Save session for reloading later

[mr don]

Recuva is great, but can a couple features be added?

 

If you are recovering from a large drive, sometimes you don't have the time to scan it in full at the moment, but say, you get 50% through & they have to leave, so you have to stop. Next time, it has to run all over again on the same drive.

 

What about the options to:

 

- Save the current scan session & restore it later to save time

- Scan for lost partitions (Drives that go into RAW mode & "lose" the NTFS partition... Handy Recovery can do this, so I know it IS possible) --> Handyrecovery dot com

- Scan for common compressed files (Lots of users need the ability to find zip, 7zip, rar etc compressed files)

- Scan for common image files (I use ISO a lot, but others may use IMG or other types, the most common types are fine

- Define a custom filter of search only for this or that type

 

I realize adding a few more options may increase complexity of the select screen, but couldn't you put an option to just simply select search for Custom Filters, or maybe Additional Filters & have the ability to search for compressed files, image files, or user defined files in this grouping?

 

Let me know what you think, please!

 

Thanks!

 

P.S. I haven't tried it yet with Recuva to see if it can pull this off, but I know Handy Recovery can recover data from password protected user accounts. I aim to try it sometime coming up just to see what it will do.

[Augeas]

I'm not sure of the viability of saving a current scan, either in part or whole. A scan is a snapshot, and a later scan would of course return a different set of results. A saved scan would decay as time passes. I don't know what further info Recuva extracts apart from the displayed list, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some location info stored as well. It would be more complicated with a deep scan, which is more likely to be saved due to the time taken.

 

You can of course use a filter already, in the path/file name box. Recuva will still do a full scan though, and just filter the display.

 

My stage 1 scan takes about three seconds, I always cancel stage 2. An option not to run stage 2 would be handy!

[mr don]

I'm not sure of the viability of saving a current scan, either in part or whole. A scan is a snapshot, and a later scan would of course return a different set of results. A saved scan would decay as time passes. I don't know what further info Recuva extracts apart from the displayed list, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some location info stored as well. It would be more complicated with a deep scan, which is more likely to be saved due to the time taken.

 

You can of course use a filter already, in the path/file name box. Recuva will still do a full scan though, and just filter the display.

 

My stage 1 scan takes about three seconds, I always cancel stage 2. An option not to run stage 2 would be handy!

 

I can tell you from personal experience, while it is true that it will decay as time passes, it also depends on if you are adding files or moving things around, etc, or if you are just attempting to just start from where you were last time.

 

Handy Recovery has a session save state, & it really does come in handy. Why?

 

If you have a larrrrrge drive, scan times can be enormous, & they can also be enormous on drives that are going bad. With the ability to save the session state, then, if something happens to the drive, at least you do not have to re-scan & risk further decay of files on an already wearing out drive.

 

You can simply import the last saved session state, load the files found from the last state, & if you haven't been adding to or deleting files from the drive, it should be fine. Sure, new files like system restore states may get added, but I usually have those turned off to eliminate the possibility of introducing new data to the old drive.

 

I can tell you, in some cases, session save CAN be a lifesaver. In fact, on a dying drive, it just may be the difference in getting your data back (or not!). HandyRecovery does have this feature, & it works beautifully.

 

Additionally, making it easier to recover the most common compressed file types & disk image types would really, really be a benefit to those who use lots of zip or iso container files.

 

I have seen in time past, drives that Recuva had problems recovering data from because the drive would be connected, & I would be copying data over to another drive. Pfffooofff! The drive locks up, hard. Only way to reset it is, gulp, cut off power. Cut on power. After the power came back on, the drive worked fine, but your NTFS partition suddenly, magically disappears to be replaced by a "blank" RAW partition!

 

When working with files, it works much better to choose copy files first, because if you are moving them & it crashes mid move, whatever was being processed you just lost! Usually, just enough to corrupt that file or make you lose an important .dll or something that was responsible for making the program run. At least by doing copy, if it locks up, you still have that file on the drive to recover in full. After a successful copy, then you can delete it off the drive.

 

Now, here is the thing. You cannot recover files if you cannot see the partition they are on. Recuva can see C: / D: / E: etc as long as they are working right. Handy Recovery can see not only those, but it can also scan for "lost" partitions, aka, your drive went to RAW (& blank)? No problem! It will show you the lost partition(s) & after you select which one you want to recover from, you are back in business!

 

Handy Recovery really does recover lost partitions & also from password protected user accounts. That also saves your hide if you get locked out of your account, or your saved P-word on your account somehow gets corrupted & you really NEEEED to get your data back.

 

I will have to test Recuva to see if it can pass those tests. If it cannot, I still have to use Handy Recovery for serious recovery jobs.

 

P.S. I also alerted Handy Recovery to the way W7 had a different allocation size, throwing off the data recovery attempts with Recuva that resulted in 50% of a file being recovered. I am aware of the fix for Recuva, but I noted that Handy Recovery still advertised the XP/Vista versions. I am unaware at the moment if they are affected by that, but I heads upped them on the situation just in case they were, so they can issue a fix.

 

Hopefully, you can see more about what I am talking about here with the additional information I just posted.