Best undelete tool for NTFS/FAT? [closed]

Question

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Need decent undelete utility for Windows

What is the best tool for file undeletion in your experience? Google shows a gazillion of them, but I'd like to hear about good (or bad) experiences with any of those.

Objective: Restoring 500.000 audio (WAV PCM) files.

Doesn't matter if it's commercial, free or open source, it matters how quick and reliable it is.

Answer 1

I don't know if it is the best one, but I've successfully used NTFS undelete. It's free and open source. It provides an ISO image with the program as well, which allows you to runit directly from a CD-ROM.

NTFS Undelete is free and open source software that allows you to recover deleted files. It recovers files directly from hard drive, and it will work even if you empty Recycle Bin.

One thing you should always be aware of, independently which tool you plan to use: it's very important to make sure that no application writes to the drive or partition where the deleted files were saved.

Edit: Other tools mentioned here:

Recuva (freeware)

Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

TestDisk (open-sourcr, free, NTFS and FAT)

TestDisk is a powerful free data recovery software! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting a Partition Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is really easy.

Answer 2

Recuva is a great free one. From the same guys who brought you CCleaner and Defraggler.

Answer 3

I've always used TestDisk. It does undelete on Fat, NTFS and ext systems. It's a lot more powerful than basic undelete, it does all kinds of different kinds of data recovery for recovering lost and damaged partitions etc.

Free & Open source.

Answer 4

As already mentioned, there is TestDisk, which can recover not only files, but also restore entire partition tables and MBRs, provided that the hardware still works.

Another awesome tool from CG Security, PhotoRec can recover lost files from virtually any type of filesystem, as it generally ignores the filesystem and reads the underlying data directly.

I recommend trying out both of these before anything else, as I'm pretty sure you won't need to look further afterwards. Also, both these utilities are free, licensed under the GPL.

Answer 5

I've used GetDataBack on a drive that was reformatted + Windows reinstalled. Impressively, most of the data was recovered. USD 120 for NT + FAT recovery, ATOW.

Answer 6

I have always used R-Studio, with great success. It isn't free, and I haven't tried any of the open source alternatives, but I think it works great.

Answer 7

This guide will save your life. It contains information on how to recover data with the use of a few tools. It's all open source and on Ubuntu. I prefer Foremost.

Foremost, originally developed by the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations, recovers files based on their headers and other internal structures. Foremost operates on hard drives or drive image files generated by various tools.

It was able to recover around 90% of my data, and it has successfully recovered data on many of my client's computers.

PhotoRec is great also. It can recover almost everything. Plus the GUI is helpful.

In Ubuntu, just run

sudo apt-get install testdisk foremost

and you'll have a killer recovery setup.

Answer 8

I'm using this excellent standalone freeware Restoration -- you can carry this nifty little app in your thumbdrive with you anywhere, and recover accidentally deleted files instantly! Works with Windows XP.

SideNote:

When you delete files, your system doesn't actually removes them from the harddisk memory. Think of your files as if there's an 'on' and 'off' switch on all of them.

Deleting normally via 'Empty recycle bin' merely puts those files into an 'off' status, where they stay in the harddisk's memory until its position on the harddisk is being rewritten by your system (eg. when a new file is copied onto your harddisk).

In this case, when you use restoration immediately after an accidental delete, there's no worry that your files' position have been rewritten, thus you still have a chance of getting those files back.