This means we need to know what a deleted file looks like. Searching Unallocated Clusters for Deleted FilesĪ good data recovery program will have the option to ignore the MFT (or lack there of) and to search all the unallocated clusters to try and find and recover files. What you need to do is search unallocated clusters. However, if your MFT is corrupt, defective or has itself been overwritten, this method isn't going to help you even though the file data still remains out on the disk waiting to be found. You will see an MFT search when you execute a 'Recover Files' search using Recover My Files Data Recovery Software. This recovery technique is usually relatively fast way to get data back, as all the recovery program has to do is find the deleted file entries in the MFT and then go directly to that location of the hard disk to perform the data recovery. As only one file can occupy any one cluster on a hard drive, if other files are using your deleted files storage space then it is likely that the original data has been overwritten and permanently destroyed. What they are actually doing is locating the MFT record for a deleted file and then checking the rest of the MFT records to determine if the clusters that the deleted file occupied are being used by any other file stored on the computer. These programs usually give a give a probability of recovery rating of 'good', 'medium' or 'poor'. Most data recovery program search for deleted MFT entries to undelete files ( learn about MFT records here).

Undelete software portable