Latest News

After about twenty years, I felt ZAR can no longer be updated to match the modern requirements, and I decided to retire it.

ZAR is replaced by Klennet Recovery, my new general-purpose DIY data recovery software.

If you are looking specifically for recovery of image files (like JPEG, CR2, and NEF), take a look at Klennet Carver, a separate video and photo recovery software.

ZAR Data Recovery version X is released.

• More adapted to recover data from large data storage devices due to improved algorithms of quick scan mode.
• Improved RAID recovery algorithms.
• More user-friendly interface in the folder/file tree representation.

ZAR Data Recovery version 9.1 is released.

• XFS filesystem support.
• Improved processing of RAID 10 array for faster speeds and less memory usage.
• Improved disk image creation process for faster speeds.
• Improved directory tree reconstruction on NTFS filesystem.

ZAR Data Recovery version 9.0 is released.

• User interface reworked for more simplicity.
• RAID recovery module reworked for faster and more stable RAID recoveries.
• Linux ext series filesystem handling reworked. Now, all the variations and features up to ext4 are fully supported. This includes indexed directories and extents.
• Improved processing of duplicate files on NTFS filesystem to reduce clutter.

ZAR Data Recovery version 9.0 is released.

• User interface reworked for more simplicity.
• RAID recovery module reworked for faster and more stable RAID recoveries.
• Linux ext series filesystem handling reworked. Now, all the variations and features up to ext4 are fully supported. This includes indexed directories and extents.
• Improved processing of duplicate files on NTFS filesystem to reduce clutter.

ZAR Data Recovery version 8.5 is released.

• Added: GPT partition table support.
• Added: ext series filesystem support, including ext4 extents.

Zmeil version 2.1 is released.

• Added: Automatic source mode
• Added: HTML and Plain text viewing mode of the recovered messages

• Fixed: Deleted messages may not be visible in Thunderbird after recovery.
• Improved: Outlook (.pst) recovery performance
• Fixed: minor cosmetic improvements

Zmeil 2.0 is released.

• Added: Export recovered messages to MS Outlook (for .pst source file only).
• Added: Message list preview before recovery.

• Faster .DBX (Outlook Express) recovery.
• Fixed minor Generic recovery mode bugs.

Zero Assumption Disk Space Visualizer 1.1 is released.

•  Fixed handle leak.
•  Minor cosmetic improvements.

ZAR version 8.3 is released, featuring the increased speed of NTFS analysis.

Zmeil version 1.2 is released, featuring MS Outlook PST file recovery. Both 32-bit (Outlook 97-2002) and 64-bit (Outlook 2003 and higher) variations of the PST format are supported.

ZAR version 8.2 is released after some minor adjustments to ensure full compatibility with Windows Vista.

ZAR version 8.1 is released, notable changes include reworked disk access library. This should provide a significant scan speed increase on a physically damaged drives. Associated with this change is a little "facelift" so that one can now change disk I/O settings "on the fly".

We have just published the initial public release of Zlon, the disk cloning and imaging utility. Download trial version now.

Zero Assumption Software announced the initial release of Zmeil, a wizard for recovering email messages from Outlook Express, Thunderbird, The Bat!, and Eudora mail bases. Zmeil runs on Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. Donwload trial version now.

Major changes include

• The disk viewer to aid in raw on-disk data analysis.
• Save function has been reworked for better compatibility.
• Implemented an option to setup the RAID parameters manually.

Major feature highlights include

• Automatic hardware RAID0 and RAID5 reconstruction
• Experimental ext2 (Linux filesystem) recovery

A beta preview of ZAR 8 series is now available for download.

A new version, ZAR 8, is currently under development. Still there is no specific deadline set, but generally we expect it released in about six months. Some (beta) previews might be published earlier than that, but, again, no concrete timeline so far.

Major changes will include the following items:

• DOS version will be discontinued. Support will still be provided for our existing customers, but ZAR/DOS will not be available for purchase once ZAR 8 is released.
• The core is under complete redesign. The goal of this is to allow for easier inclusion of additional filesystems, including the upcoming WinFs filesystem.
• As a side effect of the above, Windows 9x (98 and ME) support might also be discontinued. FAT filesystems will be supported, but the host machine requirements might include Windows 2000/XP or later.
• Zero Assumption Digital Image Recovery will be integrated into ZAR and discontinued as the separate product.

That said, we expect initial version 8 release to contain these major features:

• FAT16/32 and NTFS (with compressed files) recovery.
• Image recovery functions similar to that of Zero Assumption Digital Image Recovery (image recovery part will remain free as far as pricing is concerned).
• Full Windows 2000 Dynamic Disks (LDM) support, including mirrored, spanned, striped and RAID5 volumes.

Fixed bug: ZAR32 may encounter an endless loop after analysis stage 4 is finished (FAT16/32 filesystems only).

Version 1.2 introduces the following improvements

• Fixed some bugs with JPEG recovery.
• Added support for .MOV QuickTime movie format
• Added support for .CRW Canon Raw image format
• Hard disks can be analyzed with this version, no more media type restriction.
• Some cosmetic improvements and bugfixes.

Fixed multiple minor bugs in NTFS analysis.

Added multilanguage support (Interface only; language files currently available are English; French; Russian; Spanish).

• Interface adjusted a bit for better look.
• Fixed bug: MFT fragmentation may cause problems with directory tree reconstruction.

Image Recovery is a simple freeware tool to recover lost digital camera photos. Download now.

Fixed several bugs, including problems with files greater than 2Gb on NTFS

Changes include

• Bugfixes
• Speed improvement
• Ability to scan for lost partitions from ZAR32

When recovering large files with ZAR32, the recovery speed may decrease significantly. This only happens when recovering FAT volumes with files larger than 100Mb in size.

This is fixed in version 7.2.0.

More information will be available later, as the site is approaching major overhaul.

FAT is now handled correctly, incl. long file names.

NTFS analysis speed improved.

Numerous bugfixes.

Currently for enthusiasts only - no help, no long names on FAT and half of the buttons not working.

First alpha release is planned for approx. 10 Apr '02.

Several bugfixes and minor interface enhancements.

ZARFAT:

1. Bug fixed: poor recovery quality in Simple Mode on FAT volumes with FATs damaged beyond recognition.
2. Improvement: Added ability to merge fragments occupying consecutive clusters on FAT volume into a single directory, thus reducing overall number of fragments.

ZARNTFS:

1. Bug fixed: Unable to find proper SS value when only part of disk image is available (thus forcing negative SS).
2. Bug fixed: Multiple NTFS-compressed files issues.

"Configuration file" functionality is added into both ZARFAT and ZARNTFS. It allows recovery run to be controlled by a predefined "task file" with little or no user action required. This option is implemented for support purposes only, and is not documented.

It contains numerous bugfixes, but does not introduce any new functionality.

Expect it to be published by 9 Dec '01. It would only contain bugfixes and fixes for some leftovers from 6.1.0. We are currently cleaning up known bugs, so it is not known (yet) what patchlevel number would be.

ZARNTFS:

1. Improvement: Added compressed file support.
2. Improvement: Added long file name support.
3. Improvement: Added Simple Mode (automatic recovery).

ZARFAT:

1. LFNINFO.DAT format changed.

ZARNTFS:

ZARNTFS is a newly released part of the toolkit. Not all features are available in this release.

ZARFAT:

1. Bug fixed: With certain BIOSes ZAR may list 128 hard disks when only one or two actually present in the system.
2. Bug fixed: "\" as a recovery target is erroneously treated as current directory.
3. Improvement: Advanced disk caching is implemented to speed up directory tree refining and file copy process.

This is a maintenance release, only documentation was updated to reflect new site address.

Evaluation version is now functionally limited.

ZARFAT:

1. Bug fixed: Runtime Error 200 at XXXX:YYYY (different addresses) when BIOS reports drive having C/H/S of 0/0/0 but valid Total Number Of Sectors.
2. Improvement: CF/SS determination algorithm improved. New one is about two orders of magnitude faster.
3. Improvement: Added ability to enter CF/SS manually if they are known beforehand.
4. Improvement: Added F1 help.

ZARBBT:

1. ZAR Boot-Based Tools (BBT) is a newly released part of the toolkit.

ZARPARTN:

1. ZAR Partition Finder is a newly released part of the toolkit.

Changes are:

1. Bug fixed: Directory LFNs are not handled correctly, leading to
   * inability to handle directory LFNs correctly
   * excessive memory usage
   * FIXLFN failures
2. Added: Multilanguage file support. Language files are currently available for English and Russian.
3. Added: Simple interface mode (automatic recovery).
4. Improvement: Memory usage reduced.
5. Added: ability to detect root directory automatically (may fail when volume is severely damaged).
6. Added: ability to save/restore scan results.
7. Bug fixed: ZAR hangs when copying files in DIRECT mode and Simulation Mode option is active.
8. Added: File selection by masks, with DOS wildcards like "*.*"

Changes are:

1. Added: Long file names for directories (may be buggy!)
2. Improvement: Root directory handling on FAT16 is improved
3. Added: File dates and times are now restored
4. Bugs fixed: Multiple minor bugs in interface
5. Added: New configuration options
6. Added: Raw image support

Changes are:

1. Bug fixed: Program hangs encountering the specifically corrupt file record (file of size > 2Gb)
2. Improvement: severely damaged FAT recognition is improved
3. Improvement: directory recognition is improved
4. Added: Several configuration options
5. Added: Long file name support (for files only. Directories with long names are renamed to their corresponding short names)

Limited version of it is implemented and currently being tested.

Limitations are:

1. Two-pass scheme: First recover short names under DOS, then boot to Windows and rename short names to LFNs.
2. LFNs for directories are not supported.

Changes are:

1. Bug fixed: Inability to locate AND create destination directory in one attempt causes an endless loop
2. Improvement: BIOS Int 13 (without Int 13 Extensions) is now supported (for drives below 8Gb)
3. Bug fixed: Interface bug with "No compatible disks found" message, which disappears too fast

Bug fixed: Failure with Int13 Extensions version other than 1.0