Advanced EFS Data Recovery 4

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

If you've lost some important encrypted files due to a system malfunction, turn to Advanced EFS Data Recovery to get them back. We didn't have any problem navigating the self-explanatory interface. The utility will retrieve files when your computer can't be booted or when certain encryption keys have been tampered with. Decryption is possible even when Windows is protected using the syskey. However, Advanced EFS Data Recovery can recover protected files only if some of the encryption keys still exist in the system. We should also note the program has been tested only on U.S. versions of Windows and isn't guaranteed to work on international ones. In our tests, recoveries took mere seconds, though the trial version only decrypts the first 512 bytes of any given file. Anyone who regularly encrypts files for security's sake would do well to have Advanced EFS Data Recovery on hand.

Publisher's description

From ElcomSoft :

Decrypt files protected with the Encrypting File System (EFS). Advanced EFS Data Recovery (AEFSDR) decrypts files protected with EFS in Windows 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista. The recovery is possible even when you transfer a protected disk into a different PC, reformat system partition, or when some encryption keys are tampered with.

AEFSDR effectively decrypts the EFS-protected files even when all other methods to recover encrypted data fail. Scanning the hard disk in low-level mode and matching the patterns sector by sector allows AEFSDR to recover the EFS-encrypted files even if some of the encryption keys are lost.

AEFSDR helps to recover from system administration errors such as deleting user accounts and profiles, missing or misconfigured data recovery authorities, incorrect transfers of user accounts between domains, or moving hard disks with encrypted data between computers. Version 4 adds sector-level disk scanning, allowing to locate deleted keys, and keys that have been lost due to disk reformatting.

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