Recuva

The small undelete tool that has rescued more accidental deletions than anything else, with the professional features including virtual drive support and automatic updates left switched on.

Version 1.55.133 12 MB Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) Updated 2 weeks ago

Overview

What this release is

Not every recovery situation calls for a heavyweight tool. Most of them are a file deleted five minutes ago, a memory card emptied by accident, or a folder cleared out of the recycle bin before someone realised what was in it. For those cases this small utility finds the data faster than anything more complicated, because it starts from the file system records rather than scanning the whole disk.

The results view is the clearest part of the design. Each found file is marked with a plain indication of how likely a clean recovery is, so a file listed as fully intact can be restored with confidence while one marked as partially overwritten sets expectations correctly before any time is spent. Photographs and documents preview directly in the panel, which saves recovering a hundred files to find the one that mattered.

The deep scan handles the harder cases where the file system entries are gone, working from file signatures across the raw volume. It takes far longer and the recovered names are lost, but on a quick formatted card it routinely brings back the entire contents. Both scan types work on internal drives, external disks, memory cards, and virtual drive images.

There is also a secure overwrite mode, which is the opposite job done with the same knowledge. Files can be deleted with several overwrite passes so no recovery tool, including this one, can bring them back, and free space on a drive can be wiped to remove traces of files deleted long ago. The wizard mode walks through both processes for anyone who does not want to think about it.

Feature set

What you get

Fast quick scan

Reads file system records directly, so recently deleted files are found in seconds rather than after a full disk pass.

Recovery confidence

Each result carries a plain indication of whether a clean recovery is likely, set before any time is spent restoring.

Preview panel

Photographs and documents preview in the results list so the right file is identified before recovery.

Deep scan

Signature based scanning of the raw volume for formatted media and damaged file systems, at the cost of file names.

Secure overwrite

Multi pass deletion and free space wiping so files removed deliberately cannot be brought back by any tool.

Wide media support

Internal drives, external disks, memory cards, and mounted virtual drive images all scan the same way.

Changes in this build

What changed

Deep scan speed improved on large capacity external drives
Additional file signatures added for recent camera and document formats
Preview panel now handles further raw photograph formats
Virtual drive image scanning made available in the standard interface
Fixed the scan that reported no results on drives with unusual cluster sizes

Installation

How to install it

Do not install onto the drive you need to recover from. Use a portable copy on another disk if the target is the system drive.
Extract the archive and run the installer as administrator for raw device access.
Decline the bundled offers on the custom install screen.
Recover files to a different drive than the one being scanned, otherwise the write can destroy what is still being read.
No licence key entry is required. The professional options are present in the settings window.

Hardware

System requirements

Processor	Any 32-bit or 64-bit processor, 1 GHz or faster
Memory	1 GB minimum, 4 GB recommended for deep scans
Graphics	Any adapter with the standard driver
Storage	50 MB for the application plus space for recovered files
Access	Administrator rights required for raw device reads
System	Windows 10, Windows 11, and older releases back several generations

Package

Release information

Title	Recuva
Version	1.55.133
Developer	Piriform
Category	System Utilities
Platform	Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)
Package size	12 MB
Interface languages	Multilingual (37 interface languages)
Release identifier	BS-01551301
Listed	4 years ago
Last rebuilt	2 weeks ago
Total downloads	145,108

Questions

Before you start

How soon after deletion should it be run?

As soon as possible. Every write to the drive risks landing on the space the deleted file occupies.

Does the deep scan recover file names?

Usually not. Signature recovery finds the data but the names live in file system records that are already gone.

Can it recover from a formatted drive?

Often yes with the deep scan, provided the format was quick rather than a full overwrite.

Is a portable version included?

Yes. The portable build runs without installing, which is the right choice when the target is the system drive.