In this review, briefly on using the O & O Disk Recovery program to restore data after formatting (it will fully work and after simple deletion) and the results of restoring lost files. The program is paid, but to check what it is capable of and can be found to find something and without prior acquisition. If free software is required, about it here: free data recovery programs.
Data recovery process after formatting in O & O Disk Recovery
To check the data recovery in various programs, I use the same USB flash drive for which photo, documents and videos were recorded immediately after purchase, after which it was formatted from FAT32 in NTFS. Perhaps the scenario is not the most difficult, but most users there is something like that, or else the simple removal of or damage to the file system on the disk (from the point of view of recovery even more simple events).
The data recovery procedure in O & O Disk Recovery will look like this:
- At the first stage, it is enough just to click "Next." But 3 more useful options are available: download saved search data for lost files (to continue the recovery process, and not start it again); Download disk image created using O & O Disk Image; Adding custom file types templates.
- The next step is the choice of the drive from which the data should be restored. In case the recovery is made after formatting, select the physical disk (without a letter), and not the partition on it. If your disc is not visible in the program, and in the system is displayed as non-formatted or RAW disk, remove the "Hide Unpartitioned Areas" mark, and then press the "Refresh Drives" button.
- Next, select the scan type. The first item is used to restore files after simple deletion and is available only for partitions, and not for physical disks (but it can restore paths and names). The second is responsible for the search for formatted or damaged partitions (i.e., it allows you to restore the entire section after damage). The third is for a deep search for files lost in any way. In the Adapt Settings item, you can specify which types of files should be signed on the HDD, flash drive, memory card or other accumulator. Important note: If several items are noted, they, in theory, should be performed in order. However, in my test, after the first of the selected steps, the scan was stopped (without found files), as a result I could get the desired result by noting the last item (Deep Search), which should work for most cases loss of files.
- Click the Next button and wait for scanning.
- As a result, depending on what type of scanning was selected, you can get a slightly different search results for lost files. In my case, when recovered from a flash drive after formatting, the result looks like on the screenshot below: Files are sorted by type, in the list on the right we can see their properties.
- By double clicking on the file or the Preview button, you can preview the file found before restoring if its type is supported by the program.
- Upon completion, check the files you want to restore, click "Next", and then specify where to save them (do not use the same drive from which recovery is made). If desired, in the "Report" section, you can specify the location of the report on the recovered data.
- Unfortunately, the trial version will not allow you to restore the data, but you can save the scanning process to a computer to, if you decide to purchase a license, do not perform it again, but simply download it.
In general, despite the fact that the Russian language of the interface in the program is missing, everything is very simple and in the general case enough to select the drive and press the "Next" button (provided that you will not encounter the problem I described in the 3rd step) .
File search results after formatting
The result of data recovery (if you judge the files for which the preview is available, since it will not be possible to restore them) - the same as in the best previously tested programs. Files found even more, but some of them are a duplicate.
Documents and videos have not yet found any program (and, frankly, I do not quite understand what's the matter, there was everything on the previous test flash drive). Specific files such as .psd were also found, but for them a preview is unavailable, and something is wrong with the size (the program shows 2 GB, and they were noticeably less). Therefore, it is not sure that the recovery would have passed successfully.
As a result: If other programs, especially free, such as Transcend Recoverx, PhotoRec or Puran File Recovery did not help, you can try to see, and what this program will find from German developers, without purchasing it before. Download free trial version O & O Disk Recovery from the official site https://www.oo-software.com/en/products/oodiskrecovery