OS X Data Recovery Software

[gman0820]

I am looking for recommendations on Data Recovery software for Mac OS X. I have a remote user who has created a new user over his old user and it wiped out some of the folders that were added in the user directory. They were never backed up because the user has been on the road and remote.

Thanks

[benwiggy]

Are you sure the old user files are actually deleted? It sounds like the common error of renaming the user domain, which actually creates a new, empty user account with the original name at the next login.
The other, old, renamed account will still be there, but not active.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...70719183238202

For actual data recovery software, try this:
http://www.datarecoverymac.com/

[gman0820]

The user said that he could not login to the account. (We use Active Directory for Login, And Open Directory, The golden triangle) The user chose other at login and created a new user which used the same user folder replacing some of the folders and removing others.

[iampete]

I've had success with DataRescue <http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php>.

The great thing about it is that you can try it for free to see what data is able to be "rescued". If, after having seen what the s/w says can actually be rescued, you actually want to save the data, then you can pay for the password that will enable the actual recovery function.

IMO, all s/w should have this "try before you buy" feature, or similar.

Disclaimer: I have no connection whatever with Prosoft. I tried it, then bought it because it saved most (but not all) of my stuff from a crashed drive.

[AppleScaresMe]

I have had similar good experiences with Data Rescue II in data recovery. This is probably my second favorite tool in my toolkit (next to Disk Warrior).

[jordan73]

Stellar Phoenix Mac data recovery software recovers data from damaged, deleted, corrupted drives and even from initialized disks. This Software supports HFS and HFS+ file system.You can check this software recovery capability by downloading its demo version in which you will able to see the preview of your recoverable data.

[tlarkin]

I have also used Data Rescue II and it performed very nicely several times for me in the past.

[NovaScotian]

It's up to Data Rescue 3 now -- more file types recognized than II; 250 or so.

[jordan73]

I think Data rescue II was better than 3...it was more robust & useful

[stewiesno1]

I've used Data Rescue II in the past with varied success although I think that is more due to the dying hard drives than Data Rescues fault.
Retrieving data from several hard drives in good health was a lot more successful - close to or 100% of data saved.
I've just upgraded to DR 3 so I would be interested to hear your thoughts of how it is more useful than version II jordan73.
DiskWarrior also has served me well in this regard - being able to create another directory and then saving from that is a very handy feature.
I'd also like to try Stellar Phoenix just to compare.
For what these programs cost and the tears you can save for family/friends/clients , I think they are very well priced.

Stewie

[jordan73]

@Stewie...Have you test or compare all these data recovery programs i would love to hear from you so that in future i would pick the cool application whenever required..Data Rescue,Stellar Phoenix & DiskWarrior..

[stewiesno1]

This page here
http://data-recovery-software-review...very-software/
gives a good insight and rating of all the Mac data recovery software available.
Interestingly R-Studio is their choice. I have never heard of it or used it before.
My choice if the drive is failing is to use Diskwarrior for my reasons above.
If a drive has been formatted or has other non hardware issues, then Data Rescue or File Salvage.
I also find DW to be a lot quicker to build a new directory than using DR to find the lost files.
This page here
http://www.macworld.com/reviews/prod..._rescue_3.html
has a few good comments comparing some especially the difference between DR and DW.

Quote: A real-world example: I recently had a colleague whose single laptop drive failed (and who didn't have a backup strategy). I used both DiskWarrior and Data Rescue to make sure he had everything on the drive. DiskWarrior was able to (relatively) quickly rebuild the directory and recover his files, in folders and with names just like he had them arranged. There weren't any system files, program graphics, etc. Data Rescue recovered the files as well, but took much longer, salvaged a lot of meaningless files, and put them all in numbered folders, often with numbers instead of names. Scattered amongst an astonishing number of meaningless cache files, logs, program graphics, etc. Sorting through these sorts of files on a modern drive to find useful files is a daunting task. I compared it to a tornado hitting a library. Data Rescue will find every page of every book that's scattered around, but often won't be able to put the books back together. A program like Disk Warrior will start with salvaging the card catalog (remember those?), and as it finds pages, it uses the card catalog to put them back in the books, resulting in a room full of ordered books instead of a mountain of loose pages. Plus it's much (4x or more) faster. Both have their place, and it's worth having both at hand. But start with software like Disk Warrior, and use Data Rescue as a last resort. The $100 for Disk Warrior is well spent since it will save you untold hours sorting and assembling everything. In the story cited above, my colleague never touched the Data Rescue files... everything he needed was in the Disk Warrior files, named and in folders like he left them. And he now has a backup drive (the best solution of all... backups and archives... but this wisdom comes to most only after a dramatic event like the failure of a drive).

Stewie