Does Recuva work?

[Mickus]

I'm testing out some recovery tools to see if I can help some users at my organization recover some lost files. As a test, I signed into a freshly imaged computer and performed the following steps.

1. download some .pdf and .doc files from the network

2. open the files briefly, simulating the viewing process, and close files.

3. restart computer in case any changes to the files or structure need it.

4. log back in and delete files from desktop.

5. empty recycle bin.

6 restart again.

7 run Recuva - using simple and thorough scans, specifying first the desktop then the recycle bin.

8. No files found.

I'm by no means knowledgeable about recovery, but this seems to me about as simple as it gets for a recovery task. Nothing was corrupted or formatted. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, just a good-old-fashioned deletion and recovery. 

So my question is, under what circumstances does this software recover and not recover deleted files?

Thanks for any advice!

[Augeas]

Yes, it does work, with the proviso that no (Windows) file system was designed to assist recovery of deleted files, that's why there's a recycler.

To avoid answering all your comments, does your 'freshly imaged computer' use an SSD for its system disk?