TestDisk is an open source data recovery program designed to run on multiple platforms. Developed by the TestDisk Development Team, it is capable of recovering partitions and let you boot disks again if they appear to be faulty. While there are a lot of powerful features on the program, it is straightforward to use.
TestDisk has one purpose, and that is to try and recover disk partitions you lost due to viruses, faulty software or a mistake made by the user, such as deleting the partition table by mistake. While TestDisk is powerful, it’s not that difficult to use.
One of the nice things about TestDisk is that it has a wide range of features. Aside from fixing partition tables, the application can also restore a partition that’s been deleted. It can also restore a FAT32 boot sector from the backup. The application can also repair FAT12, 16 and 32 boot sectors and repair FAT tables.
TestDisk is also capable of rebuilding the NTFS boot sector and it can also recover NTFS. By using the MFT mirror it can repair MFT and undelete files in ext2, NTFS, exFAT and FAT. Aside from that, TestDisk can copy files from ext2/ext3/ext4, NTFS, exFAT and deleted FAT.
While TestDisk definitely has features that advanced users will appreciate, it also has features designed for novices. If you don’t know much about data recovery you can use the software to gather information concerning your drive if it won’t boot. You can then send the info to a technician for analysis, very useful.
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