How to
recover data in various cases
How
to recover my data...
- Files
have been deleted or Windows-recycle bin has been emptied
- Files/directories
are lost*
- Altered
file size due to virus
- Hard
disk has been formatted*
- Hard
disk has been formatted with another file system*
- A
volume is lost (unrecognized drive)*
- Windows
is damaged and system not bootable
* This functionality
is only included if you have the Professional version.
- Files
have been deleted or Windows-recycle bin has been emptied
If you have emptied
the recycle bin or deleted files while holding down the Shift key, the corresponding
files will not be shown on the recycle bin anymore. Files deleted by a user
accessing your system through a network share are also not stored in the recycle
bin. Windows does not have the capability to restore these files.
To perform
the recovery select Object->Open drive from menu and choose
your drive containing the lost files from the 'Logical drive' tab.
After the drive is opened, click on the folder 'Deleted' and find the
lost files. Optionally, perform a file search by selecting Object->Find
from the menu. After finding the files you wish to recover, select Object->Save
to ... from menu to save them on another drive.
If you emptied the recycle bin and no files were found, continue as described
in section 4 (hard drive has been formatted).
- Files/directories
are lost
Proceed all steps
like in section 4. (hard drive has been formatted).
- Altered
file size due to virus
Files contaminated with viruses such as Worm.ExploreZIP are displayed in Windows
Explorer, but their file sizes are altered (e.g. to zero (0)). The operating
system cannot read these files anymore. You can recover these files using
the following procedure:
Select Object->Open drive from menu and choose your drive.
Select folder Root and find your file. After selecting Object->Properties
from menu you will get the following screen:
Change
the file size by entering a number greater than the initial
file size.
Select Object->Save to... to save the file on another drive. The
size of the file will be the size you entered before. If you open the recovered
file with the corresponding program application and save it, the original
file size will be restored.
- Hard
disk has been formatted
If you emptied the recycle bin from Windows NT/2000/XP or formatted the drive
with a standard or quick-format, you must perform a cluster search to get
again access to your data:
Select Object->Open drive and choose the drive you formatted from
the 'Logical drive' tab.
Select Tools->Find Lost Data to perform a cluster search.
After the cluster search completes, find the files and folders you wish to
recover in the folders 'Lost' or 'Other Lost' in the left window
pane.
Select Object->Save to... to save the lost files on another drive.
Notice: FILERECOVERY can recover hard disks that have been formatted
using quick or standard format. However, if a standard format was applied
to a floppy disk, the data area is initialized and the data is irretrievable
lost. A quick-formatted floppy disk can, however, be recovered with FILERECOVERY.
- Hard
disk has been formatted with another file system
After a hard disk is formatted with a different file system or a partition
is deleted and reformatted with a different file system (usually with FDISK),
you can recover your data by using the following steps:
Select Object->Open drive and choose your desired drive from 'Logical
drive' tab (do not click on OK).
Select 'Full scan/ find format', modify the sector range for the search
if necessary and click on OK.
After completing the search you will get the found file systems in 'Logical
drive' tab.
Choose one among the drives found and find the files you wish to recover.
- A
volume is lost (unrecognized drive)
If a drive is
not recognized, e.g. because it is contaminated by a virus or its partition
information was deleted with FDISK, use the following procedure to get again
access to your data:
Select Object->Open drive.
Select 'Physical drive' tab and choose the physical drive (e.g. hard disk)
containing the unrecognized drive. The 'Logical drive' tab will not
display any lost drives to be recovered.
After clicking
on 'Quick scan' FILERECOVERY starts searching for the partition.
Partition was found:
After completing the search, lost drives will be displayed in 'Logical
drive' tab.
Choose the drive to be recovered among the lost drives and find the files
you wish to recover.
If the
hard disk was formatted with a different file system, please continue as described
in section 5. (hard disk was formatted with another
file system).
Partition
was not found:
Choose your physical drive (e.g hard disk) from 'Physical drive' tab
and click on 'Full scan/ find format'.
Specify the sector range for the search and click on OK.
After completing
the search lost drives will be displayed in 'Logical drive' tab.

Choose the drive to be recovered among the lost drives and find the files
you wish to recover.
- Windows
is damaged and system not bootable
If you computer has only one hard disk and Windows cannot start, you can recover
your data by attaching that disk as slave drive to a seperate system with
FILERECOVERY installed. FILERECOVERY can only be run with a working system.
If the hard disk is not recognized by the system BIOS, the disk may have physical
damages. A data recovery of physical damaged drives cannot be performed by
software.
FILERECOVERY
is a registered trademark of LC Technology International, Inc
Microsoft
and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are
the property of their respective owners.