MORE THAN SECURITY
www.avira.com
User Manual
Avira UnErase
Personal
Trademarks
Windows is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.
All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Protected trademarks are not marked as such in this manual. This does not mean, however, that they may be used freely.
Publisher
Avira GmbH
D-88069 Tettnang, Lindauer Str. 21
Phone: +49 (0) 7542 - 500 0
Fax: +49 (0) 7542 - 525 10
Email: info@avira.com
Internet: http://www.avira.com
Production
Avira GmbH
D-88069 Tettnang, Lindauer Str. 21
Copyright © Avira GmbH
This manual was created with great care. However, errors in design and contents cannot be excluded.
All rights reserved. The reproduction of this publication or parts thereof in any form is prohibited without previous
written consent from Avira GmbH.
Errors and technical issues are subject to change.
Issued: January 2007
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4
2 Symbols, emphases and terms................................................................................. 5
3 Product information............................................................................................... 6
3.1 Delivery scope ........................................................................................................................7
3.2 System requirements.............................................................................................................7
3.3 Availability and licensing.......................................................................................................8
3.3.1 Licensing...................................................................................................................8
3.3.2 License versions .......................................................................................................8
4 Installation and deinstallation ............................................................................... 9
4.1 Installation.............................................................................................................................9
4.1.1 Installation prerequisites ........................................................................................9
4.1.2 Performing the installation...................................................................................10
4.2 Deinstallation ......................................................................................................................11
5 General information............................................................................................. 12
5.1 Testing Avira UnErase .........................................................................................................12
5.2 Golden rules .........................................................................................................................12
5.3 Details about FAT file systems............................................................................................13
6 Operation ............................................................................................................ 14
6.1 Starting Avira UnErase........................................................................................................14
6.2 Main window of Avira UnErase ..........................................................................................15
6.3 Restoring a deleted file........................................................................................................17
7 Service ................................................................................................................. 18
7.1 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)....................................................................................18
7.2 Service hotline .....................................................................................................................19
7.3 Online shop..........................................................................................................................19
Avira GmbH Avira UnErase Personal 3
Introduction
1 Introduction
We have included all useful information about Avira UnErase Personal in this manual
and you will be guided step by step through the installation, configuration and operation
of the software.
On our website http://www.free-av.com you can download the manual for Avira UnErase
Personal as PDF, or you can update Avira UnErase Personal and read about other
security solutions from Avira GmbH.
Our website also contains information such as the telephone number for technical
support and our newsletter, which you can subscribe to there.
Your Avira Team
4 Avira UnErase Personal Avira GmbH
Symbols, emphases and terms
2 Symbols, emphases and terms
The following symbols are used:
Symbol Explanation
Appears before a condition which must be met before an action is
carried out.
Appears before a step you carry out.
Appears before a result that follows the preceding action.
Appears before a note with especially important information or a tip
which makes it easier to understand and use Avira UnErase.
Appears before a warning of critical data loss.
The following emphases are used:
Emphasis Explanation
Italic
File name or path.
Elements of the software interface which are displayed (e.g., window
title, window area or option)
Bold
Elements of the software interface which are clicked (e.g. menu item,
tab or button).
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Product information
3 Product information
Application situations
• Restore accidentally, carelessly or intentionally deleted files on PCs.
• With Avira UnErase you can restore deleted files which were removed from the
system's Recycle Bin or which where directly deleted. You can also replicate files that
were deleted by viruses, uninstallers or by DOS programs. Compressed and
encrypted files are also supported.
Recovery probability
• All files detected for recovery are marked with a level of recovery probability.
Usually, even files marked as "poor" can be easily recovered.
Sorting possibilities
• With Avira UnErase it is possible to sort detected files by various criteria: name, size,
type, probability of recovery, date and time of creation and last access.
Taylor-made solution
• Avira UnErase is available to home users as a workstation application and to
business users as a network version.
Your advantages
Versatile data recovery solution
• Secure, simple and fast solution in case of emergency.
• Recovery of deleted files which were removed from the system's Recycle Bin or which
where directly deleted.
• Recovery of compressed and encrypted files.
• Extremely high success rate.
• Pre-installation not required.
• Smooth integration with Windows Explorer, intuitive operation.
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Product information
3.1 Delivery scope
• Supported file systems: FAT16, FAT32, NTFS4, NTFS5
• Recovery of compressed files (NTFS, NTFS5)
• Recovery of encrypted files (NTFS5)
• Recovery of streams (NTFS, NTFS5)
• Recovery of more than one file with the same name
• Recovery of local files
3.2 System requirements
For trouble-free operation of Avira UnErase, the following requirements must be met:
Operating system
• Windows 2000 Professional or
• Windows XP Home or
• Windows XP Professional
Avira GmbH Avira UnErase Personal 7
Product information
3.3 Availability and licensing
3.3.1 Licensing
• Free! Only for private, non-commercial PC use
• No network support
• Software and documentation downloads
3.3.2 License versions
Demo version Full version
All files to be recovered are displayed
but cannot be recovered
Full functionality
8 Avira UnErase Personal Avira GmbH
Installation and deinstallation
4 Installation and deinstallation
4.1 Installation
4.1.1 Installation prerequisites
f Please ensure that the following prerequisites are met for trouble-free operation of
Avira UnErase on your computer:
3 System requirements are met
3 You have administrator access rights
3 All running programs on the computer are closed
Avira UnErase works best if it is previously installed on your computer
before starting the recovery. This reduces the possibility of overwriting
files during installation.
If you want to install Avira UnErase after accidentally deleting certain
files, please note the following:
• Remove all network connections from the computer, if possible.
• Close all unnecessary applications, without shutting down the
computer.
• Terminate all scheduled processes, such as defragmentation, and do
not perform any such operations manually.
• Do not use CHKDSK or similar programs during installation.
• Download and install Avira UnErase on another computer. Copy all
files from the installation directory on a floppy disk or CD-ROM. Start
the file unerase.exe from the floppy or CD-ROM.
• In order to prevent overwriting files when restoring them, they should
always be restored on a different drive to their original location (e.g.
another partition, removable storage device).
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Installation and deinstallation
4.1.2 Performing the installation
If all prerequisites are fulfilled, you can install Avira UnErase on your computer. Proceed
as follows:
f Start the installation by double-clicking the file unerase_en_h.exe.
The Setup Wizard opens.
f Click on Next.
The License Agreement window appears.
f Confirm that you accept the terms and click on Next.
The Private use window appears.
f Confirm that you will use Avira UnErase only for private and not for commercial
purposes and click on Next.
In the following window you have to Choose Install Location.
f Confirm the given destination folder and click Next.
- OR -
f Select another destination folder using the Browse... button and then click on
Next.
The installation is performed on your computer.
f The Setup Wizard asks whether you want to run Avira UnErase.
f Confirm where appropriate and then click on Finish.
10 Avira UnErase Personal Avira GmbH
Installation and deinstallation
4.2 Deinstallation
This is how you can deinstall Avira UnErase (for example, on Windows XP):
Correct deinstallation can only be performed as administrator!
f From the Windows Start menu, open the Control Panel.
f Click on Add or Remove Programs.
f Select Avira UnErase and click on Change/Remove.
The window Uninstall Avira UnErase Personal appears.
f Click on Uninstall.
The software is deinstalled.
A message confirms successful deinstallation.
f Click on OK.
After deinstallation, the entry is removed from the list of installed software.
Avira GmbH Avira UnErase Personal 11
General information
5 General information
Here you can find information about:
• See Chapter: Testing Avira UnErase
• See Chapter: Golden rules
• See Chapter: Details about FAT and FAT32
5.1 Testing Avira UnErase
It may happen that Avira UnErase does not display data deleted a few seconds
previously.
The causes may vary and are all related to the Windows cache. When you copy and then
directly delete files or empty the Recycle Bin then start Avira UnErase immediately to
test it, these files are not listed in Avira UnErase because they have not been properly
written on the hard disk. Windows file systems need a few minutes at most to write files
on the hard disk.
In order to be sure that files have actually been written on the hard disk, when testing
UnErase you should either restart the computer before deleting the files or run
CHKDSK. Only then can you be sure that the files have been saved on the hard disk and
that Avira UnErase can find them.
5.2 Golden rules
We have prepared this list of tips to make your file recovery even easier. Zudem erhalten
zum besseren Verständnis eine Erklärung, wie das Löschen and of the recovery
procedure is included.
The deleting process differs from one file system to another. Basically however, there is a
"list of contents", which refers to various sectors and clusters on the hard disk. When
deleting a file, you do not actually delete the sectors of the hard disk, but the entry in
this "list of contents" and thus you mark the sectors allocated to that file as available for
the following write operations. You can restore a file as long as these sectors were not
actually overwritten, meaning that the content of the sectors can be restored.
f Please perform regular backups of important files!
f Be careful when deleting files.
f If possible, stop all write operations on the drives from which you want to recover
the files. Every write operation could overwrite relevant sectors from which you need
to recover data. If you want to restore files from the system drive, we recommend
unplugging the computer from its power source (not just shutting it down) and then
using Avira CIA Commander as an immediate aid for system and data access!
12 Avira UnErase Personal Avira GmbH
General information
f Do not install any recovery software after accidentally deleting data. This
installation could permanently overwrite your data. In this case, start Avira UnErase
from a floppy disk or CD-ROM.
f If you want to restore more than one file, do not save the recovered files on the same
drive as their origin. The recovery could overwrite the other files.
f Do not use CHKDSK, SCANDISK or DEFRAG before trying to restore files.
f Do not forget that files which have not been permanently deleted can be recovered.
f Deactivate the system recovery of Windows XP. Otherwise, in spite of ensuring that
your files are deleted, they can be restored, because the system recovery runs
multiple saving in the background!
5.3 Details about FAT file systems
• On FAT file systems, it is possible that Avira UnErase cannot display the first letters
of the deleted files. For this reason, it adds a ? at the beginning of most file names on
FAT drives.
You can select an alternative initial letter of the file name when recovering
the file. The option Use for all files applies this alternative initial letter
to all selected files. See Chapter: Restoring a deleted file
• One difference in the restoring process on FAT file systems is the file hierarchy
itself. Because of this hierarchy, Avira UnErase is able to display deleted files starting
from a certain directory level.
Avira GmbH Avira UnErase Personal 13
Operation
6 Operation
Here you can find information about:
• See Chapter: Starting Avira UnErase
• See Chapter: Main window of Avira UnErase
• See Chapter: Restoring a deleted file
6.1 Starting Avira UnErase
There are several ways of starting Avira UnErase:
• Start from Windows Explorer
• Start from Windows Start menu
Start from Windows Explorer
3 Windows Explorer is open.
f Right-click the drive from which you want to recover the files.
The context menu appears.
f Select Avira UnErase.
Avira UnErase main window appears.
Start from Windows Start menu
f In Windows Start menu, open the Programs sub-menu.
f Click on Avira UnErase.
The sub-menu appears.
f Click Avira UnErase.
A dialog window opens.
14 Avira UnErase Personal Avira GmbH
Operation
f Select the drive from which you want to recover the data.
f Click on OK.
Avira UnErase main window appears.
In the case of FAT file systems, after selecting the drive, you can also select
the folder containing the deleted files to be recovered.
6.2 Main window of Avira UnErase
Avira GmbH Avira UnErase Personal 15
Operation
Explanation
File Name
Size (kB)
Create
Time
Last Access
Time
Estimated
Status
Name of the deleted file.
Size of the deleted file.
Date and time when the deleted file was created.
Date and time when the deleted file was last opened.
Deleted files can have different statuses.
Good
Indicates that these files can be restored without risking data loss. If
the result does not meet your expectations, it means that certain
sectors have been overwritten by direct hard disk operations, such as
DEFRAG or CHKDSK.
Average n %
Indicates that parts of the file might already have been overwritten.
However, in most cases even these files can be fully recovered. Even if
parts of the file have been overwritten, you can still recover the
remaining part. In the case of ASCII text files or source code, it might
already contain the important parts you require. Therefore it is always
recommended to restore these files too.
Poor
Indicates that theoretically all parts of the file have been overwritten.
However, you still have about a 70% chance of recovering such files
completely without data loss. So there is no reason to panic if the file
you need to restore has the status "Poor"! Our tests have shown that
files with the status "Poor" are correctly recovered more often than the
files marked "Good" in other applications.
Type
Unerase
Change
Folder
File type of the deleted file.
When clicking on this button, all selected files are restored.
(This button is active only in the case of FAT file systems.)
When you click on this button, another window opens and you can
select a folder that contains deleted files you want to recover.
About
When you click on this button, you open a window containing
information about Avira UnErase.
Done (ESC)
Click on this button to close Avira UnErase.
16 Avira UnErase Personal Avira GmbH
Operation
6.3 Restoring a deleted file
3 Avira UnErase main window is open.
f In the main window, select the file you want to restore.
To select more files, hold down the Ctrl key and click the desired files with
the left mouse button.
f Click on Unerase.
The window Browse for Folder opens.
f Select the folder in which you want the recovered files to be stored.
In order to prevent sectors being overwritten, you should save the
recovered files on a different drive to the one from which they were
initially deleted.
In the case of FAT file systems, you can also choose an alternative initial
letter of the file name during recovery. The option Use for all files applies
this initial letter to all selected files.
The file is restored.
Avira GmbH Avira UnErase Personal 17
Service
7 Service
Here you can find assistance and further information:
• See Chapter: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• See Chapter: Service hotline
• See Chapter: Online shop
7.1 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why can't I find the files removed from the Recycle Bin?
When you remove files from the Recycle Bin, Windows automatically renames them
using DX*.*, where X is the drive letter from which the files were deleted. For example, a
file named Important.doc, deleted from drive C:, is renamed DC110.doc.
f The best way to recover such files would be either to restore all files beginning with
DX and then to look for the required documents,
- OR -
f To restore all files with the desired extension, and then to look for the required ones.
Please read the details in Testing Avira UnErase.
I have deleted some files and then directly attempted to restore them. Avira
UnErase can not find them. Why?
When deleting files, the operation may take some time to finalize. Wait for 30-60
seconds and then try again. Please read the details in Testing Avira UnErase.
18 Avira UnErase Personal Avira GmbH
Service
7.2 Service hotline
All relevant information concerning our comprehensive support service can be found on
our website http://www.avira.com. The experts answer your questions and help you with
difficult technical problems.
7.3 Online shop
You want to purchase our products conveniently with the click of a button?
In the online shop of Avira GmbH, you can purchase, extend and enhance licenses
quickly and securely under http://www.avira.de/en/onlineshop. The online shop guides
you through the ordering menu step-by-step. Our multilingual Customer Care Center
provides information on ordering process, payment and delivery. Resellers can order on
account.
Avira GmbH Avira UnErase Personal 19
MORE THAN SECURITY
www.avira.com
Avira GmbH
Lindauer Str. 21
D-88069 Tettnang
Telephone: +49 (0) 7542-500 0
Fax: +49 (0) 7542-525 10
Email: info@avira.com
Internet: http://www.avira.com
All rights reserved. Subject to change.
© Avira GmbH
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