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Don’t Lose Your Important Data!–A Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery Software Review

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#1 · (Edited)
:stop: This page is under review by editors. This is NOT the final copy! :stop:


Edit #2

Don’t Lose Your Important Data! – A Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery Software Review

Whenever I post an article or review that deals with personal data recovery, I tend to have the iconic saying of “your data is important to you, so keep it safe!”

Creating backups, using high quality computer components, and using safe internet browsing techniques are just a few ways of keeping your data safe from deletion, corruption, and/or theft. Using a secondary hard drive running in RAID 1 or just as a backup storage drive is an excellent premeasure for always having a reliable backup. You should also confirm that your computer is built using high quality manufactured components as low quality units may cause data corruption. Lastly, safeguard your computer by using a recommended antivirus that will protect against any data stealing malware.

Even though we take the time to make sure of having backups, using high quality components, and follow safe web browsing techniques, data deletion is all too common. Unfortunately, it’s an awful experience when realizing that your personal documents have vanished into thin air and some panic may set in.

Whether the deleted document was a picture, MP3, email, or Word document, we deemed it important enough to want it back and to lose it can be devastating.

To recover a document, we must first understand what happens to it when we delete it. When a document is deleted from your hard drive, your system marks the file with a binary code of zero, indicating to the operating system that the space is now open real estate. Even though the file is gone and your operating system does not show the file, does not mean it’s gone forever. Being open real estate on the hard drive, your operating system will wait until new data needs to be written, then the file structure of the old deleted file is written over. Many files can survive multiple rewrites before all of its contents are deleted, but may receive some corruption.

The longer a file has been deleted, the harder it is to recovery it. Whereas a file that was recently deleted can typically be returned to original condition with little to no file corruption.

Do a quick Google search for the term “data recovery program”, and the search giant will provide you with over 13 million results. Websites containing many different recovery programs. Some of which are free and some that want a payment.

Free data recovery programs that actually work are hard to come by. As there are some free programs that do work, their recovery process is designed for users who just recently lost a file and needs a quick recovery. There are also free recovery programs that lack the ability to recover photos or emails.

Even though there are some reputable free data recovery programs that do a decent job, a paid recovery program can certainly do better more research and development is placed into the product. Being a person who has used a large collection of both free and paid data recovery programs, I have come to understand the methods of what makes a good data recovery program.

Welcome to my review of the Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery Software. Throughout this review I will be covering the following topics: The Installation, User Interface, Functionality, and My Overall Thoughts. I would like to thank Stellar for providing this software for the following review.



The Installation

The installation starts off by visiting the Stellar’s website to download the trial edition of the software. Within a matter of minutes (depending on your internet speeds) the executable file will finish downloading and the installation process will begin.

After reading and accepting to the terms and conditions, the installation process will require you to click the Next button a few times. Finally, the installation will finish with a thank you message and the software will launch.

As I mentioned above, you are downloading a trial edition of the recovery software. Take your time to evaluate the software, as to actually recover a file it will require you pay the activation price. As you’re about to read, the program is filled with many useful features and is certainly a program that has the potential to help recover those missing files.

Once you’ve deemed the recovery software acceptable, make your way back to Stellar’s website to purchase your activation key. When the company provides the key, simply open the options tab near the top right, enter the activation key, and you’re all set!



User Interface

At first sight, I was not that impressed with the user interface of the recovery software. To me it felt outdated with the large buttons containing different sub menus. It would be nice to see a new user interface introduced to the software; something that was more intuitive and pleasing to the eyes, rather than a lot of green and tan menus.

Moving on, the user interface is extremely easy to use and navigate through. At the top, users will find the three menus representing three different categories of the recovery software. The data recovery tab is where you will spend most of your time, as shown in picture 1 users have the ability to perform a drive, CD, photo, and/or email recovery.

By clicking on the large rectangular buttons, a dropdown menu will appear representing the useful tasks of that option selected. Furthermore, a side options menu will appear to the right listing even more options to advance your data recovery.

I enjoyed how different tasks were separated from one another instead of all being under one menu. If I happened to lose just one photo, I would not want the program to scan my entire drive for old and unwanted deleted Word document.

Underneath the “Recovery from Image” tab, users will find a blank menu unless an image was created from the “Advanced Option” tab. There even more helpful tools appear for you to use as you please. Creating an image is a great precaution if your operating software happens to crash, clone drive is outstanding for a complete backup, and the drive status lets you know if your current hard drive is in the red zone. More on this below.

All-in-all, the user interface is well layered and is certainly easy to use. Although, as I mentioned a new redesign is in favor if they want to maintain a market control over the many other data recovery programs available.



Functionality

Beginning with the drive recovery section, users will have many different options for a file recovery. Supporting NTFS, FAT, and ExFAT drives, users should not have any issues with the program blocking hard drives. Stellar labels this software as a “partition recovery software”, therefore, it can recover entire partitions right? By selecting the search for lost volumes text, users are brought to a scanning menu at which can they watch the ongoing process. Once finished, a list of entire missing partitions. When taken through the process of saving deleted files, the program can perform a quick search for files then show them on an easy to read and navigate list. Select the file and press “Ok” and the file is returned to a working state, however, some files may experience some corruption.

Next, we have the CD/DVD recovery. This is a feature that I have never seen before on a data recovery program, and something that is quite important! By producing a scan on a CD, the program can read rewritten disks and attempt to save deleted data. As I did not have a CD with large amount of data deleted on it, claims state that it can be a hit or miss depending on how many times the CD has been written too. The software can read CDs, DVDs, HD DVDs, and even Blu-ray disks.

Being one of my favorite functions of the program, photo recovery can be a life saver if you happen to delete that one important photo. Similar to the CD recovery, the program scans for certain photo types like .PNG, .JPG, .GIF, and others. Then a list appears of all files that are found. Again this can be spotty as most images can always be recovered, but there may be a color shift or missing chunks of the photo. This is not the software’s fault, but rather the hard drive already using that space for new storage.

Lastly, on the last sub menu you’ll find the email recovery. By only supporting Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, the software covers the two major email clients, but many users have emails in Thunderbird and other programs that they may need emails recovered from. It would be nice to see new programs to the list be added for email recovery. Regardless, the software will scan your Outlook PST or DBX file and attempt to find old emails. What’s nice is button for Find PST… for users unaware where the email file may located.

Finally, we return to the advanced options tab. When selecting to create a new image of your hard drive, the software goes to work and complies a file of Windows files, loading files, and other important data that can crucial when attempting to recover Windows. The cloning section takes a different approach and beings working on creating an entire drive clone to a secondary drive. If something were to happen to your primary drive, the secondary drive can be booted and used in place of the primary. Then there is the drive status. With built in SMART technology, the software can provide general information about the current drive such as temperature, drive status, warnings of failure, and other SMART features.



My Final Thoughts

In the end, I believe that the Phoenix Partition Recovery software is well worth its $99 price. It’s full of useful features and provides a great way for getting those deleted files back. Once you buy it, it’s yours forever; meaning it can be installed on multiple PCs and can always be another safeguard for accidental file deletion. Besides the user interface update, Stellar did an excellent job in making a reliable, affordable, and effective data recovery program that can server you for many years to come.

Buy it Now:
 
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4
#2 · (Edited)
Re: Don’t Lose Your Important Data! – A Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery Software R

Don’t Lose Your Important Data! – A Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery Software Review

Whenever I post an article or review that deals with computer data recovery, I tend to think of the aphorism “if your data is important to you, keep it safe!"

Creating backups, using high quality computer components, and using safe internet browsing techniques are just a few ways of keeping your data safe from deletion, corruption, and/or theft. Using a secondary hard drive running in RAID 1 or just as a backup storage drive is an excellent first step towards having a reliable backup. You should also confirm that your computer is built using high quality components, as low quality units may cause data corruption. Lastly, safeguard your computer by using a recommended antivirus that will protect against any data corrupting, deleting or stealing malware.

Even though we take the time to make backups, use high quality components, and follow safe web browsing techniques, data deletion is all too common. Unfortunately, it’s an awful experience when you realise that your important files have vanished into thin air and panic sets in.

Whether the deleted file was a picture, MP3, email, or document, to lose it can be devastating.

To recover a file, we must first understand what happens to it when we delete it. When a file is deleted it isn't actually deleted from your hard drive. Insted, your system marks the file with a binary code of zero, indicating to the operating system that the space is now open real estate and can be written to. Even though the file appears to have gone and your operating system does not show the file, this does not mean it’s gone forever. Being open real estate on the hard drive, your operating system will wait until new data needs to be written, then the file structure of the old deleted file is overwritten. Many files can survive multiple rewrites before all of their contents are deleted, but they may suffer varying degrees of corruption.

The longer a file has been deleted, the harder it is to recover. Whereas a file that was recently deleted can typically be returned to original condition with little or no corruption.

Do a quick Google search for the term “data recovery program”, and the search giant will provide you with over 13 million websites containing many different recovery programs, some of which are free and some that require payment.

Free data recovery programs that actually work are hard to come by. Although there are some free programs that do work, their recovery process is designed for users who just recently lost a file and need a quick recovery. Some of these free recovery programs, however, lack the ability to recover photos or emails.

Even though there are some reputable free data recovery programs that do a decent job, a paid recovery program can certainly do better as more research and development is incorporated into the product. Being a person who has used a large collection of both free and paid data recovery programs, I have come to understand the methods of what makes a good data recovery program.

Welcome to my review of the Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery Software. Throughout this review I will be covering the following topics: The Installation, User Interface, Functionality, and My Overall Thoughts. I would like to thank Stellar for providing this software for the following review.



The Installation

The installation begins by visiting Stellar’s website here to download the trial edition of the software. Within a matter of minutes (depending on your internet speeds) the executable file will finish downloading and the installation process will begin.

After reading and accepting the terms and conditions, the installation process will require you to click the Next button a few times. Finally, the installation will finish with a thank you message and the software will launch.

As I mentioned above, you are downloading a trial edition of the recovery software. Take your time to evaluate the software, as to actually recover a file it will require you to pay the activation price. As you’re about to read, the program is filled with many useful features and is certainly a program that has the potential to help recover those missing files.

Once you’ve deemed the recovery software acceptable, make your way back to Stellar’s website to purchase your activation key. When the company provides the key, simply open the options tab near the top right, enter the activation key, and you’re all set!



User Interface

At first sight, I was not that impressed with the user interface of the recovery software. To me it felt outdated with the large buttons containing different sub menus. It would be nice to see a new user interface introduced to the software; something more intuitive and pleasing to the eye, rather than a lot of green and tan menus.

Moving on, the user interface is extremely easy to use and navigate through. At the top, users will find the three menus representing three different categories of the recovery software. The data recovery tab is where you will spend most of your time. Take a look at the first image and you will see that users will have the ability to perform a drive, CD, photo, and/or email recovery.

By clicking on the large rectangular buttons, a dropdown menu will appear representing the useful tasks of that option selected. Furthermore, a side options menu will appear to the right, listing even more options to advance your data recovery.

I enjoyed how different tasks were separated from one another instead of all being under one menu. If I happened to lose just one photo, I would not want the program to scan my entire drive for old and unwanted deleted Word document(s).

Underneath the Recovery from Image tab, users will find a blank menu unless a drive image was created from the Advanced Option tab. There, even more helpful tools appear for you to use as you need. Creating a drive image is a great precaution in case your operating software happens to crash. Clone drive is outstanding for a complete backup, and the drive status lets you know if your current hard drive is in the red zone. More on this below.

All-in-all, the user interface is well layered and is certainly easy to use, although, as I mentioned before, I think a redesign is needed if they want to maintain a market control over the many other data recovery programs available.



Functionality

Beginning with the drive recovery section, users will have many different options for file recovery. Supporting NTFS, FAT, and ExFAT drives, users should not have any issues with the program blocking hard drives. Stellar labels this software as “partition recovery software”, therefore it can recover entire partitions, right? By selecting the search for lost volumes text, users are brought to a scanning menu within which they can watch the ongoing process. Once finished, a list of entire missing partitions will be shown in a recovery menu. When taken through the process of saving deleted files, the program can perform a quick search for files then show them on an easy to read and navigate list. Select the file and press OK and the file is returned to a working state. However, some files may experience some corruption.

Next, we have the CD/DVD recovery. This is a feature that I have never seen before on a data recovery program, and something that is quite important! By producing a scan of a CD, the program can read rewritten disks and attempt to save deleted data. Although I did not have a CD with a large amount of data deleted on it, claims state that it can be hit or miss depending on how many times the CD has been written to. The software can read CDs, DVDs, HD DVDs, and even Blu-ray disks.

One of my favorite functions of the program, photo recovery can be a life saver if you happen to delete that one important photo. Similar to the CD recovery, the program scans for certain photo types like .PNG, .JPG, .GIF, and others. Then a list appears of all photos that are found. These can be spotty, as although most photos can be recovered, there may be a color shift or missing chunks of the photo. This is not the software’s fault, but rather the hard drive already using that space for new storage.

Finally, on the last sub menu you’ll find the email recovery feature. By supporting Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, the software covers the two major email clients, but many users have emails in Thunderbirdand other programs that they may need emails recovered from. It would be nice to see these other email programs added to the list for email recovery. Regardless, the software will scan your Outlook PST or DBX file and attempt to find old emails. What’s nice is the button for Find PST… for users unaware of where the email file may be located.


Finally, we return to the Advanced Options tab. When selecting creation of a new image of your hard drive, the software goes to work and compiles a list of Windows files, loading files, and other important data that can be crucial when attempting to recover Windows. The cloning section takes a different approach and and creates an entire drive clone to a secondary drive. If something were to happen to your primary drive, the secondary drive can be booted from and used in place of the primary. Then there is the drive status. With built in SMART technology, the software can provide general information about the current drive such as temperature, drive status, warnings of failure, and other SMART features.



My Final Thoughts

In the end, I believe that the Phoenix Partition Recovery software is well worth its $99 price. It’s full of useful features and provides a great way for getting those deleted files back. Once you buy it, it’s yours forever; meaning it can be installed on multiple PCs and can always be another safeguard for accidental file deletion. Apart from my suggestion for the user interface update, Stellar did an excellent job in making a reliable, affordable, and effective data recovery program that can serve you for many years to come.

Buy it Now:

© 2014 techsupportforum.com


 
This post has been deleted
This post has been deleted
#12 ·
Sorry, I've been away for a few days. I'll go through it now.
Personally, I don't like review articles to be in open forum as the owner can see the various comments that we make, that I think should be private. This is also why Rayda prefers her articles to be in the Editors' Room. As far as the problem of not getting input from other members if the article is in the Editors' Room, we have the same problem in open forum. When I want a specialist to look over an article I PM them giving them the link to the article.
 
#13 ·
No worries. Please post back when your finished.

I agree. We don't get much input from the open forum and anybody can see the edits. Maybe we do change the entire articles area to 500+ posts. That would stop everybody from seeing things. Unless they have been here for a while.

That way at 500+ Google, Bing, etc. won't see the post and yet people who wish to see the article and suggest comments can!
 
#15 · (Edited)
I don't believe it. It's just done the same thing and this time it was when I went to save changes before taking a break. Fortunately, I was able to use the back button and go back to my edited version, which I was able to copy and paste in when I relogged in. Even disregarding this problem, if the rest of the article takes as long to edit as what I've already done, it's going to be a slow job.
 
#19 ·
Okay, changes made. Anything I changed after both of you is still in red. Also I replied to comments.

Please let me know when you both are happy.

Also, please let me know if there is anything that you guys see from me that I always seem to mess up on. I know there have been things that John has always changed that I've now started to fix, but knowing any other things that I always make mistakes on will help me do better for next time. :flowers:
 
#22 · (Edited by Moderator)
Sounds good. Dave, here is an entire copy of the edited version before I take out the edits and comments:

Don’t Lose Your Important Data! – A Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery Software Review

Whenever I post an article or review that deals with computer data recovery, I tend to think old adageof the aphorism Good word John, but I think most readers would be reaching for Google, as I did. “if your data is important to you, keep it safe!"

Creating backups, using high quality computer components, and using safe internet browsing techniques are just a few ways of keeping your data safe from deletion, corruption, and/or theft. Using a secondary hard drive running in RAID 1 or just as a backup storage drive is an excellent premeasureI don't think there's such a word as premeasure. MS Word would disagree with you then. :hide: MS Word would also be disagreeing with the Oxford English dictionary, Webster's and Merriam-Webster. first step towards having a reliable backup. You should also confirm that your computer is built using high quality components, as low quality units may cause data corruption. Lastly, safeguard your computer by using a recommended antivirus that will protect against any data corrupting, deleting or stealing malware.

Even though we take the time to make backups, use high quality components, and follow safe web browsing techniques, data deletion is all too common. Unfortunately, it’s an awful experience when you realise that your important files have vanished into thin air and panic sets in.

Whether the deleted file was a picture, MP3, email, or document, to lose it can be devastating.

To recover a file, we must first understand what happens to it when we delete it. When a file is deleted it isn't actually deleted from your hard drive. Insted, your system marks the file with a binary code of zero, indicating to the operating system that the space is now open real estate and can be written to. Even though the file appears to have gone and your operating system does not show the file, this does not mean it’s gone forever. Being open real estate on the hard drive, your operating system will wait until new data needs to be written, then the file structure of the old deleted file is overwritten. Many files can survive multiple rewrites before all of their contents are deleted, but they may suffer varying degrees of corruption.

The longer a file has been deleted, the harder it is to recover. Whereas a file that was recently deleted can typically be returned to original condition with little or no corruption.

Do a quick Google search for the term “data recovery program”, and the search giant will provide you with over 13 million websites containing many different recovery programs, some of which are free and some that require payment.

Free data recovery programs that actually work are hard to come by. Although there are some free programs that do work, their recovery process is designed for users who just recently lost a file and need a quick recovery. Some of these free recovery programs, however, lack the ability to recover photos or emails.

Even though there are some reputable free data recovery programs that do a decent job, a paid recovery program can certainly do better as more research and development is incorporated into the product. Being a person who has used a large collection of both free and paid data recovery programs, I have come to understand the methods of what makes a good data recovery program. You should take more care before you press the Delete button then. :grin: Rather the person I am getting the file back for should be more careful. :grin::whistling:Fair comment.

Welcome to my review of the Stellar Phoenix Partition Recovery Software. Throughout this review I will be covering the following topics: The Installation, User Interface, Functionality, and My Overall Thoughts. I would like to thank Stellar for providing this software for the following review.



The Installation

The installation begins by visiting Stellar’s website here to download the trial edition of the software. Within a matter of minutes (depending on your internet speeds) the executable file will finish downloading and the installation process will begin.

After reading and accepting the terms and conditions, the installation process will require you to click the Next button a few times. Finally, the installation will finish with a thank you message and the software will launch.

As I mentioned above, you are downloading a trial edition of the recovery software. Take your time to evaluate the software, as to actually recover a file it will require you to pay the activation price. As you’re about to read, the program is filled with many useful features and is certainly a program that has the potential to help recover those missing files.

Once you’ve deemed the recovery software acceptable, make your way back to Stellar’s website to purchase your activation key. When the company provides the key, simply open the options tab near the top right, enter the activation key, and you’re all set!



User Interface

At first sight, I was not that impressed with the user interface of the recovery software. To me it felt outdated with the large buttons containing different sub menus. It would be nice to see a new user interface introduced to the software; something more intuitive and pleasing to the eye, rather than a lot of green and tan menus.

Moving on, the user interface is extremely easy to use and navigate through. At the top, users will find the three menus representing three different categories of the recovery software. The data recovery tab is where you will spend most of your time. Take a look at the first image and you will see that users will have the ability to perform a drive, CD, photo, and/or email recovery.As shown in picture 1,The pictures aren't numbered. How's that? That's OK.users have the ability to perform a drive, CD, photo, and/or email recovery.

By clicking on the large rectangular buttons, a dropdown menu will appear representing the useful tasks of that option selected. Furthermore, a side options menu will appear to the right, listing even more options to advance your data recovery.

I enjoyed how different tasks were separated from one another instead of all being under one menu. If I happened to lose just one photo, I would not want the program to scan my entire drive for old and unwanted deleted Word document(s).

Underneath the Recovery from Image tab, users will find a blank menu unless an drive image was created from the Advanced Option tab. There, even more helpful tools appear for you to use as you need. Creating a drive image is a great precaution in case your operating software happens to crash. Clone drive is outstanding for a complete backup, and the drive status lets you know if your current hard drive is in the red zone. More on this below.

All-in-all, the user interface is well layered and is certainly easy to use, although, as I mentioned before, I think a redesign is needed if they want to maintain a market control over the many other data recovery programs available.



Functionality

Beginning with the drive recovery section, users will have many different options for file recovery. Supporting NTFS, FAT, and ExFAT drives, users should not have any issues with the program blocking hard drives. Stellar labels this software as “partition recovery software”, therefore it can recover entire partitions, right? By selecting the search for lost volumes text, users are brought to a scanning menu within which they can watch the ongoing process. Once finished, a list of entire missing partitions will be shown in a recovery menu. < This sentence seems incomplete. Should it end with 'will appear'? Seems that way to me. Fixed! When taken through the process of saving deleted files, the program can perform a quick search for files then show them on an easy to read and navigate list. Select the file and press OK and the file is returned to a working state. However, some files may experience some corruption.

Next, we have the CD/DVD recovery. This is a feature that I have never seen before on a data recovery program, and something that is quite important! By producing a scan of a CD, the program can read rewritten disks and attempt to save deleted data. Although I did not have a CD with a large amount of data deleted on it, claims state that it can be hit or miss depending on how many times the CD has been written to. The software can read CDs, DVDs, HD DVDs, and even Blu-ray disks.

One of my favorite functions of the program, photo recovery can be a life saver if you happen to delete that one important photo. The 'Being' makes it sound as though the fact that it's one of your favourites makes it a lifesaver. Sorry, but can you explain this more? How does that represent meaning its my only favorite feature? I didn't say it meant it's your only favourite feature. The fact that it's one of your favourites doesn't make it a lifesaver, it's the function of the feature that makes it a lifesaver. Once you put 'Being'before the sentence you change the meaning to imply that it's the fact that it's one of your favourites that makes it a lifesaver rather than its functionality.Similar to the CD recovery, the program scans for certain photo types like .PNG, .JPG, .GIF, and others. Then a list appears of all filesphotos that are found. Again thisThese can be spotty, as although most imagesphotos can always be recovered, but there may be a color shift or missing chunks of the photo. This is not the software’s fault, but rather the hard drive already using that space for new storage.

LastlyFinally, on the last sub menu you’ll find the email recovery feature. By supporting Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, the software covers the two major email clients, but many users have emails in Thunderbirdand other programs that they may need emails recovered from. It would be nice to see newthese other email programs added to the list for email recovery. Regardless, the software will scan your Outlook PST or DBX file and attempt to find old emails. What’s nice is the button for Find PST… for users unaware of where the email file may be located.


Finally, we return to the Advanced Options tab. When selecting to create creation of a new image of your hard drive, the software goes to work and compiles a list of Windows files, loading files, and other important data that can be crucial when attempting to recover Windows. The cloning section takes a different approach and and creates an entire drive clone to a secondary drive. If something were to happen to your primary drive, the secondary drive can be booted from and used in place of the primary. Then there is the drive status. With built in SMART technology, the software can provide general information about the current drive such as temperature, drive status, warnings of failure, and other SMART features.



My Final Thoughts

In the end, I believe that the Phoenix Partition Recovery software is well worth its $99 price. It’s full of useful features and provides a great way for getting those deleted files back. Once you buy it, it’s yours forever; meaning it can be installed on multiple PCs and can always be another safeguard for accidental file deletion. Apart from my suggestion for the user interface update, Stellar did an excellent job in making a reliable, affordable, and effective data recovery program that can serve you for many years to come.

Buy it Now:

© 2014 techsupportforum.com


 
#24 ·
Nice work Chief. :thumb:

I have only made one more comment right at the beginning and its addressed at John. I suppose just because I never encountered the word doesn't necessarily mean that its uncommon.

On the other hand, perhaps the statement doesn't qualify as an "old adage". :smile:
 
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