HAL-PC Magazine

Deleting a file does not physically or electrically remove it from your hard drive. Your computer simply marks that space as free to use. NTFS Undelete 2009 can actually recover these files, even if you have emptied the Recycle Bin. Impressive? I think so. If you know you have unintentionally deleted a file, STOP, otherwise you may over write the file you want to recover. Now run NTFS Undelete.

One thing that is especially useful about this version is that it can recover files on removable media such a flash drives, external hard drives, etc.

Tips. What you should do, when you realized that the file you need is deleted:

STOP any file operations. That is: do not open or close files.
Applications create temporary files which may overwrite and corrupt your deleted files.
Run NTFS Undelete software and locate deleted file you'd like to restore.
Always recover files to another disk or partition. DO NOT recover files to the same partition they were located, otherwise files you are recovering may get corrupted and unrecoverable.

Undelete now includes InvisiTasking: This ensures that Undelete 2009 operates transparently, consuming resources only when not used by the operating system.

Secure Delete 2.0 completely erases sensitive files and wipes free space according to Department of Defense (DOD) standards. When a client deletes a file from their computer, it’s not really gone. SecureDelete completely erases files not only by deleting them, but by overwriting the disk space, where the file previously was located, with multiple bit patterns as specified by instead of overwriting individual deleted files, Wipe Free Space will overwrite any free space on the selected volume according.

Undelete replaces the basic Windows Recycle Bin with its own robust Recovery Bin. The Undelete 2009 Recovery Bin captures all data and files that have been saved-over or deleted across a network.

Donations note: Computers get old and computers need newer features to get the job done. Often we donate the old ones and “delete” personal stuff – pictures, financial data, passwords, etc. Well, that just is not a good procedure. Before you release your computer, wipe the hard drive. Files are then deleted and gone and you are safe from potential ID theft.

Emergency Undelete: What if you need to recover a deleted file on a system that doesn’t have Undelete installed. Emergency Undelete, included with all versions of Undelete 2009 (except Undelete 2009 Desktop client) solves this problem for you. Emergency Undelete runs from your Undelete 2009 installation. It runs from your installation CD or flash drive.

Fill in the file specification and the volume to search. In this example the wildcard *.* was used to search for all files and C:\ was specified as the location. Optionally, you can choose to include or exclude sub directories. Clicking “Search” yielded these recoverable files on a test computer who’s Windows Recycle Bin had just been deleted. To recover these files, select them and click on “Undelete.”

For a program that is so feature rich, it has a friendly face and easily navigated. Controls and settings are straight forward. Just read the instructions first. It works on XP/Vista/Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit versions) I’ve used it seven times and it has always come to my rescue. Two thumbs up for NTSC Undelete! For more info go to: www.diskeeper.com/business/undelete.

Harold G. Spangler is a HAL-PC member who is a NASA senior software consultant and former adjunct University instructor. Contact him at hgsbu54@hal-pc.org.