Why is it that every undeletion utility always provides those same don't-put-this-on-the-drive-you want-to-recover-from instructions without bothering to make it clear that that only applies if you want to recover files that were deleted before you acquired the software?

The issue there is that when the OS deletes a file, it marks the former contents of that file as free space so, whenever you write something to that volume, there's a chance that it'll overwrite the contents of the deleted file. It's therefore risky to add anything to a volume that contains deleted files you want to recover.

Unless this program does something stupid like write things to its install dir as it's working (and it certainly shouldn't need to do that), it should be perfectly safe to run it from the drive you're recovering from so long as you installed it there beforehand. In fact, it's a good idea to keep one or more undeletion utilities installed on your computer for this very reason. (Annoyingly, these sort of misleading instructions tend to stop people from doing exactly that because they give people the mistaken impression that it's not safe to run such programs directly from the computer's hard disk.)

Apparently, whoever wrote the instructions is making the unwarranted assumption that no one ever acquires the program until after they've accidentally deleted some file(s) that they want back.

In fact, the instructions provided above for this particular program are worse than usual in that they specifically tell you to put the program on a USB flash drive, which means they're making additional unwarranted assumptions regarding both the location of the deleted files and your hardware setup.

Jim Stone  –  9 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+15)

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Jim Stone,

You are right! If you're not downloading this because you have just deleted a file you need back, then you can download and save it anywhere you want.

Thing is, IF you just deleted some files, I guess a straight forward instruction 'do not install bladibladibla' works better than describing all kinds of conditions and install instructions.

But, yes you are correct.

And I agree with the idea that it's a good idea to keep some undelete tools handy at all times.

Joep

<b>Jim Stone, You are right! If you're not downloading this because you have just deleted a file you need back, then you can download and save it anywhere you want. Thing is, IF you just deleted some files, I guess a straight forward instruction 'do not install bladibladibla' works better than describing all kinds of conditions and install instructions. But, yes you are correct. And I agree with the idea that it's a good idea to keep some undelete tools handy at all times. Joep</b>
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joepvansteen  –  9 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+14)

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Useless or beyond my abilities :-)
Unzipped on c:\desktop for trial
Deleted one file (....exe from my e:\data partition, emptied recycle bin and immediately set the tunawhatnot to hunt for it. Search did not take long, offering a gigantic mass of retrievable files. OK, narrowed down to *.exe and date.
Dates starts in 2006 (probably when the recovery masterpiece was created). As I knew my file was from early this month I used during previous 31 days. The one single find was not for the file I wanted - so I'll send today's offer where it belongs - the bin.

Sigrid.DE  –  9 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+2)

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Sigrid.DE,

Just because a deleted file can not be recovered, it doesn't make this or any other undeleter useless. It made it useless for recovering that particular file.

It is not a given that a deleted file can be recovered. It's something you can try using some undelete software.

Having an undeleter installed, means you have increased your chances of recovering a deleted file. Binning it decreases this chance again.

<b>Sigrid.DE, Just because a deleted file can not be recovered, it doesn't make this or any other undeleter useless. It made it useless for recovering that particular file. It is not a given that a deleted file can be recovered. It's something you can try using some undelete software. Having an undeleter installed, means you have increased your chances of recovering a deleted file. Binning it decreases this chance again.</b>
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joepvansteen  –  9 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+14)

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Successfully downloaded and extracted to my usb drive. As soon as I run setup.exe I get the error message "Setup Has Stopped Working". Will not install for me.

timb12957  –  9 years ago  –  War dieser Kommentar hilfreich? Ja | Nein (+10)

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