How to scan unallocated space on a disk?

[DragonLuck]

Long story short ended up deleting a partition, and it is now unallocated space. I can't seem to find anything from it on recuva, is there a way to make it scan the unallocated space? Or does it just scan the C partition? 

I'm not that familiar with file recovery stuff so sorry if this seems like a stupid question.

[DennisD]

Hi DragonLuck, and welcome to the forum.

 

No such thing as a stupid question DL, what you don't know you learn by asking. 

 

I've a couple of suggestions for you provided you've done nothing else since deleting the partition.

 

The first option is to try a powerful but completely free recovery program called PhotoRec, and the latest version 7 now has a GUI which makes things a lot easier.

 

PhotRec 7:

 

In the downloaded folder the GUI version of PhotRec is called "qphotorec_win.exe".

 

It will scan unallocated space and will recover many file types not just photos (names a bit misleading). Depending upon the size of your partition it could take some time, so expect this.

 

I've just actually done a test with it after deleting the partition on an 8gb flash drive containing two largish video files, and after two passes it has in fact recovered 5 video files (3 previously deleted), ranging from 700mb to 1.25gb and they all load and play perfectly ...

 

 

If your drive doesn't appear in the initial list then use the drop down menu. I had to do that to display my 8gb flash drive.

 

The second option is to use a partition management program to search for and restore the deleted partition.

 

PhotoRec comes with another powerful utility in its download, and that is "TestDisk", which can recover deleted partitions. It looks like command line, but isn't. It does have a structured dialogue to follow but takes a little work to understand, although it does come with comprehensive guides.

 

TestDisk step by step:

 

But before TestDisk, have a try with MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition 9.1 which has a comprehensive GUI. Again free.

 

MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition 9.1:

 

This free version has a partition recovery feature, which is now only available in the paid Pro edition of the later versions. It may find the deleted partition and simply restore it. If not, give TestDisk a shot.

 

Finally, make sure you try PhotoRec first before you attempt the others. But, if you get your files back with this first option, I would still try the partition recovery. A great exercise and could be useful at some future time. Hopefully never needed of course.

 

Hope that helps.

Edited April 6, 2017 by DennisD