• Restorer Ultimate Documentation

Disk Scan


Restorer Ultimate can scan any object visible in its Device/Disk list panel. When scanning, Restorer Ultimate thoroughly analyzes data on the object and can find more lost files even on objects with valid file system.

Scan is the only option to find and recover files from objects with invalid (corrupted) file systems. Scan is also greatly improves estimations for chances of successful file recovery .

Restorer Ultimate can also perform Raw File Search , that is, search for files using their file signatures. This recovery method is especially useful for files lost on digital camera memory cards and other similar media.

Attention: Scanning large areas may be a very lengthy process!

NEVER TRY TO SAVE SCAN INFORMATION ON THE OBJECT BEING SCANNED!!!

Or you may obtain unpredictable results and lose all your data.

To speed up scanning, you may create a region to scan only a part of an object.

As a result of scanning

To scan an object

1 Select the object to scan on the Restorer Ultimate Device/Disk list panel and click the Next button

If there is bad S.M.A.R.T. data for the hard drive, Restorer Ultimate will show a S.M.A.R.T. warning describing the situation. You may decide what to do with the drive.

2 Select Disk Scan on the File search/Disk scan panel and click the Next button
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File search/Disk scan panel

If you are going to scan an object with a valid file system, the panel will have a different view.

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File search/Disk scan panel

Click to expand/collapse Other ways to start disk scan

3 If necessary, specify the required parameters on the Scan dialog box and click the OK button

To reach the  click the Change Scan Options button or Actions->Set scan options on Task List .

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Scan dialog box

Click to expand/collapse Scan options

You also may enable Raw File Search and specify it options.

> Restorer Ultimate starts scanning the object, and its panel will show the scan progress:
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Scan progress panel panel

You can stop the scan by clicking Actions->Stop on Task List and select the action you want to make on the Stop message. You may stop the exhaustive search and go back to the Select the disk to recover files from panel, continue searching, show already found files, or remain on the Exhaustive file search results panel.

You may see which file object(s) is/are on a particular disk part. Click the corresponding rectangle on the Scan Information pane and view the information on the Scan Information dialog box.

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Scan Information dialog box

Double-click an object to view/edit the file object in the Text/hexadecimal editor .

> When scan is complete, Restorer Ultimate will show its results
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Scan Results panel

When an object is scanned, a number of recognized partitions will appear. Restorer Ultimate shows them in different colors depending on which elements of the partition have been found.

Fat16_0011

Existing partition. Chances are highest that file recovery will be successful from this partition.

Fat16_0009

Both boot records and file entries are found for this partition. Chances are high that file recovery will be successful from this partition.

FAT32_0008

Only file entries are found for this partition. Chances are medium that file recovery will be successful from this partition.

FAT16_0019

Only boot records are found for this partition. Chances are low that file recovery will be successful from this partition.

Although such recognized partitions are virtual objects, files can be searched for and recovered from recognized partitions as from real logical disks as it is described in the Recover Files from Existing Logical Disk . Click this link to see an example of a real folder/file structure for the FAT16_0014 recognized partition.

Managing scan information

Multiple Scan

Raw File Search

Customizing File Types