The best way to avoid losing our most important files is to make a backup copy. If something goes wrong, either due to a virus, a human failure or a mechanical failure of the disk, thanks to this backup we can recover our files without headaches. However, realistically, most users often don’t back up their most important data. And therefore, when something goes wrong, it is necessary to have specialized software on hand that allows us to recover our data, such as TestDisk .
TestDisk is a totally free and open source program designed to help users recover lost or mistakenly deleted partitions and make disks stop booting, for whatever reason (as long as it is not a physical problem with the disk). ), work again with all your data intact.
What TestDisk Can Do
TestDisk seeks to allow any user to recover their deleted data and partitions without any difficulties. Although this program does not have a graphical interface (it is run from terminal or CMD), it has very easy to use sections and options that we can select through its assistant.
Thanks to this program we will be able to:
- Repair the partition table of any disk.
- Recover deleted or deleted partitions.
- Retrieve the boot sectors from a FAT32 or NTFS drive.
- Rebuild sectors FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32.
- Repair boot tables of FAT drives.
- Rebuild NTFS boot sectors.
- Repair the MFT.
- Locate and restore the EXT2, EXT3 and EXT4 Superblock.
In addition, TestDisk also has functions to recover deleted files from drives , as well as to copy files from other deleted partitions and create new partitions. However, beyond recovering partitions, if what we need is to recover data, it is much better to resort to PhotoRec.
PhotoRec, the data recovery software
PhotoRec is one of the components that are included with TestDisk. This program is also free and open source and specializes in forensic data recovery. PhotoRec was originally designed to help us recover deleted photos from memory cards or mobile phones, although today it is capable of recovering practically any type of file.
Unlike other data recovery programs, PhotoRec loads the drive from which we are going to recover files in “read only” mode. This means that the program will be able to recover the data but will not be able to write to the source drive, avoiding to overwrite these or other data stored on it.
Compatibility
TestDisk is compatible with the following operating systems:
- TWO.
- Windows (up to Windows 10).
- Linux.
- BSD.
- SunOS.
- macOS.
And it is also compatible with practically any file system. We can work with the most common file systems, such as FAT, exFAT, NTFS, HFS, APFS and EXT, and with other much more complex and specialized systems, such as BeFS, BSD, CramFS, RAID systems, LVM and ReiserFS, among many others. formats.
In the case of PhotoRec, the program is compatible with the same operating systems, although the compatibility of formats is drastically reduced to the most common, such as FAT, NTFS, exFAT, EXT and HFS. In return, it specializes in data recovery from devices, such as iPOD, and a large number of cameras.
Of course, both programs are compatible with conventional hard drives (HDD), solid state drives (SSD), USB sticks, and memory cards.
Recover a deleted partition in few steps
The fact that it does not have a graphical interface this program can throw back some users. However, it is actually very easy to use software. Once downloaded we open TestDisk in our operating system and we will be able to see the main screen of the program, where we will have to choose if we want to create a new log of the work that we are going to do, open an existing log or simply continue without a log. We recommend using the “Create” option .
The program will analyze our computer and show us all the hard drives and all the drives that we have connected to the PC. In this step what we must do is choose the drive from which we want to recover the partition.
Next we will have to choose the type of partition table of the unit. Most commonly, you use an Intel type partition table (MBR), or GPT. If the program detects the type of partition table (something that usually happens often) it will show it to us, so we will have no doubts when choosing the drive that is.
In the next step we will have to choose what we want to do with the partition. Although TestDisk offers us a lot of options and advanced tools, to recover partitions it is best to select the “Analyze” option with which the program will analyze the selected disk, recognize all partitions and detect any deleted partition. We will use the ” Quick Search ” option to analyze the structure.
The program will find and show us all the partitions that have been created on the PC. If everything is correct, we can continue. If we want, we can create new partitions from here. The normal thing will be to continue with what appears. In case we still miss a partition, then we can do a deep search in the next step.
If everything is correct, we only have to choose the “Write” option so that the program writes the recovered partition table to the hard disk. And ready. If the partition had data, it will still be there.
Download TestDisk
As we have already said, this program is completely free for all users. We can download the latest version of it without having to pay anything from the following link . All we have to do is make sure we download the version that corresponds to our operating system to be able to run and use it.
We can find two different versions. The first one that appears to us is the beta, the most advanced edition of the program, and the second is the stable version, somewhat older but more stable.
Other programs to recover data
TestDisk, together with PhotoRec, offer us a collection of outstanding tools to recover deleted or lost data from our computer. But not all users like this type of program, and there are others who want to use other types of forensic software to recover their files.
Of course, on the network we can find a good number of alternatives that allow us to recover deleted or deleted data from a hard drive. Some of the best known are:
- Recuva . From the creators of CCleaner, this free software allows us to also retrieve all kinds of files from our computer easily, through a step-by-step guided interface, with very good results.
- Disk Drill . Although it is not a partition recovery software as such, it is one of the best alternatives to recover data. We can use it in both Windows and macOS, although its specialty is the Apple operating system.