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Recovery Explorer operates strictly locally and in a secure "read-only" mode. Therefore, it never modifies the original storage, nor does it send any information to external servers. As long as your storage device is physically intact and you correctly apply the program’s functions, it doesn’t introduce any risk to the safety or integrity of the content. However, if the drive’s hardware is damaged, attempting recovery on your own carries a significant risk of irreversible data loss, regardless of the software used. In such cases, it's recommended to consult a reliable professional data recovery service instead of trying DIY solutions.

Recovery Explorer supports most digital file formats and, in theory, is able to restore any data from compatible storage devices, provided that it hasn't been corrupted beyond recovery. However, a critical condition is that the lost files must still exist on the storage. If they have been overwritten – whether by the system, secure erasure tools or other operations – the data is permanently gone and cannot be recovered. Also, in some cases, files may appear to have been saved, but were never actually written to the disk. This can happen due to "delayed writing", when a file is temporarily held in the computer’s memory before being saved. If the system crashes or the file is deleted before the write operation completes, the data fails to reach the storage device and is therefore unrecoverable.

Recovery Explorer is designed to find and recover lost data, allowing you to safely copy it to another storage device. A key thing to know is that the software doesn’t repair or alter the content of the original drive. Applying tools that attempt to "fix" the storage is not recommended unless all important data has already been recovered and saved elsewhere, as they may inadvertently cause permanent data loss.

UFS Explorer is an advanced alternative to Recovery Explorer, tailored for specialists in data recovery and digital forensics. Please check the comparison pages for the Standard, RAID and Professional editions to see how these products differ and what features are available in the matching editions.

Recovery Explorer comes in three editions, so you can pick the one that best fits your data recovery needs: the Standard edition is optimal for basic data loss incidents on simple storage devices; the RAID edition works for both regular drives and complex RAID systems; the Professional edition includes advanced tools for handling complex RAID setups, specific storage configurations and encrypted storages. This comparison table may also help you to make the right choice.

Download the software by pressing the "Download" button on this website. Remember to avoid using the drive (partition) you lost your data from as a target location for saving the application. After the download is finished, you will get an executable file with the "Software Manager" icon. Simply run it in your operating system and follow the on-screen prompts. You may also go to Setup instructions and read about the peculiarities of installing the program under Windows, macOS or Linux.

If you want to recover your files in a simplified wizard-based mode, switch to it by pressing "Recover data in Wizard mode" in the lower left corner of the program’s window. Yet, please mind that this mode is available only in the Standard and RAID editions of the software.

Recovery Explorer is shareware. This means that all its functions are available in the trial version, and you can test the program before buying a license. However, this version has its limitations on saving data: Recovery Explorer Standard does not save recovered files larger than 256 KB; Recovery Explorer RAID and Recovery Explorer Professional do not save recovered files larger than 768 KB. If the software has found your files and fits your purposes, you may purchase a license and continue the data recovery procedure.

To use the full version of Recovery Explorer, you need to make a one-time payment of the corresponding license fee. You can do this by clicking "Buy license" on this website or using the "Order license" button found under the "Software Activation and License" tab in the program. Choose the license type and the operating system under which you plan to install the software (Windows, macOS or Linux). Please note that a license is valid for a specific OS version of the software. If you want to launch the application under a different operating system, you’ll need to order an additional license.

Having selected a license, fill in the order form with your name, address, city, country and email. The payment and your information will be securely processed by 2Checkout, our trusted sales partner. They offer various payment methods, including Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, American Express, Discover, WebMoney, bank transfers, etc., and accept payments in most currencies.

After your payment goes through, you’ll receive a Registration Code by email (usually within 15 to 45 minutes). To activate the software, download the free trial version from this website and go to the "Software Activation and License" tab. Enter your name and the registration code from the email, then click "Apply license."

No, the license is perpetual and cannot expire. However, free updates for the software are available for 360 days after the purchase.

Each time you start Recovery Explorer, it checks for available updates automatically. If a newer version has been released, you’ll see a message with the update details. You may also check for updates manually using the Software Packages management utility that comes with the program. To perform the update, just download the latest version from the product’s page and install it in your system. You don’t need to uninstall the old version or enter your registration code again. As long as your updates period is still active, your license will carry over automatically.

If you purchased a license for the product that doesn’t offer the features you need, you can upgrade to a more advanced edition of Recovery Explorer by paying only the difference in price. Another option is to order the correct product and request a refund for the previous one according to our Refund Policy. Please contact our support team to discuss the best solution.

If you can’t find your registration code or other details, please contact us, and we will help you to restore them.

Please make sure that you’ve started Recovery Explorer with administrator rights, so it can access your drives and partitions. On macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later, you’ll also need to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP), a Mac’s security feature that blocks any low-level access to physical drives. In addition, check that your drives are connected properly and are visible in the system BIOS.

In the standard mode, these colors reflect the general condition of the file system: green suggests that the file system is likely to be intact, yellow may indicate some issues, and red typically implies serious damage. Yet, please mind that these color indicators are not available in the simplified wizard-based mode.

The problem may lie in the connection of the storage device. A bridge chip of the adaptor may be incapable of transferring data located at large addresses because of its addressing limitations. That’s why drive sizes displayed in Recovery Explorer can differ from the real ones. The same problem may also arise with internal drives in case of limitations of the motherboard or storage controller.

The method of selecting a storage will depend on which mode you're using: the simplified wizard-based mode or the standard interface.

In the wizard-based mode, Recovery Explorer detects all storage devices connected to your computer and shows them in the storages navigation area within the main window. This area includes two main panes, plus an additional one that appears only when there is an identified complex (RAID) storage. To start data recovery, you need to choose either a logical volume or a physical storage device and then click "Continue".

All disk volumes recognized by your operating system will be displayed in the "Logical volumes" pane. Each volume is labeled using the naming format of the OS (for example, a drive letter in Windows or a device name with partition number in Linux). Under each volume, you will also see the type of its file system and total size. The "Physical disks" pane lists all detected physical storage devices. Each device is accompanied by a specific icon for easier identification, along with important details, like the model, total capacity and a unique identifier.

In the standard mode, Recovery Explorer detects all storage devices attached to your computer and lists them in the left-hand panel. You can click on any device to view its properties, such as type, name and capacity. If a physical drive has several partitions, they will be shown under the drive, with the information about the used file system type and whether they are accessible. You can click on a partition to see more details. RAID configurations and composite volumes that are virtually reconstructed by the software are marked with special icons, while their individual components are also listed as separate drives. Some specific storage formats may also have particular labels.

To begin the recovery process, you can select a specific partition and click "Start scan" or choose the entire drive if the necessary partition is missing or seems damaged.

Yes, you can open partitions without scanning a storage, as long as their file systems are in an acceptable condition. The steps will differ depending on whether you're using the simplified wizard-based mode or the standard interface.

In the wizard-based mode, after choosing a partition to recover data from, you can enable the "Open existing file system" option and click "Continue". If the file system on the selected partition isn’t severely damaged, the software will show its content right away, without scanning the entire storage. If the file system is corrupted, a message will appear suggesting you start a full scan instead.

In the standard mode, simply double-click the partition or select it and click the "Explore" button to open the content of its file system.

A Network Attached Storage (NAS) is not a typical digital medium – it’s an independent device that stores and shares files using special software protocols. These protocols provide file-level access but don’t allow direct low-level access to the physical storage, which is required for data recovery. That is why NAS shares do not appear in the list of connected storages in the program. To recover data from a NAS, you need to remove the drives from the NAS enclosure and connect them directly to your computer.

If Recovery Explorer doesn’t display a physical device, check whether this drive is properly connected to your computer. Verify that the data connector and the power supply cable are securely attached to the drive and have no breaks. Also, make sure that the driver software is properly installed for both the storage device and the adapter you’re using. If everything seems to be in order, but the drive still doesn’t show up, your digital medium may be physically damaged, and you should turn to a professional data recovery center.

If Recovery Explorer doesn’t display a USB-drive, click the "Refresh drives" button to update the information about connected devices. Use this button every time you plug in a new drive. If the drive still doesn’t appear, the issue might be caused by a faulty USB slot. Try a neighboring USB slot – if the problem persists, the USB device itself may be physically damaged. In such a case, contact a professional data recovery center.

The way of choosing partitions depends on the selected mode: the simplified wizard-based mode or the standard interface.

In the wizard-based mode, if the physical drive is divided into several logical partitions, Recovery Explorer displays these partitions as storage subdivisions, along with their properties. By clicking on a partition, you can view a summary that includes its file system type, size, starting sector and current condition. Select a partition that matches your criteria and start the scan. If you cannot find the needed partition or it looks damaged, click "Ignore these partitions" at the bottom to scan the entire drive instead.

In the standard mode, the "Connected storages" pane is shown as a tree view. Each top-level item represents a physical or virtual storage device. These devices may contain one or more partitions listed under the corresponding items. Each partition is labeled with its file system type or a specific storage format (if recognized). The icon color shows the state of the file system. You can also see details like the label, starting sector and total size next to each partition.

Use the "Open" menu at the top of the program’s window to select your disk image file. It will then appear in the list of connected storages and can be used just like a regular drive. However, please note that this option is not available in the simplified wizard-based mode.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to predict how long the scan may last. Its duration depends more on things like the type of storage, the amount of data on it, the speed of connection and other technical factors, rather than the software itself.

In most cases, Recovery Explorer restores the original folder structure of the source storage, so you can look for your files in the same directories where they were located before the data was lost. However, the way the results are displayed differs slightly depending on the selected mode – either the simplified wizard-based mode or the standard interface.

In the wizard-based mode, you’ll see an "All files" folder that contains all recovered items, with the restored folders listed underneath. You can browse through these folders to find your files in their original locations. Additionally, the software groups the recovered data into special folders based on file types, such as "Documents", "Photos and pictures", "Archives" and others. If you are looking for a particular file, you can also use the quick search bar: just type the file name or extension and press Enter. However, if the initial folder structure can’t be restored, the files may appear in folders like "$LostFiles" or "Extra Found", and may be listed with numbers instead of their names.

In the standard interface, the recovered files are typically displayed in their original folders, similar to how you'd view them in a regular file browser. If you need to search for something specific, you can enter the file name or extension into a quick search bar. For more targeted searches, an advanced search tool is also available, allowing you to filter results by file name, size, modification date and other parameters. And just like in the wizard-based mode, any files that couldn't be recovered with their original paths or names may appear in folders such as "$LostFiles", "Found files" or "Extra found files", possibly renamed with numbers if their original names were permanently lost.

The names of deleted files are marked in red in the scan results, so you can easily distinguish them from the rest of the data.

Recovery Explorer reconstructs the original file system structure of the source storage and places all found files in their native folders. However, if a folder has been irreversibly damaged and cannot be restored, the program will move such a file to a special "$LostFiles" folder. So, if you cannot find your file in its usual location, it’s worth checking the "$LostFiles" folder.

The outcome and quality of data recovery depend heavily on the file system used to manage the files on your storage device. While some file systems retain file names even after deletion, others may erase those names completely. If the name of a file is lost, Recovery Explorer finds and recovers the file’s content using the same recovery algorithms, but assigns a number instead of its original name. You can use the program's built-in preview tool to check if it’s the file you want to retrieve.

You can save the recovered files to any location accessible to your operating system. Just type in the path to the destination folder or select it by browsing through the folder tree. It's also possible to save data to a network drive, but this may require some extra preparation steps.

Yet, please remember that you should never save the recovered files back to the same drive you’re recovering them from. This can overwrite the lost data and make it unrecoverable. Always choose a different storage device or partition.

The software hides the source storage medium to prevent accidental overwriting, which could lead to irreversible loss of your files. Please choose a different location for saving the recovered data. If you are certain that the missing device is not the source storage, examine all connections and ensure that the drive is properly attached. In case of an external device, you may click "Refresh storages" to update the list of available devices.

Please follow the provided instructions to make the network target storage available for saving recovered files in Recovery Explorer.

Recovery Explorer uses color markers to help you quickly identify which storage devices are suitable for saving the recovered files.

Storages marked:

• - blue have no limitations on saving the files you have selected for recovery;

• - violet are capable of storing individual files but don’t have enough space to place them all;

• - gray may not be able to accommodate some of the selected files.

You can still try saving files separately though.

Failures during the process of copying files might occur for various reasons:

1. Trial license limitations. You may purchase a software license to remove the trial limitations and continue recovering your files without size restrictions.

2. Drive reading issues. Consider creating a disk image and restarting the recovery process using that image instead of the original device.

3. Incorrect drive size detection. Check if the drive’s size is recognized correctly. If not, try changing the drive adapter or interface.

4. Drive is part of RAID. If the data was stored on a RAID set, repeat the recovery procedure by selecting the storage from the "Complex (RAID) storages" tab (if RAID is supported by your edition of Recovery Explorer).

   If the software is unable to reconstruct your RAID automatically, you may need to assemble the storage manually using the integrated RAID Builder tool. Yet, please note that this functionality is not available in the simplified wizard-based mode.

5. Severe file system damage. In this case, try checking the "Found files" and "Extra found files" folders – your files may be located there.

If you cannot find your files at the very last step of the recovery process in Recovery Explorer, review the recovery results once again. You may also check the "$LostFiles", "Found files" and "Extra found files" folders – the files may end up there if their paths are missing.