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File Rescue: Beyond Undelete

This $50 utility recovers files deleted from the Recycle Bin.

By Glenn McDonald, PCWorld   

Software Shelf's $50 File Rescue is a refreshingly straightforward, if somewhat pricey, way of recovering such accidentally deleted files from your PC's hard drive. The 2.0 version, available now for online purchase, adds another useful feature: the ability to recover files from floppy disks and removable storage media such as Zip, Jaz, and SyQuest cartridges.

Basically, File Rescue works like the old undelete function DOS 6 provided for Windows 3.x--a final safety net that inexplicably disappeared with Windows 95. The software will run under Windows 95, 98, and NT, and under current beta versions of Windows 2000.

The Road to Recovery

When you delete a file from the Recycle Bin, it's not actually erased from your hard drive. Rather, it sits there, relatively intact, until the sector it occupies is overwritten by another file. File Rescue simply identifies files that are still intact on the hard drive, floppy, or removable cartridge and gives you the option of recovering them--or at least what's left of them.

In my tests, File Rescue scanned my hard drive within a few seconds and displayed files dating back several years. After the scan, I could choose to see all deleted files, or filter by application extension (.doc,.exe, and so on). I could also choose to ignore temp files and to sort the list by date, file name, file size, or folder. Each file was labeled in "good" or "poor" condition, depending on the likelihood that the entire document was still intact.

To restore a file, you simply select it from the list and click the Undelete button. You can save the newly restored file wherever you want, although it's recommended that you save it to a separate partition or floppy if you're trying to undelete several files--otherwise the newly restored file could overwrite a file you still want to undelete.

The File Rescue version I tested does not support batch undeleting--you have to select and restore files one by one. But Software Shelf says an update with batch-undelete options should be available soon.

In my tests, File Rescue completely recovered most deleted files listed in "good" condition, and was able to restore all files I had deleted that day. Most files in "poor" condition were unreadable, although I was able to recover a few older files at least partially. I could recover files as successfully from floppies as from my hard drive.

Simple But Pricey

File Rescue is impressively simple to use--an admirable (and rare) quality in a system utility. One thing I'd like to see is an option to sort the main list of deleted files by application type, rather than having to filter by file extension at the beginning of the process. The price also seems rather steep--for $50, you can almost buy a utilities suite.

Software Shelf is currently offering a free, downloadable trial version good for recovering up to five files--definitely worth checking out before you buy the full package.