Ignored Files

Just had an external drive fail, I have run Recuva and it seem to see 16731 files, after half an hour the wizard finishes and the message is 16793 ignored.

Obviously these are the files I would like to recover.

Am I missing some settings somewhere ?

I am using the latest free version. would the paid version produce better results ?

Should I be using something else ?

Am I wasting my time, perhaps these files cannot be recovered.

Many thanks for any help.

The ignored files are live files and those which are not selected in Advanced Mode Options/Actions, such as zero byte or system files.

Thanks @Augeas I guess I don't understand the terminology here - 'live files' are you suggesting these files do not need to be recovered?

I have pointed recuva to a folder that once contained jpg's and now shows as empty, these file were not deleted - problem with directory glitch - I feel recuva can see the the files but not recover them, any more thoughts please?

That's likely why they're not showing up - Recuva, by default, only looks for deleted files (since that's normally what Recuva is used for).

The Options > Actions > "Scan for non-deleted files" option would need to be checked in order for Recuva to even look for files like that.

You can find out some more about these Scanning options here: https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048410512-Recuva-options-Actions-tab