Run as administrator
Deep scan needs raw disk access, which a standard Windows user account can silently restrict. Right-click the application and choose "Run as administrator" before starting the scan — this resolves the majority of scans that appear to hang at 0%.
Scan stalls at the same percentage every time
If the scan consistently freezes at one point, that section of the drive may contain a failing or unreadable sector. Try scanning a different partition or a smaller folder to confirm — if only one area causes the stall, the drive itself, not the software, is the likely cause.
Other programs competing for disk access
- Pause backup software or cloud-sync tools (OneDrive, Dropbox) during the scan
- Temporarily close antivirus real-time scanning if it re-scans every file the tool touches
- Avoid running two deep scans on the same physical drive at once
Downloading & running RecuvaDownload
1. Install or extract it
Use the Windows or macOS button on this page. For the installer, run it with administrator rights; for the portable ZIP, extract it to a drive you're not scanning.
2. Scan, preview, restore
Pick the drive or device, run quick scan first, switch to deep scan if needed, then restore selected files to a different drive than the one you scanned.
FAQs
It depends heavily on drive size and speed — anywhere from 20 minutes for a small USB stick to several hours for a large, slow hard drive.
Yes — canceling doesn't affect the drive itself, though you'll only see results found up to that point.