GetDataBack vs EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard

I was recently asked to take a look at someone's computer and try and recover some data. I've done this before from someone's damaged disk, by using a bit of msdos knowledge to run CHKDSK, and ultimately reinstalling windows. The old data was stored in a windows.old folder, so I got it back for them and advised them to replace the drive soonest.

On this occasion, some prat took the disk away, and he tells me he reformatted the disk, and put windows 7 on. The odd thing was, he reckoned that reformatting would not erase the data confused duh, amateur!), but it makes me wonder if he really did.
Anyway, I checked out the popular data recovery utilities here, and GetDataBack and EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard look as though they may do the job.

Do you guys have any preference? And also, is there any way of telling whether the disk was previously formatted FAT or NTFS as GetDataBack has 2 versions?

Thanks as always, for your valuable time guys

 

Hi

I haven't used either of the programs you're asking about. However, I've used Recuva after a format, and it worked fine (the drive was NTFS) to recover what was not completely overwritten.

 

Thanks. Actually, Recuva was higher up the popularity list, but didn't mention restoring data after a format. Maybe a Mod chould change that, as I am pretty impressed with the tools from Piriform. CCleaner Defraggler, and now this.

I'll give an update on the thread with my success or failure

 

Sounds good!

 

My preference is to make an image/clone of the drive first. because any access to the drive will further make recovery harder, it's better to make a copy/image first, and work from that. Then use recova or some other recovery software.
http://majorgeeks.com/HDClone_Free_Edition_d3809.html

 

Thanks again, I'll put that on my thumb drive and take it round too.
I don't know how much disk space i've got to play with yet. When i went round to look at it Wednesday, said prat had already been round and removed the disk. Why he didn't attempt to fix it in situ i really don't know.

 

Strange... my message seems to have gotten lost; this is a re-post:

So, kerryh_r, what was the result? Which tool worked best for you?

I've done some googling, and found many products:


GetDataBack NTFS by Runtime Software
http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm
http://download.cnet.com/GetDataBack-for-NTFS/3000-2242_4-10061737.html
$79
Supposedly can unformat partition; free trial (view-only)

Recuva by Piriform
http://www.piriform.com/recuva
free
Unerase files; dunno about unformat. Same guy as ccleaner.

iCare Data Recovery Software v4.5.2 and iCare Format Recovery by iCare
http://www.icare-recovery.com/
$70 each

iCare Data Recovery Free by iCare
http://www.formatted-recovery.com/free-format-recovery.html
free

EasyRecovery Professional by Kroll Ontrack
http://www.krollontrack.com/data-recovery/recovery-software/
http://download.cnet.com/EasyRecove..._4-37386.html?tag=dropDownForm;productListing
$499
Free trial lets you see the files that can be recovered

EaseUS Data Recovery by EaseUS
http://www.easeus.com/landing/easy-recovery.htm
$56-$72

NTFS Data Recovery 4.1.1.0 by DiskInternals
http://www.diskinternals.com/ntfs-recovery/
http://www.ntfsrecovery.com/
http://recovery-review.com/unformat-tools/ntfs-data-recovery-1-1.html
$100
(I think they promote it with a bogus “review” site, http://recovery-review.com, but maybe it's legit)

Recover My Files 4.7.2.1197 by GetData
http://www.recovermyfiles.com/
$70

Data Recovery Pro by ParetoLogic
http://www.paretologic.com/lp/datarecovery/pro/trapeze/index.html
$50/year

Recover Data for NTFS by Recover Data
http://www.recoverdatatools.com/ntfs-data-recovery.html
$49

iRecover by DIY Data Recovery
http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/irecover.htm
$40 - $90

Power Data Recovery by MiniTools
http://www.powerdatarecovery.com/
free or $49 or $119

Dave

P.S -- found another list right here on MajorGeeks:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads38.html

 

you area tit

 

What?

 

P.S. -- two more are:

WonderShare Data Recovery:
http://www.wondershare.com/disk-utility/ntfs-recovery.html
$40

ZAR Zero Assumption Recovery
http://www.z-a-recovery.com/
$60

That's 14 products (so far), plus a few more here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads38.html
Does anyone have any opinions about their relative merits?

Note: my immediate need is to recover files from a freshly formatted partition. But I'd like to hear opinions about using these (or other) tools in other scenarios, too.

 

Dave,

Minitools Power DataRecovery seems to get pretty good results for a free program. You have to be sure to click "I am a home user" when the program starts to be able to recover your files for free.

Someone here on this board is big fan of ICare and I have seen GetDataBack do a very good job. It depends on your situation but I would try Minitools to see what it finds for free. GetDataBack will analyze your drive and list the files it finds in the demo version so you can determine if it will be able to recover the files but it is rather expensive.

Recuva is primarily for recovering files you accidentally deleted from the Recycle Bin; I am not sure what it could find after a full format but don't think it is designed for that kind of recovery.

EDIT: Did you do a FULL format or a quick one?

 

Thank you for the advice, sach2!

I assume it was a quick format.

What happened is that my friend's old P4 (2.8 GHz, I think) XP computer was working well when she shut it down, she says, but she says it took a long time to shut down. When she tried to start it again, it displayed "disk read error" (I think) before Windows even tried to load.

I figured the HDD was failing, so I booted Drive Fitness Test and tested it. To my surprise it tested 100% good.

So I tried to boot my Ultimate Boot CD For Windows rescue disk, but it wouldn't boot on that computer (which happens with some computers). So I tried an IDE-to-USB adapter, but for some reason it didn't like the drive. So I removed the drive, double-checked that it was jumpered for "cable select," and plugged it into into the 2nd IDE cable position on my friend's other computer (similar vintage P4, running XP), and left the room for a few minutes while it booted. When I came back, the 2nd drive was working, but the main partition was empty and error free!

My best guess is that the main partition was mangled in some way, and Windows XP on the 2nd computer thoughtfully did us the favor of formatting it so that it would be usable. I actually don't know.

I wasn't gone for long, and it was booted by the time I got back, so there's no way it had time to do a full format.

What makes it worse is that she'd been bugging me for a while to help her get backed up (she's not very computer savvy), but I hadn't gotten around to it.

 

I don't think there was any formatting going on because that is something you have to do manually. Most likely the drive is failing. Or perhaps it is a problem with the partition table being corrupted.

I think the first thing to do is to try to run a manufacturer's diagnostic test on the HD. Can you give the manufacturer of the HD--probably Western Digital or Seagate/Maxtor? Both WD and Seagate have diagnostic programs that can test the drive with the extended/long test being able to correct problems. (I'm unfamiliar with drive fitness test but the test from the brand specific manufacturer tends to be able to correct problems.)

If the drive tests OK then I think Minitools Partition Wizard may be able to sort out a partition problem without the need to copy files. (Minitools PowerDataRecovey copies files to a second storage device and PartitionWizard tries to fix the partition table.) If the drive doesn't test out OK the you should do data recovery.

I'm not hawking Minitools; I have just found that they offer rather powerful programs for free that compete with programs I have paid for in the past.