GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo
Developer Website: http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm
- 2015
- 2014
Overall Product Rating: 3.5
Outstanding RAID parameter finding capabilities, but mediocre performance and feature set otherwise. No new features have been added since our last review.
Strengths: RAID parameter finding.
Weaknesses: Very poor localization support.
Supported Interface Languages: 3.0Compare
Languages supported: English, French, German.
Language management: Language change requires program restart.
Localized File Name Recognition: 2.0Compare
Characters recognized: Russian
Characters unrecognized: French (changed to similar Latin ones), Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese (changed to the underscore character).
Demo version restrictions: 3.0Compare
No built-in file previewer, but file can be opened in its respective application. 30-day time limit for the demo version of RAID Reconstructor. The RAID image cannot be copied.
File preview: 4.0Compare
Preview for jpg and txt files. Can also view selected files in a separate program.
File Systems Supported for File Recovery: 4.0Compare
NTFS/NTFS5, FAT12/FAT16/FAT32
Limited support: ext2fs/ext3fs, Novell, XFS
Deep Analysis of Disks (Disk Scan): 4.0Compare
Supports scans for entire hard drives and logical disks. Scan results can be saved to a file and loaded later. The user can control bad sector processing.
File Search, Mark For Recovery, Sorting: 4.5Compare
Search parameters: file mask, date, size, deleted/existing files. File sorting is similar to that in Windows explorer.
File Recovery Parameters: 3.5Compare
Recovers file names and folder structure. Deleted files can be included or excluded.
File Recovery Using File Signatures (Raw File Recovery): 3.5Compare
Supports file signature search and custom file signatures, but with a limited set of parameters, including the maximum possible file size.
Disk Imaging and Copying: 5.0Compare
Image types: byte-by-byte and compressed; file split size can be specified. The program can directly open virtual image files (.vim).
Hexadecimal Editor: 3.0Compare
Only hex viewer is present. An additional commercial program (Disk Explorer) is required to edit the program.
Startup Version: 6.0Compare
Runtime Live CD: Equivalent in its features to the Windows version of GetDataBack.
RAID Recovery Features: 3.0Compare
Access to RAID data only after its image is copied to another storage device. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked.
File recovery performance
Deleted Files (NTFS): 5.5Compare
All files, except the avi file, were immediately found in correct folders and successfully recovered upon opening the partition. The avi file was found but appeared damaged.
Deleted Files (FAT32): 2.0Compare
For the both partitions, only the following files were found and successfully recovered by scanning for file signatures (Lost files): jpg, doc. The following files were found and recovered, but appeared damaged: mp3, zip.
Emptied Recycle Bin (NTFS): 5.0Compare
All files were found in the $Recycle.Bin folder with altered names after scanning the partitions. All files, except avi, acc, and mp3, were correctly recovered. The folder and file names could be correctly recovered starting from the second level. For example, if the files were in a folder, it was possible to recover the file names. If the files were in a sub-folder within a folder, it was possible to correctly recover the sub-folder and file names.
Emptied Recycle Bin (NTFS): 4.5Compare
Most files were found and successfully recovered after disk scan. File and folder names were slightly altered. (e.g., xOCUME~1.doc instead of DOCUMENT.doc). Also, the same files were found in the $Recycle.Bin folder with altered names. The docx and xlsx files were recovered incorrectly for both partitions.
For the 500 MB partition: We could not correctly recover the avi file.
Disk Reformat – NTFS to NTFS : 3.0Compare
Only a few files were found in the Lost Files and even fewer were successfully recovered after disk scan.
Correctly recovered: jpg, doc.
Incorrectly recovered files: mp3, zip, avi.
Disk Reformat – FAT32 to FAT32 : 6.0Compare
All files were found in the original folders with original names and were successfully recovered after disk scan
Disk Reformat – NTFS to FAT32 : 6.0Compare
All files were found in the original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
Damaged Partition (FAT32): 6.0Compare
All files were immediately found in the original folder with original names and successfully recovered upon opening the partition.
Damaged Partition (NTFS): 6.0Compare
The damaged partitions were found without disk scan. All files with correct file names were found in correct folders and successfully recovered upon opening the partition.
Damaged Partition (FAT16): 5.0Compare
All files were found in the original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
Damaged Partition (FAT32): 5.0Compare
All files were found in the original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
Deleted partition: 6.0Compare
All files were found in the original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
RAID level: 0 consisting of 2 disks: 6.0Compare
Correct RAID 0 parameters were automatically found. All files were found in the original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
RAID level: 5 consisting of 3 disks: 3.0Compare
We could not find correct RAID 5 automatically, but they were the first ones among suggested. Although, the folder structure could be determined correctly, we could not find any files in respective folders. Some files could be found in Lost Files (using file signatures), but many of them couldn’t be recovered correctly.
Overall Product Rating: 3.5
Mediocre recovery features and performance, but showed outstanding performance in some areas.
Strengths: RAID parameter recognition.
Weaknesses: Very poor localization support.
Localized File Name Recognition: 2.0Compare
Characters recognized: Russian
Characters unrecognized: French (changed to similar Latin ones), Arabian, Japanese, and Chinese (changed to the underscore character).
Supported Interface Languages: 3.0Compare
Languages supported: English, German, French.
Language management: Language change requires program restart.
Demo version restrictions: 3.0Compare
No built-in file previewer but files can be opened in their respective application (if installed). 30-day time limit for the demo version of RAID Reconstructor. The RAID image cannot be copied.
File preview: 4.0Compare
Built-in previewer for jpg and txt files. Files can also be launched in a third-party application (if installed) directly from the program.
File Systems Supported for File Recovery: 4.0Compare
NTFS/NTFS5, FAT12/16/32; Limited support: EXT2FS/EXT3FS, Novell, XFS
File Search, Mark For Recovery, Sorting: 4.0Compare
Filters and sorting: Similar to Windows Explorer.
File search: File mask, search for date, size, deleted/existing.
File Recovery Parameters: 3.5Compare
Recovers file names and folder structure. Deleted files can be included or excluded from data recovery results.
Disk Imaging and Copying: 5.0Compare
Image types: byte-by-byte and compressed; file split size can be specified. Native support for virtual image files (.vim); loads .vim files directly in the file recovery program.
Deep Analysis of Disks (Disk Scan): 3.5Compare
Supports raw file recovery and user customizable file signatures. However, custom file signatures have a limited set of parameters, including the maximum possible file size.
RAID Recovery Features: 3.0Compare
Access to RAID data only after its image is copied to another storage device. Only disks can be added to a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked.
Startup Version: 6.0Compare
Runtime Live CD: Equivalent in its features to the Windows version of GetDataBack.
Hexadecimal Editor: 3.0Compare
Includes a hex viewer only. Requires an add-on program (Disk Explorer) in order to edit data.
Automatic RAID Parameter Detection: 5.0Compare
Automatic RAID parameter finding for RAID 0 and RAID 5.
File recovery performance
Deleted Files (NTFS): 5.5Compare
All files and folder information found successfully, except the avi file, which was found but appeared damaged. No disk scan required.
Deleted Files (NTFS): 2.0Compare
No files were found during the standard scan. After scanning for file signatures the following files were found (Lost files): jpg, doc. The following files were found but appeared damaged: mp3, zip. No folder information recovered.
Emptied Recycle Bin (FAT32): 4.5Compare
Most files were found and recovered after disk scan. File and folder names were slightly altered (e.g., xOCUME~1.doc instead of DOCUMENT.doc). The same files were also found in the $Recycle.Bin folder with altered names. The docx and xlsx files were recovered incorrectly for both disk setups. For the second disk setup, the program recovered the avi file incorrectly.
Emptied Recycle Bin (NTFS): 5.0Compare
All files were found in the $Recycle.Bin folder with altered names after scanning the partition. All files, except avi, acc, and mp3, were successfully recovered. The folder and file names could be successfully recovered starting from the second level.
Disk Reformat – NTFS to NTFS : 3.0Compare
Only a few files were found in the Lost Files and even fewer successfully recovered after disk scan.
Successfully recovered: jpg, doc
Unsuccessfully recovered files: mp3, zip, avi
Disk Reformat – NTFS to FAT32 : 6.0Compare
All files were found in the original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
Disk Reformat – FAT32 to FAT32 : 6.0Compare
All files were found in the original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
Damaged Partition (NTFS): 6.0Compare
The damaged partition was found without a disk scan. All files with correct file names were found in correct folders and successfully recovered upon opening the partition.
Damaged Partition (FAT32): 6.0Compare
All files were immediately found in their original folders with original names and successfully recovered upon opening the partition. No disk scan was required.
Damaged Partition (FAT32): 6.0Compare
All files were found in their original folders with original names and successfully recovered after performing a disk scan.
Damaged Partition (FAT16): 5.0Compare
All files were found in their original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
Deleted Partition: 6.0Compare
All files were found in their original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
RAID 0 (2 Disks): 6.0Compare
Correct RAID 0 parameters were automatically found. All files were found in the original folders with original names and successfully recovered after disk scan.
RAID 5 (3 Disks): 3.0Compare
Correct RAID 5 parameters were not found automatically. Although the folder structure could be determined correctly, there were no files in respective folders. Some files could be found in Lost Files (using file signatures), but many of them could not be recovered correctly.
