User Guide
Everything you need to use RecoverX effectively.
Quick Start
1. Download the installer (currently in closed beta — request from the Download page).
2. Install on a drive that is NOT the one you're trying to recover from.
3. Right-click RecoverX → Run as administrator.
4. Pick the drive with deleted files. Click Start Scan.
5. Once the scan completes, preview files, select what you want, click Recover. Choose an output folder on a different drive.
Choosing a Scan Mode
Quick Scan — best default for almost every case. Fast, reads NTFS/FAT metadata.
Recycle Bin — try first if you accidentally deleted with a regular Delete (not Shift+Delete). 100% recoverable when present.
Shadow Copies — best for internal SSDs after TRIM has fired. Lists Windows VSS snapshots; if a snapshot exists from before deletion, the file lives there.
Deep Scan — last resort. Reads disk byte-by-byte, looks for file format signatures. Works without a filesystem. Slow.
Reading the Condition Column
Good — first cluster has expected magic bytes for the file's extension. Recovery should produce a working file.
Risky — either all-zero (TRIM'd by SSD) or wrong magic bytes (cluster reused by another file). Recovery may produce corrupted output. Preview before recovering.
Lost — no usable run list found in the MFT, or cluster data is verifiably destroyed. Recovery will fail or produce zeros.
Why Some Recoveries Fail
Modern SSDs send TRIM commands the moment a file is deleted. The SSD firmware physically zeros those flash cells within seconds. No software can reverse this.
If TRIM has fired, your only options are: Recycle Bin (if file went there first), Shadow Copies (if a snapshot exists), or backup software.
USB drives, SD cards, and old mechanical HDDs do NOT TRIM. Recovery there usually works.
Running RecoverX as Administrator
Raw disk access (reading the filesystem byte-by-byte) requires admin privileges on Windows. This isn't a RecoverX limitation — it's a Windows security boundary.
If you don't run as admin, RecoverX will fail to open the drive and show an error.
For automated/scheduled use, configure Task Scheduler with 'Run with highest privileges' enabled.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Ctrl+A — select all visible files
F5 — start a new scan
Esc — close the current dialog
Enter — preview the highlighted file (when exactly one is selected)