Desktop, laptop, flash drive 'path'

[ctressle]

It was my Dell desktop that I had to format, and I was hoping to use 'Recover my files' to retrieve data on it. However, if you put anything on a computer that was formatted, obviously you run the risk of overwriting data that you may want to retrieve, forever.
My internet connection is via my laptop, so if I choose to buy that program, it should be through my laptop.
Now, I noticed that there are different 'licenses' for this product, and they each have their range and limitations of use. It would seem that the standard is what any typical computer user would want.
But to avoid overwriting formatted data on my desktop, I would have to place the program, via through my laptop, on a flash drive connected to the laptop, and then connect the flash drive to the desktop, and run the program from the flash drive. Right?
Well, the standard license doesn't seem to be compatible with that method, unless I misunderstand what the standard license is saying , however that seems to be the safest method. Can I take that route?
Could I download the product, after buying it, onto the flash drive through the laptop, and run the program from the flash drive on the desktop?
Or, could I even download the program to the laptop itself, run the executable and pick a folder on the flash drive to install the software instead?
Thanks in advance.

[GDH]

Hi,

You are right, you should avoid writing data to a drive that you are trying to recover files from. The more data that you write to a drive, the more chance that you have of overwriting and destroying something important that you could have recovered.

However, to put it into perspective, Recover My Files is a small program (less than 10mb) so the 'footprint' on the drive represents a very small risk of overwriting something important.

A much greater risk is to continue to use the computer for day to day activities, as Windows constantly writes data to the drive as part of its normal operation.

"I had to Format My Drive"

If you every get stuck in a bad hard drive situation, it is best not to format your drive. You should only do this if it is your ONLY option to get you machine back up and running again.

With Recover My Files it is possible to search the 'physical drive', so even if you are in a situation where you drive letter is not showing, you can still recover you data without having to go through a format process.

The best methodology

If you have the capability, the best methodology to employ it to connect the problem drive to a computer as the secondary drive.

This methodology allows you the freedom to install what every you want on the C: drive of the PC, and greatly reduces the risk that you, or Windows, will accidentally dump data on the drive.

With external USB drive bays, setting this up has become a relatively straight forward and inexpensive thing.

Recover My Files Licenses

Standard Version - is designed for the every day home or business user to recover the data on their pc. This is what you need.

Technical Version - is licensed to allow I.T. support staff, or data recovery service providers, to use Recover My Files on their customers PCs.

Running From Flash Drive

Yes, you can put Recover My Files on a flash drive, or even a CD, and then run the program from the flash drive or CD.

There is a page with instructions on making a CD located here: Data Recovery CD: How to make a Recover My Files data recovery CD

I hope this helps.

[ctressle]

OK, I think CD is better. The program, once license is bought, is permanent correct? Then to me, CD is better.
Anyway, I'm reading on how to activate the CD, and it's not making complete sense.
I understand, that if I install the trial program on the computer, it can always be changed (since it's on a hard disk, and corresponding changes can simply be rewritten) when I upgrade it to a license.
However, the CD instructions seem to be suggesting to install the trial version on a CD, THEN upgrade by rewriting the "RecoverMyFiles.ini" file on the CD. However, once files are burned onto a CD, they're permanently burned right? So, how to I rewrite the .ini file once it's burned into the CD's surface?

[GDH]

The .ini file is used to activate Recover My Files on the CD.

Unless you have a re-writeable CD, then you can't add more data to it once it is burnt.

If you don't have the .ini file with you activation details in it, then each time you try and save files you will have to re-enter the activation details into the program.

[ctressle]

OK, so I can download the licensed program to the computer, and burn the exact folder structure to a CD, and that will be the activated CD, correct?
If so, then supposing all the installed files and program are placed in the folder, say, "C:\Program Files\Abba" (I don't know exactly just made it up as a point), should I burn the folder 'Abba' itself to D:\ or just the files and folders within 'Abba' to D:\?

[GDH]

Hi,

Download and install Recover My Files to your computer. The default installation folder is:

C:\Program Files\Recover My Files\....

If you have purchased a program activation key, run the program and at the top of the program where you see "File | Recover | Help", click on "Help > Activate Product". Enter your activation details into this screen.

Recover My Files will now be activated on your PC and this gives you the ability to save recovered files.

------

Burn the contents of the Recover My Files folder to the CD. The CD will not be activated until you also create and put a file on the CD called RecoverMyFiles.ini.

You can create RecoverMyFiles.ini using NotePad on your PC. It is a text file with the following content:

[Registration]
UserName=Paste your product activation name here
UserKey=Paste your product activation key here

Once this file is also on the CD then Recover My Files should run activated. If for some reason it does not, then it is no problem, because when you go to save your files, you can just enter your activation details in the product activation window as described above.

[ctressle]

OK, I'm about to burn the files to a cd, using ahead Nero. However, because of how ahead Nero works, it made sense to me to copy and paste the .ini file into the 'Recover my files' folder using explorer, and copy all the files in that folder onto the cd using ahead Nero (well, I guess in a temporary memory before the actual burning). Is that Ok?

The only other thing I can figure out, is that my flash drive is the only writable storage I have. So, I can burn the contents to the cd, stick the cd in the formatted computer, stick the flash drive into that same computer, run the program from the cd, and save the files onto my flash drive - is that too OK?

I think this is the last of my Q's, thanks for everything!

[GDH]

Hi,

Yes, this all sounds ok.

[ctressle]

OK, I understand it's not desirable to have the computer merely on, b/c as you said above,

"A much greater risk is to continue to use the computer for day to day activities, as Windows constantly writes data to the drive as part of its normal operation."

However, I am currently running the recovery scan, and it is on its 13th hour of scanning, and it looks like it's less than 33% done. Is there a "calm mode" that I can put the computer in, where the program is still scanning the hard drive from the cd, but there is very little other activity? Or is there any other options where I can still scan the computer w/out the ordinary operation writing data to the drive all the time? Or will it be ok for the most part, continuing on like this?

[ctressle]

OK, I stopped the scan earlier. The progress is measured by green bars; anyway, the scan seemed to get stuck at so many green bars, I think it had to do with the fact that I changed the file type settings. So, I stopped the scan and went ahead with it again using the default settings, as the help file suggested.

But the help also mentioned a time close to 40 minutes of scanning before it being ok to stop the scan. And as I understand it, the scan will continue? I'm not sure I understand that.

Also, when is it reasonable to click on the stop button? The help gives an example of 40:18, I'm guessing that's not universal across all computer and OS systems right? Or is it?

And if the non-default scan was taking so long, how about the default scan? How long will it take (for 144 GB I believe)? And even if it still scans and finds formatted files after hitting the stop button, how long will that take? Will the folder structure show after hitting the stop button, or just some point whenever the analysis grants it?

Don't mean to sound hasty, but it's been a very long time since the computer has been formatted and the family is getting impatient