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DIY DataRecovery iRecover™: Windows Data Recovery for FAT, FAT32 and NTFS
iRecover™ introduction

iRecover is a comprehensive read-only Windows based data recovery utility. Whatever caused your data to become in-accessible, download and install iRecover and you'll be recovering your lost data within minutes.

iRecover highlights and features:

It is easy to use:

You can recover data yourself as long as you are reasonably familiar with computers. iRecover is ideal for the entry-level computer user; all you have to do is select a disk and a recovery mode.

More technically minded users can benefit from a wide range of configuration options. You can override file system type and parameters, and control disk access parameters (useful when dealing with disks containing bad sectors).
It is complete:

iRecover offers support for all major file systems: FAT, FAT32, NTFS (all versions) and Linux Ext2. iRecover is a one-stop solution for undelete, unformat, partition, RAID and image recovery. Both Windows 2000/XP/Vista basic and dynamic disks are supported.

iRecover offers a powerful RAID 0 and RAID 5 recovery module that will automatically detect RAID parameters such as stripe size and disk rotation.

iRecover allows you to create a RAW image file of a volume, a disk or an entire (reconstructed) RAID array and recover data from the image file.

A FREE digital image recovery module is included, specifically designed to rescue files from memory cards (as used in digital cameras) and other disk types.
It is powerful:

With iRecover, nothing is assumed (the 'zero assumption principle'); it never relies on file system structures on the (damaged) disk and figures everything out by itself.
iRecover will automatically detect the file system type and file system parameters, such as cluster-size. It will even do so if vital file system structures such as the boot sector and partition table are lost. It will recover data even if other file recovery software does not!

iRecover allows you to recover data from broken RAID 0 and RAID 5 arrays (hardware and software): unlike other RAID-capable recovery software you will not have to enter RAID parameters such as stripe size and disk rotation order, iRecover will automatically try to detect these parameters. RAID 5 arrays can even be processed if one member is missing!

Volumes and arrays rapidly grow larger and larger. We have tested iRecover on arrays containing up to 5.000.000 files.
(for data recovery software the number of files detected is a limiting factor, file and volume sizes aren't)
It is safe:

iRecover
only reads the 'victim' disk! While scavenging the disk for file system structures iRecover constantly monitors the disk's physical condition (if the disk is S.M.A.R.T. capable). 

If any S.M.A.R.T. attributes exceed critical levels iRecover will warn you and/or it will halt operation until it's safe to continue. For example, one of the attributes that can be monitored through S.M.A.R.T. is a disk's temperature. If the disk gets too hot iRecover will pause to allow the disk to cool down and then continue.
It is fast:

As disks grow larger, data-recoveries tend to take more time as more data is detected and needs to be analyzed. iRecover now includes a smart Quick-scan for NTFS drives (automatically invoked if applicable). The Quick scan dramatically improves scan speeds on NTFS formatted volumes!

During a test performed on a reference PC (P4 3.2 GHz, 2 Gb RAM, SATA disk), scanning a 150 Gb volume containing about 150.000 files took 21 minutes. For your convenience we have scanned that same disk with other popular and 'true' data recovery software:

Application Scan time Files detected
iRecover 21 min 260.000
GetDataBack 56 min 156.000
R-Studio 61 min 233.00
FileScavenger 56 min 325.000
iUndelete 68 min 149.000

* Remarks:

The scan was performed with default settings: some tools include deleted files in the scan, some don't. For example, FileScavenger includes deleted files, GetDataBack and iUndelete do not. The test volume contained about 65.000 deleted files.

Some tools also include files found based on signature scan. As a result the same file may be detected multiple times; through file system analysis and through content analysis.

Some tools discard empty, temporary and meta ($filename) files. For example, iUndelete discarded 1000s of empty files.

In the end ALL tools were able to correctly restore just about all of the 150.000 files that were present on the un-corrupted file system.

 
Trying iRecover™
Important! Cease all activity on the disk that has to be recovered. Do not download or install iRecover on the problem drive! See 'suggested use' below!

Before you buy you can try iRecover, but limitations apply when iRecover is run without a valid license key:
The iRecover trial version allows you to recover the contents of one folder each time you run it. There are no file size limitations! 
In digital image recovery mode, iRecover operates as freeware with no functional limitations. Recover lost or deleted digital photos, images, pictures and multimedia files from all types of digital media including digital cameras, SmartMedia, CompactFlash, Sony Memory Sticks, IBM Micro Drives, Flash cards, hard disk, and others.
 
iRecover™ recovery modes
Simple volume recovery

Select this mode to recover deleted files, files from damaged, deleted, formatted or lost volumes and from functional RAID arrays.
RAID reconstruction mode

Select to recover files from broken or degraded hard and software RAID 0 and RAID 5 arrays.
Image recovery mode:

Note: This mode is fully functional in trial mode, no license key required!

Select this mode to recover digital photos from memory cards. The Digital image recovery mode supports GIF, JPG, TIFF, CRW (Cannon RAW), MOV, WAV and CR2 (Cannon CR2 RAW) files.
 
Suggestions for use
If you are recovering data from a system drive

The safest thing would be to shut down Windows and boot the PC from a parallel Windows installation, or move the disk to another PC and attach it as a (slave) data drive. Then run iRecover to salvage data from the corrupt disk.

Or,

Create a bootable Windows CD/DVD with BartPE that runs iRecover. For more details click here.
If this is not possible then: 
  1. stop all non data recovery related processes and tasks. These include automatic update tasks (Windows, Virus Scanners), backup jobs, network sharing services, peer to peer download programs, cd-burn sessions etc. Under no circumstances should you attempt to defrag the drive or allow chkdsk to run. You may want to consider disconnecting the PC from the internet before shutting down firewalls/virus-scanners.

  2. Download (on a different PC) the DIY DataRecovery.nl Product CD ISO image > Burn the ISO image using your CD burn software > Insert the CD in the PC containing the disk that data needs to be salvaged from and select the option to run iRecover from the CD directly.

iRecover links:

Download from DIY DataRecovery

or download from Download.com:

Get it from CNET Download.com!

FAQ
Get Help
Free Image Recovery
BartPE Plug-in




screenshots

Requirements
- Windows 2000 or higher
- Administrative rights
- A destination drive
  containing enough free
  space
 
iUndelete or iRecover
Difficulty choosing between iRecover and iUndelete? 

This table explains overlaps and differences in the features of both programs.
 
Background articles
Digital Image recovery

Article explains pre- requisites, supported formats and camera models

RAID 5 reconstruction

Article explains RAID 5 and data recovery procedures when using iRecover.

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