File Undelete Freebies II

Recuva

Piriform needs no introduction when it comes to freebies as its applications are well too known to the great majority of users. The suite includes the famous CCleaner optimization tool, a defrag tool by the name of Defraggler and a file recovery piece of software named Recuva. All three of them have portable editions so you can take them on a removable drive and use them on any computer.

Recuva is the object of our attention as it is a free to use file recovery tool that does not require any knowledge on how hard disks function and what they are made of. All you need to know is that it will recover accidentally removed files even if Recycle Bin does not hold them any longer. The same rules as in the case of Undelete PLUS apply here as well, that is avoid placing files on the partition you want to recover data from or format the drive as these actions will make the file recovery much more difficult and you risk losing the data for good.



Recuva's interface is no complicated thing, being created for any user to be able to easily handle it with the utmost ease. Scanning provides you with the possibility to filter retrieved data by typing in the name or file path, thus making a selection of the displayed data.

For certain types of images Recuva brings preview capabilities, which prove essential when you do not know which image is what. The most popular image formats work great and for the techies there is also the possibility to view the header of any file picked up by the application during the scan.

Out of the list of options the program brings to the table the ones under the Actions tab are the most important as they give you the possibility to customize the scan process and make it retrieve only pertinent data. Zero byte files can be skipped, and you can enable the display of the files in hidden directories or perform a deep scan (scan time is increased by a lot). Here is where you also set the place to enable folder structure restoring.

Both Recuva and Undelete PLUS are very easy to handle and provide a portable version to take with you on a removable drive and use it on any Windows-running computer you hook it to.

Previous |