RemoRecover: Reliably recover files, photos, and drive partitions
Operating systems generally offer a way to encrypt data and give users tools to protect their systems from ransomware. These tools aren’t placebos; they work well. What operating systems do not provide are data recovery solutions. The most popular operating systems like Windows 10 and macOS both have automated back up solutions built-in by default but, those backups are generally the only way you can recover lost files. Outside that, any file you’ve lost will have to be recovered using a third-party solution.
Is file recovery possible?
File recovery sounds almost like a fictional concept; it’s the sort of deus ex machina you’d expect to see in crime thrillers where evidence is miraculously discovered when it’s needed but file recovery is a very real thing. Files that have been deleted can be recovered as long as the device they were stored on is still working. In some cases, data can even be recovered from a physically damaged drive though you’d probably need a more sophisticated solution to do the job.
When you delete a file from your desktop, you normally send it to the trash or recycle bin. Recovering it from there is super easy but when you empty the recycle bin, the files aren’t exactly removed from your drive. Your OS simply marks the sectors those files were written to as sectors that it can write to again.
Think of it like this; you have a bookshelf that can hold one hundred books. You take inventory and decide you don’t need some of those books anymore. To mark the books you don’t need, you put a little red sticker on them, and count them. When you next check how many books your bookshelf still has space for, you count the free space and the space that you will free up when you get rid of those books. That’s sort of how files that have been removed from the recycle bin are recovered. They are technically still there, waiting to be thrown out by the OS when it needs the space.
File recovery goes deeper than this though and sometimes files can be recovered from sectors even if those same sectors have been written over multiple times.
File recovery software
There is no shortage of file recovery solutions available for just about any and all platforms. You can find a solution that targets a specific file type e.g., media, or that’s built for a specific device e.g., recovering data from a phone. Generally speaking, you’re spoiled for choice. If you’re not looking to target a specific device and need a general, all-purpose file recovery solution, RemoRecover is worth looking at.
RemoRecover
RemoRecover is a standard file recovery tool; it’s reliable, fast, and you can use it to selectively recover files. What makes it stand out is its pay for what you need model. The app is perfectly capable of recovering files from an internal or external drive, it can also recover photos from drives or even SD cards, and it can recover entire partitions even if they’ve been formatted or overwritten by a new OS installation.
RemoRecover’s three different recovery modes all fall under data and file recovery but they’re drastically different in nature. Recovering a file that you deleted a month ago is pretty simple but recovering a file from a drive partition that no longer exists is far more complicated. RemoRecover can do both and more.
How it works
RemoReover has three modes; when you run the app, you can choose what it is you need to recover. For basic data recovery from a drive, the ‘Recover Files’ mode will do the job. If you have photos or media that you want to recover, the ‘Recover Photos’ mode is what you need. If you have a partition that needs to be recovered, or you need to recover a drive that’s been formatted multiple times, the ‘Recover Partitions’ mode is what you need.
Before you begin the data recovery process, make sure that you have a different drive available for saving the recovered data to. If you’re trying to recover data from the C drive, you should save it to a different internal or external drive. Saving recovered data to the same drive it was recovered from is not a good idea no matter what app you use.
RemoRecover can perform two types of scans; the first scan is quick while the deep dive is much more thorough. Starting out, try the quick scan and see what it recovers.
Once the initial scan is complete, go to the Show All tab and it will show you all the data that has been recovered. You can pick what to recover from the list. For common file types e.g., images, you can use the quick preview feature to check what the file is. If you don’t see the file you want to recover, click the ‘Deep Scan’ button to run the second, more thorough scan. It will take longer to complete than the initial quick scan.
Once you’ve selected the files to recover, click the Save button.
You will see a prompt on your screen asking if you want to save the scan. You can save the scan to retrieve it again later and save time or you can forgo saving it. It’s up to you.
After you dismiss this prompt, you will see a Select Destination screen where you have to choose where the recovered files are to be saved. Click Save and the files will be recovered.
You will find that the files, regardless of what type they are, will be recovered without any loss in data. During tests, the app was able to recover some game files I’d lost a few months ago. Not only were the files recovered, when I used them with the game in question, it was able to read from them without any problems.
Pricing
RemoRecover isn’t free. We stated that earlier but the cost of the software depends on what you need to use it for. If you’re looking to recover files from an internal or external drive, the basic license that costs $39.97 will do the job. For SD cards and photo recovery, you need the Media plan which costs $49.97. We should make it clear that the basic license will recover photos too but if you’re looking to recover photos from a camera/media device, that’s where you need the Media plan. Lastly, if you’re looking to restore partitions, the Pro plan is what you need and it will cost $99.97.
RemoRecover is available for both Windows (XP and later) and macOS.
Conclusion
RemoRecover is a capable app that can recover all sorts of files. What’s noteworthy about this app, other than how reliably it recovers files, is that it doesn’t use high-end features you may not need to push an unnecessary high price point. With RemoRecover, you can choose to pay for the features you need and recover your data with a simple and easy to use the tool.
