User's Guide for Windows

Overview

What Happened to my Data?

When data (file, partition, volume, etc...) is deleted from a hard drive, two systems are notified:

1. The system record in the File Table or Partition Table is removed (or marked as deleted)
2. Space where partition or file was located is labeled as 'unoccupied'. The data itself is not removed

In the event of an accidental deletion we strongly recommend that you perform the recovery operation as soon as possible. If any new partition or file is created instead on the same space and some information is written there, there is a chance that the writing process may allocate some data in this 'unoccupied space' thus damaging you data located on the disk and deleted previously.

Welcome to Active@ UNERASER

Active@ UNERASER is a powerful software utility, designed to restore accidentally deleted files, folders and partitions (volumes).

Active@ UNERASER can be installed on and run from USB Flash disk or bootable CD/DVD, so that the risk of overwriting your data is minimized.

Active@ UNERASER will help you to restore files, folders and partitions residing on hard drives formatted in any of the following file systems:

• Microsoft NTFS / NTFS5 / NTFS+EFS
• Microsoft FAT12 / FAT16 / FAT32 / exFAT
• Apple HFS+
• Linux Ext2 / Ext3 / Ext4 and BtrFs
• FreeBSD Unix UFS

It works under all Windows family operating systems:

• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022
• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 10
• Windows 11
• Windows PE (embedded Windows recovery environment loaded from CD-ROM or USB disk)

Active@ UNERASER supports:

• SATA, SSD, SCSI, NVMe hard drives, External USBs, Floppy and USB Flash Media, Memory Cards
• Large-sized drives (more than 2TB)
• Detection and recovery of deleted and damaged partitions
• Unerase data on a file-by-file basis, and all volume data at once
• Saving scan results to the storage and re-opening them later on
• Correcting BOOT.INI if needed to keep the system bootable
• Fixing damaged MBR/GPT and deleting invalid partitions
• Automatic and Manual correction of Volume Boot Sectors
• Creating and working with Disk Images for data recovery purposes
• Integration with a Disk Viewer/Editor - to be able to inspect raw disk/partition/file data

The free version can scan drives, detect deleted partitions and inspect files and folders there and unerase the only one file per session. To recover more files per recovery session you need to purchase a registration key and activate the software.

Content:

• Overview
• How to:
  1. Using QuickScan to detect files and partitions just deleted
  2. Use SuperScan to analyze deleted and severely damaged volumes
  3. Use Last Chance recovery by file signatures
  4. Unerase Deleted Files and Folders
  5. Unerase All Volume Data on a Deleted/Damaged Partition
  6. Search for Deleted Files and Folders
  7. Search, Organize and Recover files based on Signatures
  8. Preview File Contents (Recovery Status Check)
  9. Rollback, Backup and Restore Disk Partitioning Info
  10. Fix damaged MBR/GPT and Use Partitioning Tools
  11. Fix Damaged Partition (Volume) Boot Sector
  12. Re-create Deleted or Damaged Disk Array (RAID) Virtually
  13. Create and Work with a Disk Image
  14. Inspect file headers and disk data (raw sectors) with integrated Disk Editor (Hex Viewer)
  15. Concept of File Signatures
  16. Activate Software with a Registration Key
• Data Recovery Tips
  1. Treat Recovery Area With Care
  2. Save Recovered Files Onto a Different Drive
  3. Load UNERASER to a Floppy
• Glossary
• Troubleshooting
  1. I got Partition overlaps with other partition(s) error message while recovering. What does it mean and what can I do?
  2. I got No space in the partition table error message while recovering. What does it mean and what can I do?
  3. I got Unable to recover partition because detected file system is invalid! error message while recovering. What does it mean?
  4. I got Partition is recovered however not possible to verify and refresh volumes warning. What does it mean?
  5. I got Unable to recover the extended partition because another one already exists error. What does it mean?
  6. I recovered the deleted partition, however Windows is unable to access it. Message Drive X: is inaccessible. Do you want to format it? appears. What does it mean and what should I do?