked Tools is delightful software which intends to develop to aid the user in. Image Based Techniques for Crack Detection, Classification and Quantification in Asphalt Pavement: A Review. Astalavista search engine for computer security related material. Free File Undelete (1. Srs Audio Sandbox Windows 7 X64 Or X86 . Freerecover (2. 01.Data. Recovery (2.File Recovery (4.Free. Undelete (2. Glary Undelete (2. Pandora Recovery (2. Restoration (3. 2. Undelete 3. 60 (2. Recuva (1. 4. 3. 6. Note that we tested Recuva twice, at ‘normal’ and ‘deep scan’ modes. Recovery Toolbox File Undelete (1. ADRC Data Recovery Tools (1. Photo. Rec (6. 1. Excluded: Mini. Tool Power Data Recovery: (b/c free version arbitrarily caps data recovery size)EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition: (b/c free version arbitrarily caps data recovery size)Eassos Recovery Free: (b/c free version arbitrarily caps data recovery size)Undelete Plus (no longer free)Disk. Digger (no longer free)Click here to jump to the verdict section (and download links). The testing process: Two tests: (1) Whether the tools were able to (a) recognize a corrupt drive, and (b) salvage data from itand(2) A data recovery test where we deleted some files off of a FAT and NTFS partitions, and ran the programs one after the other to see the extent to which they could salvage them. We created 2 zero- formatted partitions on the same drive; each was about 2. FAT formatted and the other NTFS. We copied the same basket of files onto both. There were 3 folders at root and 2. The biggest files were a 1. AVI video file and the Libre. Office installer executable (2. The total size for all files/folders was 1. We then deleted these files and emptied the trash. Although real life data recovery is likely to be complicated by the subsequent writing of files onto the same partition, we did not do this, opting to make life a little bit easier for ourselves and the data recovery tools. Next, we ran all fourteen programs, pointed them to the now- blank partitions, and restored whatever files and folders that each program was able to restore onto a new, fresh partition. Exclusions: because we had so many good options to test, we excluded a handful of programs that capped the amount of data that can be restored in the free version. These are listed above. The metrics: how we evaluated the programs: We looked at FAT drives separately from NTFS, because restoring files from the latter seems to be a lot easier. The metrics we considered are listed below. The numbered metrics had the highest priority/were weighted highest in our evaluations. Ability to access and scan hard disks not recognized by Windows: we gave a program a huge boost in the rankings if it was able to do this, because let’s face it: this is what most users in distress are going to be looking for, and a program that isn’t able to do this isn’t worth wasting time with.% of data recovered: a pure percentage of total size. This would be very sensitive to large files failing to be recovered and less sensitive to a number of small files failing to recover.% of files recovered: i. Other metrics that were significantly less important than the three above: # of corrupt files: i. K image that for whatever reason was recovered at 2. GIGs. We saw both these examples in the data, but most of the data consisted of little files that we identified because they had the wrong file size.# of duplicate files: duplicates (i. Some programs produced a whole lot of dupes, while others didn’t. Preserving the directory structure: we noted whether the directory structure was preserved, or whether all the files were dumped in a single folder. Many programs did both, or preserved some directory structures but not others. We labelled these ‘mixed’ below. Scanning time: especially for FAT partitions, as NTFS seemed in general to be quite rapid in scanning. Is this test ‘scientific’? Yes: insofar as all the programs were tested under the same conditions. No: insofar as if you re- do the test we did, I cannot guarantee that you will get the same results depending on the nature of your data and hard drive. Although I think it would be highly likely that you would get the same results. In general, however, the programs we designate as ‘first tier’ are probably the best in their class. The results: We created 3 segments: 1st tier, 2nd tier, and 3rd tier programs. For FAT, there will only be 1st tier and 2nd tier categories, as a small subset of the programs recovered files from FAT hard drives, and many did not. First: the ability to read drives unreadable by Windows. We dusted off a long- corrupt hard drive to see which of the programs on our list would be able to (a) recognize it, and (b) scan and recover files from it. Here’s what we found (note: Windows was not able to read or access this drive at all, although the icon did appear in ‘My Computer’). Able to identify the drive (and) scan and recover files from it. Able to identify the drive; but NOT able to scan it. Not able to identify the drive at all / not responding. Photo. Rec. Recuva; Restoration; Data. Recovery; PC Inspector File Recovery; Free. Undelete; Pandora Recovery; ADRC Data Recovery Tools. Wise Data Recovery; Free File Undelete; Glary Undelete; Undelete 3. Freerecover; Recovery Toolbox Free File Undelete A caveat: one drive is hardly a representative sample, but we did not have access to more corrupt drives I’m afraid ? . If does seem that the programs that can at least identify the corrupt drive in our test should be the ones you try first. The result: only Photo. Rec was able to access and restore data from the drive. Second: FAT drives. Only six out of the fourteen programs were able to restorefiles on FAT. The programs fall into three tiers, but we will only present the first two tiers here. ADRC Data Recovery Tools as the worst performer would have been in the tier 3 category all by itself (1. Note that while other programs aside from the six mentioned STATED that they support and work with FAT drives, they didn’t in our test. FAT – 1st tier: Scan time secs. Data recovered MB% of data recovered. Files Correctly Recovered% Files Correctly Recovered# of dupe files created# of corrupt files created. Total size of corrupt files MBPreserve directory Structure. Recuva (Deep Scan)3. Mixed. 2. Photo. Rec. No Some notes on these: Both Photo. Rec and Recuva (Deep Scan mode) salvaged many image files that had different file hashes than the originals, even as they were useable without problems. For our purposes, we counted these as legitimate, correctly salvaged files. Both Photo. Rec and Recuva Deep Scan mode produced files that had new file names, which is a minor inconvenience compared to not having your files at all. Photo. Rec is unique in that it is the only program that has a command line style interface rather than a GUI. We did not factor this into our evaluations at all. Photo. Rec may be one of the few if not the only program to handle drives that are not recognized by Windows. FAT – 2nd tier: Scan time secs.Data recovered MB% of data recovered.Files Correctly Recovered% Files Correctly Recovered# of dupe files created# of corrupt files created.Total size of corrupt files MBPreserve directory Structure. Increase System Volume Windows 7 . Recuva (normal scan)1. No. 2. Wise Data Recovery. Mixed. 3. Restoration. Mixed What is remarkable about the 2nd tier program is that these programs restored almost exactly the same files. Restoration kept restoring the same files over and over until it displayed an ‘error writing to disk’ message, and as you can see it produced a lot of duplicate and corrupt files. Recuva in normal, rather than ‘deep scan’ mode belongs in this category. Third: NTFS drives.
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