photorec

Photorec is a command-line data recovery tool designed to recover lost files and retrieve data from various storage media. It is a part of the TestDisk software suite, which is known for its powerful data recovery capabilities. It can be utilized to recover files from a wide range of devices such as hard drives, USB drives, memory cards, and even optical media.

One notable feature of Photorec is its ability to recover data from various file formats such as photos, documents, videos, and archives. It supports a vast number of file systems, including NTFS, FAT, exFAT, and HFS+.

Photorec operates by analyzing the raw data on a storage device, searching for specific file signatures or headers to identify and recover files regardless of their file name or extension. It performs a thorough scan of the storage device, detecting and extracting recoverable files to a specified location.

Despite being a command-line tool, Photorec offers a user-friendly interface with clear instructions and prompts to guide the recovery process. It is widely used because of its reliability, efficiency, and ability to recover files in various scenarios, such as accidental deletion, formatting, or system crashes.

As a precautionary measure, it is advisable to use Photorec on a different storage device rather than the one from which you are recovering data to avoid overwriting any potentially recoverable files.