MiniTool Power Data Recovery Boot Disk 6.5.0

Overview

MiniTool Power Data Recovery Boot Disk is a recovery disk that can be booted to when Windows itself will not boot up successfully. Either a CD/DVD or a USB flash drive can be used as the booting option.

The software can help to recover files from the recycle bin. Partitions that are missing, lost or corrupt can often be fixed sufficiently to gain access to them which can help in making a PC bootable again. There is also the option to selectively copy files from the hard drive to a secondary location for situations where the Windows OS is no longer bootable.

Installation

The installation requires 73.4 MB of available space to complete the setup.

There was no adware, toolbars, malware or spyware included with the setup package.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery Boot Disk requires Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 2003, or 7.

Interface

The interface for the MiniTool Power Data Recovery Boot Disk – Bootable Media Builder (to use its full name) loads up once the software has scanned the system for any USB flash drives already inserted and the presence of either an internal or external optical drive.

The screen that appears then offers the option to “help you build a bootable media.”

The first option is the “Build Boot CD / DVD disc” which provides a drop down list to any available optical drives. If there is specialist software already installed to burn a disc then this may also be offered; in testing, a second option for “ISO Image Recorder” was displayed as well.

The second option is for “Built Boot Flash drive” which refers to whether the aforementioned USB flash drive is inserted. If so, this option will light up with a drop down list to whichever USB flash drives are slotted into the PC.

In either case, if no optical drive or USB flash drive is not detected then this option is grayed out and not available.

When booting from the created Boot Disk at PC restart or cold boot, there is a menu system for Undelete Recovery, Damaged Partition Recovery, Lost Partition Recovery and Digital Media Recovery options.

The Undelete Recovery can recover deleted files, the Damaged or Lost Partition Recovery can help where disk partitions have been lost, corrupted or deleted, and the Digital Media Recovery attempts to recover files directly from the hard drive(s) to save them elsewhere.

Pros

• Alternative Windows boot disk
• Can recover deleted files
• Can recover deleted, corrupted or lost disk partitions which can sometimes help resolve a non-booting Windows system
• Can recover files from a non-booting system
• Works with CD, DVD or USB flash drive

Cons

• Does not necessary recover Windows back to full operation.
• No suggestion yet that the software will work correctly with Windows 8/8.1

Alternatives

The AOMEI OneKey Recovery software provides a factory reset option to recover a computer from disc image. It is often pre-installed in a white label version with Lenovo laptops and desktop computers.

Conclusion

MiniTool Power Data Recovery Boot Disk is a helpful boot disk option to deal with recovering recycle bin files, fixing a lost or corrupted disk partition or copying existing files on a system that is not booting up.