Saturday 8 March 2014
Many free data recovery programs exist that can help recover your accidentally deleted files. These file recovery programs can help you recover, or "undelete" files on your computer.
Files you have deleted and then recently emptied from your Recycle Bin are often still present on your hard drive (or USB drive or media card, etc.) and can be recovered using free data recovery software.
Important: You can greatly increase the chance of recovering a file by minimizing your computer use as soon as possible.
(1)UndeleteMyFiles Pro
Tree View and Detailed View are the two viewing perspectives you can choose from. You can also preview files, which sounds nice, but all it does is restore the data to a temporary folder and then open it.
Emergency Disk Image is one of the included tools in UndeleteMyFiles Pro. This tool takes a snapshot of your entire computer, places all the data in one file, and then lets you work through that file to file deleted data that you want to restore. This is very handy because after the image file has been made, you don't need to worry that new data written to your hard drive will replace any important deleted files.
There's a nice search option in UndeleteMyFiles Pro that lets you search by file location, type, size, and attributes.
Something I really didn't like about UndeleteMyFiles Pro is that the recovery process doesn't tell you if a file is in a good state of being recoverable like most of the other software in this list.
I test UndeleteMyFiles Pro in Windows 8 without any issues.
UndeleteMyFiles Pro Free Download
(5)BPlan Data Recovery
Files you have deleted and then recently emptied from your Recycle Bin are often still present on your hard drive (or USB drive or media card, etc.) and can be recovered using free data recovery software.
Important: You can greatly increase the chance of recovering a file by minimizing your computer use as soon as possible.
(1)UndeleteMyFiles Pro
UndeleteMyFiles Pro is another free file recovery program. Don't let the name fool you - it's entirely free even though it says "Pro."
Tree View and Detailed View are the two viewing perspectives you can choose from. You can also preview files, which sounds nice, but all it does is restore the data to a temporary folder and then open it.
Emergency Disk Image is one of the included tools in UndeleteMyFiles Pro. This tool takes a snapshot of your entire computer, places all the data in one file, and then lets you work through that file to file deleted data that you want to restore. This is very handy because after the image file has been made, you don't need to worry that new data written to your hard drive will replace any important deleted files.
There's a nice search option in UndeleteMyFiles Pro that lets you search by file location, type, size, and attributes.
Something I really didn't like about UndeleteMyFiles Pro is that the recovery process doesn't tell you if a file is in a good state of being recoverable like most of the other software in this list.
I test UndeleteMyFiles Pro in Windows 8 without any issues.
UndeleteMyFiles Pro Free Download
(2)Orion File Recovery Software
Orion File Recovery Software is a free file recovery program from NCH Software that's basically the same as most of the other programs in this list.
A nice wizard prompts you to scan for specific file types at launch of the program, like documents, images, videos, music, or a custom file type. You can also scan the entire drive to search for all file types.
Orion file Recovery Software can scan any attached hard drive, whether internal or external, flash drives, and memory cards for deleted data. Then you can search through the files with an instant search function, while easily identifying the recovery potential of each file.
Orion File Recovery Software works with Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP. The installer tries to install other NCH Software programs during setup, but just deselect those options if you wish not to install them.
Orion File Recovery Software Free Download
A nice wizard prompts you to scan for specific file types at launch of the program, like documents, images, videos, music, or a custom file type. You can also scan the entire drive to search for all file types.
Orion file Recovery Software can scan any attached hard drive, whether internal or external, flash drives, and memory cards for deleted data. Then you can search through the files with an instant search function, while easily identifying the recovery potential of each file.
Orion File Recovery Software works with Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP. The installer tries to install other NCH Software programs during setup, but just deselect those options if you wish not to install them.
Orion File Recovery Software Free Download
(3)TOKIWA DataRecovery
TOKIWA DataRecovery is an effective file recovery program and is very similar to many others on my list.
The best thing TOKIWA DataRecovery has going for it is its ease of use. It has a single program window where you can scan for files to recovery, sort the files, and undelete them. There are no complicated procedures at all.
TOKIWA DataRecovery can recover files from hard drives, memory cards, USB drives, and other external drives.
DataRecovery supports Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, NT, ME, 98, and 95. I successfully tested TOKIWA DataRecovery with Windows 8.
TOKIWA DataRecovery is a standalone, 412KB file making it a completely portable tool suitable for a USB drive or floppy disk.
TOKIWA DataRecovery Free Download
(4)PC Inspector File Recovery
The best thing TOKIWA DataRecovery has going for it is its ease of use. It has a single program window where you can scan for files to recovery, sort the files, and undelete them. There are no complicated procedures at all.
TOKIWA DataRecovery can recover files from hard drives, memory cards, USB drives, and other external drives.
DataRecovery supports Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, NT, ME, 98, and 95. I successfully tested TOKIWA DataRecovery with Windows 8.
TOKIWA DataRecovery is a standalone, 412KB file making it a completely portable tool suitable for a USB drive or floppy disk.
TOKIWA DataRecovery Free Download
(4)PC Inspector File Recovery
PC Inspector File Recovery is another good free file recovery program with an arguably "deeper" search for deleted files than other similar undelete programs.
PC Inspector File Recovery can recover files from most hard drives, external drives, and memory cards.
PC Inspector File Recovery supports Windows XP, 2000, NT, ME, and 98. I tested PC Inspector File Recover in Windows 8 and it ran as advertised.
I'd recommend trying PC Inspector File Recovery only if another, higher rated file recovery program didn't do the job for you. The not-so-easy-to-use interface, lack of Vista support, and long hard drive scan times keep this file recovery app out of the Top 10.
PC Inspector File Recovery Free Download
PC Inspector File Recovery can recover files from most hard drives, external drives, and memory cards.
PC Inspector File Recovery supports Windows XP, 2000, NT, ME, and 98. I tested PC Inspector File Recover in Windows 8 and it ran as advertised.
I'd recommend trying PC Inspector File Recovery only if another, higher rated file recovery program didn't do the job for you. The not-so-easy-to-use interface, lack of Vista support, and long hard drive scan times keep this file recovery app out of the Top 10.
PC Inspector File Recovery Free Download
(5)BPlan Data Recovery
BPlan Data Recovery is a file recovery program like the others in this list. It may not look as nice as similar software, but it can recovery many different types of deleted files.
I found BPlan Data Recovery to be a bit difficult to navigate around. It was hard to know what I was doing because of the layout of the results. That said, it still managed to find and recover images, documents, videos, and other file types.
BPlan Data Recovery works with Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP. I tested BPlan Data Recovery in Windows 8.
On Bplan's site, you can download an EXE version using the Free Download button on the top of their page, or a ZIP version using the button just below it.
Note: Make sure you run BPlan Data Recovery as an administrator in Windows 8 or Windows 7. The program won't work unless it has administrative privileges.
BPlan Data Recovery Free Download
I found BPlan Data Recovery to be a bit difficult to navigate around. It was hard to know what I was doing because of the layout of the results. That said, it still managed to find and recover images, documents, videos, and other file types.
BPlan Data Recovery works with Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP. I tested BPlan Data Recovery in Windows 8.
On Bplan's site, you can download an EXE version using the Free Download button on the top of their page, or a ZIP version using the button just below it.
Note: Make sure you run BPlan Data Recovery as an administrator in Windows 8 or Windows 7. The program won't work unless it has administrative privileges.
BPlan Data Recovery Free Download
