PhotoRec

Pros

• All to search for many image files and some other file types as well.
• Very easy user interface that everyone can understand.
• Good recovery rate for most files, especially if they were recently erased or corrupted.

Cons

• Isn't able to restore all file types, so some files may not be recoverable.
• Relatively slow when restoring many files, but it isn't the slowest program out there.

PhotoRec is a recovery program that is able to restore lost photos on your hard drive. Sometimes your computer has a hardware failure or malicious attack that corrupts the hard drive. A recovery tool like PhotoRec is able to look for traces of files and restore them to their original condition. While it prioritizes images, this recovery tool can work with other file types.

Basic Features

PhotoRec is a recovery tool that you'll need if the hard drive gets corrupted or damaged. A damaged hard drive means that many or all of the associated files will be inaccessible. While the files might be damaged, there are often traces left and a recovery tool might be able to put them back together.

PhotoRec is able to search through the hard drive to see what is salvageable. You can choose to restore specific files, any file it can find or you can segment the search by only having it look for specific file types. While the software title suggests that this can only restore images, it can also restore other files that it finds. It's also able to search for many proprietary image file types that other recovery tools won't be able to find.

If the file is still available, then PhotoRec will restore it so that you can access the file again. As with any recovery program, it isn't 100 percent successful. This largely depends on how damaged the hard drive is, how damaged the specific file is and how long since you last restarted the computer. That being said, PhotoRec is very successful at retrieving files.

Erased Files

While recovery tools like PhotoRec focus on restoring files from damaged or corrupted hard drives, they also work well for restoring files that were accidentally deleted. If you accidentally erased an image, document or video file, then launch PhotoRec and try to restore it.

If you're quick, then you should be able to restore it without any problems. Erased files get harder to restore the longer that you wait.

Easy User Interface

Some recovery programs have complicated interfaces, but PhotoRec is accessible for all users. The program allows you to search through certain areas of the computer, or you can insert a keyword like a file name or description. You can also have PhotoRec search for any recoverable files so that you can see what is available. This type of search might take a long time, but it could be good if you lost many files.

It's also easy to restore the file. Simply confirm that you want a certain file restored, tell PhotoRec where to save it and it will do the rest. If you are searching through a corrupted hard drive, then you'll want to choose a separate place to save the files so that they don't get damaged again.

If you're looking for a simple recovery tool that anyone can use, then PhotoRec might be right for you.

Recovery Time

Another thing to consider when choosing a recovery program is its speed. Restoring one or two small files should only take a few minutes, but restoring a whole hard drive takes significantly longer. While no recovery program is fast since they have to work hard to restore files, some are slower than others.

PhotoRec tends to be in the middle in this regard. It isn't the slowest recovery tool available, but it's also not the fastest. Not only that, but it tends to be fastest at restoring images. It's slower with other files types.

While speed isn't one of PhotoRec's strongest points, it has many other useful features and a great user interface.

External Devices

While many people will use PhotoRec to search through files on the hard drive, you can also use this on external devices to find files. For example, you can connect a camera or smartphone to your computer and have PhotoRec search through them for recoverable files.

Much like searching through your own hard drive, just tell PhotoRec to search through the device and it will show you which files it can restore. The recovery process is often a little bit slower with external devices, but it shouldn't be too much longer than working with the computer's hard drive.

Free Program

Another major advantage of PhotoRec is that it's completely free. You can use all of the tools and features without worrying about buying a license. Relatively few recovery programs are free. This gives you an option to restore your files even if you don't want to spend any money on software.

Pros

• All to search for many image files and some other file types as well.
• Very easy user interface that everyone can understand.
• Good recovery rate for most files, especially if they were recently erased or corrupted.

Cons

• Isn't able to restore all file types, so some files may not be recoverable.
• Relatively slow when restoring many files, but it isn't the slowest program out there.