A-Z List


Recover

Updated: April 17, 2012

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista

Recovers readable information from a bad or defective disk.

For examples of how to use this command, see Examples.

Syntax
recover [<Drive>:][<Path>]<FileName>
Parameters

 

Parameter Description

[<Drive>:][<Path>]<FileName>

Specifies the location and name of the file that you want to recover. FileName is required.

/?

Displays help at the command prompt.
Remarks
  • The recover command reads a file, sector-by-sector, and recovers data from the good sectors. Data in bad sectors is lost.

  • Bad sectors reported by chkdsk were marked as "bad" when your disk was prepared for operation. They pose no danger, and recover does not affect them.

  • Because all data in bad sectors is lost when you recover a file, you should recover only one file at a time.

  • You cannot use wildcard characters (* and ?) with the recover command. You must specify a file (and the location of the file if it is not in the current directory).
Examples

To recover the file Story.txt in the \Fiction directory on drive D, type:

recover d:\fiction\story.txt
Additional references

Command-Line Syntax Key

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Community Content

arash649
How to recover formatted hard drives?
<p>Prepare a storage medium, usually a disk, for reading and writing. When you format a disk, the operating system erases all bookkeeping information on the disk, tests the disk to make sure all sectors are reliable, marks bad sectors (that is, those that are scratched), and creates internal address tables that it later uses to locate information. You must format a disk before you can use it. <br />Note that reformatting a disk does not erase the data on the disk, only the data on the address tables. Do not be panic, however, if you accidentally reformat a disk that has useful data. A computer specialist should be able to recover most, if not all, of the information on the disk. You can also buy programs that enable you to recover a disk yourself. <br />The previous discussion, however, applies only to high-level formats, the type of formats that most users execute. In addition, hard disks have a low-level format, which sets certain properties of the disk such as the interleave factor. The low-level format also determines what type of disk controller can access the disk (e.g., RLL or MFM). <br />Almost all hard disks that you purchase have already had a low-level format. It is not necessary, therefore, to perform a low-level format yourself unless you want to change the interleave factor or make the disk accessible by a different type of disk controller. Performing a low-level format erases all data on the disk.<br />Explanation<br />The Format commands are typically run to prepare a new logical drives for use after Fdisked hard drive - enabling the installation of an operating system, application programs &amp; eventual user data. The format command has been around for a long time, formerly they were stand alone DOS programs before being integrated into Windows.</p> <p>Symptoms<br />Where previously the computer would boot and be usable, systems that have been Formatted often report the following errors: (these errors are frequently displayed on a black screen with white text.)<br /><br />Operating System not found <br />Invalid or corrupt FAT <br />Cannot find file or program <br />Invalid command.com <br />Primary/Secondary Hard disk failure <br />Non system disk <br />Disk error <br />Or when a partition has been formatted, the all data would disappear.<br />To recover files from formatted drives, please follow this procedure: <br />1. Click the "Complete Recovery" button on the main window of Data Recovery Wizard.</p> <p>2. The first screen on the "Complete Recovery" tool will display a list of volumes found on the drives found in your system. If the volume does not have a drive letter, then the volume will be listed at the hindmost and the drive letter will be instead by “*”. <br />3. You should choose the volume that was formatted and click "NEXT" to start searching on this volume.</p> <p>4. The Intelligent Searching module will scan on the selected volume, collect and analyze every byte on the volume, then show you a list of volumes which are possible on it.</p> <p>5. After this scanning is finished, Data Recovery Wizard will permit you choosing 6 volumes at best to recover the data. And then, press "NEXT" button. The Data Recovery Wizard will launch the "Building directory" procedure to searching the files. You will see file/folder tree very soon.</p> <p>6. Select the file or directory that you want to recover and press the "Next" button.</p> <p>7. Select a directory and press the "NEXT" button to save the data.<br />Please see "Complete Recovery" for more details.<br />NOTE: If the hard disk has mistakenly deleted volumes, hidden volumes, drives with failed operation/file system, you should use "Partition Recovery".<br />The demo version of Data Recovery Wizard gives you a much fairer idea about chances of data recovery from your hard disk before deciding upon the purchase. You can buy full version to recover data!</p>

Five-Star
How to Recover the Deleted Files and Folders?
RECOVERING DELETED FILES After You Have Emptied the Recycle Bin, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, email, photo, database and more files...<br />The Data Recovery Wizard restores deleted files no longer in the Recycle Bin. It can recover the deleted Word, Excel, PowerPoint, photo, Email, database, and all document formats and folders in Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, which have been emptied from or by-passed the Windows Recycle Bin.<br />Why can you recover deleted files?<br />Emergency file recovery requires more than the correct tool, though. It is requested to know how file deletion occurs, and what you have to do to maximize the chances of a successful recovery.<br />When a file is deleted from your computer, its contents aren't immediately destroyed. Windows simply marks the hard drive space as being available for use by changing one character in the file table so that the file entry won't be displayed in My Computer or a commandline DIR command, etc. If you manage to start an undelete process before Windows uses that part of the hard drive to write a new file, all you have to do is set that flag back to "on" and you get the file.<br />Obviously, the sooner you try to restore a file, the more successful you'll be. But stop a moment and think about the other things that could cause this part of the hard drive to be overwritten. If your hard drive is pretty full, the odds are much greater that Windows will grab your precious unallocated space for its next write. Or, if you defrag the hard drive, you run the risk of unused parts of the drive being overwritten! (This also means that if you are running silent background defrags services like Diskeeper, or if you have defragged utilities scheduled to defrag automatically, you might get blindsided - lose your chance at data recovery - if you don't halt them until you have your deleted file recovered.<br />For that matter, simply starting up Windows or, to a lesser extent, shutting down Windows causes many tiny files to be written. You really want to avoid these processes if possible.<br />So the first rule is: STOP USING THAT COMPUTER IMMEDIATELY! THIS MINUTE! RIGHT NOW! Use another computer to get the Data Recovery Wizard you need.

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