Data Recovery Software Roundup -- Don Your Detective Cap and Find Your Missing Data!

Posted 01/20/2009 at 11:00am | by Paul Lilly

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Quetek File Scavenger 3.2

It appears Quetek put a lot of work into streamlining File Scavenger's interface and the end result is a program that's easy to navigate, even for beginners. You start off by making a selection in two pull-down menus. In the 'Search for' menu, you can opt to have File Scavenger scour your hard drive for all deleted files, or narrow the search to specific file types. What's most impressive is the amount of different file extensions you can choose from, each clearly labeled, which includes popular file types like JPEGs, MP3s, and ZIP files, to more obscure entries like Acronis Archives (.tlb) and Supreme Commander save game files.

Once you've narrowed your list down to one or more specific extenstions, you then select where File Scavenger should look. Single partitions show up in the 'Look in' pull-down menu, as do entire HDDs or removable storage, such as a USB key. With the 'what' and 'where' out of the way, the last thing you need to decide is 'how.' Performing a Quick search returned results instaneously, 56 files in all, almost all of which were recently deleted. This is less than the quick scan option the other apps turned up, but unlike the others, File Scavenger had no trouble remembering the original file names. Using the approriately titled Long Scan, which took 1hr and 6min to sift through our 200GB partition, File Scavenger returned 471 files.

File Scavenger updates the list of files it finds in real time, but don't bother trying to organize them until its finished. You can then sort the files by type, name, last modification date, location, or other criteria. Even better is the Tree View (similar to Windows Explorer), which presents the files and folder structure as they existed on the drive.

What separates File Scavenger from free alternatives is the ability to reconstruct a broken RAID array or spanned volume. While we didn't have a busted RAID array on hand to test this out, we appreciate that there's at least some hope should disaster strike.

If you're willing to pay for file recovery, this is your program.

Verdict: 9
$49, http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm

Handy Recovery 4.0

Handy Recovery started off as freeware and it didn't take long for the developers to discover they could cash in on panicked users looking to get their data back. SoftLogica still offers the original program as a free download, but now in version 4.0, Handy Recovery will set you back $50. What you get in return is another user friendly interface with a few goofy quirks.

When you fire up Handy Recovery, it immediately lists all of the available partitions and removable drives, but unlike File Scavenger, it didn't give us the option of scanning an entire HDD, partitions be damned. Selecting a partition to 'analyze' returned instantaneous results, unless we chose our USB key, which took around 5 minutes. If you want to dig deeper, Handy Recovery offers an 'Extended Analysis' option, which took 58 minutes to scan our test drive, making it faster than File Scavenger for deep scans. Results are listed in an easily navigable tree view, but how many files were found we don't know. The only time Handy Recovery specifically told how us how many files it uncovered was when it poked around our USB key, which showed exactly 25 files less than File Scavenger managed to scrape up.

But while Handy Recovery usually kept the number of files it found hidden, it had no problem playing show and tell when it came to a file's contents. Rather than being forced to recover a file to find out if it's the one you're looking for, Handy Recovery includes a preview pane allowing you see the contents, be it a picture of dearly deceased Aunt Sally or an old love letter. It will even play media files. That's just groovy.

Other tricks up Handy Recovery's sleeve include being able to filter search results by keyword, date created, and minimum or maximum file size, find a file by keyword, or look for lost partitions on a disk that has since been formatted. You can also create an image of a drive or partition allowing you to open it later and recover files.

Verdict: 8
$49, http://www.handyrecovery.com/

Our Final Word

Every program in our roundup had no problem running in Vista 64-bit, which if you own 4GB of memory or more (and why wouldn't you, with today's memory prices?) is the only way to roll. Not only that, every program also proved capable of recovering data from removable storage. But that doesn't mean there weren't a few standouts.

On the freebie side of the fence, we were most impressed with Piriform's Recuva. The easy-to-follow prompts ensure panicked and inexperienced users will never feel overwhelmed, and the advanced options, including file previews, separate Recuva from the competition.

Looking at the paid programs, we give the slight edge to Quetek's File Scavenger. Both File Scavenger and Handy Recovery take data restoration to new heights with better scanning and by adding some options not found in any of the freebie apps, but File Scavenger's ability to reconstruct RAID arrays gives it added value. File Scavenger was also the only program in our roundup to correctly identify a file's original name and location after it had been deleted from a non-OS partition, rather than by the cryptic file name the Recycle Bin applies to deleted files. This has the potential to save you a ton of time if you're searching for a specific file.