[Case Study] How to Recover Lost Files in Multiple Cases

This instruction could help you quickly find and recover files in MiniTool Power Data Recovery under different cases.

How to Quickly Find and Recover Deleted Files

Run MiniTool Power Data Recovery, and choose the partition where your lost data is originally saved to scan. In our test, we select partition D: to scan.

After the scanning is completed, you’ll see the scanning result interface:

In this window, you can find and save files from one of the following 4 locations:

1. Original Folder Tree

In general, you could find the deleted items from the original path. Please double-click each folder to view contents, and in most cases, you can find needed files from the first folder (Existing Files). The deleted items are always marked with red “x“. Of course, you may find them from other directories in addition to the first one.

2. $Dir Folders in the Lost Files Folder

If you can’t find your needed files from the original path, please double click the Lost Files folder in each partition and view files in the $Dir folders. The deleted items are always saved in $Dir folders if they are not in original path.

3. Recycle Bin Folder

If lost files were originally saved on HDD, you can also check the Recycle Bin folder, as the following screenshot shows:

How to Quickly Find and Recover Files from Formatted Drive

Run MiniTool Power Data Recovery, and then select the formatted drive to scan. In the test, we formatted G:, so we choose it to scan:

After the scanning is completed, you’ll see the following interface:

Please double click each partition to view contents. If you can find files from the original folder tree, just choose needed files and save them to another drive. But in most cases, there is no folder tree found, and you can only see the Lost Files folder after opening a partition. Please double-click the Lost Files folder, and then view files in the $Dir folders. In our test, we find desired files from $Dir folders:

Please choose the needed files and save them to another drive.

How to Quickly Find and Recover Files from Damaged/Inaccessible Drive

Firstly, please run MiniTool Power Data Recovery and select the damaged or inaccessible drive to scan:

After the scanning is completed, you’ll see the following interface:

Please choose the needed files and save them to another drive.

How to Quickly Find and Recover Files from Lost Partition

Firstly, please run MiniTool Power Data Recovery and see whether you can find the lost partition under Logical Drives:

If found, just select the lost partition to scan. If not, please switch to the Devices tab, and choose the whole hard disk to scan:

After the scanning is completed, you’ll see the following window:

Please open each path to find the needed files, select them, and save them to another drive.

How to Perform RAW Scan

In some cases, you are suggested to do a RAW scan using MiniTool Power Data Recovery. This always happens when the program gets stuck in the process of rebuilding the virtual file system. After RAW scan, all files found will be listed in a drive named ALL RAW Files.

To perform a RAW scan, please run MiniTool Power Data Recovery, find the existing partition/lost partition/unallocated space to be recovered and go to Settings. Then uncheck all the file systems before scanning the desired.

However, if RAW scan also fails to display useful data, that means there is no data our program can recognize, or the disk read failed.

FAQ when Using MiniTool Power Data Recovery