I’ve\r\nlost count of the number of times over the years that I have had friends,\r\nfamily, and even clients contact me because a hard disk failed and no backup of\r\nthe data exists. In these types of situations the only option is often to use a\r\ndata recovery utility to try to get back some of the data. This article\r\ndiscusses five such utilities.
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VirtualLab\r\nis a utility for recovering various types of data. As you would expect, the\r\nproduct features file level recovery and partition level recovery. What might\r\nnot be expected however is that it also has support for Macintosh partitions.\r\nThe software also has dedicated functions for recovering CD / DVD ROMs, deleted\r\nE-mail messages, and photos. There is even a RAID recovery function. Best of\r\nall, the interface is very clean and easy to use.
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VirtualLab sells for $39.95, but a free trial version is\r\navailable for download. The trial version scans for recoverable data, but the\r\nactual recovery is disabled.
\r\n\r\nCredit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
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File\r\nScavenger Data Recovery Utility that is dedicated to file recovery. The\r\nutility itself is fairly simple. It scans the volume of your choosing, lets you\r\nselect the file that you want to recover, and then that file is saved to a\r\nlocation of your choosing.
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One thing that I really like about this utility is that it\r\nactively prevents recovered files from being saved to the volume where they\r\npreviously resided. This is important, because writing to the volume decreases\r\nthe chances of being able to recover other lost data. Although File Scavenger\r\nData Recovery Utility is not as diverse as some of the other utilities that are\r\navailable, it does one thing and does it well.
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File Scavenger Data Recovery Utility sells for $49.95, but a\r\nfree trial version is available for download. The trial version is limited to\r\nrecovering files 64KB in size or smaller.
\r\n\r\nCredit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
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Stellar\r\nPhoenix Windows Data Recovery \u2013 Professional is a basic data recovery\r\nutility. It has dedicated modes that allow for the recovery of drives (and file\r\ndata), CDs and DVDs, photos, and E-mail messages.
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I particularly liked this utility’s advanced options. It\r\nfeatures the ability to clone a drive so that you don’t risk further damaging\r\nyour only copy of the data. There is also a feature that lets you create a disk\r\nimage, which you can restore data from later on. A Drive Status function lets\r\nyou view detailed health information for a disk.
\r\n\r\nStellar Phoenix Windows\r\nData Recovery \u2013 Professional sells for $99.00, but a free trial download is\r\navailable. The Save option is disabled in the free trial.
\r\n\r\nCredit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
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MiniTool\r\nPower Data Recovery Free Edition is a free tool for recovering data from a\r\nnumber of different sources. The software provides undelete recovery, recovery\r\nof damaged or lost partitions, digital media recovery, and CD / DVD recovery.
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The best thing about MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free\r\nEdition might be the fact that you can purchase a boot disk. Having a boot disk\r\nmakes it far easier to recover data from an unbootable, malware infected, or\r\nseverely damaged system.
\r\n\r\nCredit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
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EaseUS\r\nData Recovery Wizard Free Edition is a free tool for deleted file recovery,\r\npartition recovery, and complete system recovery. At first glance, it appears\r\nthat the utility will only allow you to recover specific types of data such as\r\npictures or E-mail messages. However, the interface does contain an Other\r\noption that you can use to recover files of any type.
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The free version of this tool will allow for up to 2GB of\r\ndata recovery. EaseUS also provides the option to purchase a Windows PE based\r\nboot disk for $59.95.
\r\n\r\nCredit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
Credit: Image by Brien Posey for TechRepublic
* 1988 - Started teaching myself about computers \ * 1992 - Mainframe programmer for an insurance company \ * 1993 - Network Administrator for a different insurance company \ * 1996 - Author for The Cobb Group \ * 1998 - Network Administrator for Fort Knox \ * 1999 - CIO for chain of hospitals \ * 2000 - Gave up the corporate rat race to work out of my home. I have been a full time technical author ever since. Visit my Web sites at http://www.brienposey.com and http://www.relevanttechnologies.com \
