FileSalvage for Mac

User Reviews

• Virtually worthless

  Real_Home_UserAugust 7, 2015

  Pros

  Recovers lost stuff, then all you have to do is go through a monstrous list of unknown files, trying to find whatever it was you lost. Finding a needle in a haystack would be childs-play compared to this!

  Cons

  You have little idea what it is you recovered. File names are lost in the process. What's the point? I might as well just read the binary digits and figure it out myself. What a joke!

  Summary

  Since Apple's file system apparently doesn't allow the recovery of file names, utilities such as this are virtually worthless. IMO, all such companies should just give up and do something else. Trying to recover Mac files is a SICK JOKE!!!

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• Works ok with some popular file types

  usergalwayNovember 16, 2011

  Pros

  FileSalvage recovered a layered Adobe Photoshop file that I could have re-created in about 1.5 to 2 hours. Also recovered personal JPEG photos that I would have had to re-download from email archives. Also, recovered an Adobe Illustrator file that I might need, about 0.5 hours' work. The software supports recovery of many file types (MS Excel, MS Word, rtf, etc), but leaves out some that I needed.

  Cons

  FileSalvage did not recover any spreadsheet files saved as iWork Numbers (Mac's answer to MS Excel, file type .numbers). Software did not indicate that it had recovered any files saved as Plain Text, ".txt." These were among my primary motivations for paying $80. I had hoped to recover these, but will have to re-create. I went back to the publishers website and did not see a file-type list in the FAQ's.

  Summary

  Might be an excellent value for a different user. It's a close call whether I would have paid $80, if I could somehow have known the results in advance, but I would say no, I would have passed, and recreated the lost files if and when necessary.

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• What A Joke

  robertmroJune 15, 2010

  Pros

  ..........

  Cons

  ..........

  Summary

  They have been claiming to have 7.0.2 available for download but it's not. It's 7.0.1. If they can't their act together how good can the software be?

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• Advertised version not available

  ScottieBeachMay 16, 2010

  Pros

  It's good software. Does what it's supposed to do.

  Cons

  I've only got 7.01. 7.0.2 isn't really available from the download site.

  Summary

  If you haven't got 7.0.1 then download this. It's worth having. If you've got it already then don't bother with this as it will only get the same for you again.

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• Over promises, under delivers, over charges

  paul-2010March 7, 2010

  Pros

  Easy to use (i.e. it does very little hence there are few controls)

  Cons

  Astonishingly slow, ineffective, incomplete, buggy, no directory recovery, meaningless name service, virtually non functional 'preview' function and largely a failure at it's design intention - acceptable if it weren't astonishingly expensive!

  Summary

  Do not purchase this staggeringly expensive and slow product that takes a narrow view of recovery with no directory recovery and an unhelpful interface. The product repeatedly fails - even the post recovery rename service repeatedly hangs and it cannot be re-run. I had to return to the website to download a freeware application that could be run manually after the rename service failed! Stupidly simple things are made complex and a single example is that: In choosing the output target location (disk)/directory the dialogue manager treats EVERYTHING as if it were the source disk and therefore disallowing access unless you counterintuitively go thorough the top level device structure instead of directly to the connected disks. Then, it manages the sub directories differently differently according to wether you are running the first or subsequent recovery pass and refuses to allow the creation of directories on ANY disk treating everything as read only. God it is awful!!!!!! I am seeking my money back after two intensive days of struggling with it with very limited success. Awful product - if it were free, one could accept it's inadequacies and buggy operation - for $79 (and that is with $10 discount for _not_ having the CD mailed to you!) it is plain abuse of people in a problem state trying to recover data. CNET should test this and insist they improve it or remove it from Download.Com. I also remember why I have never before purchased any 'un reviewed' products! I detest it!

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• Not to bad, but soon a waste of money

  arbroathsmokie2October 25, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Filesalvage is fine if you want to recover deleted pictures, and short movie clips, but seems useless for anything else. However if you have an external drive buy Leopard and use Time Machine, once that's installed recovering files is a piece of cake.

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• This does not work for iMovie projects

  merel1October 10, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I deleted my 4GB iMovie project on an external HD. Instantly bought and downloaded Salvage. The "unerase" option took about 4 hours on the 120GB HD and resulted in a lot of files, but NOT my project. Filenames were lost, and so the contents and structure of the iMovie-project. It is not worth the money... :-(

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• Not the best.

  PDogg92August 26, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />FS 6 retreived some of my deleted files and actually tried to fix the filenames. Unfortunaltey it only worked for a dozen or so files. I was still unhappy with the undelete recovery to I spent an additional hundred and purchased DataRescueII. It worked much better and actually retreived more data! DataRescueII is BETTER!

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• If you've deleted something this is an absolute...

  TonyKnightAugust 14, 2007

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  ...NEED!!!<br />This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This product is absolutely fantastic! One of our designers deleted a major project yesterday. I was away at a conference and my daily Retrospect Server tape had run out six days ago. No one had put in a new tape. I had never lost anything on my network in 13 years. FileSalvage SAVED THE DAY and my record of never loosing anything. It worked like a charm. This is a MUST buy if your bacon is on the line.

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• Does nothing; support nonexistent?

  SpinningMurrowOctober 25, 2006

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I inadvertently deleted a mail folder from my dual G4, and after checking around was told that only FileSalvage can find and recover .emlx files. So, I decided to download the trial and have it find them, to make sure before I paid the $70 to get full recovery. Well, I'm glad I held off paying - it crunched away for a full day with no results. So I gave it a smaller task: my 1 GB partition with almost no files on it. Still nada. I can't even quit the app - have to force-quit to exit. Tried it using a clean user login and Safe Boot, same results. I e-mailed SubRosaSoft, but after an initial e-mail wondering if I might try a disk image instead of the zipped download, they haven't returned my e-mails for three days. If I actually had to use that computer to make money, I'd be SOL (my deleted mail files would begin to be overwritten). The problem I'm having with the software might be unusual, but the support response alone is reason to avoid.

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