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Recover My Fileshard drive data recovery made easy! |
Recover My Files Online Help
View the Recover My Files Online User GuideTutorials
- Learn the Principles of Data Recovery
- How to use the General, Advanced, and Search Options
- How to use Recover My Files over a Network
Frequently Asked Questions
| 1. | Where should I install Recover My Files?
If possible, avoid using the hard drive on which the files were lost. You activities will write data to the hard drive and may overwrite and permanently destroy the files that you want to recover. If Recover My Files is not already installed on your computer we recommend one of the following:
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| 2. | How do I register Recover My Files?
The registration key is entered into Recover My Files by selecting "Help" (the text at the top most of the screen - not the HELP icon) and then "Register". To save recovered files it is necessary to register Recover My Files. A Registration Key can be purchased here. |
| 3. | How do I install version updates?
When you download Recover My Files, you are downloading the full version. The only limitation is that the program's 'save' feature is disabled. You must purchase a registration key which, when entered into the program, will activate the ability to save the files that Recover My Files has found. To update Recover My Files Version 2.53 or above you can click on the "Update" button in the main program screen. Follow the on screen instructions. If you have successfully installed a major Version Update you should see that the version number at the top of the screen has changed. Or you can view the full version number by going to the 'Help > About' toolbar drop down menu. |
| 4. | I have lost my registration key. What should I do?
Contact support for more information. Please allow 24 hours for your key to be sent. |
| 5. | Can I run Recover My Files from a CD?
Yes. Simply burn "RecoverMyFiles.exe" to a CD and run this program from the CD. "RecoverMyFiles.exe" is created on your hard drive when the program is installed. The default location is "C:ProgramFiles/RecoverMyFiles". Each time you run the program from CD you will need to enter your registration details. To permanently register the CD see step 7 below. Using The Recover My Files 'AutoRun' CD Front End If you would like to use our CD front end, the following files must be written to your CD:
If you have correctly written these files to a CD, when you insert the CD in your computer Recover My Files should run automatically and all the buttons should perform their appropriate functions. The following files should be on your CD:
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| 6. | What are the best settings to recover from a FORMAT of my media?
If you have formatted your hard drive, follow these instructions:
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| 7. | Can I search for temporary files?
Many software applications automatically create temporary files without the user's knowledge or intervention. Notable examples are Microsoft Office products like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. In the event of file loss, recovered temporary files may contain copies of the files that were being worked on just prior to deletion. Recover My Files is configured to show by default in the drive selection screen the "Documents and Settings" and "Recycle Bin" folder. These folders are most likely to contain temporary files. You can alter these settings in the "drive selection screen". Add new folders to search by double-clicking "add folders to search". Remember to place a green tick in the box next to the folder to select it as part of the search. Double click on a folder to delete it from the search. |
| 8. | Can Recover My Files recover emails from web based email programs like Hotmail and Yahoo Mail?
When you use a web based e-mail program like Hotmail or Yahoo Mail, you are using your Internet Browser to log into a remote computer which stores your e-mail. When you delete an e-mail you are deleting it from the remote computer and it cannot be recovered. However, if you have previously viewed the deleted e-mail on the computer that you are using it may be possible to recover copies of the pages that you have viewed. When you view web based email with your Internet Browser a copy of the page you saw on your screen is written to your computer into the "Temporary Internet Cache". Caching is a way that computers speed up access to Internet pages. You may have copies of the web mail messages still stored in your Temporary Internet Files folder, or, as the cache is frequently automatically emptied, as a deleted HTML pages on your computer.
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| 9. | The file type I need to recover is not listed in Recover My Files. What should I do?
Recover My Files will find any type of "Deleted File". File types other than those which you select in the file list will be returned in the results screen under the folder "Other deleted files". First check this folder to see if your file can be located there. A preview is not available for files contained in the "Other deleted files" folder. If you do not find your file in the "Other deleted files" folder it may still exist on your computer as a "Lost File". In order to search for Lost Files the file type must be in our file type list. If the file type you are trying to recover is not currently contained in our file type list please send us a support request. |
| 10. | What file types can be recovered by Recover My Files?
Recover My Files includes specific recovery support for more than 100 file types. Click here for more information about specific file types. |
| 11. | The preview window says the file is corrupt. Can it still be recovered?
It is possible that a recovered file displaying this message can be opened after it is saved. Please check to see if the file that you are trying to recover has a "Recovery Rating" (see Question #12 below). |
| 12. | Recovery is rated Overwritten, Poor, Medium, Good, Very Good. What does this mean?
Recover My Files returns a recovery rating of: Overwritten, Poor, Medium, Good, and Very Good for files that it recovers. Recover My Files reads the File Allocation Table (FAT) or Master File Table (MFT) to determine if the space used by the deleted file is being occupied by other active files. As only one file can occupy a storage space at any one time, if this happens the deleted file has been overwritten, or partially overwritten, and part of the deleted file has been destroyed. The rating system is as follows:
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| 13. | Some recovered files are in red. What does this mean?
When Recover My Files locates a file it performs a check of the file's internal structure. If Recover My Files determines that the internal file structure matches a specific file type, (eg. a 'JPEG') but it has found that the file extension is not consistent with this, (eg. it has the extension '.doc'), then the file will be marked in red in the results screen. Under the "Options" Button, "General" tab, the 'Rename file to found extension' will automatically rename the file extension when the file is saved to the file type matching the internal file structure. The benefit of this is that it will allow you computer to choose the appropriate application to automatically open the saved file. |
| 14. | How do I filter the search results?
The filter option is accessed by pressing the "Filter" button on the main program screen. A filter of the search results can be conducted either while the search is in progress, or at the completion of the search. The status of the filter, either "Filter On" or "Filter Off" is displayed in the bottom left hand corner of the main program screen. A complex filter can be created by specifying a search for file name, date and size attributes. You can also filter files containing a specific keyword. |
| 15. | The drive I wish to search is not shown. What can I do?
After you have selected the type of search to perform (eg. Fast Search, Complete Search or Format Recovery), Recover My Files conducts a scan of devices connected to your computer and then asks you to select the device that you wish to search. If the device is not shown:
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| 16. | Does Recover My Files work on RAID systems?
If your RAID system is functional then Recover My Files will work. We recommend you search the logical RAID drive (eg: drive C:). If your RAID system is not functional and you are running a Mirror then Recover My Files will recover files from either of the hard drives. If your RAID system is not functional and you are using a Striping RAID then you will not be able to recover files (as single files are written to two or more physical hard drives). We suggest you search the Internet for a specialized RAID repair tool. |
| 17. | Can I stop the search, save files and re-start from where the search was up to?
If you are running a Complete Search it is possible to stop the search, save your files, and start again from the place that you stopped. This is controlled via the Options/Advanced tab, by placing a tick in the box for "prompt for start cluster/sector". When running a Complete Search, before you stop the search be sure to note down the cluster/sector number (located above the blue search progress bar) that the search is up to. When you re-start the search with the "prompt for start cluster/sector" option selected you will be prompted to enter a starting cluster number. Enter the number that you noted to continue from that position. If you are running a Format Recover it is not possible to stop the search, save files, and then continue from the point at which you stopped. This is due to the fact that the entire lost partition is being rebuilt and a complete pass of the hard drive is required. |
| 18. | How long will a search take? How do I speed up the search?
Fast Search (less than 20 minutes): As the name implies, a "Fast Search" of an average 80gb hard drive should complete within 20 minutes (usually less). Complete Search (1-5 hours): A "Complete Search" is a scan of your entire hard drive. The speed of a "Complete Search" will depend on a number of factors including:
The following file types will slow the search down: MP3, MPEG, and TXT. We suggest you do a separate search for these files. Format Recover (1-5 hours): We recommend that you select only 5 file types in a format recover. (Click to learn more about using the Format Recover option) |
| 19. | Can I preview search results while the search is in progress?
Yes. Move the window containing the search bar out of the way of the main program. This gives you access to the results screen which will continue to update as the search takes place. Click on a file in the window at the top of the results screen to display the preview of that file in the bottom window. You must stop the search in order to save files found. (Click here to learn how to start the search from the location where you stopped). |
| 20. | Can I save search results and load them at a later time?
No. The reason for this is that continued use of a computer changes the contents of the deleted areas of your hard drive. Saved results would not be valid as they would not always point to the same deleted data. When Recover My Files is closed the current results are not saved. |
| 21. | Where can I save recovered files?
You can save files to:
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| 22. | Are there limitations to the number, or size of files that can be recovered?
There is no limitation to the number of files that can be saved by Recover My Files. However, Microsoft Windows has a limit of approximately 20,000 files that can be saved in one folder. If you are saving more than 20,000 files make sure you use multiple folders or your destination media. There is no limitation on the size of files that can be saved. Recover My Files has been tested up to and including an 8 gigabyte recovered file. |
| 23. | Can I wipe or permanently erase recovered files?
Use SecureClean to permanently erase deleted files with Department of Defense approved technology. Files erased with SecureClean cannot be recovered by any type of recovery software. |
| 24. | I recover lots of graphics and HTML files that I have never seen before. Where do they come from?
You are probably finding files written to you computer during the normal process of surfing the web. A Windows computer uses an "Internet Cache", which saves web page files (graphics and HTML) to the computer's hard drive as a way to speed up web surfing. When a user visits a web site the computer first checks the "Internet Cache" (also called the Temporary Internet Files folder) to determine if the files that make up that page are already stored on the local computer hard drive. It they are, it is much faster for the computer to read the files from the local hard drive than to download them again from the Internet. The Internet Cache or Temporary Internet Files folder usually has a fixed capacity and when it becomes full the oldest files are automatically deleted. A user also has the option in Windows Explorer to empty the contents of their Internet Cache. By examining the deleted graphics and HTML pages on a computer you can see what web pages have been visited. This technique is also used to recover web based email, such as Hotmail or Yahoo, since messages are also written to the Internet Cache. |
| 25. | What are the minimum system requirements to run Recover My Files?
The minimum requirements for Recover My Files are:
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