Disk Editor And Data Recovery Software
Maybell Hughs
Algorithms of thorough search and analysis effectively reconstruct directory structure and recover files after some complex file system damages (such as format, partition manager failure, and other). It is possible to find data quickly without a full scan in the case of minor filesystem damage.
For free you can recover up to 4000 files from a chosen directory,with the unlimited number of repetitions.Other freeware basic features: preview for common image formats,simple partition manager (allowing partition undeleting),a tool to create disk images and clones, RAID constructor, disk editor
Simple partition manager finds and restores accidentally removed partitions using information from boot sectors/superblocks of FAT, NTFS, exFAT, Ext2/3/4, HFS, and from their backup copies. Partitioning is displayed in the form useful for analysis and error detection.
RAID constructor is a tool to virtually reconstruct RAID supporting RAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-4, RAID-5, RAID-6, as well as custom striping, delayed parity, JBOD/spanned disks, automatic detection of RAID configurations.
Disk editor is compatible with the most recent Windows versions and supports automatic volume locking during writing to volume areas. With the disk editor you can view, edit, and navigate through files and different disk structures (such as MBR, GPT, boot sectors, file tables, and directory entries of file systems), usecustom templates.
During our tests, DMDE was able to recover all files successfully with filenames intact from a drive where they'd been deleted from the Recycle Bin. The utility was only slightly less successful with the drive that had been formatted after the files were deleted, recovering 92% of the files without the filenames.
We were particularly impressed how DMDE handled our simulation of a corrupted/damaged drive. The utility was able to recognize the lost partition immediately and recovered all of the original files including their filenames without issue.
DMDE is a powerful workstation that allows enthusiasts to put drives and images under the scope for thorough analysis. With the set of tools the application comes equipped with, you'll be able to gather binary data, explore the cluster map and save the majority of files once removed or declared lost.
Moreover, it can find and restore partitions that have been removed accidentally by using information from boot sectors or superblocks of FAT, NTFS, exFAT, Ext2/3/4, HFS, and from their backup copies as well.
DMDE earns its spot on our list as the best option for advanced recovery capabilities, thanks to its powerful set of tools and features. This software not only handles common data recovery tasks but also excels in recovering data in complicated cases where other software falls short. Its algorithms effectively reconstruct directory structures and recover files after complex file system damages, such as formatting or partition manager failures.
Impressive piece of software. The only one I could find that doesn't crash when I plug my faulty drive in. Even when the drive disconnects itself mid-operation, the program automatically resumes when it's reconnected, so I've been able to back up all my data with very little inconvenience considering how much damaged the drive is. I probably could have done it using the free version (it limits your batches to something like 4000 files), but at such a low price, I'm happy to own a piece of software that works this well.
DMDE has been developed since 2006 by its permanent author Dmitry Sidorov. He dedicated himself to making easy and powerful software for both novices and professionals. With more than 1 million users around the world, DMDE has proven itself for being reliable and effective, especially in complex data recovery situations. By always looking for new and different ways to improve things, he is committed to offering complete solutions to DMDE users. With a clear albeit minimalistic interface, software is packed with a wide range of features. It has been reviewed and recommended by reputable technology websites such as TechRadar, Forbes Advisor, and Softpedia. One of the standout points of DMDE is its affordable price, making it an attractive option for users seeking reliable data recovery software.
Eschewing a flashy website, DMDE - DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery Software gets down to business by telling you exactly what to expect from its no-nonsense recovery tool. With five license options beyond the free tool, DMDE is a bit of a mystery, offering multiple languages on its website ( English, French German and Russian) but no clue as to its origins, other than launching in 2008. Its "About" page only explains the software, rather than the company and developers.
A number of the online reviews linked on DMDE's website, list its creator as one Dmitry Sidorov, a Russian software publisher. Our searches found a developer of that name on the "Herd Protect" platform who seemingly has worked on the Windows version of the app but there's no way to confirm this.
Before purchasing, the developer recommends using the free edition to "make sure you are able to recover and open necessary files." DMDE Free Edition can recover up to 4000 files at a time which makes it useful in small scale recovery jobs. This is less useful for recovering disks and partitions, however, which is where the paid options come in.
DMDE Professional is $95 for one OS, or $133 for installation on multiple operating systems. DMDE also offers a discount for multiple licenses. This is just as well, as once the "1-OS" version has been installed on a particular OS like Windows, you cannot reinstall on another system like Linux.
Once downloaded, you need to extract the ZIP archive to a new folder and run DMDE from there. The utility won't appear in your installed programs, so you'll need to return to this folder each time or place a shortcut somewhere convenient like the Desktop.
Both versions 4.0.2 and 4.0.6 of the utility are available for download. In our tests we used 4.0.2, as DMDE claim it's the most popular version. Although we opted to use the version of DMDE which came with a GUI, command line lovers will be pleased to learn that there's also a console version for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Using DMDE Free Edition to recover data gives you the option to recover up to 4000 files at a time. You can do this by selecting files in a particular panel, although there's no maximum limit to the number of files you can recover overall.
It also offers partition management as well as disk imaging and cloning. DMDE Free Edition finds lost data via a thorough volume search, and the disk editor lets you navigate and browse various disk structures.
The DMDE Manual cautions that it can only perform recovery on partitions supported by the guest OS. For example a Windows machine doesn't support the ext4 format used by most versions of Linux by default.
The utility can also recovery NTFS encrypted files but naturally it can't decrypt them for you. The developers have confirmed via their feedback page that they plan to include support for Bitlocker encrypted drives but such changes can take time.
We were pleased to see that helpful 'hints' appeared next to each of the main options upon launch. You can click on each hint to display the next one. This happened each time we loaded the utility, which could prove annoying to experienced users especially as there's no obvious way to turn the hints off.
Still, thanks to these hints you'll be guided to the next window, where you can choose any partition of the chosen disk, see relevant data about it, then click "Full Scan" to commence recovery. You can do this both on the disk and on individual partitions.
The list of recoverable files is accompanied by a Preview pane, where completeness can be assessed. To recover a file, check the box, right-click, and select Recover. Multiple files can be selected (as noted, up to 4000 files) and the Recover data button clicked. If you're using the Free Edition, you'll also need to do this folder by folder.
We did this as we wanted to see how the utility performed with a wide variety of files.The album included 4 music files (2 in Mp3 and 2 in FLAC) format, 6 JPG image files of album covers (with thumbnails) and 2 PNG image files. The files also included 2 XML files, a torrent file and an 'SQLite' file containing details of the album. There were 25 files in total.
2. Delete & Format : The files were deleted as outlined above and we also performed a 'Quick Format' using the 'Disk Management' utility built into Windows 11. We then tried to recover the files from the formatted partition.
3. Recover corrupted files: We used the freeware program 'Victoria' to overwrite the volume header of the drive containing the files with zeroes. The drive didn't mount automatically in File Explorer and showed as being unpartitioned in Windows "Disk Management" utility. We then checked if the utility could see it and if so, recover the files.
We do not believe that running data recovery tools in a virtual environment has a significant effect on how they function. Still, if you're considering buying software we encourage you to read all reviews thoroughly and make sure that the developer offers a refund policy.
We next tested on the drive where the files had been deleted and then the drive itself given a "quick" format. This gave us a chance to use DMDE's "raw" feature which searches for file data even if there are missing headers or other information.
In this case 23 of the original 25 files were recovered (the .torrent and the .sqlite file didn't make it). One of the MP3 files was also only partially recovered : around 6 minutes of a 9:38 minute track were playable. The remaining files opened without issue, although as this was 'raw' data the original filenames were missing.
Our final test was on the drive with the corrupted volume header. DMDE spotted the lost partition immediately and prompted us to run a full scan. When we did so it was able to detect all 25 files, which we were able to restore fully with their original filenames.