In review of the Recuva Documentation site and information on using the program, a direction noted causes some concern. Under the Technical Information page, discussing file deletion, I see this: "(C:\$Recycle.Bin for Windows Vista, C:\recycler for Windows 2000, NT, and XP, or C:\recycled for Windows 98)." There is no reference to ANY OS since Win Vista, i.e.,
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Home Server 2011
Windows Thin PC
Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
Windows 10
Windows Server 2016
While I assume that the 'check for updates' option does in fact insure that the latest OSs are considered, and the app itself does work on these platforms, my concern is if the Documentation is not kept updated, then what I am reading, does not address any of the updates since Vista, nor how they have affected the functionality of the program. Perhaps this singular sentence was not updated, missed during updates, but perhaps the program documentation has not been updated at all, since Windows Vista was replaced by Win Server 2008, and a year later Windows 7, in 2009. Is this documentation really 7 years old?
I am still using the trial version because I am concerned over items that are NOT addressed in the app, or the online supporting docs. I recently had a catastrophic system failure, that wiped out my main drive, and 3 peripheral drives, and lost tens of thousands of photos and several hundred videos, some digitized from ancient methods like scanning of original transparencies and prints, conversion from 8mm film, VHS and DV tapes, etc. It took me over 12 years to digitize these items, so getting them back is important, as I probably will not live another 12 years to start the process again from scratch.
My first use of Recuva, scanning only one of the 7 peripheral drives, took 3 days just in the phase one, locating the files. Once this was completed, I have to review the hundreds of thousands of files, to individually check or un-check files for phase 2, 'Recover'. There is no way (I have found) to SAVE what was found before closing the app, or shutting down the machine, which took another 2 days. My machine was ON for a full 5 days, which I do not like, as my machine is setup to do a malware scan with every restart, which is daily, not to mention the overheating without having the capability to shutdown overnight, as well as being connected to the Internet for this complete time, leaving me open to invasion. Why can't the discovery of the files be able to be saved at various stages, and opened again on startup, to begin the selection and recovery process? What brought me to the program use documentation was a 'mistake' I made after scanning a much smaller disk, which took 5 hours in discovery phase, and I was only 10% through the selection process when I inadvertently shut down the machine when I thought I was putting it in SLEEP mode. So this scan was not available on restart, after 8 hours of work, and is now in process of starting over again. I am wondering if this inability to SAVE the process is just a feature not in the TRIAL version, but is in fact in the 'PRO' version? I was able to recover several thousand photos and a handful of video files in the first disk (the 5-day process), but I have 6 more backup disks to scan and the thought of having the computer ON, for what could be weeks, is not high on my list of 'things I would like to do'!
I have also noticed that 'Estimated time left', is considerably underestimated. As shown in the current scan (see attachment) after 2 hours of scanning , it has completed 20% of the discovery. Simple math would indicate that if 2 hours is 20%, then it will take another 8 hours to complete, yet the estimate says 4 hours, which I KNOW is not correct, as the first scan of a 1TB drive, said 'Estimated time left' at 1% complete, was 6 hours. Actual time it took to complete was 3 DAYS! (Just phase 1 of 3).
I was hoping to find something in the documentation as to how to SAVE, at least at completion of a phase, when I came across the statement noted in paragraph one above, leading me to believe that none of this documentation references MY operating system, (Win 10 Pro) so directions for location of files would not be of any help if this documentation has not been updated for 7 years.
In summary my concerns are:
1. Is the documentation accurate in references, for Win10?
2. Is there a way to SAVE each phase completion?
3. As there is no MENU (Other than the OPTIONS box) How would a SAVE be re-opened?
4. Is there a comparison chart for TRIAL vs. PRO versions, showing what if anything is different between them? Does PRO have a SAVE function?
5. Is there a way to isolate 'recoverable' files for 'un-recoverable', other than having to go through each file, checking and un-checking as appropriate? ( I spent 2 hours yesterday checking files to be recovered, and still had over 600,000 files to go through, one at a time) Why is there no option to 'auto-check' all recoverable files, eliminating the need to spend days checking one at a time? (without being able to save choices until I can continue the selection process)
I am sure there are answers, some of which may be obvious but just overlooked (due to exhaustion), or available in the documentation (if in fact it is current), but I was cut short after finding the referenced line in the 'file deletion' section, which I do not want to continue reviewing, if the documentation is not up to date with reference to today's operating systems.
I will stop here for now, in hopes of getting answers that will allay my concerns, and provide direction as to how to shorten this process and allow me to address all of my peripheral drives, without fear of spending 12 hours a day for the next 30 days (based on time spent so far, and calculating what I still have left to do!)
Thank you