Undelete works by replacing the standard Windows Recycle Bin with a "Recovery Bin" into which all deleted items are placed. Items stored in the Recovery Bin can be accessed and recovered at any time. In the case of Undelete Server Edition, the Recovery Bin is held on the server and accessed by users via the Desktop Client or via Undelete Professional if it is installed, both of which making searching a snap. NTFS security is maintained meaning that users can only access their own deleted files.
Additionally, Undelete automatically captures and stores copies of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents and holds these in the Recovery Bin. Should an important document be unintentionally overwritten, the original can be restored simply by right-clicking the document and selecting the version that is to be restored. The saved copies can even be previewed making it a snap for users to find the version that they need to restore.
Once it is full, the Recovery Bin automatically purges items on a first-in, first-out basis. The size of the Bin is completely configurable and it can even be set to operate dynically - holding more or less items according to the amount of available disk space - enabling it to automatically protect the maximum number of files without consuming an excessive amount of disk space. The Bin can also be set to securely delete files as they are purged using Undelete's SecureDelete option (users can also choose to use the SecureDelete option at any time in order to render data completely unrecoverable - even by Undelete).
Undelete ships with a standalone application called Emergency Undelete which enables the recovery of files that were deleted prior to the installation of Undelete. This works well but, like any such utilities, will not be able to recover the file in every case (the more disk activity there has been since the deletion, the less likely it is that the file will be recoverable). The user manual does, however, contain advice which, if followed, will help maximize the chance of recovery.
