FileRestorePlus is a file recovery program for Windows from WebMinds. It searches hard drives, SSDs, USB flash drives and memory cards for deleted files, including items emptied from the Recycle Bin and data on formatted drives. It copies recoverable files to a location you choose. The free download scans and shows what can be recovered; restoring files requires a paid license.
Deleting a file in Windows normally removes its entry from the file system index and marks its space as free. Recovery is possible because the data itself stays on the disk until something new is written there.
Scan modes for different kinds of loss
FileRestorePlus offers several scan types, and the choice determines how deeply it looks:
- Default scan is the basic scan, but it can miss deleted files.
- SmartScan looks for the scattered pieces of fragmented deleted files, which helps when a file comes back corrupt.
- DeepScan reads the drive at a raw level and is the mode for formatted drives. It can take a long time on a large, full disk. It carries on past read errors instead of stopping, so a failing area does not end the search.
- Photo SmartScan is a special mode optimized for finding deleted photos on a PC or SD card.
A Wizard button asks a few questions and sets the scan options accordingly.
Limiting the search to drives and file types
Before scanning, you tick the target drives in the Drives pane. The settings screen also holds a file type tree covering several hundred formats grouped into categories. Selecting only the types you need keeps a SmartScan shorter and the result list smaller.
Reading the results list
After a scan, FileRestorePlus shows the recoverable files in a list that you can search by file name and narrow with filters. Each entry has a colored circle showing its condition:
- Green means FileRestorePlus can recover the file intact.
- Orange means FileRestorePlus will most likely recover the file.
- Red means the data has been overwritten or damaged and cannot be restored.
You can preview files from the list before you commit to recovering them. The portable edition can also export the list of found files to a text file.
Running FileRestorePlus from a USB drive
Installing software onto the drive you want to recover from can overwrite the deleted data. FileRestorePlus can therefore run from a USB stick or other removable drive without installation. For the same reason, you should save recovered files to a different drive than the one you are scanning, such as an external disk or a flash drive. You choose that destination when you click Recover.
Supported media and file systems
FileRestorePlus works with IDE, ATA and SCSI hard drives, SSDs, external drives, USB flash drives and SD or other memory cards formatted with FAT16, FAT32 or NTFS. FileRestorePlus can scan a digital camera when Windows mounts it with a drive letter. You can also read its card through a card reader. CDs and DVDs are not supported. FileRestorePlus can also recover deleted Outlook items. Messages read only through webmail are never saved on the computer and cannot be recovered.
Trial and license
The trial version is fully functional for scanning, so it shows whether a lost file is still recoverable before any purchase. Restoring files requires the full version, activated with a license key. Licenses cover one, three, five or ten computers and include a year of updates.
