Freeware File Recovery and Deduplication

If you have decided that your file support system can benefit from file deduplication, you absolutely have a lot of choices. But first you must figure out where and how to integrate dedupe. There are a lot of file backup products that integrate file deduplication. Some are virtual tape library or VTL products, others are network-attached storage or NAS that may be utilized as a support target, and still others are support applications.

In this article, we take a good look at post-processing against inline deduplication, disk-based support and deduplication, and compare the well-known deduplication products.

Table of contents

- A good look at post-processing deduplication

- Inline deduplication

- Disk-based support systems and deduplication

- A contrast of deduplication products

- The future of deduplication

A good look at post-processing deduplication

For support or storage administrators, looking around minimizes the time it will take to support their files. The best choice most of the time is to utilize a post-process technique. This has the advantage of supporting files quicker, lessening the support window. The disadvantage of this technique is that extra storage area is accumulated. Support files are sent to a temporary storage area in order to speed the support procedure. The moment it finishes, the file is again observed for duplicates, with duplicates eliminated. Some post systems begin deduping before the entire support is finished, so they may not need as much storage on the target.

Tip: It is also significant to identify how file dedupe impacts the recovery procedure — particularly, how quickly you can recall the file for recovery. Read this article to know more about recovering deduped files.

Inline deduplication

An alternative to deduplicating files after a support is to integrate deduplication inline as the file is being sent to the support device. The advantage with this technique is that no additional space is needed.

Here are two of the freeware programs for data recovery:

1. Unstoppable Copier

It allows you to restore files from CDs, DVDs and hard drives with troubles like bad sectors, scratches or other causes of errors making the files inaccessible. If the software encounters corrupt data, it will try to access any readable pieces together, which may result in a partial, yet accessible data. You can also select to skip the damaged data and pursue the copy procedure until the next problem data is located. Other features include a choice to auto-skip damaged data; duplicate good data first, continue partial data, batch handing out and more. You should keep in mind that restoration may take a very long time if there is a lot of corrupted data.

2. Recuva

It is a data undeletion utility that allows you to scan your hard drive or media cards for data that has been erased or formatted. It offers you a list of data that was located, along with an evaluation of the recovery possibility, a preview choice and a hex viewer to diagnose the content. You can limit your search to data of a specific kind and select between a quick and a deep scan approach. The software also includes a safe deletion choice that permits you to permanently erase the data that was located during the scan, in order to avoid any further recoveries.