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File Recovery - Undelete

FreeUndelete

SUMMARY: FreeUndelete is a file recovery software program free for personal use.

FreeUndelete is a file recovery package created by Recoveronix, creators of recovery software for corrupted email stores, databases, PowerPoint presentations, images, and more. This software works for Windows NT through Windows Vista and is free for personal use.

After installing and running the application, select a drive and click the scan button to search for possibly recoverable files. After the scan, FreeUndelete lists possibly-recoverable files sorted by folder. The display contains file names, types, sizes, and the dates modified and created. Also listed for each file is a status - "good" files have a chance of recovery, while "poor" files may not be recoverable with all data intact.

Select files you want to try recovering, then select the folder where you want recovered files placed. Press the "Undelete" button to start the recovery process.

FreeUndelete from OfficeRecovery.com in action

My tests were mixed. Although FreeUndelete was able to detect older files removed from my C: drive, I created a group of files and immediately removed them and File Recovery did not find the files. However, FreeUndelete itself was installed on my C: drive and this drive is used for most other computing tasks.

I copied some files to my Z: drive and immediately deleted them. Defrag is not active on this drive. FreeUndelete did find the files here and was able to successfully recover them back to my C:\ drive.

FreeUndelete - http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

As with all file recovery software, results will vary based on many factors including whether a drive has been defragged, amount of computer use since the file was deleted, etc. Even if software claims to recover a file, information may be lost. Your results with this and all file recovery software may vary.