Free Undelete Utility from OfficeRecovery

FreeUndelete restores deleted files, including those removed from Windows Recycle Bin. In case of accidental removal of files on a NTFS (default for Windows Vista, XP, 2000 and NT), FAT32 or FAT16 file systems this is the utility to help.

Supported file systems: NTFS, FAT32 and FAT16

The recovered files are saved into a new location to prevent overwriting the deleted files on the original media.

FreeUndelete is free for personal use. There is no charge, direct or hidden, to download and use a fully functional copy of the program. The program does not install any spyware or adware along with it. It does not populate user’s desktop with pop-up ads or forcefully subscribe user to mailing lists.

A deleted file is essentially an area on disk designated as free and ready to accept data (such as contents of some other file). Luckily, unless the area has already been overwritten, it still holds the contents of the deleted file. Due to this fact it is possible to undelete files.

This fact also dictates the following procedure for using FreeUndelete:

1. Stop any activity on the disk you are going to undelete files from! Remember that writing to that disk can damage the contents of the deleted files. Examples of disastrous activity include: copying files to the disk, installing programs there or running programs that use the disk as their swap media.
2. Download and install FreeUndelete. Whenever possible, save the setup executable and install the program to a disk that does not hold files you need to undelete.
3. Run and use FreeUndelete.

Tip: It is common that the only drive user has is C: and this is also the drive from where files need to be undeleted. In that case a good solution is using a USB flash drive as FreeUndelete download and install destination.

Features

• File systems supported: NTFS 1.0, NTFS 2.0, FAT32, FAT16
• Operating systems supported: Windows XP, 2000, NT 4 (SP2 or higher required), Windows 2003 Server
• Easy to use, no special user skills required
• Full install/uninstall support

Limitations

• Does not support Windows 98, Windows 98SE and Windows ME
• Utility is not portable, and should be installed on any of your disks.

System Requirements

• Operating system: Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 2003 Server
• RAM: 128 MB
• Hard Disk: minimum 10 MB of free space required for installation
• Display: 640 x 480 or higher resolution, 256 colors

Developers website: http://officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

SoftPerfect File Recovery

SoftPerfect File Recovery is a free and useful tool to restore accidentally deleted files from hard and floppy disks, USB flash drives, CF and SD cards and other storage media. It supports the popular file systems such as FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and NTFS5 with compression and encryption. If your important files disappeared and you can’t find them in the recycle bin, try this software product and get the files back to life. Easy to use, no installation is required.

MAIN FEATURES

* Lightweight (268 KB only).
* Supports FAT & NTFS.
* Supports compressed and encrypted volumes.
* Supports most storage media.
* Easy to use, just run it!
* Completely portable, works from removable media, and does not leave any residual traces.
* Software is free to use for any purposes, as soon as the code is not modified.

Note that when you restore the files from the main boot-up Hard Drive, the success rate might be lower due to the considerations of the time to recovery parameter. The software is able to restore accidentally deleted files from built-in hard disk drives as long as two the following conditions are met:

1. The file was deleted recently and no writing was made on the volume after that.
2. So, if you delete a file from a system volume (e.g. C:’), there are little chances to restore it because the OS is constantly writing on this volume (logs, registry branches, etc).

Developers Website: http://www.softperfect.com/products/filerecovery/