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Help overview

Recover4all has a familiar interface and is very straightforward to use. In this overview you will find some basic background information about data recovery.

The operaing system is constantly overwriting deleted files on your system drive (usually C:). The more apps you run the more data will be overwritten. Installing software, including data recovery software, or surfing on the Internet will overwrite more deleted files.

Immediately after a file was deleted, its data is still invisibly on the drive. Therefore it’s possible to recover deleted files. The location of the file data is not always known. In those cases the data recovery software needs to make a guess. This guess can be good or bad and therefore the results can vary. You will find out how successfully the data recovery software worked, when you try to open the recovered file. We put a lot of effort into the calculation of recovery chances which goes hand in hand with the quality of our recovery algorithms. That means that Recover4all will provide you with very detailed information that you might not find anywhere else: e.g. which percentage of a file was overwritten and what did actually overwrite a file. But please note that this remains a guess. A deleted file can appear to be not overwritten while in fact it was already overwritten. So you always need to check if a file is intact after recovery.

Deleted files will sooner or later be overwritten, when other files are saved to the same drive. Overwritten files can not be recovered by means of software. Be careful, when you install software. “Installing” usually means that files will be copied to your system drive (usually C:) and this will overwrite deleted files. Recover4all runs directly from disk and will not copy or change anything on your computer.

Searching deleted files

In the first step you search for deleted files and in the second step you recover them. To search for deleted files, please choose a drive from the menu:

Alternatively, double-click the drive icon :

Or click on :

After the scan has finished, you can find your files in Recover4all`s easy Explorer-style interface:

 

Recover4all employs the following symbols:

Deleted file. A green file is presumably not overwritten and can in most (not all) cases be recovered.

Deleted file with overwritten clusters. A red file can not be fully recovered.

Deleted file. The question mark indicates that only parts of the deep analysis could be carried out. This is normal for certain file types like text files. It does not mean that Rec4all found any problems. The calculation of recovery chances is less reliable than for green files. On NTFS drives this does not influence the recovery process. On FAT drives the recovery chances can actually be lower than for green files, but only in rare cases.

Deleted directory.

Normal directory just as displayed by Windows Explorer.

Deleted directory which was found in the deep scan. The parent directory of this directory does no longer exist, not even as a deleted directory. Blue directories can have subdirectories because Rec4all will reconstruct the file system as far as possible.

Recovering Files

After you searched for deleted files, you can recover (undelete) the files that were found during the scan.
The word “recover” means that the deleted files are saved to another drive by the following steps:

1. Select the files and/or folders with the mouse.

2. Right-click on your selection with the mouse and choose “Recover”. The following box will appear, asking you for a destination directory:

3. Select a drive with the mouse and then use the mouse to choose a destination directory. Your chosen path will be displayed in the upper field. A directory that does not exist will be created by Recover4all.

4. When you click “OK”, the deleted files will be saved to the chosen directory.

Miscellaneous

This document explains some terms used in the help system.

1. Supported operating systems and file systems
Recover4all Professional can recover deleted files from local drives with FAT and NTFS file systems.
All files that can possibly be recovered by the full version are already displayed in the unregistered version.

The program runs under Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000 and all Windows Server versions.

2. Recoverable and unrecoverable files
How is it possible that a deleted file is still on the disk?
In many cases only the pointers to the file data are deleted and the file data remains unchanged. But sooner or later another file will be saved to that location. Then the deleted file is overwritten and unrecoverable. If no data is saved to the drive, the deleted files will remain on the disk forever (but see the warnings in the overview section). It is in general advised to use Recover4all soon after deletion.

3. Destination drives
You must choose a destination drive where Recover4all will save the deleted files to. Recover4all does not allow to recover files to the same drive where they were deleted from. The reason being that this could overwrite the very deleted files that you wish to recover.

FAQ

This document provides answers to frequently asked questions about Recover4all.

1. Does this program require installation?

No. It can be run directly from any disk e.g. from a USB drive. Data recovery software that requires installation does often not make much sense, because installing a program can overwrite deleted files on the computer. Recover4all will not save files to your computer, only your recovered files. Recover4all does not include itself to the Start Menu, Desktop or Systray. It will not save files to your system folder. It will not ask you to install a search bar in your browser. It will not enforce an evaluation period by saving secret data to your computer.

Please note that running any program under Windows can overwrite deleted files on the system drive (usually C:). Your Internet Browser will for instance save data to your computer. Even if you run no program at all, Windows will constantly save data to the system drive. It is not recommended to surf on the Internet and/or install e.g. data recovery programs for evaluation to your computer, if you want to recover files from the system drive.

Data recovery software that requires installation should only be used, if it has already been installed on a computer as a precautionary measure. If no data recovery software has yet been installed and you want to recover deleted files, you must make sure that the data recovery software is not installing itself on the drive with the deleted files.

 

2. Where are my deleted files?

Recover4all lists deleted files in the folder from which they were deleted. Of course you will look there first. But if you can not find them there, there is still a chance that they will show up in a blue folder. Those folders contain files that could not be assigned a position in the existing file system. So if you can not find your files in yellow or green folders, look for them in possibly listed blue folders.

 

3. Can I recover to the same drive where the deleted files are?

No. Recover4all does deliberately not allow to recover files to the same drive, because the deleted files could be overwritten.

 

4. Where can I recover my files?

You can for instance recover to an attached USB drive. You can also recover to network drives which are mapped to drive letters.

 

5. My recovered files do not open.

Files that can not be opened are corrupted. The deleted files have either already been overwritten to some extent with other files or they could not be correctly reassembled.

Though Recover4all displays recovery chances to the best of its knowledge, even green files with “good” recovery chances can turn out to be corrupted. Example: file A is deleted and overwritten with file B. Recover4all will display file A as a red (overwritten) file. But if file B is later also deleted and overwritten, Recover4all will not find file B that overwrote file A. Recover4all will then show file A as a green (not overwritten) file.

If the corrupted files that do not open were documents, you can sometimes recover some plain text from them. Open them in a text editor or better a hex editor. Every file will open in a hex editor.

For very precious files that turned out to be corrupted after recovery, recovery in a data recovery laboratory can be an option.

Purchase

Become a registered user of Recover4all and use all features of the full version. Immediately after ordering online, you will receive your personal registration key by email. This service is available 24 hours / 7 days a week.

To register please go to www.recover4all.com/register.html