Test results of 17 disk/file recovery programs on SD card

This is a reposting of an identical message just below, using a more
appropriate subject line, which will be useful for archive searches. The
original problem is described in this post:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...e-2e54990dace6

As promised, I am writing back with test results from a comprehensive survey
of file / disk recovery software. I'm sure there are other programs about, so
if anyone wants to send me a link to another program in the next day or two
before I fully restore the SD card, I'm happy to test it out as well, and
describe the results.

The SD card that was overwritten was recovered almost completely intact by 3
programs of 17 that I gave this job to. I could only afford to buy one
program of these three, so it may be that, on purchase, the other 2 programs
turn out to have bells & whistles that will put you in better stead.

The three programs that worked were Kroll OnTrack's EasyRecovery
Professional [$200-500, depending on features], Easeus' Disk Recovery Wizard
[$80], and BinaryBiz's Virtual Lab [$150 for up to 100GB].

EasyRecovery managed to do something that none of the other programs could:
Rename the top-level folder structure on the SD card. Remarkably, even though
the other two programs did not complete this part of the recovery task, they
nevertheless managed to reproduce intact all of the subfolder names perfectly.

The advantage of VirtualLab is the capacity to recover Mac partitions and
files.

Finally, Disk Recovery Wizard has two minor disadvantages: It has very poor
document preview capabilities, and the developers have not bothered to give
the interface a native English-speaking proofing.

For all intents and purposes, though, under these recovery conditions, DRW
does just as complete a job as EasyRecovery. In fact, if you want the
top-level folders renamed, just keep a demo copy of EasyRecovery on your
drive, run its scan, and rename the top-level folders based on its results.

So, the winners are:

Kroll OnTrack Data Recovery EasyRecovery Professional [recovered 2500 files]
[$200-500 for differing feature sets]
http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/d...very-software/
* Recovered everything, including folder structure, and all folder names
* Will conduct a physical device search

Binary Biz Virtual Lab [$150 for 100GB] [1575 files recovered]
http://www.binarybiz.com/vlab/windows.html
x Recovery of over 100GB requires purchase of more recovery 'quota'
* Recovered everything, including folder structure
* Identified all folder names, with sole exception of top level folders
* Recovers Mac partitions & files
* Will conduct a physical device search

EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional [recovered 2500 files] [$80]
http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizardpro/index.htm
x Misnamed one folder, but all contents were there
x Poor file previews
x Still makes plenty of English mistakes in instructions & alerts
* Recovered everything, including folder structure
* Identified all folder names, with sole exception of top level folders
* Will conduct a physical device search


Here is how other programs performed:

Active@ - Undelete [$40]
http://www.active-undelete.com/
x Recovered nothing

Arax - Disk Doctor
http://www.disk-doctor.com/
x Recovered nothing

CONVAR - PC Inspector File Recovery & Smart Recovery [freeware]
http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file...htm?language=1
x Found very little of the missing data

File-Saver [$60]
http://www.file-saver.com/undelete/
x No demo available, so no results to compare

GetData - Recover My Files & Recover My Images [$70; try before you buy]
http://www.getdata.com/
x Recovered no folder names, but was able to restore the folder structure
x Lots of garbage TXT files
- Must use File Recovery, not Partition Recovery, to get most files
* Will conduct a physical device search
* Good doc preview variety [including PDFs]

Iolo - Search & Recover [$40]
http://www.iolo.com/sr/4/
x In Vista, fatal runtime errors even before scan started

Brian Kato - Restoration [freeware]
http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
x No physical drive search; hence, in this case, recovered none of the
missing data
* Stand-alone EXE (i.e., no installer)

O&O - DiskRecovery [$100; limited to 100 files]
http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/p...odiskrecovery/
x Poor file previews
x No naming of files; no folder structure

Piriform - Recuva [freeware]
http://www.recuva.com/
x Recovered nothing

QueTek Consulting Corporation - File Scavenger [745 PDFs found] [$50; free
demo]
http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm
x No naming of files; no folder structure
x No file preview
* Stand-alone EXE (i.e. no installer)
* Will recover files up to 64KB for free

R-Studio [$80; try before you buy]
http://www.data-recovery-software.ne...Download.shtml
http://www.r-studio.com/
Extended Viewer [plug-in; includes vast range of file formats, like PDF &
images] [free]
http://www.data-recovery-software.ne...Download.shtml
x No naming of files; no folder structure
x Missed quite a number of PDFs
x Lots of garbage TXT files
x No PDF preview

StellarPhoenix Windows Data Recovery [$100; try before you buy]
http://www.stellarinfo.com/file-recovery-software.htm
x No naming of files; no folder structure
* Even in demo, opened all MS Office files in Office itself

Symantec Norton SystemWorks 2007 [including Norton Utilities Disk Doctor]
http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoff...build=standard
x Unable to do physical device search
x In Vista x86, couldn't uninstall; Symantec updater sends you to the (as
yet unreleased) install of 2008 BEFORE it identifies the uninstall issue and
sends you the Symantec software Removal Tool, which only worsens the
situation; even DD 2008 quit when printing initial diagnostic report

Touchstone - Undelete Plus [freeware]
http://undelete-plus.com/
x Recovered nothing


Hope this is of use -- especially to you, Malke, who steered me to several
of these programs.

Happy New Year to all!
a.k.a.