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The worst feeling in the world is deleting a file and realizing you needed it after all. Normally when you delete a file, Windows stores that deleted file in the Recycle Bin so you can retrieve it again. However, most people periodically empty their Recycle Bin out of habit, which means you may still wipe out accidentally deleted files in the process.
Fortunately, even after you’ve emptied the Windows Recycle Bin, your files aren’t really gone. Your computer stores the physical file on your hard drive and also stores the actual physical location of that file in a special file called a directory or a table.
When your computer needs to retrieve a file, it doesn’t waste time searching for that file on the hard drive. Instead, the computer first looks in the directory or table to find the location of your file. Once it knows the physical location of a file, it can jump straight to that file.
So, when you erase a file, your computer doesn’t physically delete the file. Instead, Windows simply pretends that the file no longer exists by removing its listing from its directory or table. Although your file’s directory or table information may be gone, the file itself is still physically there. If the computer needs to store new data, it will reuse the space occupied by this file. However, if you don’t add or modify any files to that drive, any deleted files still physically remain on that drive.
File recovery programs work by searching for existing files and restoring information about that file back in the hard drive directory or table. This is essentially what you do when you delete a file and later remove it from the Windows Recycle Bin.
On a more difficult level, file recovery programs can also retrieve deleted files by examining the physical parts of a drive, called sectors, and piecing together fragments to make up a single file. Such drive sector analysis can often retrieve files deleted days or even months before, but the chance of recovering the entire file drops dramatically over time, as Windows will store new data in sectors formerly reserved for the file you “deleted.”
There are two types of undelete programs you can use. One type is an emergency recovery program that can try to retrieve any file you deleted by mistake. The success of these programs depends on how long ago you deleted the file.
The second type of undelete program is the preventative one, which you must install and use before you try to recover any accidentally deleted files. These preventative programs work by storing compressed copies of your hard drive or files in a separate location, such as in a separate partition or on an external hard drive. When you need to retrieve a file, these preventative programs can restore your entire hard drive or folder back to a previous state by copying the older, compressed version over the current version. Preventative programs have a much higher success rate, but they’re useless if you delete a file before you install and run the preventative program. Let’s examine several programs to see what they have to offer.
 Norton GoBack 4.0  Norton GoBack 4.0
$49.95
Symantec
www.symantec.com
CPUs: 3.5
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Norton GoBack is a preventative rollback program that can return your computer to a previous state. Because this app is a preventative tool, you must install it before you can recover lost files.
Think of this program as a safety net. Once installed, it gobbles up to 8GB of hard drive space to store its recovery information. Each time you boot up, GoBack 4.0 stores a snapshot of your hard drive's condition. Of course, you can manually save the current state of your hard drive or schedule the software to save snapshots of your hard drive's condition automatically during the day.
If your computer crashes, GoBack 4.0 can restore your hard drive to a previous state, including any files you were working on. So if the software created a snapshot of your hard drive at 1 p.m., you created three new files at 1:04 p.m., and your computer suddenly crashes, GoBack 4.0 can restore your hard drive back to its 1 p.m. condition. However, that means you’ll be missing all the files you created at 1:04 p.m. To avoid this problem, the program includes a special post-restore file rescue feature that can recover files modified or created after the application created a snapshot of your hard drive.
GoBack 4.0 offers two additional features that can further protect your computer. The first is called SafeTry mode, which saves the current condition of your system’s hard drive and then lets you install or test an unknown program, such as one downloaded off the Internet. If the program turns out to be a virus or spyware, you can immediately restore your hard drive back to its condition immediately before you ran the destructive program.
A second useful feature of this program is its Auto Rollback feature, which can restore a computer to a specific condition automatically. With this feature turned on, no matter what anyone else does to your PC (even unintentionally downloading malicious software), you can be assured of a clean boot each time.
One problem with GoBack 4.0 is its inability to retrieve files from removable media. The app only protects hard drive files, so if you need to recover files from a USB flash drive or CompactFlash card, you'll have to use another file recovery program. Despite its few blemishes, Norton GoBack is a safety net that any computer user should consider. Combine this program with an emergency file recovery program and a backup program, and your data should be as safe as possible.
WinUndelete  WinUndelete
$49.95
WinRecovery Software
www.winundelete.com
CPUs: 3
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
WinUndelete guides users through a simple three-step process to recover files. First, you must specify the drive that contains the lost files. Second, you can choose the types of files to find based on type (graphic or text files) or file extension (DOC or XLS files). During this second step, you can specify whether to ignore temporary files and empty files that consist of zero length.
Third, you must specify a destination folder to store your recovered files. Once you go through this three-step process, WinUndelete displays a list of files along with a label of Good or Poor, which is the program’s estimate for how likely it is that it can recover that file.
One unique feature of WinUndelete is that if you’re not sure whether you want to recover a particular file, the app can display the file contents in a preview window. If the file is a plain text file, a Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) file, or a common graphic file format (GIF, JPG, BMP, or PGN), you’ll see the actual contents of the file. Otherwise, the preview window will just display a hexadecimal representation of the file contents.
For added convenience, the software can sort its list of found files by name, date, type, and folder location. If you need a simple and reliable file recovery program, WinUndelete might be the program for you.
Search and Recover 4  Search and Recover 4
$39.95
Iolo Technologies
www.iolo.com
CPUs: 4
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
Search and Recover 4 crams a variety of file recovery features into a single program. In an emergency, the software can run entirely off its CD to retrieve files from a crashed hard drive. This feature, dubbed Total Recovery, retrieves the files and restores them to a second hard drive.
Because you probably won’t need to restore the contents of an entire hard drive on a regular basis, Search and Recover 4 also offers a file recovery feature that lets you retrieve all files at once or retrieve specific files based on type, such as audio files or Microsoft Word files. Since a full file recovery can often find useless temporary files that were created and deleted by another program, Search and Recovery 4 offers a special SmartScan feature that only displays files you most likely want rather than temporary files such as Internet cookies.
If the program can’t find your file, you can run it again using its StrongScan feature. This feature examines the individual sectors of a hard drive to search for a specific file. This takes significantly longer but greatly increases the chances that the app will find at least fragments of your deleted file.
While most file recovery programs let you recover specific files, Search and Recover 4 goes one step further and offers a special email recovery feature that works with a variety of programs, including Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Netscape, and Eudora.
In addition to its emergency file recovery features, the software also includes preventative features. To protect your entire hard drive, the app can create an image of your drive, which essentially captures its contents as a single file. Once you’ve captured your hard drive as an image file, you can store this image file in a separate location, essentially cloning your drive. Now if something catastrophic happens to your hard drive, you can simply retrieve your data by restoring the disc image back to a hard drive again.
You can also use a disc image file to protect your hard drive when you attempt to recover a file. Rather than try to recover the file directly from your hard drive, you can clone the drive as a disc image and then try to retrieve your lost file from the disc image file instead. That way you can try different techniques to recover the file without risking the chance of physically altering your hard drive and damaging your lost files beyond repair.
Search and Recover 4 is both a preventative and emergency file recovery tool and may be the only program you need to protect your data from catastrophic loss.
RecoverMyFiles  RecoverMyFiles
$69.95
GetData
www.recovermyfiles.com
CPUs: 3.5
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
If you accidentally delete a file, most file recovery programs can recover it. Where RecoverMyFiles stands out from its rivals is its support for a wide variety of specific file types, support for retrieving lost files from an iPod, and the ability to recover files from a system’s reformatted hard drive.
While most programs let you selectively search and recover files based on file type or file extension, RecoverMyFiles goes one step further and recognizes unique file types ranging from the common types (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files) to the more unusual ones such as TurboCAD, Quark XPress, Family TreeMaker, and TurboTax files.
Not only can this app recover files stored on digital camera media, but it can recover lost files on an iPod, as well. More remarkable is the software’s ability to recover files (with varying degrees of success) from a completely formatted hard drive. You can save a file on a hard drive and then reinstall Windows over that hard drive, and this program can still recover files from the drive.
Because few people ever reformat their entire hard drive, the app’s ability to recover data from reformatting is most useful if you delete a partition on your hard drive. Most file recovery programs can’t retrieve a file from a deleted partition, but this one can.
Although RecoverMyFiles is the most expensive program we reviewed, its extra cost may be worth it because of its extensive file support. As far as file recovery programs go, RecoverMyFiles is a pretty good choice.
True Image 10 Home  True Image 10 Home
$49.99
Acronis
www.acronis.com
CPUs: 3.5
Windows 2000/XP/Vista
True Image 10 Home is a combination backup and preventative recovery program, meaning that the software won’t be able to recover files that were damaged prior to its installation. Once installed, the program can capture an image of your hard drive and store it on a drive partition or any removable media such as CDs/DVDs, USB flash drives, or external hard drives.
Once you’ve captured your hard drive as a disc image file, True Image gives you several ways to recover your files. If your hard drive fails completely, you can restore your hard drive to a previous working condition by restoring it from the disc image.
Rather than replace your entire hard drive with a disc image, True Image lets you browse through all the files stored in a disc image so you can selectively choose which ones you want to restore. Of course, recovering files can save your PC’s data and programs, but the software also protects your program settings. That way you don’t have to reinstall a program all over again and hunt around for the registration key to make your software work.
If you’re a heavy Microsoft Outlook user, you’ll be happy to know that True Image also knows how to back up Outlook’s various data, including contacts, appointments, tasks, notes, email, and even email rules.
For added convenience, True Image can restore your files, program settings, or hard drive in minutes instead of hours. That’s because the app first restores your computer to a working condition so you can start using your system while the software completes the rest of its recovery process.
Because this app can only recover files if you first back them up, it provides a scheduler feature so you can automatically back up your files at a set time. As an added convenience, True Image can even send you an email letting you know when its backup process completed successfully.
If you accidentally delete a bunch of files before you install it, True Image won’t be the first program you’ll use to recover them. However, True Image should be the first program to use before you lose any data. With True Image protecting your hard drive, you may not need an emergency file recovery program ever again.
F-Recovery  F-Recovery
$49
FileRecoveryTools Inc.
www.filerecoverytools.com
CPUs: 1
Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP
The F-Recovery programs are specifically designed to recover files from digital media such as Memory Sticks, Compact-Flash cards, and xD-Picture cards. To support its specialized function, the program provides a simple user interface. Just click the drive letter that represents your media, choose a folder in which to store your recovered files, and click the Start button.
The program works quickly and stores recovered files in your chosen destination folder. However, in my testing, the software gave a "corrupt file" error message each time I tried to open a recovered file. Further testing revealed the same problems with other files stored and erased off a 128MB CompactFlash card.
Even worse, three email messages sent to the company’s technical support address went unanswered. As a result of the app’s inability to recover lost files as advertised, plus the company’s apparent unwillingness to even answer a single request for assistance, makes this app one to avoid.
If you need to recover lost files right now, you have no choice but to get a file recovery program. However, if you truly value your data, you’ll not only back it up every day, but you’ll buy and install a preventative rollback program such as True Image or Norton GoBack. The sooner you protect your data, the less likely you are to lose data ever again. 
by Wallace Wang
The Lineup
This chart identifies four important points about all the programs reviewed here. First, is this program proactive in helping prevent accidental file loss, or is it more reactive? A proactive preventative program greatly increases your chances of recovering a file, but only if you install that program first. A reactive program can be used to retrieve any lost file, but its chances of success are much less than a preventative program.
Second, can the program recover files off removable storage devices like CompactFlash cards or flash drives? With more people storing digital photographs and other important files on portable storage devices, you need to know which programs can recover files lost from these storage devices.
Third, is the program compatible with Vista? While this isn’t important if you aren’t using Vista, it can be crucial if you later upgrade to Vista and suddenly find your protective file recovery program can’t protect you any more.
The fourth and final factor is the price. Most programs cost the same, but you probably don’t want to buy one program to help recover files off your hard drive and a second program to recover lost files from a flash drive. The price of a file recovery program will be more than worth its cost the first time it recovers your lost files. | Program | Preventative file recovery features? | Can recover files stored on digital camera media or USB flash drives? | Vista Compatible? | Price | | Norton GoBack 4.0 | Yes | No | No | $49.95 | | WinUndelete | No | Yes | Yes | $49.95 | | Search and Recover 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | $39.95 | | RecoverMyFiles | No | Yes | Yes | $69.95 | | True Image 10 Home | Yes | No | Yes | $49.99 | | F-Recovery | No | Failed | No | $49.95 | |
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