iRescue More Other Information

What are the differences of DIY DataRecovery iRescue and DIY DataRecovery iRecover?

While browsing the DIY DataRecovery website you may have noticed that we offer two file recovery programs: iRescue and iRecover. Although there are overlaps in the capabilities of both programs, they were developed with different scenarios in mind. In general, common data loss scenarios (i.e. relatively simple scenarios like deleted files or formatted volumes) can be dealt with using iRescue. For more severe and complex scenarios (i.e. partition resize/move/merge disasters, and recovery from disks with bad sectors) iRecover is recommended. Additionally,

• iRescue is NTFS only! iRecover also supports FAT, FAT32 and Ext2.
• On-the-fly decompression: compressed data is uncompressed during recovery, the recovered file is written to the destination disk in uncompressed state.
• It is recommended to clone the disk if data was lost due to read errors or bad sectors! iRecover can create an image file.

When using the trial version, what limitations are there?

When using the trial version, the following limitations apply:

• You can only select and copy one file at a time
• You can not copy folders
• A 3 second delay occurs before the selected file is copied
• A pop-up message is displayed with each file copied

These limitations are removed as soon as you register iRescue. To prevent you from having to scan a disk again, iRescue immediately switches to non-trial mode once the license key has been entered so you can start recovering your files. The license key can be entered by clicking the appropriate button in the toolbar.

When to use the portable version?

If you need to recover files 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 data drive. If this is not possible:

• 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/DVD-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.
  
  
• If you have an additional PC you can download the portable 'iRescue.exe' file (no setup is required) and copy it to a CD/DVD or USB key. Run the program on the problem PC to recover files. If you don't have an additional PC, download the portable 'iRescue.exe' file directly to a removable device, such as a USB key. Run the program from there to recover files.

If you need to recover files from a non system drive

Stop all processes and applications that might access the affected drive. These include automatic update tasks (Windows, Virus Scanners), backup jobs, network sharing services, peer to peer download programs, CD/DVD-burn sessions etc. Download, install (not to the problem drive!) and run iRescue as quickly as possible.

What are the general limitations of file recovery?

The recovery of data, even if it appears intact, can never be guaranteed. Do not make assumptions about the recovered data or the recovered files, especially if it concerns deleted files. Even if the file seems to have been copied to safety intact, there is still no guarantee that the contents of that file are what they should be. Files that have been deleted may have had (parts of) their contents overwritten with new data, so always check the contents of recovered files before calling the recovery successful.