Select the Quick Scan if:
The Quick Scan is the fastest method that detects existing directory structures even if your volume does not mount. This scan will detect files with their original folder hierarchies and file names. It is recommended to try this scan method first if your volume is detected on the hard drive.
A Quick Scan can only be used on a volume. If you have selected the hard drive to be scanned, the Quick Scan will attempt to search for the first available volume on the hard drive, then rebuild the directory structure for that volume.
The Quick Scan typically takes a few minutes to complete, but may take up to a few hours to retrieve the results in more severe cases. Bad blocks on the hard drive may slow down the scan process, but will immediately speed up once it has overcome those bad blocks.
Select the Deep Scan if:
The Deep Scan is a comprehensive scan method that provides the most results possible. The Deep Scan is a two part scan method: 1) detects existing directory structures on the hard drive, 2) scan the whole hard drive for any file patterns to rebuild the raw data of any recognized files.
As the first part of the scan, Deep Scan will detect any existing directory structures like the Quick Scan, but can detect multiple directory structures while scanning hard drive with more than one volume. This will provide you with results from each found volume, with their original directory structures and file names.
The second part of the Deep Scan searches the entire hard drive for any files based on file patterns. Data Rescue detects over 150 major file types based on the files’ raw data. These found files will not have their original directory structure or filenames since Data Rescue is rebuilding the files based on their file design. Instead, these results will be provided with generic filenames and organized by category in the Reconstructed Files folder.
The Deep Scan usually takes up to three minutes per gigabyte. With large capacity hard drives, it may require several hours to complete a scan. Physical issues such as bad blocks on the hard drive may slow down the scan process even longer, but the scan will immediately speed up once it has overcome the bad blocks. Allow adequate time for the scan to finish.
Select the Deleted Files Scan if:
The Deleted Files Scan is a specific scan method that searches only the free space of a volume for any files based on file patterns. Scanning only the free space allows the Deleted Files Scan to specifically detect any files that were deleted.
Once files are deleted through the Mac Operating System, there is no more reference to their original directory structure, filename, or date created/modified. Data Rescue will not be able to detect the original information of that file in the directory structure. Instead, Data Rescue will rebuild any files that it detects based on its file patterns. The results of the Deleted Files Scan will be provided with generic filenames and organized by category in the Reconstructed Files folder.
The Deleted Files Scan usually takes up to three minutes per gigabyte of free space available on the volume. This makes the Deleted Files Scan faster than a Deep Scan since it is not scanning any known used space on the volume.
Select the Clone feature if:
The purpose of the Data Rescue cloning function is to copy a drive or volume to another drive or volume, so that the copy may be scanned, reducing the wear-and-tear on the original hard drive. This will free the hard drive from use while preserving the data that was on it for later scanning. Cloning is normally not required in order to scan and recover files with Data Rescue. The goal is to transfer all the data from the source to the destination, making a perfect one-to-one copy where it is possible. In some cases, due to disk errors on the source, copying can be hindered to the point where getting a perfect 100% is not possible because of the huge slowdown in read rate caused by errors; then the goal becomes transferring as much of the source data to the destination as possible within a certain time period.
To use the Clone feature, a spare hard drive is needed with the same or larger capacity than the original hard drive. The Clone feature makes a single pass copy of your hard drive onto another hard drive or into a disk image. Please note the cloned hard drive will be in the same logical state as the original hard drive. This means if the original hard drive is failing to mount or boot, the cloned hard drive will have the same failure to mount or boot. The purpose of the clone is to help overcome any slow reads or possible hardware failures that exist on the original hard drive.
If the original hard drive appears to have hardware problems, it is highly recommended to clone the hard drive first to reduce the use of the source drive while it is still operating. Once the original hard drive is cloned, you may put the original hard drive away for safekeeping and perform the recovery options on the cloned hard drive.
To Clone a hard drive:
Cloning the device level will copy the entire hard drive’s partition map onto the other hard drive. If there are multiple partitions on the hard drive, the partitions will be cloned onto the destination as well. You may select and clone volumes rather than the whole hard drive; however, this is only recommended if you are instructed by Prosoft technical support or you have knowledge and experience about disk partitions and volumes.
Warning: The Clone process will overwrite the contents of the Clone Target. Ensure you have a backup of the contents of the Clone Target hard drive, or use an empty hard drive. Be extremely careful to choose the target so that you don’t write to the wrong drive or volume.
To Clone to a disk image:
Cloning to a disk image will allow you to save the entire contents of a hard drive into a single file. This is a good option if you have available hard drive space, but do not want to erase the contents of another hard drive. The disk image can be opened later to help simulate the original hard drive and complete a scan for recovering files.
Select the FileIQ feature if:
If Data Rescue does not recognize the file type you are trying to recover, FileIQ will help Data Rescue to learn new file types. Data Rescue will analyze any good working file samples and detect any file patterns to help find missing files of that file type. FileIQ will work for many, but not all types of files. However, Data Rescue will tell you if your sample files are likely to work or not, and there is nothing to lose by trying.

FileIQ Window
To add a new file type into Data Rescue:
To utilize FileIQ, Data Rescue needs to analyze good working files of the same file type that is missing. These may be older files that you have previously created with your program. You will usually need to reference at least 5 files of the same filetype to properly create a file module; however in some cases, as few as two files may work. In general, the more file samples provided into FileIQ, the more accurate the created file module will be. If you do not have sample files available, you may consider creating some files of the same file type with the program used to make the files. However, ensure these files are not saved to the hard drive missing the data.
Click on the + icon or drag the sample files into the Add New Type window. A spinning progress wheel will appear below the list to indicate the files are being analyzed. If no additional information is reported back in Data Rescue, you may click on Save to add the file module to the Learned Types List.
Show advanced options displays some additional parameters that you may use to further define the file module.
The Details tab includes some fields to describe the file type, how the file names will be generated, and which folder they will appear in. Data Rescue will automatically fill in most of the fields when sample files are listed in FileIQ. Data Rescue will fill in the Template File name, Extension, Folder Name, and Max File Size based on the sample files’ data. The fields will define the following attributes for the file module:
The Quality tab will display two scales to detect the file patterns reliability for the file module. Diversity relates to how many samples there are and how many samples have different lengths. The Match Strength displays the number of similar bits found between the separate files. Data Rescue will update these bars each time a sample file is added or removed. The larger the values are for both Diversity and Match Strength, the more reliable the file module will be for Data Rescue to detect the files.
If you’re having trouble getting an acceptable set of samples, it is best to remove all the sample files and add them one at a time. You can improve the Diversity by adding another sample file. If the Match Strength suddenly decreases when you add another sample file, it may be because that file is actually different in format than the samples you already added. In that case, remove that file and adding a different one. Please remember that certain types of files do not have distinctive starting patterns, and therefore will not be recoverable by example at all, not matter what combination of samples you give. If you find that you cannot get both Diversity and Match Strength above half-way, see the next section on troubleshooting.
The Pattern tab allows you to modify the matching algorithm. The Matching drop down menu instructs Data Rescue how selective to be in matching start patterns for the file type. The default selection for Normal will give a basic comparison of the bits to determine the file pattern. If your scan returns too many files that are not similar to the filetype, you may change the Matching selection to Tight. This will make Data Rescue compare more bits in the file pattern to potentially detect the files more accurately and reduce the amount of results provided. If your scan returns too few files, you may change the Matching selection to Loose to compare less bits in the file pattern and provide more scan results.
If Data Rescue determines that the sample files have a usable and consistent end pattern, it will use enable the Use End Pattern option. Using an end pattern should result in recovered files that have the correct length, instead of potentially adding incorrect data. However, enabling the Use End Pattern option may reduce the scan performance considerably and may take longer to complete the scan. If you uncheck the Use End Pattern option, the end pattern will not be used for the scan.
Data Rescue currently does not support editing previously saved definitions. To change the Matching selection, you will have to recreate the FileIQ definition and save the different matching selected.
Once you click Save, new file types will immediately be installed in Data Rescue to allow you to search for their respective files.
After dragging the sample files, you may be provided with a few different outcomes. This section discusses some cases that may occur while trying to generate a file module.
The file samples may be recoverable by an existing module. If a file module is listed in the “Recoverable by Existing Module” field, then it may not be necessary to create a file module. This means the file samples you have provided are similar to another file module that Data Rescue already detects. The results you are provided by a scan may already detect your files, but you may need to rename the extension to open the files properly by your program. As an alternative, you may choose to save the file module to replace the existing module and a new scan of the hard drive will detect your files properly. A common example of this are certain camera RAW images that are sometimes found as TIFF images instead.
FileIQ may not detect a suitable starting pattern for the sample files. If different programs create the same kind of file, it’s possible the files with the same extension may not have the same starting pattern, and therefore won’t produce a usable result. For example, Quark and FreeHand programs both create EPS files, and if you took samples from both programs to create a file module, FileIQ may report an issue because the programs create different formats for the files. You may consider replacing some of the sample files with other files of the same type. For best results, use file samples that are created from the same program, and preferably the program that produced the files you are looking for.
There are cases in which FileIQ cannot create a file module. Some reasons a file module may not be created include: