How Refindo Works
Scan locally, preview recoverable files, then recover selected data to a safe destination.
Written by the Refindo Recovery Team · Updated
Refindo is built around a simple recovery path: read the affected drive, show you what can be found, let you preview the important files, and write recovered files somewhere else. It does not upload your drive, repair physical hardware, or claim to recover categories it does not support. The workflow is deliberately narrow because recovery is safest when the tool writes as little as possible to the source.
What this covers
- Local scan and recovery on Windows 10/11 and macOS 12+
- Quick Scan for surviving file-system records
- Deep Scan for formatted, RAW, or damaged file-system cases
- Preview before recovery for supported file types
- Recover selected files to another drive or folder
Quick Scan vs Deep Scan
Product Screenshots
These screenshots show the actual local workflow: choose a source, scan, preview files, and recover selected results to another location.
Supported Recovery Scope
Refindo is intentionally scoped to local desktop recovery. These are the cases it is built to handle, and the cases it does not claim to solve.
Supported devices
Supported file systems
Preview and recovery support
- Photos: JPG, PNG, TIFF, WEBP, HEIC, HEIF, AVIF, DNG
- Documents: selected Word, Excel, PDF, text and common office files
- Video: common clips such as MP4, MOV, MKV, and AVI
- Other files can be recovered even when preview is not available
Not supported
- iPhone, Android, messages, contacts, or phone app data
- Cloud-only recovery from Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, or Google Photos
- Linux-only recovery workflows
- NAS, RAID, server, VMware, SQL, or enterprise database recovery
- Hardware repair for clicking, beeping, dead, or incorrectly sized drives
Free Scan, Preview, and Recovery Limits
Refindo lets you scan and preview files before paying. The free plan includes up to 500 MB of recovery. Paid plans unlock unlimited recovery: $29 monthly, $49 annually, or $99 lifetime.
Scan, preview, and recover up to 500 MB
Unlimited recovery, billed monthly
Unlimited recovery, billed yearly
One payment for lifetime access
Prices and limits use the shared site fallback values. The app still fetches environment-specific checkout product IDs before purchase.
Recovery Safety Rules
Scan before repairing, formatting, initializing, or running tools like CHKDSK and First Aid. Repair tools write to the source.
Recover to a different drive or partition. Saving results back to the source can overwrite files still waiting to be recovered.
Stop when hardware symptoms appear: clicking, grinding, repeated disconnects, wrong capacity, or I/O errors call for a lab, not repeated scans.
Recovery Workflow
- Choose the affected drive, partition, USB drive, or SD card.
- Run Quick Scan to read surviving metadata.
- Run Deep Scan if the source was formatted, turned RAW, or key files are missing.
- Filter and preview files to verify what is intact.
- Recover selected results to a different destination.
Best Practices
- Do not install or save new files to the source drive.
- Cancel format and repair prompts until after recovery.
- Preview important files before recovering a large batch.
- Stop scanning if the drive shows hardware failure symptoms.
Quick Scan reads what the file system still knows
When deletion is recent or the volume still mounts, the file system often still has enough metadata to recover names, folders, sizes, and timestamps. Quick Scan reads those records first because they give cleaner results and finish faster.
- Best for recent deletion and working volumes.
- Can preserve original names and folders.
- Fastest way to verify whether key files are still listed.
Deep Scan rebuilds files from content
When a drive was quick-formatted, became RAW, or lost its directory, Deep Scan searches the device for file signatures and rebuilds files from their content. It reaches more data, but original names and folders may be missing because the directory records are gone.
- Best for format, RAW, and damaged-metadata cases.
- Useful for photos, documents, and many media files.
- Large fragmented video can still recover incomplete, so preview matters.
What to Read Next
Start with safety if the drive is unstable
If the drive disconnects, clicks, beeps, reports the wrong capacity, or throws repeated I/O errors, read the data recovery safety page before scanning. Software works on readable media; hardware failure changes the risk.
Start with file systems if you are not sure what failed
NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and APFS fail in different ways. The supported file systems page explains which cases Refindo handles and why names and folders sometimes survive while other times only content comes back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Refindo scan locally?
Yes. Scanning, preview, and recovery run on your computer. Recovered files are saved to a local destination you choose.
What is the difference between Quick Scan and Deep Scan?
Quick Scan reads surviving file-system records and can preserve names and folders. Deep Scan reads the device by content signatures and is better after format, RAW, or metadata damage.
Can I check files before paying?
Yes. You can scan and preview recoverable files for free, and the free plan includes up to 500 MB of recovery.
Does Refindo fix hardware failures?
No. If a drive clicks, beeps, drops offline, or reports the wrong capacity, stop scanning and consider a hardware recovery lab.
Start with a free scan
Check recoverable files first, then decide whether to proceed with recovery, and save results to a separate drive.