D_Ram, only if you can remove the drive (assuming it is a non-raided NAS) and connect it to a windows vista or above machine AND the file system on the drive was NTFS or FAT32, I doubt it will work well if the file system was a linux based filesystem and the drive was still operational.

Of course, you can recover your files from Linux partitions. The filesystem is not important!! The only things that are important, is:

1. The file is contiguous (defragmented) on the drive.
2. The data recovery program can identify it. This should be standard for every bare-metal-sector carving recovery-capable program on the market.
(i havent tested todays featured program iFinD.)

You can use a spare drive, copy some Files over there, wipe your partition table on that drive. And find out for yourself. :)

Burni, please try with todays program before saying with claims of authority that the file system is not important... please tell me how you can ensure ext?fs partitions data files can be made contiguous... last I heard there was not a comprehensive defragmenter for linux file systems let alone a linux based NAS... and if this program attempts to recover deleted partitions it has to recognise the filesystem in the deleted partition and if it does not boast ext2,3 or 4 filesystems it is highly likely cannot recognise those file systems it won't recover it, will it? The other option that scans the windows drive letter that was selected and then deep scans the entire volumes surface would not work on a file system that windows does not recognise since it would not have a drive letter. As I said "I doubt it will work well if the file system was a linux based filesystem and the drive was still operational." I did not say it would not work at all but would not work well since it could not restore file and folder heirachy nor the real file attributes like names and creation/modified dates or access permisions. It might be able to pull out some partial fragmented files or several megabyte JPG recovery attempts by just saving a large chunk of data after a JPEG file header but that is less optimal or as I said "not work well"! Try it yourself if you don't believe me!

Harry Snapp, That would indicate that the GAOTD program is not being installed with setup.exe-- if the installation process worked it would include the installation path to the program folder. Activate does not equal install. When setup.exe doesn't work it could be necessary to temporarily disable your antivirus, or open Properties to see if you need to unblock it (by checking appropriate choice) then run install.

Harry Snapp, I have the same problem.

Dan, I've used Recuva with great success, and the one thing I really like about it is its option to restore directory structures.

Dan, That would present alternative non-gaotd offerings to be considered when the provider is trying to get people to try/use their product offering. There are often many other, sometimes better, freeware applications that do the same functions as the one being offered but usually these are pointed out by posters. Pepsi doesn't mention Coke in their ads to remind people that Pepsi is similar to Coke

Julie,

See my reply to Paul(#7) below, maybe that will help you.

Paul,

I got a new laptop 2 weeks ago and since then been getting the exact error you mention. I am having no issues on any other site but this one.

I wrote to the GOTD team last week and the response I received stated "Please think of anything that may change your IP address or the IP you use is a dynamic one. This might happen when you use a VPN service."

Reading that and knowing I was not using a VPN at the time I got the errors, I did the reverse and turned ON my VPN when trying to download and it worked! (I have a free limited version of Windscribe VPN I got here or the SOS or BDJ sites.)

Anyway, I still do not know exactly why it is happening and still trying to figure it out but, in the meantime, I am glad to have the workaround. I hope that helps.

Sue Doe Nym, the phrase "It supports data recovery for SSD and Windows10" in the product description means just that -- this application will work with WIN 10 and SSD drives. That does NOT mean that it is limited to just that environment. If you had bothered to read the "System Requirements" on this web page you would see the following: "Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8/ 10; RAM: 1G, Disk Space Required: 20M. Based on the published system requirements, this app should work under WIN 7.

DJ, LOL. You assume much. I did read that on the left first so knew it should work with my system. When the description says only SSD and Win 10 then I can only assume that it does not work with Win 7 which leaves a hole between the two which is why I took the time to post my comment instead of just leaving. Doesn't change the fact that those kinds of errors do not create trust which was what the basis of my comment was about. So happy you know everything about why someone might be concerned. Simply love the assumption by the rest based on your assumption that I don't know what I am talking about.

The rating here is as useless as today's software offer and makes as much sense as the whiner's complaints that free doesn't give them top of the line exclusive rights forever with an inheritance clause and a robot to run it for them. Will keep using this site but will totally ignore the comment section as much as possible from now on. It is a total waste of time to try to save people time that are not using Win 10 to explain that the company itself does not say it works with our systems.

Sue Doe Nym, I can't fathom individuals such as yourself.

Let's begin with your reply:

1) The system requirements for this app are posted on the top Right-hand of the GAOTD page, NOT the left.

2)The software publisher's product web page (http://www.ifind-recovery.com/) states the following verbatim:
It supports data recovery for SSD and Windows10
It supports deep scan mode recovery of RAW files from all major digital cameras
Support intelligent filtering of files and intelligent judgment of files legitimacy
Support file search pause function
Supports the preservation of each file search results

Please enlighten me where it states that this app is restricted to WIN 10 and SSD (to quote you "the description says only SSD and Win 10.") Just because an app supports a particular OS or storage media does not equate to that same app only functioning in or otherwise restricted to that one OS environment. If you can't comprehend the difference, oh well.

3) The use of cutsie, social media internet slang really has no place in intelligent discourse. Please go vent elsewhere.

fpi,

"After a click on "Lost File Recovery" on a disk of 1 TB almost empty; a delay of 6 hours is displayed !.
I also had to stop the second choice "Lost Partition Recovery", for the same reason."

Those sorts of predicted times should be expected if/when doing a raw or deep scan, pretty much regardless the file recovery app used. That's because the entire amount of disk storage space is read as the software looks for data -- you may know the drive doesn't have many files, but to software looking for file fragments to piece together that makes no difference.

That said, many file recovery apps also have a quick scan feature for that very reason, which while it won't recover as many files, takes much less time to run. Looking at the iFinD Data Recovery Home site, this software doesn't appear to have that quick scan function -- only deep scanning.

FWIW, rather than put a disk &/or machine out of commission for that length of time, or to preserve the integrity of evidence in a forensic examination, a sector by sector image backup can be performed, capturing everything on the disk and restoring it to another disk, where deep scanning can proceed in the background.

mike, I'm glad it was not just me presented with an estimated 6 hour scan duration on a 1TB+ volume!

I note that this program is very CPU heavy, using all spare CPU time on both cores on my laptop! I decided to alter the processor affinity with task manager to reduce CPU usage to a single core to stop it cooking the CPU for quarter of a day!

Since this is a Home product and not a technichians product it is understandable that it does not offer the facility to create or scan drive image files. It is clearly not intended to recover mechanically or electrically failing drives due to the extreme workload and thermal load it places upon a drive being scanned.

mike,
Thank you for your advice that are correct. For information, I have recover my first file erased by mistake on a 3.5" floppy disk with Debug under DOS, then I used Norton, Disk Mechanic .., in short this period with names of files of 8 characters and with a very small files is gone, but to currently recover files on Windows 10, a technical knowledge library is required.
The devellopers of the "Lazesoft Recovery Suite Professional Edition 4.2.3" program seem to be efficient. It is thus possible to recover large files in just a few clicks. In addition, the original name is also found. Many programs fail this test.
In practice, it is more often necessary to recover a file deleted too quickly, rather than the entire disk.
In contrast, I admit a successfully restoring a partition to a disk once allowed me to recover all files in one operation. A real miracle!
A restoration program must offer options. Choice of the disk, the directory, the type of files. A sorted result and a preview are few plus, but it also adds time to development.
Today, the race for profitability means that currently no program is "freebug".
Microsoft first, reassures its customers by communicating about the bugs that have been fixed in the latest version available; but it's the same speech that will be offered for the next upgrade. A professional will never install the latest windows version as soon as it is available. A particular, will agree to wipe the plaster, but never a park manager.

Man, their domain seems to be very young and only registerd for one year so far:

"Domain Name: IFIND-RECOVERY.COM
Registry Domain ID: 2172168401_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.publicdomainregistry.com
Registrar URL: www.publicdomainregistry.com
Updated Date: 2017-12-09T02:15:41Z
Creation Date: 2017-10-09T03:47:38Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2018-10-09T03:47:38Z"

regestrant data is all hidden behind a privacyprotect.org service so this is likely a one man or woman "company" operating from home so wanted to conceal their only address and name.

They may have been a developer since 2004.. but not under that domain, with no entries in archive.org either.

TK, just another beautiful warning sign:

Text found in the MiniTool site (https://www.powerdatarecovery.com/about.html):

MiniTool Solution Ltd. is a professional software development company based in Canada. It provides customers with complete business software solutions in both data recovery and partition management fields. Our affiliates and resellers all over the world are working hard together to deliver high quality software to satisfy our customers.

Now almost the same in this developer's site:

iFinD Software is a professional software developer. It provides customers with complete business software solutions in both data recovery. Our affiliates and resellers all over the world are working hard together to deliver high quality software to satisfy our customers.

Miriam, you can use the unwrapped installer on the product home page with the license provided in the readme.txt don't get too excited that you will be able to re-install with impunity because the registration is an online procedure and no doubt the vendor will stop online registration a little while after the giveaway window is over.

TK, Thank you, that seems to have done the trick. Bit confusing that i had to restart the application in order for it to show as registered.

Miriam, good point! I had not noticed that! Got it scanning a 1.1TB volume here and after reading your comment went back and looked and yes it still says unregistered in the window title... hope it's cosmetic only as it's only 25% the way through and still has 5 hours to go! The stats are looking suspect at the momement suggesting it may confuse normal files in a listing with found recoverable files but as yet it is not possible to tell... this will take some time:(

Min, 100% correct the programs executable is built to only load on Windows NT version 6.0 or greater so that means Vista or higher and cannot be executed under earlier versions of windows than Vista

Thankfully the uninstaller executable will load in XP so it should be able to clean up after an incorrectly permitted installation under XP

Min, as an addendum... there is even worse inacurate information on their site! http://www.ifind-recovery.com/products.html

claims:

"Windows 10/8.1/7/Vista/XP/2000; Windows Server 2012/2008/2003/2000 compatible"

that is simply not true, Windows XP/2000 and server 2003/2000 are all not compatible with this version of the product.

JardaH, the unwrapped installer I used from their website is version 3.5.0.0 can't say what the giveaway wrapped installer is as I prefer to use unwrapped installer that I can get scanned on virustotal and have it report on the contents which cannot be done with the wrapped setup.exe/gcd bundle.

Min, same here in my very old updated Windows XP Pro SP3 box. :(

Ichi, on page http://www.ifind-recovery.com/buy.html

it lists a comparison of the license editions and the paid for home product is licensed on a single PC while plus is licensed for upto 3 PCs and paid for home comes with 1 year of free updates while plus comes with lifetime free updates other than that they claim to have same functionality. And Home license is $69 not the $79 shown above which is the plus license price.

May be worth adding to toolkit will be downloading in a mo and trying it out. No doubt I'll have something to say later ;-)

TK, thank you for your info. I found they are identic in recovering!
BTW: I tried the program without installation but unpacked by Inno Extractor.

Ichi, thanks for the extra info... just searched and found Inno Extractor ... excellent tool for checking out installed files without actually installing! Wanted something like that for quite some time!