Recuva: Restore deleted file from memory card

Photo credit: by iconarchive.com

Accidental or intentional maybe, there are times that we regret deleting files from memory cards. Anyway, to be able to restore or recover deleted files from the memory card or any storage of devices such as computers, digital cameras, or MP3 players, we have to use file restoration software. There are bunch of free file recovery software out there. In this tutorial, were going to use Recuva file recovery software to restore our files. Recuva is available both in the Free Version and Pro Version. Whichever you use, its your choice. However, in this tutorial were going to use the Free Version. So head over to the Recuva website and download the Free Version then install it in your computer.

Software Background

Photo credit: by Piriform

Recuva was developed by software company Piriform. Piriform excels in PC Optimization software.

Features

• Recovers deleted files (either accidental or intentional) from you computer.
• It can recover files from damaged or formatted disks.
• Recover deleted emails. It supports email recovery for Microsoft Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird and Windows email.
• It has the capability to recover deleted music from iPod music player.
• Restores unsaved word documents from sudden computer crashes.
• It can securely deletes files you don't want forever.
• Runs on Windows OS.

Testimonials

"If you just want a good un-delete program with a small disk footprint (and no financial cost), then Recuva is what you're looking for... the interface is the very model of restrained style and efficiency."-PCWORLD

 "I like Recuva a lot. It's super-fast to install and to run. You just select a drive, and Recuva will scan for deleted files that have been deleted, including files that you've emptied from your recycle bin. If the file's recoverable, Recuva will tell you."-Downloadsquad

 "Discovering your files are missing is never a good time. Last week we asked you to share your favorite data recovery tools, then we rounded up the top five for your perusal. The result? User friendly Windows-based Recuva took home the crown for top data recovery tool."-LifeHacker

How to?, Tutorial on file recovery from a portable storage device.

Assuming you have already installed on your Windows computer the Free Version of the Recuva file recovery software. Let us start with the tutorial.

1. Run Recuva to start Recuva Wizard

In the Recuva Wizard, select from the selection options the file type you want to recover. It may be pictures, music, documents such as word documents among others, a video file, or a compressed file either by any compression type such as RAR or Zip, and an email file. And if it happens that the file you want to recover does not belong to any file type previously mentioned, then select "All Files" from the selection options.

After selecting the file type, click "Next" button.

2. Select location of file to be recovered

In the Recuva wizard, there are six options to select where the file to be recovered was previously stored prior to deletion. In this tutorial, the file was previously stored in a removable USB flash drive. So were going to select in the selection options "In a specific location" then click the browse button. A browse folder box pops out, then select the correct storage. In our tutorial, we will select "Removable disk (F:). Click the "OK" button.

3. Search Files

In the previous step, after selecting the correct storage device and clicking on the "OK" button, it will take you to this part of the Recuva Wizard.
In this step on the Recuva Wizard, you will be given the option of enabling the deep scan option by ticking the box just before the "Enable Deep Scan". However, you may tick on the tick box if previous file recovery efforts were unsuccessful.

In this tutorial, we will proceed not enabling deep scan.

Click on the "Start" button to proceed to the next step.

4. File List

Clicking the "Start" button from the previous step brings us to this part of the Recuva Wizard. After scanning the USB storage device, the Recuva Wizard gives out a list of the scanned files. These were the files deleted but not have been completely and remained hidden. The file list that appears here are the files recoverable from the removable USB storage.

In the left side bottom (marked red) of the Recuva Wizard, it indicates that the storage device scanned was the Removable Disk (F:) which is correct.

5. File Recovery

To proceed with the File Recovery, select the the file you want to recover by checking the check box before the file name. As you can see in the file list, some files have red and green circles before them. The red circles means that the file "maybe" or has a 50/50 percent chance of being recover while the green circles means that its 100 percent recoverable. Anyway, In this step, we select the file with a red circle. Check the (1) check box then (2) click the "Recover" button to proceed with the file recovery procedure.

6. File Save Location

In the previous step, clicking the "Recover" button opens up the "Browse For Folder" box. It ask you where to save the file to be recovered. Select the file location you want the file to be recovered. After selecting the file location, click "OK" to proceed with the file recovery.

7. Moment of Truth

In the previous step of this File Recovery tutorial, after clicking the "OK" button for the recovered file save location, the Recuva Wizard will proceed with the file recovery. After which, a it will inform you whether the recovery process was a success or not. In this File Recovery tutorial, the Recuva Wizard says that the File Recovery process was successful. Click on the "OK" button to close the Recuva Wizard. Then head over to the file you just recovered on the file save location you choose from the previous step. However, if the File Recovery process was not successful,  repeat steps no. 3 in this tutorial. This time you "Enable Deep Scan" then proceed with the preceding steps.

Note: If you like the software, head over to the Piriform website and buy one for yourself. The Pro version of Recuva has more advantages than the Free Version.