Hamburg  - Computer users can generally rely on their data recovery software, the Hamburg-based magazine Computerbild concluded in a recent test of five programs. The editors recreated various files from a hard drive as well as removable media such as storage cards and sticks.

When files are deleted from the computer's recycling bin, the operating system releases the storage space for overwriting. Hence the rule of thumb - the sooner the user starts the recovery process, the greater the chances of recovering the data intact.

As the installation of data recovery programs themselves could potentially overwrite the missing data, the magazine recommends installing appropriate software beforehand. If such a program is not already installed, then one should at least be installed on a separate partition. The other option is to use a "Rescue CD," included in delivery for many data recovery programs.

Top marks went to R-Studio from Haage and Partner, available for 80 dollars. No other program in the test was able to recover as much data, whether from deleted and reformatted hard drive partitions or storage cards and USB sticks.

The Price/performance ratio winner was the Recuva, a free program. It offered "satisfactory" overall recovery performance. It ran into programs when recovering data off FAT-32 formatted partitions and USB storage sticks. The lowest rated program, PC Inspector from Convar, may cost nothing but nevertheless earned a grade of "Unacceptable." Only a small portion of the data it reproduced was actually useable. (dpa)