Recover My Files Data Recovery Options

The Options can be accessed by clicking on the accessed by clinking on the Manually Configure Options button on the first wizard screen, or by clicking on the Options button on the main program screen.

• General Options
  
  
• Advanced Options
  
  
• Search Options
  
  

Options - General Tab

The General Tab has the following settings available:

Start Up: Controls whether the Recover My Files Wizard and the Tips on Startup window are displayed when the program starts.

Logging: Controls the amount of logging that takes place. Debug logging is a more verbose logging mode that is used to identify problems in the search of your hard drive. The Event Log is displayed in the bottom window of the results screen by clicking on the Event Log tab.

Display: Controls whether the properties of a file are displayed in the search results screen.

Saving:

1. Save with Folder Information if Known will cause a saved file to be saved in its complete file path if it can be determined.
   
   
2. Retain Original File Dates/Times if Known will cause a saved file to be saved with its original file date and time information if it can be determined.
   
   
3. Rename File to Found Extension - When Recover My Files locates a file it performs a check of the files internal structure. If Recover My Files determines that the internal file structure matches a specific file type, eg a "JPEG" but it has found that the file extension is not consistent with this, eg. it has the extension ".doc", then the file will be marked in red in the results screen. Recover My Files can automatically rename the file with an extension that matches its' internal file structure. The benefit of this is that it allows you computer to choose the appropriate application to automatically open the saved file.
   
   

Operation: Provides a minimal wizard option.

Options - Advanced Tab

The Advanced Tab has the following settings available:

Search Active and Non-Active Areas: If this is selected Recover My Files will search the entire drive, sector by sector or cluster by cluster. This should only be used if you have accidentally deleted your entire drive, re-partitioned your drive, or re-formatted your drive.

Allow Searching of Physical Drives: If this is selected then you will also have the option to select a "Physical Drive" in addition to the "Logical Drives" at the start of a Fast or Complete Search. Use this setting when your drive is no longer able to be recognized by Windows as a drive letter. This setting will not affect your ability to select physical drives when performing a Format Recover.

Prompt for Start Cluster/Sector: You can use this option to start the search of your disk drive at a specific sector or cluster on the drive. You will be prompted at the beginning of the search for the sector or cluster.

The Search Level: Cluster or Sector, specifies whether you want Recover My Files to search using sectors or clusters. Cluster searching is faster, as is the Default setting. Use sector searching when you have accidentally formatted, or re-partitioned your drive.

Options - Search Tab

The Search Tab has the following settings available:

Deleted Files: In this section you can select whether you want to search for Deleted Files by clicking the "Search for Deleted Files" box. Also you can select whether you want Recover My Files to try and determine the type of Deleted File by clicking the "Try and Determine File Type of Deleted Files".

Lost Files: In this section you can select whether you want to search for Lost Files by clicking the "Search for Lost Files" box. Also you can select whether you want Recover My Files to try and determine the file size of the Lost Files by clicking the "Try and Determine File Size of Lost Files" When Recover My Files finds a Lost File it determines both the type of file that it has found (e.g. is it a MS Word document or a JPEG?) and the size of the file (e.g. is it 1 megabyte or 5 megabytes?).

Go to End of File When File Found: When a recoverable file is found, Recover My Files stops processing the file that it has located, moves to the end of the file, and continues the search from this point. It will continue this process until it reaches the end of the disk space and the search is complete. Although faster, in some cases files could be missed due to the reporting of an incorrect file size. We recommend that "Go to End of File When File Found" is left deselected so that no recoverable information is overlooked.

Format Recovery: Allows you to set the maximum number of partitions to recover. We recommend you leave this setting at 4 unless you know that more than 4 partitions existed on a formatted drive.

Intensive Partition Search Setting: Determines the aggressiveness of matching partitions to lost files found. We do not recommend that you change this setting unless instructed to do so by our support staff. During a Format Recover if no lost data can be matched to a partition then Recover My Files will create 2 default partitions: one starting at drive sector 0, and one starting at sector 63.