A deleted file is essentially an area on disk designated as free and ready to accept data (such as contents of some other file). Luckily, unless the area has already been overwritten, it still holds the contents of the deleted file. Due to this fact it is possible to undelete files.
This fact also dictates the following procedure for using Undelete:
- Stop any activity on the disk you are going to undelete files from! Remember that writing to that disk can damage the contents of the deleted files. Examples of disastrous activity include: copying files to the disk, installing programs there or running programs that use the disk as their swap media.
- Download and install Undelete. Whenever possible, save the setup executable and install the program to a disk that does not hold files you need to undelete.
- Run and use Undelete.
Tip: It is common that the only drive user has is C: and this is also the drive from where files need to be undeleted. In that case a good solution is using a USB flash drive as FreeUndelete download and install destination.
Limitations
- Does not support Windows 98, Windows 98SE and Windows ME
System Requirements
- Operating system: 7, 8, 8.1, 10, or newer; 2003 Server, 2008 (R2), 2012 (R2), 2016, 2019, 2022.
- RAM: 256-1024 MB (depends on file size and corruption range)
- Hard Disk: minimum 10 MB of free space required for installation
- Display: 640 x 480 or higher resolution, 256 colors
