Freeware Data Recovery Tools for Windows

So, you just deleted an important file or en entire directory, only to realize you should not have done it? Don't panic. This post is all about help on this topic. When recovering data from accidental deletion, there are some rules to follow.

1. Stop using the hard drive you want to recover as main hard drive (if it is HDD data that you are trying to recover). Don't save anything after detecting lost data, don't even shutdown or restart the machine. Windows has disk and registry activity in background, and a lot of changes happen on even while shutting down and restarting.
2. Never install the data recovery software on the hard drive that you want to recover. (This may be different with some software, that use prior installation of a small component of the recovery software)
3. Never save the recovered files on the same hard drive (the one that you’re recovering - could be any type of media)

There are several freeware Windows utilities to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files (of any kind) emptied from the Recycle bin or deleted by user error from hard and floppy disks, USB flash drives, CF and SD cards and other storage media used in digital camera memory cards or MP3 players - or even from network drives. You can even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses! Most of these would work under Win 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista and support almost all Windows file systems, even with compression and encryption, across partitions, even if the boot sector or FAT has been erased or damaged.


Pandora Recovery, FreeUndelete, Glary Undelete, Avira UnErase Personal, Recuva, and PC INSPECTOR File Recovery are some such free tools.


TOKIWA DataRecovery, SoftPerfect File Recovery, and Undelete Plus are other portable freeware utilites that do not even require a prior installation and can run off removable drives and USB memory.


ADRC Data Recovery Software incorporates extremely simple GUI and is a favourite of the newbies.