www.r-tt.com

INTRODUCTION

R Studio is exactly what everyone is looking for in a file recovery emergency, something that works, does its work fast and efficiently, and is easy to use. a while ago a good portion of my files had been lost and I scrambled to quickly find a software that could solve my problems for me. I tried a few and actually ended up getting excellent results using R Studio, I didn't even realize that it was the same piece of software until I recognized the interface. There is a lot of data recovery software out there and to be honest, the majority of this software is ineffective and very limited in functionality, fortunately R Studio does not fall into this group, and is bursting with features. This software isn't just going to fix that time you accidentally emptied the recycle bin.

R Studio supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5, or the linux EXT2FS files systems. Additionally this software works with hardware and software RAID volume and stripe configurations, can create entire drive images, and even recovers lost data over a network. Those listed features do not even scratch the surface of what this software of capable of, and currently this is the only software on the market with such a broad range of features.

INSTALLATION & SETUP

Installation was successful on both AMD and Intel platforms. Systems tested were an AMD Barton 2500 with an 80GB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM HDD, and a Intel Pentium 4 2.26 with a 7200 RPM 80GB IBM Deskstar HDD. A pleasant part of the installation was the presence of the wise installation systems which always works great. A proper uninstallation program was also included with the software, to avoid problems with your registry if you ever should chose to remove the program. The usual options for shortcuts were included and the installation process did not take long at all. Total time spent including the download was less than 30 seconds.

INTERFACE & EASE OF USE

The interface used in R Studio really contributes to the ease of use of the program. Most regular computer users have been using the windows explorer type interface for years now so it was an excellent design to follow. All of the main functions are availible in the bottons across the top of the main window, and drive information is displayed below. If you are simply recovering files, you can right click any drive letter in the explorer style drive window and simply click recover all files, it really doesn't get any easier than that. The recover files over a network function is also very easy to use and would be invaluable to a system admin dealing with data loss to a disaster due to a power outage or similar event. At the bottom of the main window, R Studio supplies information on any file recoveries, and any problems that may have occured. In right hand side of things, you can find a ton of information about your drives and filesystems. Nothing has been left out here and everything is very well laid out. With all of the information provided this really is a professional tool, but works for the average computer user just trying to recover from a mistake.

FUNCTIONALITY

First I must say that with any software designed to recover lost data, your mileage may vary based on events that happen after you have lost the data. If you lose any amount of data, and write to the drive where data loss occured, you could be writing over the area where those files once were. In fact when a file is deleted, it is still technically on the hard drive, and is not lost forever until something is stored in its place. Depending on how fragmented your hard drive is, parts of your files could be scattered in hundreds of different physical positions on the hard drive media, making recovery very difficult. Here is an example of what happens to a picture that has be corrupted due to new data taking its place.

Unfortunately there really isn't anything you can do to avoid the above except avoid writing to a drive containing data to be recovered.

Right clicking on a drive allows you the main options of recovering all files, and scanning the drive. If you are simply trying to recover lost data it is best to just recover everything and choose what you would like to keep from the output list shown below.

For advanced users there are the options of scanning the file tables on different drives for lost data. Additionally there is the option to create regions to work with, in order to avoid disturbing areas of a drive where lost data may be hiding. In R Studio you are warned in every possible scenario not to save scan information or anything for that matter to the drive you are working with. The help documenatino is sure to stress this concept and that is definitly a very fine point of the software. Another tool for the adcanced user is the built in hex editor, which could be used for many things including viewing the damage done to a file, or fixing that damage. Again warnings are given here for those who do not know what they are doing. A virtual RAID feature is also included in the software in the disastorous case where your RAID configuration has been destroyed and cannot be recognized by your OS. I honestly couldn't think of a data loss situation that this software does not have a recovery option for.

The really strong point of this software is its network recovery system. R Studio's agent emergency system allows you to recover files on a damaged network computer and transfer them to a working computer. This would be excellent for a system admin that has lost data on a number of workstations and needs to have them all fixed before the boss even knows anything went wrong.

CONCLUSION

There are lots of advanced functions included in R Studio that might scare someone who is new to file recovery away, but it really is easy to use. In fact the best part of this software is the ease of use, for either someone who just lost a few files in the recycle bin, or the person who just lost a folder full of vital information. I have used other file recovery software in the past and also found that the competition tends to take a lot longer to find what I have lost, and does not display the information found in such a convenient manner. The best part about this software is the price. There are 6 versions of the software availible in a variety of configurations and the best one is only $179.99! For a professional recovery program that has everything you could possibly want that is a low price to pay to recover lost data.

PROS: a. Easy to use b. Very powerful CONS: a.