How Each Scan Reads The Drive

Quick Scan reads the drive's own index, the table the file system keeps of what is where. A deleted file is usually still in that table, marked as deleted but intact, with its name, folder and dates. That is why Quick Scan is fast and why its results look like Explorer.

Deep Scan reads every sector from the first to the last and looks for files by their contents, using the patterns each file type starts and ends with. It does not need the index at all, so it works after a format, a lost partition or a damaged file system. It also finds files the index forgot about long ago.

RAW Scan is the same method pointed at the file types you tick. The result list is shorter and quicker to make sense of.

Match The Scan To The Situation

• Deleted a file today or emptied the Recycle Bin. Quick Scan. Names and folders come back.
• The drive opens but a folder has gone missing. Quick Scan first, Deep Scan if it is not there.
• Formatted the drive by mistake. Deep Scan. The index was replaced, so Quick Scan has little to read.
• Windows says the drive needs to be formatted. Quick Scan first, then Deep Scan.
• A partition has disappeared from Disk Management. Lost Partition Recovery, which looks for the partition itself and brings its folders back together.
• A camera card with photos and videos only. a RAW Scan with Photos and Videos ticked.

What Deep Scan Data Recovery Gives Up

Deep scan data recovery finds files by contents, and names live in the index, not in the contents. So a file found this way may come back as a photo with a number rather than Diwali_2025.jpg. On NTFS drives DRE Pro often rebuilds names and folders from copies of the old records found deeper in the disk, and on FAT and exFAT cards less often. The preview and the filters by type, size and date are how you find what you need in a long list. The marks Good, Risky or Overwritten tell you which ones to trust.

Raw Recovery Explained

Older tools and forum posts call this 'raw recovery' or 'RAW scan by file type'. It is the same idea. The scan ignores the file system and reads the raw sectors for known file patterns. Do not confuse it with a RAW drive, which is what Disk Management calls a partition whose file system it cannot read, though a RAW drive is a good candidate for raw recovery. In DRE Pro the screen is called RAW Scan.

Time, And How To Manage It

A Quick Scan finishes in seconds to a few minutes. A Deep Scan or RAW Scan reads the entire drive, so the time is set by the drive's size and speed, not by how much is on it. A 4 TB external hard disk over USB can take most of a day. Every scan is a Saved Scan, so you can pause it, shut the computer down and press Resume tomorrow.

The Order That Works

Start with a Quick Scan. If the file is there, you are done in minutes. If not, run a Deep Scan on the same drive and let it finish. Reach for a RAW Scan when you only care about one kind of file or when the other two have produced a mess. Scanning and previewing are free in every case, so starting small costs a few minutes, and starting big can cost a whole night.