Fast Scan is the fastest scan option. Fast Scan will locate a drive’s deleted files and deleted folders.

Advanced Scan will locate additional deleted file and folder data (where available) and will also list the active (current) file and folder data.
Advanced scan will scan for deleted partition data and also, for data from reformatted drives. The full cluster level search provides comprehensive information, on all available file and folder structures.
The Advanced Scan option may take longer than a Fast Scan.

If an Advanced Scan does not provide the desired results, a Complete Scan may recover more data.

Complete Scan is valuable where your drive does not appear as a logical device, i.e. it does not appear as a drive letter in the drive dropdown list. In this instance, your drive (as long as it is visible to Windows) will appear as a physical drive. Select the physical drive from the drive dropdown list and select the Complete Scan mode (if an Advanced Scan does not provide the desired results). Manual Options are also available to provide additional granular search options. Complete Scan will also locate file data from reformatted drives. Complete Scan will locate file data ONLY.

I cannot see the drive letter or device in the ”Drive” drop down list?
Firstly ensure the disk drive or device is correctly connected to the computer. Then click the “Drive Refresh” icon on the right hand side of the Drive selection box. If your drive still isn’t visible, then it may be that your drive is no longer seen as a Windows Logical Drive. You can still select the appropriate physical drive (if visible), from those shown at the bottom of the drive selection list.

What is the difference between a Logical Drive and a Physical Drive?
A logical drive is a partitioned area of a physical hard drive.
A physical drive is an actual hard drive.

Why does File Restore Professional indicate my disk drive is smaller than I believe is the case?
Several companies describe the disk capacity of their products using 1000 bytes per kilobyte (Kb) instead of the traditional, and correct, 1024 bytes (and therefore also use 1,000,000 bytes per Megabyte instead of 1,048,576 bytes etc). File Restore shows disk size based upon the correct 1024 bytes per Kb.

Why does the Drive Properties information indicate that the partitions on the drive do not add up to exactly 100%?
Percentage drive sizes are rounded to two decimal places. This will account for why, on occasions, the drive percentages do not add up to 100%.
If the sum is significantly less than 100% it may be that the drive has an extended partition, which has only been partly allocated to logical drives, i.e. it may have room for another logical drive, which would make up the “missing” difference. In some instances, it could also mean that there has been some information lost or the partition was deleted using FDISK.

Why does Drive Properties display different sector ranges for the partitions on a Physical Drive, than for the corresponding Logical Drives?
When File Restore opens a drive, e.g. D: Drive, Windows will allow access to parts of the disk that contain the related partition, but does not give any information about where that partition is located on the disk. It is not possible to correlate drive letters with areas of the disk. Windows only allows access to relative sectors 0 to the end of the disk and translates the information itself to map to the physical disk.

Can I scan a particular area of the drive?
Yes, you can select Manual Options on the Scan type selection screen. Manual Options enables you to scan the drive for particular file system types and specific sectors of the drive etc. You can then select which of the three scan types you wish to perform.

Why are there are no drives listed in the Drive Selection drop-down box?
File Restore requires that the product be run from an account with full administrator rights. When used from an account with “less” privileges you may only be able to see some external devices and/or floppy drives.

Why do I get a "Data Error (Cyclic Redundancy Check)" Windows error message when running File Restore?
This message may appear when there is a physical disk error. File Restore Professional will normally ignore physical disk errors and continue scanning in order to find and recover as many files as possible for you. This message pop-up may appear, however, on older versions of Windows with built in drivers and/or with some non-Windows certified disk drivers.