Overview
Deleting a file does not erase it. It removes the entry that says where it is and marks the space as available, and until something else is written over that space the data is still sitting there in full. Recovery is the process of finding it again, and the single most important thing to understand is that every minute the drive stays in use reduces the chance of success. Stop writing to it immediately, and if the lost data matters, stop using the machine at all.
Recoverit scans a drive for both surviving file system entries and for the signatures of file types themselves, which is what lets it recover from a formatted or damaged volume where the file system is gone. This build has the licensing applied, so there is no recovery size cap, no preview only restriction, and no limit on how many files you can actually write back out.
The two kinds of scan
The quick scan reads what remains of the file system and rebuilds the list of deleted entries. It is fast, it recovers original file names and folder structure, and on a simple accidental deletion it is usually all you need.
The deep scan ignores the file system entirely and reads the drive looking for the signatures that mark the beginning of a known file type. It takes hours on a large drive and it recovers files without their original names, sorted by type instead, but it works on a formatted volume, a corrupted partition table and a drive that Windows reports as unformatted. Preview before recovering, since a signature match is not a guarantee the file is intact.
Damaged drives and machines that will not boot
The bootable environment builds a USB stick that runs the recovery tool without the installed system, which covers the case where Windows will not start. That is a common situation and the wrong response to it is reinstalling, which writes over exactly the data you are trying to recover.
For a physically failing drive, the tool can read what it can and skip what it cannot rather than stopping at the first bad sector. Recover to a different drive always, never to the one being read, and if the drive is making noise, accept that software is not the answer and stop before you make it worse.
Media repair and file types
There is a separate repair function for video and image files that are present but will not open, which is the usual result of a camera card being removed mid write or a recording being interrupted. It rebuilds the file structure using a known good file from the same device as a reference, which works surprisingly often on footage that seemed lost.
The recognised type list covers documents, images, video, audio, archives, mail stores and database files, and the scan can be limited to specific types to cut the time considerably. Results can be filtered by size and by whether the preview succeeded, which is how you find the one file you actually care about among ninety thousand recovered fragments.
What you get
- Quick scan recovering original names and folder structure
- Deep signature scan for formatted, corrupted and unrecognised volumes
- Bootable USB environment for machines that will not start
- Reading past bad sectors on a failing drive rather than stopping
- Preview before recovery so you know what is actually intact
- Video and image repair using a reference file from the same device
- Recognition across documents, media, archives, mail stores and databases
- Scan limited to chosen file types to cut scanning time
- No recovery size cap and no preview only restriction in this build
Inside the archive
- Recoverit installer
- Bootable environment builder for USB media
- Media repair component
- Language packs for the interface list shown above
- Notes on recovering to a separate drive and why it matters
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 7 or newer, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | Any current x64 processor |
| Memory | 4 GB, more helps on very large deep scans |
| Storage | 1 GB for the program, plus a separate drive for recovered files |
| Media | USB stick of 4 GB or larger for the bootable environment |
| Privileges | Administrator |
Installing it
- Do not install it onto the drive you are recovering from. Use another drive or another machine.
- Stop using the affected drive entirely before you begin.
- Run the installer as administrator.
- Run the quick scan first. Only run the deep scan if the quick scan did not find it.
- Always recover to a different drive from the one being scanned.
Mirrors
| Route | Region | Note | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct, primary | Europe | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Direct, secondary | North America | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Torrent magnet | Global | Not needed at this size | Online |
Release history
- Deep scan signature set extended to more current camera and phone formats
- Bootable environment rebuilt with current storage drivers
- Fixed a stall when a drive returns errors on a large contiguous region
- Video repair reference matching improved for phone footage
- Result filtering by preview success added
- Reduced memory use on deep scans of drives above 8 TB
- Fixed folder structure being flattened on some quick scan results
Questions about this release
Is the recovery amount capped?
No. The trial restriction that lets you preview but only recover a small amount is not present in this build.
Why did it recover files with meaningless names?
That is a deep scan result. There is no file system left to read names from, so files are identified by type signature and sorted that way.
Can it recover from a drive Windows will not read?
Often, yes, using the deep scan. If the drive is making mechanical noise, stop and do not keep scanning it.
Where should recovered files go?
A different drive, always. Writing to the drive you are recovering from destroys what you have not recovered yet.
Comments
Boot stick got files off a laptop that would not start. Would have reinstalled and lost everything otherwise.
Video repair fixed two interrupted recordings using a good clip from the same camera. Did not expect that to work.
Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.
Formatted the wrong card. Deep scan ran six hours and got back about 90 percent of the shoot. No cap on recovery, wrote it all out.