Feature Set:  

Data Rescue recovery software can restore full files or selected files and can move files to an external hard drive, which is a good idea if your hard drive is damaged or unstable. It works with most types of drivers including IDE, Serial ATA (SATA), RAID, disks and a FireWire or USB connected external drive. In addition it can recover NTFS, FAT32, FAT16 and FAT12 file types. However, it does not appear to be able to perform network recoveries or have the ability to create image files (meaning an exact image of what is on a drive, not the photograph type).

And no matter what type of operating system you are using, you can benefit from this software, it works with Vista and Windows XP, 2003, 2000, NT, ME, 98, 95, 3.x and DOS and there is a Mac version available that works with Mac OS 10.2.4 or newer.

Ease of Use:  

We looked at the downloadable demo version and the disk version of this software. The downloadable demo version, which was the type of install reviewed in the last review of this product, can be a bit confusing. It is received as a zip file and asks you to burn a copy to a disk, which is not a good option for everyone. The box version can be run from the disk provided, which was how we chose to test the software. It is designed to work this way so it can work as an emergency boot CD.

However, we ran into a problem after we were done reviewing the product when we took the disk out and tried to restart our computer; our system froze up and Windows XP did not want to restart properly, so make sure you do not pull out the disk without going through the correct procedure. We ended up having to perform a full system restore on our PC, but we cannot really say it was because of this software, since we had some other competing type programs installed on our system at the same time. It just goes to show that you never know when you’ll need a solid data recovery solution.

Recovery Effectiveness:  

Data Rescue PC 3 can recover encrypted and compressed files, as long as the entire drive has not been altered by an encryption or compression program. It can recover Outlook email type files as well as all Office type files including Excel, PowerPoint and Word files. It can also recover PDF, Quicken, HTML type files and files in the recycle bin. It can also recover image files from any digital camera media even if it has been deleted or reformatted.

It can recover files from damaged or altered partitions, disks with bad sectors and damaged files. And Data Rescue can work even if the drive fails to mount or only partially operates.

We tested this software on a system running Windows XP Media Center, with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive and the full system scan took about three hours. File recovery is not a speedy process, but well worth the effort in the case of a hard drive crash.

Search Capabilities:  

With this software you can search for files by file name, file extension type and by wildcard. In addition they can be searched by last modified date.

Help/Documentation:  

You can contact Prosoft support by telephone or email. We contacted their support several times by email and always received a response within a day. We sent all of our emails to them from an email alias, so we appeared like a regular customer and not a reviewer, and always received prompt replies.

They also publish a few FAQs online and a user guide, but the user guide is not for the latest version. We also would have liked to have seen a user guide come with the boxed product, but a guide was not included.

Having to use a program like this is always stressful, because it is only needed when things have gone wrong, like your hard drive has been damaged or has been attacked by a particularly nasty virus. We liked that Data Rescue PC is easy to use and can run directly from the disk to help lower the stress and anxiety a bit. We also were pleased to see that it can restore files to an external hard drive.

We would have liked to have seen a user manual come with the software, but we experienced that their customer support is responsive when you need it. Overall, Data Rescue PC is a pretty good data recovery software solution, and can be a lifesaver when you need it most.