SalvageNTFS is a set of applications and an associated library aimed at data recovery from NTFS volumes, made freely available under the terms of the GNU General Purpose License. It can "undelete" files, bypass file system permissions, and retrieve information from badly corrupted or inconsistent volumes.

Recovery from broken partitions

SalvageNTFS is capable of scanning a partition, or even a whole disk drive, for anything that looks like valid NTFS data. Normally, the location of this information is stored on the volume itself; however, if this becomes damaged, the volume can become unusable. SalvageNTFS continues to function and can (after an exhaustive search) furnish a complete list of data that can be recovered.

Additionally, most file system drivers fail less-than-gracefully when unexpected data is encountered. SalvageNTFS is able to identify damaged records, extract whatever information it can, and continue using the other portions of the volume with ease.

Recovery of deleted files

Normally, when a file is deleted, its "metadata" is marked as deleted. Both the data and metadata still exist on-disk. Undelete applications take advantage of this useful property. However, since those portions of the disk are marked as available, other data can take their place and prevent recovery.

Strangely, most undelete applications are Windows-based and require installation. However, the act of installing the undelete application modifies the volume, and may overwrite and thereby completely destroy the data that the user was trying to recover.

Why not?