One of the things about Windows is sometimes it seems to do things in a way that doesn’t really make a great deal of sense. One of those situations is when an improper shutdown is detected or something like a USB stick is detached too quickly and Windows decides it needs to run a scan of the drive for errors, which in itself is not a problem. If you decide to skip, Windows will continue to ask you to scan because the dirty bit is still set on the drive. You let Chkdsk or Scandisk run and it will repair any problems with the file system and recover or repair any corrupted files affected because of it.
The issue arises when you want to look at the files to see if any personal or important data has been affected because everything recovered by Chkdsk or Scandisk now has a generic filename of File****.CHK placed in a Folder called Folder.*** at the root of your drive! The odd thing is Windows has no utility or built in function to let you find out what these newly renamed files were before it changed them all to CHK files.
- Download chk file recovery full version for free. System Utilities downloads - CHK File Recovery by DoGoodSoft and many more programs are available for instant and free download.
- Orion File Recovery Software is a free file recovery program from NCH Software that's basically the same as most of the other programs in this list. A nice wizard prompts you to scan for specific file types at the launch of the program, like documents, images, videos, music, or a custom file type.
Although sometimes a CHK file cannot be recovered successfully because it has been too badly damaged, many of them can be used again, but you need to find out what type of file each one is and the correct extension needs to be applied. If Windows crashed while editing a document, there is only 1 CHK file and your document is missing, then renaming the file to mylostfile.doc could be worth a shot, but in most situations you won’t be so lucky or there’s a lot of files that need checking.
Fortunately there are third party tools around that are able to help you recover CHK files by checking the headers of the files and identifying what the type of file is and what its original extension should be. Here’s a selection of ways to help you out.1. UnCHK
CHK-back recovery software is free and is highly useful in recovering.CHK files without any hindrance. Though it is a freeware, it does great job equivalent to what paid software does. This user-friendly.CHK recovery software can restore photos, videos, audios and other documents. Keeping things nice and simple, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free is the friendly, accessible face of recovering lost files. Fire up the program and you're presented with a screen asking which. About CHK Files. Our goal is to help you understand what a file with a.chk suffix is and how to open it. All file types, file format descriptions, and software programs listed on this page have been individually researched and verified by the FileInfo team.
UnCHK is a free CHK file recovery tool that is able to help you restore CHK files for around 25 different file formats to their original extension. It can identify some of the most common types including audio, video, images, archives, executable files and documents. UnCHK also has a valuable feature of allowing you to add your own file type extensions by simply dragging and dropping a known good file onto the program’s icon. It will then be recognized from then onward when scanning CHK files.
Run the tool and it will ask you for the directory where the CHK files are and then a destination directory. The Scan Depth window gives various options about the recovery method; Whole Files will look at each file and check for a recognized signature, Embedded Files can pull objects like images from inside the CHK files and Floppy/Hard drive can check for cross linking in the files. The program was tested and worked fine on Windows 7.
Download UnCHK
2. FileCHK
FileCHK is about as simple a tool as it gets, and has no options or interface at all. It simply scans your CHK files and renames them with the correct file extension if a recognized file type is detected. Around 30 types of file are supported including the most common multimedia files, images, some common archives, executables and Office/text files. To use the tool all you have to do is place it in the folder where the File****.chk files are, then run it. The process takes no more than a second or two and the files it recognized will have been given the appropriate extension. Because it renames the original files automatically, it’s best to run the tool on a backup of the files in case you wish to try another utility here as well. FileCHK requires the VB5 runtimes installed to work.
Download FileCHK
3. CHK-Mate
CHK-Mate has a wizard style interface that asks you where the CHK files are located, then asks where you want the renamed files to be saved as it creates a copy of them and doesn’t overwrite the originals. It will then examine the contents of the CHK files and determine whether they are known to the program, and if they are, will create a copy with the appropriate file extension. CHK-Mate only recognizes around 20 types of file by default although you can add custom types yourself.
One thing we noted about CHK-Mate was just how slow it was in trying to recover the files, over 20 minutes to scan 18 CHK files in Windows 7. It did look like it had crashed several times but did eventually finish, and at the end recovered 13, about the same as the other tools here. If the contents of a CHK file can not be identified, you have the option to extract all the readable text from the CHK file. This option is useful to recover information from a CHK file that is perhaps not intact enough to be recovered completely as a known file type.
Download CHK-Mate
4. TrIDNet
If you have some more obscure types of files on your computer that might not get picked up by one of the CHK file recovery tools, you might like to try to identify them with TrIDNet which has a good chance of helping out. Although it can’t rename the files for you automatically, TrIDNet can perhaps fill in some gaps if your CHK files remain unknown.
The tool itself is quite old dating back to 2004, but the database is still constantly updated meaning even the latest file types are recognized. Download the program and and unzip it, then download the definition files package and unrar the 1000’s of XML files into the TrIDNet main folder. Run the program and click on Rescan Defs to load them all in. Then browse for, or drag and drop a CHK file to identify it. The display will give a percentage of the likelihood a certain file extension matches the file. As an example, the screen shot shows TrIDNet thinks the scanned CHK file is an EXE rather than a DLL, and it is correct. The .NET Framework is required and the defs files and program are downloaded separately.
Download TRIDNet
5. FiletypeID
This utility works along the same lines as TrIDNet and uses the same TrID library and definitions to identify files by their type and not the extension, such as CHK files. FiletypeID has a lot more modern graphical interface though with a couple of useful extra functions as well. Although it is relatively up to date, the program comes with the definitions already built in so isn’t fully updated by default. This is easily cured by clicking on Update Definitions from the program’s Help menu.
The program is fully portable and usage is broadly the same as TrIDNet where you browser for or drag and drop a CHK or any other file onto the window. Click the Analyse button and it will give you a list of types and possible extensions with the most likely being the highest percentage entry. A useful button is Details which can give more in depth information about certain types of file such as video and audio encoding/bitrates and archive compression etc. Works on Windows XP and above.
Download FiletypeID
6. Chk-Back
From TRC Data Recovery, Chk-Back is an easy to use utility with a pleasant interface. It has support for some 40 file formats including the most common image, video, audio, executable, document and office files, as well as Windows Address Book, Outlook Store and Outlook Express mail store files.
Although it does require installation, Chk-Back isn’t difficult to operate. Press the button to browse for the CHK files (usually in Folder.*** in the drive’s root) and it will show the files to be checked. Click Start and within a matter of seconds the process will be complete with a highlighted log file ready for you to save to a file if you wish or copy and paste elsewhere. A saved log file and the corrected CHK files will be created in a new folder called “ChkBack Results” in the same folder as the original CHK files. Works on Windows XP and above.
Download Chk-Back
7. The Manual way
Although obviously not the quickest or simplest method, one of the ways you can check and try to identify the CHK file is be by simply opening it with Notepad, Notepad++ or a Hex editor. All file types have a unique header in the first few bytes to tell one file apart from another, and although many will have unrecognizable characters at the beginning of the file, some contain a few characters at or near the start that can be recognized to help you identify what the file is. For example, “Rar!” at the start of a file is a WinRar archive, “ID3” means the file is an MP3 and “JFIF” in the first 10 bytes of the file means it’s a Jpeg image.
However, there are some more tricky ones to identify such as executable files have “MZ” at the start, but so do DLL files, screensavers, some font files, driver files and a few more. It therefore might not be a simple case of renaming a file with MZ at the start to .exe. A similar problem happens with ZIP archives because although it has a simple “PK” at the start of the file, this could easily be a Word DOCX or Excel XLSX file because they are also simply renamed Zip files. Even game levels can sometimes be archived with Zip.
If you want to try and identify a file that has gibberish characters or something not easily recognizable at the beginning, a useful manual way is:
1. Open the file in a Hex editor such as HxD.
2. Highlight and copy the first 8 bytes or so of hex to the clipboard.
3. Go to a website resource that lists the signatures for hundreds of different files, such as Gary Kessler’s File Signatures Table. Another one is Filesignatures.net. Then use your browser’s search function (Ctrl+F) to look on the page for the hex value. If it’s not found simply delete a byte at a time from the search until it is found.
As you can see, the file was identified as a Windows Media file although it didn’t say which type exactly. At least we now know that trying the extensions of .WMA, .WMV or .ASF will most likely get the file to work. This method is quite useful if you want to learn how to quickly identify unknown files by simply looking at the first few bytes of them.
You might also like:
5 Ways to Check for Recently Created or Modified Files and Installed Software6 Ways to Repair and Extract Invalid ZIP Files for Free7 Ways To to Remove a File Extension Association in Windows5 Ways To Combine or Merge Multiple Text Files7 Ways to Split and Join Large Files 63 Comments - Write a Comment
There’s another program named deCHK, a free program to regain/recover chk-files with windows os which worked very well with some old hard-drive files. I got it at
techcrawler.de/dechk/index_en.html.
Replytechcrawler.de/dechk/index_en.html.
Wow, this is a rather old post from what I see as the oldest comments here!
I have a question not sure gonna be ever answered but decided to ask anyway.
My files are rather large (11 chk files and like half of them are over 1000000kb) and I am pretty sure these are FOLDERS. As they were folders which I moved to this USB stick. There should be lots of pictures and some videos and documents in those folders)
Now, when I look manually in Notepad, the files all says only tonnes of “ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ” and so on, and some are too large to open in Notepad even.
I can feel how this looks quite hopeless, but it still did get stuck in my head, is there any way to convert those chk files into FOLDERS? In what way that would be?
ReplyI have a question not sure gonna be ever answered but decided to ask anyway.
My files are rather large (11 chk files and like half of them are over 1000000kb) and I am pretty sure these are FOLDERS. As they were folders which I moved to this USB stick. There should be lots of pictures and some videos and documents in those folders)
Now, when I look manually in Notepad, the files all says only tonnes of “ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ” and so on, and some are too large to open in Notepad even.
I can feel how this looks quite hopeless, but it still did get stuck in my head, is there any way to convert those chk files into FOLDERS? In what way that would be?
As far as I remember CHK files are all files and won’t be folders. 1000000KB is 1GB, were any of your videos that sort of size or bigger?
The CHK files are just what has been found and recovered so could be incomplete or totally corrupt files. A HEX editor would be better for looking at those files. Just because something has been recovered to a CHK file does not mean the file is complete or usable.
ReplyI have the same issue. If I open the large .chk file I see multiple mp3s inside. If I rename to .mp3 It’ll merge all the music together like if its one giant track. I haven’t been able to find any solutions that’ll scan the .chk files to break them out into various files.
ReplyThe Chkdsk CHK recovery is kind of a “dumb” type of recovery because it doesn’t differentiate files that well and will just find a block of data that looks like a file and save it as such. These tools will help identify what type of file it is but not if there are multiple files merged together.
Probably your best option is to try and load the file into an audio editor such as Audacity or a HEX editor and try and split them that way.
ReplyThank you for the useful post for combining so many tools, i would like to mention that Chk-Back worked for me and recover all my videos.
ReplyI used a version of Trid that comes with Hirens boot cd, it is command line based, if you type c and press enter, you get more options including the option to change extentions automatically. for example: ” Trid e:found.000*.* -ce ” will go through all .chk files in the found.000 folder on the e: drive, and change the extention to the best one it can find for that file.
ReplyWhen I scan an external hard drive, my files present as chk files. However, the files do not show up in any directory. How can I recover them?
Replysame issue
Replythanks chk-back worked
ReplyFor me, I had an SD card from a Gamecam. When I insert the card into Windows (even on two different PCs) the disk contained only one file: gibberish.if and I couldn’t open it. I ran chckdsk t: ff to fix it and it created CHK files out of all the jpegs.
Simply renaming the extension did not work,
but I used the first option on this page, UnChk3 and it worked like a charm! Now I have all the gamecam images.
Thank you, Raymond, and thank you Eric (authour of unchk)
ReplySimply renaming the extension did not work,
but I used the first option on this page, UnChk3 and it worked like a charm! Now I have all the gamecam images.
Thank you, Raymond, and thank you Eric (authour of unchk)
The same thing happened to me. I inserted a 64gb Micro SD card into my StealthCam game camera, and it instantly corrupted tons of files. There’s no warning on the manual that StealthCam will instantly corrupt your card. there’s nothing on there stating that they require s proprietary file format. I simply inserted it, then went back to check it and boom, all my files gone.
So stupid. I lost tons of data on a 64GB Micro SD in the process. fully corrupted family photos and drone footage. StealthCam’s operating system sucks. Did you also have a StealthCam or what type was it?
I will be buying new CuddieBack cameras after this. I like the mesh architecture.
ReplySo stupid. I lost tons of data on a 64GB Micro SD in the process. fully corrupted family photos and drone footage. StealthCam’s operating system sucks. Did you also have a StealthCam or what type was it?
I will be buying new CuddieBack cameras after this. I like the mesh architecture.
This actually happened to me on an HP Printer. Too bad my card contained a lot of .jar and other proprietary file formats so I don’t think I’m getting those back anytime soon even if the data is there.
ReplyHello Raymond CC, please add this alternate the link to VB5 runtimes, download.microsoft.com/download/vb50pro/utility/1/win98/EN-US/Msvbvm50.exe
ReplyThank you, I’ve updated the link.
Replyhello,
thank you for your post. it is very usefully.
I have a question:
I have did manually check disk via command prompt with fix command. but I have hit than and computer said that area is added to free area. could I found .chk file anyway?
Replychk-back is working for me thanks.
ReplyThis has happened to me twice 1st time after a power cut my computer restarted into chkdsk and 500 gb of my social work was corrupted, I mean the folders were still there, with the filenames, dates and even the exact file sizes and correct create/modify date but they just wouldn’t open so, I checked with a hex editor and found the information was all wrong it’s as if it had been mixed up?
now again I got up started my computer while I had a shower and again chkdsk started up and this time corrupted 50gb of social photographs, this is totally unacceptable these drives were both new top of the range western digital 4tb black caviars they were tested and had no problems either before chkdsk or after the problem both times was with chkdsk I am so upset about it as I know there was nothing wrong with those files and that all the information is still there, but somehow chkdsk has jumbled up the hexadecimal code?
Is there anyone who can help me I really need these files it’s my life’s work.
now again I got up started my computer while I had a shower and again chkdsk started up and this time corrupted 50gb of social photographs, this is totally unacceptable these drives were both new top of the range western digital 4tb black caviars they were tested and had no problems either before chkdsk or after the problem both times was with chkdsk I am so upset about it as I know there was nothing wrong with those files and that all the information is still there, but somehow chkdsk has jumbled up the hexadecimal code?
Is there anyone who can help me I really need these files it’s my life’s work.
Yes I know I should have backed it up and I have many TB’s backed up but this work was not (I know, my bad!) but I invest in reliable equipment for holding this should and would not have happened had it not been for chkdsks buggyness.
Any help advice appreciated
HH
Replyaddon: ….and without wanting to seem over-excited, as most of you won’t ever use Linux – another thing I found out is that by simply right-clicking your chk file in Linux it already suggests the program to start the file with (audio player, picture viewer etc. :). So you can quickly listen or see if you need the files.
ReplyMost valuable, thank you for this! By accident I found – for some at least – another solution. My external USB stick had suddenly lots of chk files. Trying unchk I got a “missing msvbvm50” mistake (easy fix: you get that file from microsoft). Yet I just opened the usb stick in my Linux – and guess what, pictures showed as pictures (little images^^), others were called “audio” and in Linux you saw even what type (green= ogg on my lubuntu, red = wav etc.). So I could rename the files or decide if I needed them all. / Those many of you who do not run Linux can run ubuntu, mint or lubuntu or whatever from a usb stick without actually installing it.
I am aware that this is not the quickest solution, but I thought I mention it, as my Windows did not show any file type, Lubuntu does. All the best!
ReplyI am aware that this is not the quickest solution, but I thought I mention it, as my Windows did not show any file type, Lubuntu does. All the best!
where the recover files with FileCHK are saved ?
I have used it on my flash drive but I can not find the recovered files :((((
ReplyI have used it on my flash drive but I can not find the recovered files :((((
when i use chk back. i recover some file but it turns to msox. kindly help me pls. thanks
ReplyVery useful!
ckk-back has worked fine for me.
many thanks
Replyckk-back has worked fine for me.
many thanks
Thanks for the info. Just a note for those doing mp3 file recovery. You can launch .chk file in windows media viewer. If it is an mp3 file it will play it. It will also give the filename for about 1 sec in the upper left hand corner as it begins playing.
ReplyI tried the last step, and I got this
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF for all files
Please help
ReplyIf all the files have several FF’s at the start it means the file headers are blank and unless they are obscure files that should start with that, they are most likely corrupt and unrecoverable.
ReplyThanks HAL9000 for your reply,
Are there any other way, i can recover my files?
Please please help, all these are files of my customers.
Please please help, all these are files of my customers.
I think I used the a very cheap flash drive for storing the data. T^T
ReplyUnless you know exactly what those files were in the first place, there’s not much hope of recovery. If you know they were all DOC files for example, and there wasn’t too many FF’s there (you typed 9, is that how many there are?) it may be possible to paste the 9 bytes in from a working file. It’s a long shot though…
ReplyThanks a lot, HAL9000.
Let me try that
Let me try that
thank you soooo much …. am sucess with chk-back tool
Replygreat, thank you.
ReplyTHANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
:)
;)
Reply:)
;)
raymond raymond u r the best
thanks alot,u saved my a.
Replythanks alot,u saved my a.
Many thanks for the article’s content.
It’s serious, effective and well drafted.
I’ve tried all software that you recommend here, and the best result obtained was with CHK-Mate.
Brilliant. Thanks again.
ReplyIt’s serious, effective and well drafted.
I’ve tried all software that you recommend here, and the best result obtained was with CHK-Mate.
Brilliant. Thanks again.
Thanks for this, I found “CHK-Mate” to be the only program to work 1st.
“*.chk” files never really bothered me, I have always just deleted them. Out of curiosity I decided to play.
“*.chk” files never really bothered me, I have always just deleted them. Out of curiosity I decided to play.
Thanks again
ReplyThanks BRO!!!
Replythanks! you saved my files!!
ReplyThank U so much,U guys saved my files
ReplyThanks for the information, it was very helpful.
ReplyThanks a lot man :’) you saved me
ReplyTHanks . it helps a lot :D
Replythank you very much this is realy help me
Replyat first, i thought this may be fake info….
.
But, really it worked….
you guyzz saved my files, photos and videos….
thank you so much….
Reply.
But, really it worked….
you guyzz saved my files, photos and videos….
thank you so much….
Thank you so much, you saved my files!
ReplyThank you very much. It worked…. :-)
ReplyWow Man! This is really very very informative. Many thanks to your concern for others.
Best wishes to you! :-)
ReplyVery Nice Post, Bundle of THANKS
Replyvery good
ReplyVERY VERY NICE!
GOOD LUCK.
Replyyou are my hero THANKS ALOT
Replythanks so much, HAL9000.
ReplyHi
Very useful post.I recovered all my image files using dos command.
ReplyThank you so much, Raymond! You saved my files!!
ReplyVery good. This page helped or rather SOLVED my problem. Wish big companies would take note on how to resolve / help/ Microsofts “find solution on web link” is USELESS – Absolutely USELESS. Wish the idiots who work there [ the few ones ] should take note
ReplyThanks, very useful post, especially about hex intelligence :)
Replythanks pal!
ReplyThanks a million for the information! You saved my butt big time. I had a file error while transferring voice recording from the RCA5022 DVR to my pc. The files were completely erased stored in a hidden directory as CHK files.
Thanks to you, we have do not have to spend hours creating the recording again.
Thanks to you, we have do not have to spend hours creating the recording again.
Thanks,
James
ReplyJames
Excellent article…i agree scandisk and chkdsk is just Microsoft crap…keep up the good work.:)
ReplyOh!!!
Thank you for new Knowledge.
ReplyI use scandisk since window 3.11 i think also ndd, but i only use delete command to remove the chk files. but now i know there is tool to recover the such as files
thank a lot. :)
ReplyI Would be interested in knowing what you use to diagnose disk problems. I have never been a fan of checkdisk. I used to use Norton Disk Doctor back in the day but just wondering if you use anything nowadays that is different from built in stuff?
Great site by the way – I just found it and have been going back through the archives. Nice one
ReplyNice post, many times I have deleted those chk files. With this kind of software the recovery is possible!
Replythanks raymond
ReplyLeave a Reply
PRODUCT DISCLOSURE $
Many free data recovery programs exist that can help recover your accidentally deleted files. These file recovery programs can help you recover, or 'undelete' files on your computer.
Files you have deleted are often still present on your hard drive (or USB drive, media card, smartphone, etc.) and can be recovered using free data recovery software.
Data recovery software is just one way to go. See How to Recover Deleted Files for a complete tutorial, including how to avoid common pitfalls during the file recovery process.
Undelete files you thought were gone forever with any one of these freeware data recovery tools including document, video, images, video, music/audio files, and more.
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Recuva
What We Like
- Kaspersky antivirus 2016 free download. Portable option is available
- Lots of advanced options
- A wizard walkthrough makes it easy to use
- Works on most Windows operating systems
Our Review of Recuva
Recuva is the very best free data recovery software tool available, hands down. It's very easy to use but has many optional advanced features as well.
Recuva can recover files from hard drives, external drives (USB drives, etc.), BD/DVD/CD discs, and memory cards. Recuva can even undelete files from your iPod!
Undeleting a file with Recuva is as easy as deleting one! I highly recommend that you try Recuva first if you need to recover a file.
Recuva will undelete files in Windows 10, Windows 8 & 8.1, 7, Vista, XP, Server 2008/2003, and older Windows versions like 2000, NT, ME and 98. 64-bit Windows versions are also supported. There is also a 64-bit version Recuva available.
Piriform provides both an installable and a portable version of Recuva. I tested file recovery with Recuva v1.53.1087 using their portable version on Windows 8.1.
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Puran File Recovery
What We Like
- Two ways to view the list of deleted files
- Supports running as a portable version
- Scans NTFS and FAT12/16/32 file systems
- It's easy to see whether the file can be recovered well
What We Don't Like
Free Chk File Recovery Program Freeware
- Free for home use only, not commercial/business
- Hasn't been updated since 2016
Puran File Recovery is one of the better free data recovery programs I've seen. It's very easy to use, will scan any drive that Windows sees, and has a lot of advanced options if you need them.
One particular thing to note is that Puran File Recovery identified more files on my test machine than most other tools, so be sure to give this one a shot in addition to Recuva if it didn't find what you were looking for.
Puran File Recovery will even recover lost partitions if they haven't been overwritten yet.
Puran File Recovery works with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP. It's also available in a portable form for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, so it doesn't require installation.
of 20
Disk Drill
What We Like
- Organizes deleted files by category for easier viewing
- Lets you filter the results by size and/or date
- Supports a quick scan and a deep scan mode
- Works with several different file systems
What We Don't Like
- Lets you recover only 500 MB of data
- Has to be installed to the HDD (no portable version)
- You can't see how recoverable a file is before restoration
Disk Drill is an excellent free data recovery program not only because of its features but also due to the very simple design, making it almost impossible to get confused.
According to their website, Disk Drill can recover data (up to 500 MB) from 'virtually any storage device,' such as internal and external hard drives, USB devices, memory cards, and iPods.
Disk Drill can also preview files before recovering them, pause scans and resume them later, perform partition recovery, back up an entire drive, filter files by date or size, run a quick scan versus a full scan for faster results, and save scan results so you can easily import them again to recovery deleted files at a later time.
Chk File Recovery Freeware
Disk Drill works with Windows 10, 8, and 7, as well as macOS 10.10 and newer.
Mac
Pandora Recovery was another file recovery program but it now exists as Disk Drill. If you're looking for that program, you can find the last released version on Softpedia.
of 20
Glary Undelete
What We Like
- Explains very clearly whether the file will recover fully
- The download file is small
- Viewing the list of deleted files is easy and user friendly
What We Don't Like
- The program hasn't updated in a long time
- Can't be used portably, so you have to install it
- Setup attempts to install another program with Glary Undelete
Glary Undelete is an excellent free file recovery program. It's very easy to use and has one of the better user interfaces that I've seen.
The biggest advantages in Glary Undelete include the easy 'Folders' view, a Explorer-style view of recoverable files, and a prominent 'State' indication for each file, suggesting how likely a successful file recovery will be.
One disadvantage of Glary Undelete is that installation is required before you can use it. Another is that you're asked to install a toolbar, but you can, of course, decline if you don't want it. Aside from those facts, Glary Undelete is top notch.
Glary Undelete can recover files from hard drives and any removable media you might have including memory cards, USB drives, etc.
Glary Undelete is said to work in Windows 7, Vista, and XP, but it also works fine in Windows 10, Windows 8, and versions older than Windows XP. I tested Glary Undelete v5.0 in Windows 7.
of 20
SoftPerfect File Recovery
What We Like
- It's really easy to use
- Works from any portable location like a flash drive
- You can search for deleted files by file extension and file name
- Lets you restore more than one file simultaneously
What We Don't Like
- Supports only two file systems (however, they are the most popular)
- You can't preview an image file before restoring it
- Unlike most file recovery tools, this one doesn't let you see how successful the file recovery will be
SoftPerfect File Recovery is another superb file undelete program. It's very easy to search for recoverable files. Anyone should be able to use this program with very little trouble.
SoftPerfect File Recovery will undelete files from hard drives, memory cards, etc. Any device on your PC that stores data (except for your CD/DVD drive) should be supported.
SoftPerfect File Recovery is a small, 500 KB, standalone file, making the program very portable. Feel free to run File Recovery from a USB drive or floppy disk. Scroll down a bit on the download page to find it.
Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, Server 2008 & 2003, 2000, NT, ME, 98, and 95 are all supported. According to SoftPerfect, 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems are also supported.
I tested SoftPerfect File Recovery v1.2 in Windows 10 without any issues.
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EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
What We Like
- You can back up the scan results to restore files later without having to rescan the whole drive
- Works on Windows and macOS
- Lets you sort files by file type, date it was removed, and name
- File recovery is easy because you can browse the folders like you would in Explorer
- Supports previewing files prior to restoration
What We Don't Like
- Only 500 MB of data can be recovered
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is another great file undelete program. Recovering files is very easy to do with just a few clicks.
My favorite aspect of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is that the user interface is structured much like Windows Explorer. While that may not be everyone's ideal way to display files, it's a very familiar interface that most people are comfortable with.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard will undelete files from hard drives, optical drives, memory cards, iOS devices, and pretty much anything else that Windows sees as a storage device. It also does partition recovery!
Please know that Data Recovery Wizard will only recover a total of 500 MB of data before you'll need to upgrade (or up to 2 GB if you use the share button in the program to post about the software on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+).
I almost didn't include this program because of that limitation but since most situations call for undeleting much less than that, I'll let it slide.
Data Recovery Wizard supports Mac and Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP, as well as Windows Server 2012, 2008, and 2003.
Mac
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Wise Data Recovery
What We Like
- Scans for deleted files quickly
- Colored circles make it easy to quickly see whether a file will have a good or poor chance at recovering fully
- There's a portable option
- Works with Windows 10 through XP
What We Don't Like
- When undeleting files, the original folder structure is not retained
- Doesn't work on Mac or Linux
Wise Data Recovery is a free undelete program that's really simple to use.
The program installed very quickly and scanned my PC in record time. Wise Data Recovery can scan various USB devices like memory cards and other removal devices.
An instant search function makes it really quick and easy to search for deleted files that Wise Data Recovery has found. A Recoverability column shows the likelihood of a file being recovered with Good, Poor, Very Poor, or Lost. Just right-click to restore a file.
Wise Data Recovery works with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP. There's also a portable version available.
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Restoration
What We Like
- Really easy to use
- Portable program
- Several ways to sort the results
- Can search for empty deleted files
- Lets you overwrite the deleted data
What We Don't Like
- Supports up to Windows XP (officially; but still works on some newer OSs)
- Doesn't work in Windows 8
- Can't restore a whole folder at once, just single files
- Doesn't say how recoverable the file is before you restore it
The Restoration data recovery program is similar to the other free undelete apps on this list.
The thing I like most about Restoration is how incredibly simple it is to recover files. There are no cryptic buttons or complicated file recovery procedures — everything you need is on one, easy to understand program window.
Restoration can recover files from hard drives, memory cards, USB drives, and other external drives.
Like some of the other popular data recovery tools on this list, Restoration is small and does not need to be installed, giving it the flexibility to be run from a floppy disk or USB drive.
Restoration is said to support Windows Vista, XP, 2000, NT, ME, 98, and 95. I successfully tested it with Windows 10 and Windows 7, and didn't run into any problems. However, v3.2.13 didn't work for me in Windows 8.
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FreeUndelete
What We Like
- Can undelete files from a variety of storage devices
- Simple user interface that isn't hard to understand
- There's a portable option
- Helpful filtering and sorting options
- Restores entire folders at once, as well as single or multiple files
- Lets you know how successful the recovery will be before starting
What We Don't Like
- Works for home users only, not business/commercial settings
FreeUndelete is self-explanatory — it's free and it undeletes files! It's very similar to other undelete utilities around this rank on our list.
The major advantage of FreeUndelete is it's easy to use interface and 'folder drill down' functionality (i.e. files available for recovery are not shown in a big, unmanageable listing).
FreeUndelete will recover files from hard drives, memory cards, and other similar storage devices in, or connected to, your PC.
FreeUndelete works on Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
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ADRC Data Recovery Tools
What We Like
- Extremely small file size
- Works from any portable location (doesn't need to be installed)
- Really simple user interface that's easy to grasp
What We Don't Like
- Doesn't work in Windows 10 or Windows 8
- Hasn't been updated since 2008
ADRC Data Recovery Tools is another great, free file recovery program. File recovery with this program is uncomplicated and could probably be accomplished by the average computer user without any kind of documentation.
ADRC Data Recovery Tools should be able to undelete files from any non-CD/DVD storage device like memory cards and USB drives, as well as hard drives, of course.
ADRC Data Recovery Tools is a standalone, 132 KB program making it a very portable data recovery tool that will easily fit on any removable media you might have.
Data Recovery Tools officially supports Windows XP, 2000, and 95 but I successfully tested data recovery with this program on Windows Vista and Windows 7.
I also tested ADRC Data Recovery Tools v1.1 in Windows 8 and 10 but was unable to get it to work.
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CD Recovery Toolbox
What We Like
- Designed specifically to undelete files from discs
- Program is simple to use
- Supports several Windows operating systems
What We Don't Like
- Won't recover files from hard drives (because it isn't built for that purpose)
CD Recovery Toolbox is a completely free and very unique file recovery program. CD Recovery Toolbox is designed to recover files from damaged or corrupted optical drive discs — CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, HD DVD, etc.
According to the publisher, CD Recovery Toolbox should help recover files from discs that have been scratched, chipped, or have surface spotting.
One obvious con is the inability of CD Recovery Toolbox to recover files from hard drives or portable media drives. However, the program isn't designed to do that so I haven't held that fact against it.
CD Recovery Toolbox works in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, Server 2003, 2000, NT, ME and 98. I tested CD Recovery Toolbox successfully in Windows 7.
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UndeleteMyFiles Pro
What We Like
- Walks you through a short wizard to undelete files
- Includes a unique feature that lets you restore deleted files from a system backup
- Lets you browse the deleted files in two view modes
- The search tool supports searching for deleted files by attribute, size, etc.
- Also lets you delete files permanently
What We Don't Like
- Doesn't work as advertised in Windows 10
- The recoverability state of the file isn't shown, so you don't know whether it will be usable upon recovery
UndeleteMyFiles Pro is another free file recovery program. Don't let the name fool you — it's entirely free even though it says 'Pro.'
Tree View and Detailed View are the two viewing perspectives you can choose from. You can also preview files, which sounds nice, but all it does is restores the data to a temporary folder and then opens it.
Emergency Disk Image is one of the included tools in UndeleteMyFiles Pro. This tool takes a snapshot of your entire computer, places all the data in one file, and then lets you work through that file to find deleted data that you want to restore. This is very handy because after the image file has been made, you don't need to worry that new data written to your hard drive will replace any important deleted files.
There's a nice search option in UndeleteMyFiles Pro that lets you search by file location, type, size, and attributes.
Something I really didn't like about UndeleteMyFiles Pro is that the recovery process doesn't tell you if a file is in a good state of being recoverable like most of the other software in this list.
I tested UndeleteMyFiles Pro in Windows 8 and XP, and it worked as advertised, so it should also work in other versions of Windows. However, I also tested v3.1 in Windows 10 and found that it didn't work as it should.
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MiniTool Power Data Recovery
What We Like
- Has a clean, modern interface
- Undeletes files from several types of storage devices
- Scans for deleted files quickly
- You can recover multiple folders simultaneously
- The scan for deleted files can be paused midway
What We Don't Like
- No portable option
- Recovers no more than 1 GB for free
Unlike some of the other file recovery programs from this list, Power Data Recovery needs to be installed to your computer before you're able to use it. This isn't the best way to work with this type of software because the install may overwrite your deleted files and make them less likely to be recoverable.
Another downside to Power Data Recovery is that you can only recover 1 GB of data before you have to upgrade to a paid version.
However, I do like the fact that the program finds deleted files quickly and that you can recover files from both internal drives and USB devices. Also, Power Data Recovery lets you search among the deleted data, recover more than one folder or file at once, export the list of deleted files to a text file, pause or stop the scan when you find what you need, and filter the files by name, extension, size, and/or date.
Power Data Recovery works in Windows 10, 8, 7, and older versions all all the way through Windows 95, plus Windows Server 2008 and 2003. I tested this version of Power Data Recovery in Windows 10.
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TOKIWA DataRecovery
What We Like
- The program is really simple to use
- Recovers data from several storage mediums
- Portable, with a tiny file size
What We Don't Like
- The program interface isn't the most attractive
- Doesn't officially support Windows 10 or Windows 8 (though it works in both)
TOKIWA DataRecovery is an effective data recovery program and is very similar to many others on my list.
The best thing TOKIWA DataRecovery has going for it is its ease of use. It has a single program window where you can scan for files to recover, sort the files, and undelete them. There are no complicated procedures at all.
TOKIWA DataRecovery can recover files from hard drives, memory cards, USB drives, and other external drives.
TOKIWA DataRecovery is a standalone, 412 KB file, making it a completely portable tool suitable for a USB drive or floppy disk.
DataRecovery officially supports Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, NT, ME, 98, and 95. However, I tested TOKIWA DataRecovery with Windows 10 and Windows 8, too, and it works just as advertised.
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PC Inspector File Recovery
What We Like
- Works for most storage drives and file systems
- Several sorting options to fine-tune the results
- Includes a 'special recovery function' to undelete files other programs can't
What We Don't Like
- Takes a while to complete a scan
- The program isn't as easy to use as similar software
- Has troubles running in Windows 10
PC Inspector File Recovery is another good free file recovery program with an arguably 'deeper' search for deleted files than other similar undelete programs.
PC Inspector File Recovery can recover files from most hard drives, external drives, and memory cards.
I'd recommend trying PC Inspector File Recovery only if another, higher rated data recovery program didn't do the job for you. The not-so-easy-to-use interface and long hard drive scan times keep this file recovery app out of the Top 10.
PC Inspector File Recovery officially supports Windows XP, 2000, NT, ME, and 98. However, I tested PC Inspector File Recovery in Windows 8 and it ran as advertised. I also tested v4 in Windows 10 but it didn't work correctly.
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iBoysoft Data Recovery Free
What We Like
- Installs quickly
- Walks you through a short wizard to restore files
- Very minimal design
- Lets you recover the file to any folder of your choosing
- Supports a quick scan and a deep scan mode
- Results of a scan can be saved to an SR file
What We Don't Like
- Limits data recovery to 1 GB
- Must be installed to the drive (no portable option)
- Doesn't show the health of the file before you restore it
Another free data recovery program is available from iBoysoft. This one is severely limited in that it can recover only 1 GB of data, but if you need to undelete just a few files, or even a video or collection of music, you're probably fine being limited to 1 GB.
iBoysoft Data Recovery Free starts off by having you select the hard drive to scan, and then shows all the deleted files in a regular folder structure like you see above. You can browse through them much like you can in Explorer, and easily select the files you want to restore.
Besides being able to filter the results by file extension and search by file name, the only other thing you can do before recovering a file is preview it, but only if it's smaller than 5 MB.
When you exit the results screen, you have the opportunity to save the results to an SR file that you can later reopen in iBoysoft Data Recovery Free to work out of the same list of deleted files. This is great so that you don't have to rescan the drive to continue sifting through the results.
This program works on Windows 10 and older versions of Windows, and it's also available for Mac computers.
Mac
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Orion File Recovery Software
What We Like
- Shows a file's 'recovery potential' to know whether the undelete will be successful
- Lets you run a scan for specific file types or all types
- Scans many types of storage devices
- Also deletes data permanently
What We Don't Like
- Setup might try to install unrelated programs
Orion File Recovery Software is a free file recovery program from NCH Software that's basically the same as most of the other programs in this list.
A nice wizard prompts you to scan for specific file types at the launch of the program, like documents, images, videos, music, or a custom file type. You can also scan the entire drive to search for all file types.
Orion File Recovery Software can scan any attached hard drive, whether internal or external, flash drives, and memory cards for deleted data. Then you can search through the files with an instant search function, while easily identifying the recovery potential of each file.
A nice addition to Orion File Recovery Software also functions as a data destruction program, so you can scrub all the files it finds to make them unrecoverable for future scans.
Orion File Recovery Software works with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
The setup tool might try to install other NCH Software programs along with the file undelete tool, but just deselect those options if you wish not to install them.
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BPlan Data Recovery
What We Like
- Recovers files from regular hard drives and cameras
- Walks you through a wizard to recover deleted files
What We Don't Like
- Outdated, unappealing interface
- Not as easy to use as other data recovery tools
- Might not install correctly
- Supports a limited number of file formats
BPlan Data Recovery is a file recovery program like the others in this list. It may not look as nice as similar software, but it can recover many different types of deleted files.
I found BPlan Data Recovery to be a bit difficult to navigate around. It was hard to know what I was doing because of the layout of the results. That said, it still managed to find and recover images, documents, videos, and other file types.
I tested BPlan Data Recovery in Windows XP but it also works in Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista.
While testing this program, the desktop shortcut the installer created was incorrect, and therefore didn't open BPlan Data Recovery. You might need to open bplan.exe in this folder to make it work: 'C:Program Files (x86)BPlan data recovery.'
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Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition
What We Like
- Steps you through a wizard
- Lets you choose where to restore the data
- Installs quickly
- Preview documents and images before recovery
What We Don't Like
- Limits recovery to just 1 GB total
- Can't undelete any file over 25 MB (unless you pay)
- Poorly designed search tool
- No portable option
- Must restore files to a separate hard drive
This free data recovery tool from Stellar is easy to use because it walks you through a simple wizard where you select what and where to search for deleted files.
A unique feature in this program is the preview option you have while the scan is taking place. You can watch, in real time, which files the program finds before the scan completes.
Something else we like about Stellar's free file recovery program is that when you exit the results screen, you're given the option to save the list of deleted files so that you can resume recovering them later.
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PhotoRec
What We Like
- Undeletes files from all types of storage devices
- Works on Windows, Linux, and macOS
What We Don't Like
- Too easy to recover files you don't want to undelete
- No graphical user interface
The free PhotoRec file recovery tool does the job but it isn't nearly as easy to use as other programs in this list.
PhotoRec is limited by its command-line interface and multiple step recovery process. However, my greatest problem with PhotoRec is that it's very difficult to avoid recovering all deleted files at once, not just the one or two you're after.
PhotoRec can recover files from hard drives, optical drives, and memory cards. PhotoRec should be able to undelete files from any storage device on your PC.
If another data recovery program hasn't worked, give PhotoRec a try. I just don't recommend making it your first pick.
PhotoRec officially supports Windows 7, Vista, XP, Server 2008, 2003, 2000, NT, ME, 98, and 95, as well as macOS and Linux. I tested PhotoRec in Windows 7.
PhotoRec is downloaded as part of the TestDisk software, but you'll want to still open the file called photorec_win (on Windows) to run it.
'Why have you only included 20 free data recovery programs?'
True, there are many more file recovery programs than those listed above, but I've only included true freeware file recovery programs that also undelete wide ranges of files. I didn't include file recovery programs that are shareware/free trials, nor ones that won't undelete reasonably sized files.
If you still need help with a file recovery issue, see my Get More Help page. I'm also happy to hear your thoughts on additions or changes to this list.