Product Reviews

Ever lost a file and wanted to get it back? Of course you have. The trouble is, although trashing a file technically just removes its entry in the list of what's where on your disk but leaves the data in place, getting it back isn't easy. This is where Data Rescue X, from Prosoft Engineering, comes in, as it's a utility designed specifically to recover files that have been removed in one way or another.

Unlike Prosoft's other data recovery utility, Data Recycler X, this utility doesn't rely on being installed and running before the nightmare occurs. It can be used as a simple standalone application, assuming your Mac is working as it should be. However, if you need to rescue work from a Mac that has more serious problems, then Data Rescue X's Mac OS X boot CD comes into play. Put this in the drive and reboot while holding down the C key will start up the Mac from a customised version of OS X on the CD. You're then presented with a button in the middle of the screen that launches Data Rescue X. From there, the process is essentially the same as if you'd run it as a standard application from the Finder.

Scanning for content allows specific kinds of files to be sniffed out, with separate Content Scan Control sections for images, audio, movies and text, as well as a generic 'Docs' section. You can also search using more than one process at a time. The scan type buttons act as toggles, so clicking on the Thorough Scan and Content Scan buttons sets up both to be performed when the Start button is clicked.

A volume must be specified for Data Rescue X to use as temporary storage while it performs the scan. This shouldn't be the drive being scanned, as this risks overwriting the data to be rescued.

Apart

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from the lightweight Quick Scan option, the process of going through a volume looking for data to recover can take a while. If you're dealing with a very large hard disk, we're talking enough time to go get some lunch, not just a coffee. A progress bar and an estimate of the time left for the task is shown so you're not left in the dark, although the time estimate is adjusted as it goes so isn't entirely accurate. It also reports the time needed for the particular process section happening at that moment, so there can be further delays while other sections of the scanning process are performed. As Data Rescue X is an OS X application, you can click out into the Finder and get on with other tasks while it works. However, if the rescue is important, we'd recommend leaving it to get on with things rather than risk messing things up.

Once it has finished, a dialog advises you to rescue a few files and check their integrity before attempting to recover all of your data. This is easy enough to do if you're running it from your hard disk, but if you've booted from the emergency CD, it isn't so simple. In those circumstances it's probably best to press on with a full recovery attempt and check things afterwards.

The real problem with rescuing deleted files becomes apparent when you see the list of found items. As OS X and many common applications juggle temporary files around with gay abandon, most of the items will be irrelevant. Search options help, and in our tests we did recover files that would otherwise be just a fond memory. However, it would have been helpful to have an option for hiding items that weren't actually deleted.

Data Rescue X is an OS X-specific utility. It will rescue files from Macs that have been running older Mac OS versions, but only if the Mac itself is able to run OS X.

Never consider any data rescuing tool as a substitute for making backups or treating your equipment with care. As good as Data Rescue X is at recovering files, it isn't perfect. Moreover, if the deleted file you're after has been overwritten before you try to recover it, then you're completely out of luck. Data Rescue X is an emergency tool and should be considered as a last resort for after you've checked your backups. However, if you still need it, this utility might well save the day.