Apparently, any user at least once, but fell into a situation where some information from the hard drive, logical partition or removable media was deleted, and resorted to specialized applications that allow you to recover such data. In most cases, on forums on the Internet, ordinary users are encouraged to use simple utilities like Recuva. Alas, they do not give the desired result, with all due respect to the developers of this software.
In this case, the use of highly specialized and semi-professional utilities that have earned trust around the world is provided. One of the most powerful is the unsurpassed DMDE program. How to use DMDE 3.0.4 and versions above will be discussed later. The description below, despite the apparent simplicity of working with this application, is necessary in order to master some of the nuances. Which in the instructions distributed on the Internet may not be affected. But first things first.
What is DMDE and what is it for?
So, a software product called DMDE is considered the software of the highest order, because it allows you to restore information of any type from any physical medium or virtual partition and with any file system available on it.
For this, the utility itself has special tools. However, despite the many advantages of this unique application, there are some restrictions on the use of its full functionality. Their presence is due to the fact that the application is initially a paid software product, and free versions do not allow the user to deploy in full force.
However, you can circumvent such restrictions. This will be discussed at the end. But the application can recover information from almost all known media, not counting optical disks, for which such techniques are not provided at all. By the way, using this utility you can restore not only individual files, but also entire sections of the GPT that could be damaged or deleted!
Where to download the app?
For now, let's leave questions about how to use the DMDE recovery program, and see how and where it is best downloaded. It goes without saying that the first thing to do is turn to the official resource of the developer on the Internet if you want to get a workable modification without all kinds of “glitches” or “bugs”. As usual, all versions of the download application are available in the corresponding section.
When you call this section, your operating system installed on the computer from which you are logging in will be detected automatically, after which a suggestion will appear about downloading the latest version of the program and the download start button. Modifications for other operating systems, as well as earlier versions of the application, are immediately presented. Downloading the main file takes about a few seconds.
Do I need to install the program?
Speaking about how to use DMDE, it is necessary to say a few words about the need to install the application. It is not needed, since this utility is supplied in a portable version, that is, it does not require mandatory integration into the operating system and can be easily launched even from any existing removable drive like a regular USB flash drive or memory card.
At the end of the download (by default, it is made to the appropriate user directory Downloads, unless otherwise specified), you just have to unzip the archive with any of the archivers available in the system (7-Zip, WinZIP, WinRAR, etc.).
Or use the tools of the operating system itself (for modifications of Windows 7 and above) and indicate the desired location on the hard drive or external media. After that, you can proceed directly to the restoration of information.
But how to use DMDE? The instruction, and quite detailed, is even available on the official website of the developer. However, there is too much information unnecessary for the user in it, so we will dwell on a few of the most important points, describing the important actions and steps taken to recover lost or deleted data, as simple and understandable as possible for any unprepared user.
First launch of the application
Finally, we directly approach the consideration of how to use DMDE 3.2.0 or any other version of the program. If you downloaded the archive directly from an official source, you probably already noticed that at the moment the latest release 3.4.4.740 is offered for download, in which some shortcomings are eliminated, and the program itself is optimized to a higher degree for quick and easy comfortable data recovery of any type.
It is advisable to start the executable file on behalf of the administrator, using the RMB menu on the selected object for this, although this is not a prerequisite.
It will immediately be offered to choose your preferred language, and the system language (in our case, Russian) will be set by default. After this, you must agree to the terms of the license agreement.
When the application starts, it will be possible to select the disks, partitions or media on which it is necessary to search for files that theoretically can be restored in the future with saving to the location selected by the user.
How to use DMDE: select a disk or partition to scan
Since processing of disk space on hard drives or in logical partitions due to the large volume can take quite a lot of time, we will choose a regular USB flash drive as the source. But, talking about how to use DMDE 3.4.2 or any other version, you should especially pay attention to the choice of media type from the list of devices presented on the left side of the main window.
In the case of hard drives and removable devices, physical disks are selected (they will be shown on the right). If you need to perform a search in a logical partition or on disks that are part of a RAID array, respectively, these points should be noted.
Note: for all operations and at each stage, the application gives out fairly detailed hints, so you won’t succeed in getting confused or doing something wrong.
Since in our case we are talking about a flash drive, select the media in the window on the right.
In principle, you can use the options button to get additional information for each device, but it is very doubtful that such information will give at least something useful to the average user. Therefore, it is better not to touch the main parameters and leave them unchanged.
The process of finding deleted information
Now let's see how to use DMDE in the next step, where we need to search for everything that can be returned to its original form.
Please note that if you ever made a flash drive bootable, there may be several partitions on it, moreover, with different styles and file systems. For the scan start button, an additional menu is provided in which you can choose to either search for information on the entire disk, or only in the highlighted section.
- We select the operation for the entire medium.
- Next, the scan settings window appears, the options in which you can not change. However, if you know exactly in which file system the missing files were recorded, you can mark only the one you need.
- After that, it remains to press the start process button and wait for the results.
Scan results
Now let's see how to use DMDE in terms of evaluating the search results for lost information. Volumes with the total number of files found are displayed at the top, and a list of files with the extension is shown below.
Through the PCM menu or by pressing the appropriate button on the right, we open the desired section and see what is there.
The first one we have is the volume FAT1, which contains the largest number of files (when you request to save the log, it is better to agree with this action).
How to use DMDE: data recovery
Finally, select the root directory of Root and select the recovery via RMB, after which it will be offered to choose the location to save the files.
In the settings window, the installation for restoring selected objects can not be changed, although you can set recovery from the current panel if you wish (if you marked the files manually and forgot to select something).
But here the problem is that only files in subdirectories are subject to recovery in the free version, and not in all directories that are part of the root object.
Therefore, if the deleted files were found in several volumes or folders, the procedure will have to be performed several times, and the files from the panel will be saved in the specified location (by default, a folder of user documents is proposed).
Restrictions on file recovery: how can I get around them?
How to use DMDE is generally understood. Finally, a few words about how to get around some of the limitations of a free modification.
By and large, if you know the type of files you need, you can open the RAW directory, display objects by extension, and then restore for each selected type. In this case, a new notification will be issued for each file.
If you have a license key, you can enter it at one of the previous steps and restore all the data that is called in one fell swoop. If it is impossible to purchase the full version, which does not have restrictions, as already understood, you will have to be content with what you have and perform the recovery procedure for each group of found objects. In time, of course, such actions look very long, but the result will exceed all expectations. Do not believe? Test it yourself!