PC Inspector File Recovery for Windows

User Reviews

• Best Free File Recovery Program Available

  Azhrarn27December 24, 2013

  Pros

  I just had two portable hard drives fail within days of each other, and was face with the loss of ALL of my personal data. PC Inspector File Recovery saved my life. I tried about 2 dozen freeware programs, and except for PhotoRec (which I never finished testing), nothing else even came close to this program. First of all, it recognized the logical name of my failed drive immediately. Second, it found almost all of my "missing" files. Third, not only did it recover my missing files, it even put them into the correct file structures! That's kind of crucial considering I was recovering hundreds of GB and tens of thousands of files. This program works. I tried Recuva, and the best it could do was identify maybe 100 files and if I had tried to recover them they would have all been thrown together. None of the other programs could even identify my logical drive.

  Cons

  This program was made by a German company, so the translation suffers a bit in the help files. The interface is also not as intuitive as it could be. My suggestion would be to spend some time exploring the program. It really doesn't take that long to figure it out. Be aware that the program can freeze sometimes after it's done recovering files. It can also freeze if it tries to recover certain types of files. I found this happening with files having a .db filename extension. If this happens just close the program and restart it. But make sure you don't close the program while it's still running, because then you might destroy some of the data. To check to see if the program is still running or if it's frozen, just go to the hard drive where you are copying your recovered files and check to see if the files are increasing in size and number of if you see the same file listed at the same size over and over again.

  Summary

  This program works. No it's not perfect , but it's free. What more can you ask for?

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• Can I give this a negative rating?

  qsusie2008March 28, 2013

  Pros

  It recovered some files, but not all.

  Cons

  This Put a stinkin' invasive virus on my computer. White Smoke toolbar and other Adware. I have NEVER had that happen with a CNet download before. Use Recuva instead, it has a better interface and didn't give me garbage.

  Summary

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• RECOVERS DELETED FILES

  tjlavalleeshopJanuary 1, 2013

  Pros

  It can recover those files you accidentally deleted. Have used it on several occasions and gets the job done.

  Cons

  Takes some time to navigate through the process.

  Summary

  I am running Windows XP and it runs flawlessly. Not sure what the other reviewers are talking about. I have no affiliation with this company or any other. Sometimes I wonder if these reviews are 100% unbiased. Give it a try it worked for me.

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• Awful Interface

  fred64haDecember 19, 2012

  Pros

  It found over 40 thousand files added extensions like .exe or .jpg etc.

  Cons

  I stumbled upon how to select to failed drive. Be careful where you click! Some clicks that seem like option selections start scans. Options abound, but how to select them is hit and miss. Scan a hard drive one of my users did a system recovery on -- thought he was restoring to a previous time (sigh). After many hours it found tens of thousands of files. Some from before the formatting, some from the new installation. Scan results are one big list, you can click on headers to sort, but that's about it for help finding what you need.

  Summary

  Maybe ok as a last resort?

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• What a dud!

  gmartinez67November 18, 2012

  Pros

  Wouldn't know if this software has any pros; couldn't get it started.

  Cons

  I have never seen a less intuitive program! I am still trying to work out how to get it to recognise my hard disk drives. And the help files are absolutely useless. Helps is pretty much limited to "run program, recover files, save recovered files". Reminded of the instructions on a packet of peanuts in a plane: "Open packet, eat peanuts". The only thing this download has done properly was to install some bloody search tool bar on my internet browser... ALTHOUGH I SELECTED NOT TO INSTALL IT!

  Summary

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• Recovered 65% of Data

  offerPop5724028September 4, 2012

  Pros

  Was quick in recovery

  Cons

  Could not recover the entire records

  Summary

  Good software

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• Run in XP Compatibility Mode to avoid crash!

  lifanusAugust 31, 2012

  Pros

  This saved my life! I had a corrupt file filled with important images for client, this is the only free program that is able to read the corrupt directory and successfully extracted every single image that got lost! Simply amazing. It can also re-name the files before saving them so any corrupt file name can be changed to normal file name before recovery.

  Cons

  Have to run in XP compatibility mode to avoid crashing the system.

  Summary

  Best free data recovery program there is.

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• Powerful, but crashed. Not updated since 2007.

  Lars_Hallstroem_EriksenAugust 8, 2012

  Pros

  Appears to be powerful when it works. Distinguishes between ordinary deleted files and other lost data. Free with no limitations.

  Cons

  Froze when it started recovery of selected files. Has been at version 4.0 since 2007 - appears not to be maintained.

  Summary

  I needed to recover a file that a program bug had rendered useless by changing to 0 bytes, so I figured this was 'lost data' rather than 'deleted file'. The program scanned the micro-SD card of my smartphone and found hundreds of lost clusters, which it showed with file type, but only file names like "Cluster123.JPG" and blank dates, probably because no file metadata was available. But when I selected all the JPG files for recovery, the program froze and I had to kill it with Task Manager. Afterwards, I found that it had saved two out of several hundred files, and the two files it did save were fully functional (but unfortunately not the picture I was looking for).

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• If your drive says it needs to be formatted, USE THIS!!

  CompPro2006April 4, 2012

  Pros

  Easy (for moderately computer minded people) Affordable ( FREE!!) FAST ( INSTANT RESULTS)

  Cons

  I don't have any stock in this application!

  Summary

  Be sure you know what your doing and this will be a great tool to help recover seemingly lost files!

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• Piece of Trash

  JATomlinson11February 25, 2012

  Pros

  None at all.

  Cons

  The second it tries to scan my external hard drive (which is what I need to recover data off of) the program crashes. Tried several times. Not worth the download.

  Summary

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