"Offering free computer help, hints, and tips to the Internet populace." Now with over 3,820 tips!

File Recovery - Undelete

Roadkil's Undelete

SUMMARY: Roadkil's Undelete is a no-frills file undeleter for Windows.

Roadkil's Undelete is a freeware file undeleter for Windows. The software comes as an executable inside a ZIP archive, allowing it to be run on a USB flash drive. Doing so helps increase the chance of file recovery on a hard drive, as the fewer changes made to a drive containing files that need to be recovered, the better.

The program is simple to use. Next to "Recover from Drive", select the drive to scan. Once the scan is complete a list of possibly-recoverable files will be displayed including the original path (if it still exists), size, date, attributes, and file integrity (the greater the integrity, the greater the chance the file can be recovered). Choose the file(s) to recover, then select the "Browse" button to choose where to place the files. Click the "Recover" button to start the recovery process.

Roadkil's Undelete at work

I had some success with this software. After removing some test files, the two files Roadkil's Undelete did find were recovered (a PDF and text file). However, several larger executables were not found. Your experiences may vary, and since this software can be run from removable media, you may want to consider keeping a copy of this program just in case.

* Roadkil's Undelete: http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=28

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.