Then, you can set search parameters if you know what type of file you're looking for, and its name.

Then you sit back and let PerfectFileRecovery go to work.

Depending on where you're looking and how open-ended your search may be, it can take a while. But, in my tests, the wait was worth it: PerfectFileRecovery found the majority of the files I was looking for, as well as a few I didn't even realize were missing.

Recovered files are displayed in a list, which is sorted by file types, making it easy to browse through. It labels the condition of the file for you, but I was somewhat perplexed by some of its labels: perfect audio files were labeled "moderate" but so were Excel spreadsheets that were so corrupt as to be undecipherable.

But what's nice is that PerfectFileRecovery displays a preview of the file at the bottom of the screen, so you can see at a quick glance if this is the file you're looking for and whether it's in a state worth recovering. And -- once you download an extra codec -- you can even preview audio and video files right inside PerfectFileRecovery.