Been out of the loop for a while, what are good (preferably free) tools for recovering files from NTFS (Windows 7) ? What are the best practises, is it still the common sense to take a full disk image to work off ? Bonus points for tools that can be run from Linux ! I have yet to receive the machine, so don't know the cause yet (disk failure, directory corruption etc), but will update when I do. Cheers, Nick
I have used R-Studio too and can confirm it is excellent. Personally I never do images first. Recuva (from the makers of CCleaner) is free and a lot of people like it, but it's not a complete a solution as R-Studio. I only use Windows at the moment so can't help you with Linux software. Also, it's worth noting that when I encounter a Windows computer which has errors on the hard drive (and may not even be bootable) I can usually clone the disk using a bootable flash drive created with the free version of Easeus Disk Copy as it has the option to ignore errors and continue cloning, and end up the cloned drive being bootable and everything working. Sometimes I run HDD Regenerator on the failing drive first to fix any errors on the drive.
Kurtis here from Horizon Data Sys. I saw the post and thought I'd chime in I'm sorry to hear about this Nick, these things can be a real pain. In terms of instant recovery software we offer a variety of different products that may be of use in the future. If you're looking for free, we just released RollBack Rx Home Edition, which you can read the post about HERE. Essentially it'll allow you to take snapshots of your system, and then rollback to those snapshots, and even recover files from those snapshots. It may be too late to help in this particular case, but I'd be interested in hearing more; and even future-proofing the computer in the long run. If you have any questions, or would like to test out the software. Feel free to fire me an email. Cheers,
The best is still Ontrack Easyrecovery Professional (the only one that I know, that can also recover files without relying in the ntfs file table). R-studio and Active@ File Recovery are good and work in a similar way, both rely on the discovery of the correct ntfs file table. Recuva and TestDisk are free and good for recovering deleted or missing files. Restoration is a free oldie but goldie. Partition Find & Mount is another one that takes a unique approach (similar to R-Studio and Active file recovery) but allows you to mount the discovered ntfs tables as virtual read only partitions If you suspect that the drive is failing, it is a must do. Otherwise, not mounting the partition/s in question is enough as a precaution also check this page http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Tools:Data_Recovery that has lots of links to recovery tools Panagiotis
To Nick. I tend to agree with R-Studio being high on the list. Also GetDataBack from Runtime is decent. Each recovery program is going to be different and some will work when others don't. Also please be aware the best and only data safety solution you should consider is a genuine backup. That way, when something fails, like hardware, you can simply refer to your backup and be back running within the hour. No four-letter moments either. Tell your customer that. I promise they will thank you someday, like my customers have done me..
