Contents of files are not destroyed when you delete them in Windows. It just removes their entries from the file table of your filesystem – making the space used by them available for other files. This makes it possible for you to recover the deleted files using appropriate tools. This is security concern as anybody who has access to your hard disk can attempt to recover the files you deleted. But it is also a good thing because if you accidentally deleted an important file, then you can recover it back. Wise Data Recovery is a free tool for Windows that helps you recover your deleted files.
Wise Data Recovery is a free tool from the same people who created the Wise Cleaner software. It enables you to quickly recover the files you have deleted before. It works both on FAT32 and NTFS filesystems. It can recover various types of files including images, documents, audio files, video files, compressed files and email. It supports recovery of files from various devices like local hard disk drives, USB sticks, camera, memory cards, removable devices and so on.
You can download Wise Data Recovery from its web site. It supports all versions of Windows starting from Windows XP to Windows 7. The download is available both in form of a setup installer and as a portable app. I always choose the portable editions as you do not have to install them – just extract the contents of downloaded zip archive and run the application. When you run Wise Data Recovery, it shows up a very easy to use interface. Just select the disk drive from the dropdown listbox on the top-left and then click on the Scan button to find the deleted files on that drive.
The scan is very fast and takes only a few seconds to complete. It lists the found deleted files in a list showing their names, sizes, modified dates, recoverability and full path. The recoverability can be good (green), poor(yellow), very poor(orange) or lost (red). Good recoverability means that the chances of recovering that file are pretty high. Poor and very poor recoverability means that the chances of recovery are pretty dim for that file. Lost recoverability means that file is lost and cannot be recovered. If you want to recover a file, you have to select it by checking the checkbox in front of its filename and then click on the Recover button as shown.
It would ask you to choose a folder to save the recovered files. You cannot choose the same disk drive to save the file as the disk drive from which you are trying to recover them. After saving the recovered files, it would open the destination folder so you can have a look at them. I tried to recover a big video file that I had deleted. The file recovery was pretty quick and 100% of data was recovered.
Wise Data Recovery software is a freeware app to help you recover your deleted files. It does not confuse you with any advanced features or options, and does its job without any problem. I am amazed at the speed it scans your disks for deleted files. Another similar software – Recuva that we covered earlier, takes much more time compared to Wise Data Recovery. You can download it from http://wisecleaner.com/wisedatarecoveryfree.html.