Recuva Portable

[OLLI_S]

On 11/06/2023 at 09:29, hazelnut said:

@OLLI_S

https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/specportable

https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/rcvportable

@hazelnut Thank you for these links, they work perfectly.

Are the other products (CCleaner and Defraggler) also avaible at PortableApps.com?

[Andavari]

Only problem with PortableApps.com is sometimes the unpack/installer isn't digitally signed which will undoubtedly cause some antivirus' to falsely flag them or not allow unpacking. Microsoft Defender Antivirus doesn't play nice with unsigned unpackers from them such as Paint.net Portable, etc., and won't allow extraction so it has to be circumvented by manually unpacking with 7-Zip.

[OLLI_S]

@Andavari @hazelnut

Sorry if I change my opinion here, but I had a longer conversation with a security specialist.

The versions of Piriform products offered at PortableApps.com are not official versions from Piriform (they are 3rd party repacks, what could lead to some issues.
Not only the issue, that the "unpack/installer isn't sometimes digitally signed" (what @Andavari mentioned above).
Some update managers simply do not recognize these apps, so they can also inform me about available updates.
And "unofficial" versions must not be used at work.

I also switched to a new concept, when I set up my new system:
I have as many applications as possible as portable versions (especially, when I don't use them very often, like Speccy, Recuva and Defraggler.
This also includes many other tools, like KeePassXC, Screenpresso, Notepad++, WizFile, WizTree and many others.
I have those apps (including the settings) in a folder on OneDrive, so I also can access them on the laptops of my wife and daughter and have the same configuration on all machines.

I really love, that CCleaner is available as official portabel version at: https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds
Unfortunately all other applications are not available as official portabel versions:

• Defraggler: https://www.ccleaner.com/defraggler/builds

• Speccy: https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy/builds

• Recuva: https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva/builds

For those apps I will continue using the least available portable version.
I know that these versions are out-dated, but this is the only way, that I can use these tools (I don't want to switch to other tools).

I really encourage the Piriform Staff to release the portable versions again.

 

[Strahan]

It's mind boggling to me that an undelete program of all things doesn't have a portable version.  The last thing I want to do is install a program onto my hard drive when I'm trying to undelete a file.  That's absurd.  

On the bright side, it doesn't seem like you need a specific portable version.  Just for grins, I tried copying my installed Recuva to a USB stick, then I put it into another machine and it worked perfectly fine.  Dunno if maybe it's because I have an older version or not.  I'm using 1.53 but if worse comes to worse, that's an option one can use.

EDIT: Oh, I just assumed it was old.  I went to the download page and apparently 1.53 is still what is being served up. 

Edited May 14 by Strahan

[Nergal]

4 hours ago, Strahan said:

It's mind boggling to me that an undelete program of all things doesn't have a portable version.  The last thing I want to do is install a program onto my hard drive when I'm trying to undelete a file.  That's absurd.  

On the bright side, it doesn't seem like you need a specific portable version.  Just for grins, I tried copying my installed Recuva to a USB stick, then I put it into another machine and it worked perfectly fine.  Dunno if maybe it's because I have an older version or not.  I'm using 1.53 but if worse comes to worse, that's an option one can use.

EDIT: Oh, I just assumed it was old.  I went to the download page and apparently 1.53 is still what is being served up. 

To make it fully portable (no reg entry no app data) place an empty text file called portable.dat (not portable.dat.txt make sure explorer is set to show file extensions) in the directory with the recuva exe files.

[OLLI_S]

@Nergal Thank you for sharing this, but here I need more information.

I already have a folder "Recuva Portable", where I have an out-dated version of Recuva, but here I have a portable.dat file (with 10 bytes).
Then I downloaded the current installer of Recuva (rcsetup153.exe) from this page: https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva/builds

To test the portable installation, I started a VM, created the folder "Recuva Portable" and copied the rcsetup153.exe and the portable.dat file into that folder and started the installer.
Recuva was not extracted into that folder, but installed into C:\Program Files\Recuva

This is not what I wanted to have, I wanted to have a portable version.

I could now copy all files from C:\Program Files\Recuva (except the uninst,exe) from my VM to my existing portable folder on my PC.
But is this the way it should be?

[Nergal]

The installer will obviously install.  What I'm saying is put the portable.dat in the same folder as recuva.exe to make it fully portable

[Andavari]

On 13/05/2024 at 23:28, Nergal said:

To make it fully portable (no reg entry no app data) place an empty text file called portable.dat (not portable.dat.txt make sure explorer is set to show file extensions) in the directory with the recuva exe files.

I'm not sure we're supposed to be telling people how to do this, but the portable versions were available before so anybody with some knowledge should/would know how to create there own from the setup files.

Also that portable.dat file isn't actually empty, it's supposed to have just this inside it:
#PORTABLE#

----------

Also if copying Recuva to for example a USB Flash Drive and thinking, it works just fine without being installed you must be aware that without the portable.dat file in the same folder as recuva.exe and recuva64.exe it will write settings into the Windows registry instead of an INI file (recuva.ini), and it won't be 100% portable but more like a standalone.