Evaluating if demo CnW program will recover your files
Every recovery product always promises full recovery of all files. In reality this may not be possible for many reasons. The CnW approach is to supply a demo program that will give a very good indication of what is possible.
The demo program is a fully functional version of the non forensic software, but with saving files on the hard disk disabled. If the demo displays files, then the full program will. At the same time, if the demo does not find certain files, then neither will the licensed copy of the program.
There are a few simple stages to run when first evaluating the software. The first is detecting the drive or disk, followed by seeing what files can be recovered
Hardware detection
Many disks need recovering due to partial or compete hardware failure. As the product is software only, there are certain limitations which means that the PC must detect the presence of a drive and be able to read sectors. The notes on possible hardware failure will assist with this point.
Software examination
The easiest point to start the demo program is to use the Wizard which will guide you through several stages and also do basic examination of the disk. If the wizard does not seem to indicate the results required, or the disk is too corrupted, then you need to use the Main Menu recovery tools. These have additional features to help examine a disk and reconstruct missing or corrupted control sectors.
Mini-DVD disks
The wizard on V3 and later has a specific function for mini-dvd video disks. A feature of this wizard is that it will display short bursts of the video as it scans through the disk. If this is the video you require, then a purchase is only a single click away.
Photos and camera memory
A simple wizard will examine the memory chips and display photos that will be recovered.
Video files
The video wizards are being updated so that even on the demo a thumbnail of a working video will be displayed. If such a video has been generated, then there is an extremely high probablity that the video will be recovered correctly. Up to about 16 thumbnails of videos will be cycled through in sequence. NB, the demo may create files on the drive, but these are purely to enable the thumbnail to be produced. No playable files will be saved in the demo.
Can you view your files - yes with the log
As the demo does not save files on the hard drive, it is not possible to open these files. The solution is to open the program Log. Here file names and details will be seen. The log may be sorted by clicking on columns. More importantly, by double clicking on an entry the file will be displayed. For a JPG, when possible an image will be displayed, otherwise a hex dump will be shown. This can give confidence that data will be recovered
Any problems, please contact us via e-mail on info@cnwrecovery.com