XRecovery 4.0 can scan for lost photos, documents, videos, audio and other files, and preview supported file types. Device access, file-system scanning, file identification and preview each have their own requirements. Finding a file in scan results does not by itself establish that the complete file can be recovered.
Devices and file systems
XRecovery can scan devices it identifies and can read at disk level, including local HDDs, SSDs, external drives, USB drives and memory cards. Use a compatible reader for SD and microSD cards. NAS and Linux remote sources require SSH access and the Windows conditions listed in system requirements.
| File system | XRecovery 4.0 support | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| NTFS, FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 and exFAT | Supported | Original names and folders depend on the file-system records that remain. FAT12 support does not guarantee every lost-partition scenario. |
| HFS+ and ReFS | Supported on readable source storage | HFS+ source support does not mean XRecovery runs natively on macOS. ReFS support does not cover every storage topology or version combination. |
| Ext4 and Btrfs | Conditional scanning support | Local file-system deep scanning is outside this scope. Complete directory reconstruction and every RAID or snapshot layout are not covered. |
| Ext2, Ext3, ZFS and APFS | Outside the current 4.0 support list | A visible device or selectable disk image does not establish support for its internal file system. |
RAW describes a volume whose file-system structure is not recognized. When the device remains readable, scanning may locate surviving files; this is not a promise to repair the file system or restore the original directory tree.
File identification and preview
XRecovery can scan for lost photos, documents, videos, audio and other files, and preview supported file types. File-system recovery and signature recognition are different: a file may be recoverable from its records without having a dedicated signature detector or previewer.
Representative signature paths include JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PDF, PSD, RTF, ZIP, RAR, MP3 and MOV. This is not an exhaustive extension list. Results depend on content, fragmentation, surviving data and scan settings; signature results may lack the original file name or path.
Preview paths include common office documents and PDF, images, audio, video and archive listings. The extension alone does not establish support for every codec, encrypted document, damaged file or camera RAW variant. Preview limits vary by format and path. A limit in one PDF preview path is not a general file-recovery limit.
- Documents: preview includes common DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX/XLSB, PPT/PPTX and WPS documents, PDF and text formats. Version, encryption, file size and damage can affect availability.
- Photos, audio and video: preview depends on the actual image format or media codec and the data that remains, rather than the extension alone.
- Archives: listing supported ZIP, RAR, GZ, WIM, 7Z or TAR contents does not mean every file inside can be previewed, and does not bypass archive encryption.
Check recovered files
Where preview is available, use it to inspect representative results. Export selected files to another device and check them in their normal applications. A thumbnail does not establish that every part of the file is intact; inability to preview also does not by itself prove that an exported file is unusable.
This reference covers XRecovery 4.0. The download page identifies the currently available release while 4.0 is being prepared.
Limits to keep in mind
- Recovery depends on the source being readable and original data still being present.
- SSD support does not reverse data cleared by TRIM or garbage collection.
- Scanning and recovery do not repair physical hardware or guarantee restoration of unreadable sectors.
- Recovery does not imply a standalone general-purpose file repair tool.
- No claim is made that every device, format, codec or damage condition is supported.
