There are basically two options when dealing with data loss. The first is to access data backups to recover files while the second relies on file recovery software to recover the data. What many users do not know is the fact that the operating system is not removing files completely from the hard drive if the user or a program deletes them. All that it does for performance sake is to overwrite the information where the file is located on the computer’s hard drive. That’s the reason why file recovery software is usually able to recover files on hard drives with an increased chance if the deletion did not happen to long ago (the only danger to those deleted files is that they are fully or partially overwritten by new data).
Recover My Files is an award winning file recovery software for the Windows operating system that is actually more than just another data recovery software. Let us look at the basics first.
Recover My Files starts with a wizard after installation that can be used to configure a file or drive recovery process. This wizard does not have to be used but it can streamline the process so that it becomes easier for inexperienced users.
Recover Files allows a user to recover
- individual files have been deleted and emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin;
- files have been deleted and bypassed the Windows Recycle Bin;
- files have been deleted by a virus, trojan or worm;
- a file of the same name has saved over another important file;
- files have been lost by some other unknown cause.
Recover Drive allows a user to recover files if
- a drive has been formatted;
- a drive has been formatted and windows has been reinstalled;
- a Windows recovery or system restore has resulted in a fresh installation of Windows and the previous user created files are missing;
- a drive letter has gone missing;
- the drive is recognized by your PC as RAW and not files can be read;
- or some other problem has effected the entire contents of the drive
It is furthermore possible to add Raid information or a disk image to the recovery process. Recover My Files offers two modes of searching for recovered files. The first is an automatic search on a computer’s hard drive for all deleted files or to perform the search for deleted files and afterwards for files that are no longer listed in the Filesystem but with contents on the hard drive. The second file recovery option is more thorough but takes longer to complete.
The computer user can select specific file types that should be recovered, e.g. Microsoft Office documents, database and financial files, archives or photos.
The scan itself will check every sector of the selected hard drive for files that match the types selected by the user and display those in the results list as well. This obviously takes longer than the first recovery option but usually yields better results.
The data recovery software will sometimes display generic names instead of the original files names which can be attributed to lost file information. It is still possible to recover those files if they are displayed in the result list.
Recoverable files can be selected and saved to the computer system. It is recommended to save them to a different hard drive to avoid them overwriting part of the files that have not been recovered yet.
Drive recovery is the second option that Recover My Files provides. Here it is again possible to perform a fast search or to specify additional files for the sector based search of the hard drive. The search itself is divided into two phases:
- Phase 1: of the search attempts to locate and rebuild then entire lost partitions. Partition recovery should take between 1 – 45 minutes to complete (depending on the size of the drive, the number of files that it contains and the speed of the computer / drive). Learn about steps within phase 1 – partition recovery.
- Phase 2 of the search will automatically commence. Phase 2 uses the selected file types to help locate the missing Filesystem records (the file and folder structure) on the drive
File recovery reports can be printed, exported to csv for further analysis. Recover My Files is an excellent file recovery software. The disk recovery option sets it apart from many free file recovery software programs that usually do not come with those options. Users who are interested in the program can download it from the developer’s website. The program is fully functional except for the ability to save files that have been discovered by the program.
Christmas Giveaway:
You can win a license of Recover My Files by commenting on this review.
Check out the giveaway at Windows 7 news for the chance to win even more prices.
TechPP are giving away 20 Freedur plug-n-play proxy/VPN licenses.
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I reformatted a hdd with data that I would like to recover, I tried with different software but only Recover My Files Evaluation Version could do that. Unfortunately I couldn’t save them. So I would like to have this licence.
Hello,please count me in as this is a must software for every person who lost a file !!!thanks
It’s so great. Please count me in.
I want one….select me.all the best everyone…good to keep for recovering deep hidden files
oh god!!!!! maybe i’m lucky this time!!!
I would like to have this s/w :-)
I need it juz in time…
That looks like an interesting piece of software. It sounds like a nice “Undo” after the “Oops”.
Sounds like a good piece of software. I’d love to have it!
I would test it! My data is wating for …
Data recovery is so important, so I would like to win a license.
I’d love to try this app.
I’ve had so, so luck trying to recover data before,
lost a 1gig drive with tons of video on them, and
was devastated.
I’d like to see how it handles a formatted drive, or
a drive that’s from a raid. I saw something in there
that mentioned raid data and image.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
I work in a large IT shop and have a lot of
co-workers ask about various programs to
do things. If this performs as well as it’s
described, I’d have no problems adding
this to the list of trusted programs that
I share with co-workers/remote techs, etc.
Not to mention forking over my hard earned
money to help support the product.
Thanks again.
XM
many thanks
don’t forget me ;)
I need something to help when I goof up. Thanks
I would have had needed that app when i forgot to backup my system before install Windows 7…
Thanks for this giveaway
Very nice giveaway, Martin. GetData is one of those producers that offer software everyone should have *before* they need it. I’ve installed it on all the machines in my network. In the past year, I’ve only needed it once, but it saved me hours re-creating work that I hadn’t backed up yet. Highly recommended.
seems like a great tool to have. would like to try it. Thanks =]
It’s always nice to have a full version of recovery software.
It might be very useful ;-) Good luck everyone ;-P
Awesome free stuff rules
This software seems very much more interesting than any other software of that kind I have already tested !
WOW ! I would like to win a free license of it !
Thank you, ghacks and GetData ! :-)
This could be useful someday. I’ve read that this product is a good one.
I’d like to win a license.
Data recovery could be useful for me!
I would love to try this S/W…seems very promising.
Can I try this one ?
It’s a very nice review, but I find somethings missing. First of all, you could compare Recover My Files to other data recovery software. Secondly you could add some information about the detailed options that you can set in the program’s settings and add the information if it can automatically adjust those options according to the type of data loss (was it just deleted, the drive was formatted, and operating system was installed etc.). I’d also add the price of this application. The last thing I missed in your review was the information if the program will recover files that are of unknown type (sql for example).
But anyway keep up the good work :)
never tried this one. It almost makes you want to delete all your important files just to see how well it works.. thanks for the generous offer.
Look great. i have not tried it yet but i’ll sure do. Thanks !