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1 Introduction

1.1 Welcome

Thank you for using Data Rescue 3.

Prosoft Engineering’s Data Rescue is an easy-to-use utility to help you recover files and folders from crashed or corrupted hard drives, floppy disks, or removable cartridges. Recovered data is saved to another medium, leaving the original disk untouched.

1.2 What Makes Data Rescue Different?

The main objective of Data Rescue is that the strategy for finding lost files is different and better from the strategies used by other tools. Not only will it find your data in situations where other tools fail, but it will also recover them in a much better condition, restoring icons, dates and even folder hierarchy.

Data Rescue is the only utility that focuses on data recovery as opposed to hard drive repair. Your entire hard drive is examined for file content. This is one of the reasons that Data Rescue is more successful than “repair” utilities on the market. The data on the drive is painstakingly evaluated and files are meticulously re-assembled and stored in a safe location. Either with intense manual evaluation, or with the help of powerful software tools, this is the process that data recovery professionals routinely use to restore their client’s data.

Why? Because this is the only reliable way to safely recover your data.

1.3 Latest Version of the Software

The downloads section on our web site http://www.prosofteng.com/downloads/ always has the latest version of this software. If you already have a copy of Data Rescue installed and an active internet connection, Data Rescue will inform you when an update is available when launching the program. If you do not have the latest version of Data Rescue, download it from the URL above.

1.4 Contact Prosoft Engineering

Our technical support is free and can be accessed by email or phone. Please have the version number ready before calling:

Support FAQs: http://www.prosofteng.com/support
Email Address: support@prosofteng.com
Phone Number: 925-426-6306
Mailing Address: Prosoft Engineering, Inc.
1599 Greenville Road
Livermore, CA 94550
Support Hours: Monday – Friday, 7AM – 5PM (PST)

If you have comments or wish to purchase a serial number, please contact our sales department:

Website: http://www.prosofteng.com/contact_us.php
Email Address: sales@prosofteng.com
Phone Number: (877) 477-6763

1.5 About the Demo

You can use an unregistered copy (demo mode) of Data Rescue to scan for files. The demo works exactly as the fully licensed version would, which will allow you to see all the files that are available for recovery. However, the demo mode only allows you to recover one single file, no larger than 10MB, and limits the number of file previews to 10.

Once you have confirmed that Data Rescue can indeed see the files that you wish to recover, you can simply purchase a copy from http://www.prosofteng.com and a serial number will be immediately sent to you via email.

1.6 System Requirements

There are two ways to run Data Rescue. You may run it from the boot DVD or you may run it as an application, depending on your circumstances.

Application Requirements:

Boot-disc Requirements:

* This drive must have free space for recovered files, plus 2% the size of the drive or volume to be scanned.

In addition, to run the animated interface requires the following:

If the minimum requirements for the animated interface are not met, the program will revert to a non-animated interface.

1.7 General Usage

Data Rescue was designed to be used in a wide range of situations. Specifically, Data Rescue can handle:

Be aware that you need disk space on another device for Data Rescue’s temporary working space, and to recover your data. This must be a separate drive from the drive you are trying to recover from, in order to avoid altering that drive. Data Rescue offers the most extensive, safe recovery of your important data. Because your corrupt drive is not stable, Data Rescue will not allow you to try and save files to the same drive, nor will Data Rescue try and “repair” that corrupt drive (doing so could actually cause more corruption and data loss).

1.8 Basic Recovery Tips

This section will provide you basic tips to help you improve your chances of recovering your data before using Data Rescue.

Prevent writing to the hard drive. Once you are aware you are missing data, immediately quit all programs you are using and turn off the computer. Further writing to the hard drive may overwrite data you are trying to recover. This includes creating new documents, browsing the Internet, or running disk repair utilities to attempt to fix the drive.

Evaluate the situation. Every data recovery scenario is different and may require different approaches to recover the data. Read “Installing and Starting Data Rescue” in chapter 3 to determine the best method for recovering data in your situation.

A second hard drive with adequate space is necessary to recover data and host Data Rescue’s workspace. If you have a second internal hard drive in your computer or an external USB/FireWire hard drive attached to your computer, you may use it for this purpose. Make sure you have enough free space to hold the data you wish to recover, plus an additional amount of 2% the size of the volume or disk being scanned. For example, if you need to recover 25GB of data from the bad hard drive, you will need at least 25GB for the recovered files and 0.5GB of free space for the workspace. In certain situations, recovered files will require more space than they occupied on the original drive.

Consider acquiring a replacement hard drive. If you do not have a second hard drive to recover to, you may want to acquire a new hard drive. If your hard drive is physically failing, a replacement hard drive will be necessary to maintain your data. Not only will the new hard drive help you with your recovery immediately, but the new hard drive may also be used as a backup hard drive in the future when your recovery is complete.

1.9 Drives With Suspected Hardware Problems

Even though Data Rescue exercises caution to never damage your drive’s data by writing to it, there are certain types of drive hardware failures which due to their nature can cause additional damage to the media and data just by continuing to use the drive.

One example of this kind of damage is a crashed disk head, which could potentially cause additional media scratching and data loss with continued use. One clue to this type of damage may be unusual mechanical sounds emanating from the drive. If you suspect this type of damage, and the data on the disk is extremely critical, you may wish to send your drive to a professional drive recovery service with clean-room facilities.

The cost of professional recovery services can run into the thousands of dollars. If you suspect hardware damage, but need to avoid the expense of the professional services, you can minimize the chances of further damage to your drive by first cloning it to a spare drive, then do the recovery on the clone.

1.9.1 If your drive is not visible in Data Rescue

If you don’t see your hard drive displayed in Data Rescue’s list of drives, please review the checklist below:

For external drives:

For internal drives:

If your hard drive is still not visible in Data Rescue or is making clicking noises, there may be a hardware problem affecting the drive from being recognized by the computer. Prosoft Engineering’s The Data Rescue Center may be able to help you recover data from your hard drive.

For Software Technical Support:

Website: http://www.prosofteng.com
Phone: (925)-426-6306

To Inquire about Data Recovery Services:

Website: http://www.TheDataRescueCenter.com
Phone: 1-877-501-4949
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