When to use portable instead of the installer
If the drive with your missing file is your computer's main system drive (C:), installing anything to it — even a small utility — writes new data that could overwrite the very sectors holding your deleted file. Running the portable build from a USB stick avoids that risk completely.
Setting it up
- Download the portable ZIP using the button below
- Extract it onto a USB stick or a drive other than the one you plan to scan
- Double-click the .exe inside the extracted folder — no installation wizard runs
- Select your target drive from the location list and start scanning as normal
What's different from the installed version
Functionally, nothing — quick scan, deep scan, previews and restore all work identically. The only differences are that portable mode doesn't create Start Menu shortcuts or registry entries, and settings reset each time you move it to a new machine.
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
Quick scan usually doesn't. Deep scan reads raw disk sectors and will prompt for admin rights even in portable mode.
No — running and writing recovered files to the same stick you're scanning risks overwriting unrecovered data. Use a second USB drive or your PC's hard drive for the portable app and for restored files.