Very good software. I tried it a lot, and comparing to ZAR Assumption Recovery and the recovery feature of WinUtilities 6.4 it works better and mor faster. It’s very fast and very accurate. It brought back a lot of my files.
Thanks a lot!
Nándor

Very good software. I tried it a lot, and comparing to ZAR Assumption Recovery and the recovery feature of WinUtilities 6.4 it works better and mor faster. It's very fast and very accurate. It brought back a lot of my files.
Thanks a lot!
Nándor

Hi,
I am also using XP3 and I keep getting error message that my info is invalid. I have tried several times copying and pasting and i keep getting invalid information.
How are you guys getting it activated? I am anxious to try it out.
arkay

#26 Ben Grim- Someone smarter may correct me, but..I think you should at least try connecting a digital camera with the card in it,and check the card that way, it may be fine. I had a card that my pc didn't recognize til I used it in a camera & with my pc. Same card also got stuck in sd card slot for a day, btw. :)

I got a reply from its support about why I have v3.6 and v4.0 when doing an upgrade/overinstall into the same location. He/She said "... It's really a normal situation :)"

Wow, bad English too like mine. ;)

WARNING
This program is very dangerous to use. It deleted 12 folders on my C-drive when I tested recover of one file from a USB-disc. Using Windows Vista with SP1.

Installed and running fine on XP Pro sp3 and Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 converted to workstation.

Thanks GAOTD and Enplase Research for this fine release

#19: "...I have an old drive from my wife’s computer that was originally configured as FAT32, but had problems with partitioning and then showed as FAT16 with much less space. I have not fooled with it since it crashed, but would like to recover the data...."

Hard to say what you have or don't -- depends on what happened with partitioning & with the crash. I'd suggest creating a disk image of the entire drive, restoring that to another drive/partition, & then playing with that -- you can always restore the image again to start from scratch that way.

Personally I'd start with checking out the partitions to see what's there, what can be repaired or maybe rebuilt, what can be restored or un-deleted. You could try Partition Mgr software, or like Partition Table Doc, there are apps just to try and repair/recover/rebuild the partition data. You may get the FAT32 partition back just the way it was, which would be great. If not, you can try however many un-delete apps (like Multistage Recovery) you want or have the patience for. If it has to re-assemble files from clusters, un-delete software may need you to rename every recovered file, &/or recovery may be partial -- i.e. with a Word doc you may get the contents but lose all formatting. If the drive's that old, you may also need to pick up an IDE to SATA adapter -- I think Geeks & Meritline have them, & know DealExtreme offers several for less than $10.

* * *

#26: "I would download and try this if I knew it would recover files off an external hard drive.The hard drive just clicks.Ive tried other recovery programs to no avail..."

If you can't read off the drive, nothing will help short of having recovery specialists take apart the drive & maybe scan the platters out of the drive, repair the drive leaving the platters intact etc. That said, there is a [likely *Very Slight*] chance that the drive itself might be repairable through a firmware update *IF* the problem's a manufacturer defect they've created a fix for. Being an external drive, I imagine there's also a chance the problem's with the electronics for the case. IF the drive's under warranty, do check out the fine print -- external drive warranties can be pretty screwy IMHO.

If you do manage to get something to read from the drive, quickly create an image backup -- you can work from that image [restored to another drive/partition] to try & access/recover any files.

What's the point if you have to install it? When you need to recover something, you need to execute this from portable media preferably.

Second point: You have to install this program in one day. Usually you need to have the install files handy when you have problems. Not just this one day.

Next point: It's not that anyone is flaming a free product. It's that we're being honest. If it's trash we say so. If it's wonderful...we say so...no need to "overvalue" software...especially recovery software. There is a reason this software is here free for a day. They probably can't sell it as well as most or it doesn't meet a certain standard. The authors should be smart and read the comments and make it better instead of being defensive. Also, to all those others who post here..."chill"...take everything here with a grain of salt....all the criticism here was probably made...in a day.

Other points: "The Wrapper": What does everyone think of it? Do you think it's good? I like this site and I like to try software but being forced into this thing where I must do this:

(a) Download it on the same day
(b) Install it on the same day
(c) Hope I never need to reinstall it because the software has a wrapper that will prevent this is kinda dumb. (not crazy dumb) but annoying dumb.

GIVE ME the software for free WITH the install files to keep in a backup drive so I can reinstall it later. Forcing me to install something such as a recovery program for a rainy day is a mute point. If your program was any good, we'd opt in without the wrapper. The fact that you need to "wrap" it proves your insecurity or your hope that we will install it by accident. It's crap I tell ya...crap....be confident in your software and let us opt in and I for one would certainly be more interested in any of your software if it weren't "wrapped" around other software like some sort of Netscape product. I feel it devalues the product even if it makes you more money in the first term.

How about our infected files deleted/removed by antivirus programs?

MultiStage Recovery is a relatively small program at 20 files, 2 folders, ~8 MB, that seems to work as a portable app. My approach to un-delete apps may be a bit different -- since I don't *Ever* plan on using one, the interface design & speed are not all that important, though I didn't find problems with either in XP Pro 32 SP3.

It was slower scanning a partition than Recuva, & in a folder I use for temporary storage before burning to disc, both apps found the same file, though Recuva listed it as unrecoverable -- Multistage Recovery didn't give a guesstimate of success. However when it comes to the really hard stuff, piecing together a file from however many hard drive clusters storing data, I don't know how Multistage Recovery will fare -- it may well recover a particular file that nothing else will, so I'll definitely hang onto it.

AFAIK there is no *One* magic algorithm or logic to piecing together files that are that far gone, & I assume unless someone has disassembled the code for Multistage Recovery, finding it a copy of something else, Multistage Recovery will do things differently than other un-delete apps. If I find myself trying to recover a disc full of files, I see no reason not to give it a shot along with whatever competing software. The one time I had experience with that sort of mess, no single app found everything.

A program like this seems like a bad match for GAOTD. If your hard drive crashes this program is likely to be on it and you will not be able to use the program to recover because you won't be able to register it again. Yes you may be able to use it on external hard drives, USB keys, other internal drives, etc., so it still has some use, but the nature of GAOTD means that one of the big uses is eliminated.

At comment #93 at Nederlands at RadioGet you will find a link with 2 programs to see for free alot of TV stations.Two problems:At TV Setup it say that need Divx advanced,Sop filter that it say that is necesary to control adult program but is enough to download on hard that Iobit say that you are infected(soo is not need)and you will have program for adult(this is another problem if you have children),this are because is free,also you have advantage to see many TV stations and record without problems audio from TV stations,also with VLC plugin you can record Video but you must to know the url.Also exist another soft clean that have need Windows Media Player 10 or 11 that is beautifull and have a numerous TV stations free from many countries.

Installed and activated fine on XP SP2. Desktop link points to msr.exe instead of msr2.exe and program doesn´t close by menu File - Exit. Red cross upper right corner works. If this was an alpha version would be OK so far. Not good for a product sold for that price.

Does anyone know Pandora Recovery? If this one here is so slow i´ll compare it to pandora once i got something to recover.
http://www.pandorarecovery.com/

I got MultiStage Recovery a few months ago, and all I can say is that it's a very good file recovery software. It works fine on my Windows Vista. There is no problem to recover any files, and it's very quick.
My advices : grab it! And thanks again GOTD and MultiStage Recovery.

Sorry to say, but complete crap. I installed it, activated it with the info in the readme file, and that went OK. I then shut down and took apart my system to reinstall a hard drive that I want to recover files from. Rebooted and started the program. Looked fine until I clicked on a hard drive, when it got a "MSR2 Abnormal Shutdown" (note that is MSR2 and not ever MSR4). Happens every time that I click on a hard drive (even after removing the drive with corruption problems). Since the whole purpose of this is supposedly to recover files from hard drives, it is completely worthless for me.

Installed quickly on XP SP3;It is fast on a low level scan, showed all the files mp3 & txt files deleted from recycle bin (Close to 358 mb) within 2 mts.of scan time, on my P4 2.66 mhz 2 GB Ram comp.

I find it good, though I will try out FTK Imager.

Getting access violation error also.

I would download and try this if I knew it would recover files off an external harddrive.The harddrive just clicks.Ive tried other recovery programs to no avail.I was copying negitives of old family pictures and had 300GB of photos.Somebody told me they are lost .Say it isnt so.

I use Recuva and O&O Recovery software. I will try & experience this software and later decide to keep it on my Hard disk or not.

Thanks for making this available - but I'm looking for something that will recognise an external and/or network drive.

Well this is a real gem !
It would be nice if people tried the program,or maybe read the help file before insulting the programmer or trash the program...
Had some minor problems too putting the registration details in and yes,the default setting should have been 'search for deleted files only'...so what?

But the program does have some nice features,such as: the possibility of searching separate partitions,saving files to be recovered (from the original file location) as an image.

And the difference between a' deleted' file and a 'lost' file explains why it could takes some time:

"Deleted Files" are those files that can be recovered by searching for Microsoft Windows file reference information which remain on your computer's hard drive. This is the standard method used by data recovery programs.

"Lost Files" are files that no longer have Microsoft Windows file reference information remaining. MultiStage Recovery searches the entire hard drive and identifies these files by their structure (i.e. unique header, content, and footer information). Because the Microsoft Windows file reference information is no longer present the original name of the file is no longer available. MultiStage Recovery renames Lost Files in the format "[Filetype] [abs_file_index].ext".

In other words:If you found the file you needed it's no use digging in the lost file category.

Thanks Grynko Ivan and Gotd.

I just installed MultiStage Recovery v4.0 to upgrade my v3.6 with the same folder/directory name in updated Windows XP Pro. SP3 (IE6), but now I have two versions. Is this normal?

I have MultStage Recovery 3.6 - May/2009 - from GAOTD... ?

Program keeps throwing access violations when opening and then when trying to close - even through "end task" via the task manager.

Access violation is 005E3FB3 in module MSR2.exe

It seems to change hexi-decimal each time.

This is on an XP SP3 system.

Does Multi-Stage Recovery recover the file structure, as well as the files themselves? I have an old drive from my wife's computer that was originally configured as FAT32, but had problems with partitioning and then showed as FAT16 with much less space. I have not fooled with it since it crashed, but would like to recover the data. However, only recovering the files, without the file structure, really would not help me, because my wife didn't use very good naming conventions for her files and I would have to look at each file, one by one.

Downloaded, and installed and when trying to run everytime I get "Access violation at address...in module 'MSR2.exe'. Program won't then shut down...not impressed and seems poorly wrote as was mentioned above.

I'm always looking for recovered file programs as I work in Forensics.

This program could not recover anything from the Flash drive. It only display "hidden folders with no files inside.

I then used FTK Imager and it completed its scan of of a 200GB driver and the flash drive in under 1 minute.

FTK uses the Quick View Plus viewers which allow you to display over 100 different file types. MultiStage Recovery could not even display a text file in the right format. It it looked like a binary file.

FTK Imager allows you to export single files or complete folders even under slack and unallocated spae and the recycle bin.

FTK Imager blows this program out of the water..

I recently used this program the last time it was given on an SD camera card for a friend who accidently deleted hundreds of photos. It recovered all of the files as 120 pixel by 160 pixel (Ultra tiny) photos each with a size of exactly 1 megabyte (Huge for the picture size). I then used Recuva and was able to recover 98% of the photos at 1200 pixels by 1600 pixels. I immediately removed MultiStage Recovery from my computer to free up valuable hard drive space.

I found the software to be a bit too slow, as compared to FREE equivalents such as Recuva which despite being a good software (and having the option to "deep-scan" to find more files) does show unrecoverable files and at times also makes permanently deleting recovered files impossible.

Rear Guy

Hey! Where/How is the activation to take place?

Thanks Fubar. Very helpful.

Grynko, please see my additional post #7. Thanks.

Installation was uneventful and smooth with XP SP3.
The interface is well-thought and clear. And it did undelete what I wanted.
There was a big problem though. While the memory usage was 8-12 Megs and CPU load low this software was extremely slow responding even when doing simple things like changing a skin or language! When I pressed 'Preview' for a file it was ages till it load some symbols.
I wonder if it's only me experiencing this.

Stunningly, amazingly bad. #2, Grynko Ivan, while it's nice that you're here, my opinion remains the same as when this was offered many revisions ago. I can always spot hopelessly bad coding. My honest advice would be to hire some real programmers or find another line of work, and I'm not saying that to be mean. Says it will upgrade earlier versions, but fails to remove stuff from previous versions. Says it supports Vista, but not Vista-compliant. Vista did an XP SP2 compatibility reinstall. Terrible UI, horribly slow, and as Ashraf mentioned, same as earlier versions, you have to tell it not to list existing files. Says it won't list unrecoverable files, but most that it lists are unrecoverable. Only searches one drive at a time, uses tree view, which I can't stand. Useless Help file. Going up against the free Piriform Recuva, which absolutely stomps it in every respect. Use the Slim or Portable versions from the Builds page. Recuva uses a largely right-click UI. If you use the wizard, the Advanced mode and Options aren't available until after the scan. Don't use Deep Scan unless the regular scan doesn't find what you want (although you're unlikely to find anything recoverable with a Deep Scan). The Recuva UI could use a great deal of improvement, but the program performs well. For more serious recovery, there are other programs such as Active Boot Disk, available from NTFS.com or LSoft.net (ultimately, it's from LSoft; they run multiple websites with different layouts and information, and they have freeware).

• Downloaded and installed on XP SP2 system without any problem.
• Registered fine without requiring any email exchange.
• Tested by deleting one music (.wma), one image (.jpg), one text (.txt) file and emptying Recycle Bin.
• Was able to recover music and image files successfully but not text file (doesn't matter as plain text files are rarely used).
• In the Options window --> NTFS tab, check the "Search for deleted files only" checkbox so that it does not show all the existing files.
• Low level scan is very slow.
• Help file could be made better with some examples.
• To sum up, MultiStage Recovery is a good and useful tool. Thanks GAOD.

-Guru

Grynko, It seems that in order to register the product, an email exchange is required. This is not mentioned in the ReadMe instructions. Could you clarify please?

Sorry, what means "email exchange"? Why do you think that it's required?

Oh, got it. Go to the Help on the very top line, not the Help in the second line. Very different. A little confusing. Sorted, tho. Thanks GOTD and Enplase.

In fact I lack the time to really do serious tests on today´s giveaway: I would have to do forensic cloning of hard drives to make a reliable contest. But even the 2nd best way, to get at least a hint on weakness/advanteges of undelete software: undelete from completely outside installed tools which run ONLY in memory (or are REALLY full portable!) and use preview resp. undelete to external media, is too much time for a FAIR short test...
So my conclusion is:
1. dont´t trust too much the results of todays "testers" - they just give hints and tendencies.
2. You should have more than 1 tool on hand for the worst case...

BTW:
The best in freeware is: Recuva and, less easy to handle, the bundle Testdisk/Photorecovery.
Even expensive packages often failed in a very recent test, done by the most serious german computer nagazine "c´t".
Best excelent results were acomülished by GetData´s Recover My Files.

Grynko, It seems that in order to register the product, an email exchange is required. This is not mentioned in the ReadMe instructions. Could you clarify please?

Downloaded, installed (after it opening duplicate windows and erroring out), and activated (again, duplicate windows and required a manual activation inside 'help' on its toolbar) on Windows Vista Ultimate SP2. I will withhold further judgment until I have tried to recover some info.

Hello!

Your comments and feedback are welcome at http://multistagerecovery.com/file-recovery/Support.html

Your opinion is very valuable.

Thank you very much!

The Good
* Has different levels of scanning.
* Can preview files before restoring.
* You can restore multiple files at once.
* Can scan internal hard drives, disk images, and external media.
* Has a built in search tool.

The Bad
* OK recovery rate.
* Very slow.
* Set to also show not-deleted files by default.
* Program crashes when trying to scan whole hard drive(s).
* Always starts fully maximized.

Free Alternatives
DiskDigger

For final verdict, recommendations, and full review please click here.