Consider this scenario: you worked hard to organize all your most important files. You got yourself a reliable hard drive. You created partitions. You properly stored all your critical data in the correct folders and subfolders. Then, after a while, you connect your hard drive to your PC to access a partition; lo and behold, it's missing.
Maybe just some of the files you kept there are gone. Perhaps the entire partition suddenly vanished. What would you do?
Some people would use Partition Find and Mount, specialized software for deleted or lost partition recovery. However, is Partition Find and Mount good enough, or are there better alternatives? Let's find out.
In this article
Partition Find and Mount Overview
The Partition Find and Mount software has been on the market since 2007, distinguishing itself as a fast, efficient solution for recovering lost partitions. It can scan your drive in a fraction of a second, quickly uncovering any accidentally deleted or missing data from your partitions.
Its latest version, Partition Find and Mount 2.31, is reliable, effective, and user-friendly. Unfortunately, it's only available for the Microsoft Windows operating system, but even there, support is somewhat limited. At the moment, support is only available for:
- Windows 2000
- Windows 2003
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7
If you have Windows 8, 10, or 11, macOS, Linux, or another OS, you might need to look for a different partition recovery software.
Despite its limitations regarding the supported operating systems, Partition Find and Mount still has thousands of loyal users. That's mainly due to its ease of use and streamlined features. Its most notable capabilities include:
- Three partition search modes – fast intellectual scan, normal scan, and thorough scan
- Support for non-standard disk layout – support for UEFI and other disk partition layouts
- Support for all NTFS and FAT versions – compatibility with multiple file systems, including FAT12/16/32, NTFS, and Ext2FS/Ext3FS
- Image creation and mounting – making mirror copies of entire drives and mounting partitions
What truly sets Partition Find and Mount apart from similar solutions is that it works even when your Boot Records, including the Master Boot Record (MBR), are missing, corrupted, or overwritten.
Scanning Options in Partition Find and Mount
As mentioned, among the top features of Partition Find and Mount are the three partition search modes – fast intellectual scan, normal scan, and thorough scan.
The fast intellectual scan is suitable for repartitioned hard drives or drives with a damaged Master Boot Record. The process starts with a search for valid partitions. As soon as it finds out, it continues from the end of that partition. In short, this approach enables the scan to find as many partitions as possible as quickly as possible.
This scan shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes on average.
The normal scan is more detailed and ideal for partitions you've created with standard partitioning tools like Windows Disk Management. The process involves checking every area of the disk where common tools tend to place the beginning of a partition.
Unfortunately, while the normal scan delivers excellent results for partitions you've created with standard partitioning tools, it might be unable to find any partitions you've made using non-standard tools.
On average, the normal scan takes up to five minutes to complete.
Finally, there's a thorough scan. As the name implies, it's the most comprehensive scan type in Partition Find and Mount. It goes over every last section of your drive, looking for missing partitions. It works with partitions you've created using standard and non-standard partitioning tools, but the process is lengthy.
The thorough scan can easily last for hours, and it's in your best interest not to interrupt it until it's complete. While there's no inherent risk to your data if you interrupt the scan, you'd have to start it from the beginning and waste more time on it than necessary.
Partition Find and Mount Mounting Capabilities
Regardless of your chosen scan mode, you'll hopefully have uncovered your deleted or missing partition once the scan is complete. Now, it's time to mount it. The Partition Find and Mount software makes mounting seamless, so you can go through with it even if you're a computer novice.
All the already mounted partitions will have a visible drive letter. On the other hand, the label for unmounted partitions will read Not mounted, like in the example below.
You only need to select an unmounted partition and go to Mount As. You'll have to assign a drive letter to the partition, ensuring it isn't the same as any currently mounted partition you may have. Once it has a drive letter, the partition is easily accessible through File Explorer.
However, remember that you won't be able to overwrite or modify the mounted partition in any way. The Partition Find and Mount software keeps your data safe by preventing you or your system from accidentally overwriting it, so your partition will be read-only.
Of course, you can always copy the data from it, save the partition's binary image, or even create a full disk image and modify it as you please.
Creating and Using Disk Images in Partition Find and Mount
Once you find and mount your lost partition, the Partition Find and Mount software enables you to save it as a binary image in a single click.
Depending on your needs and preferences, you can save a partition image or create a whole disk image. In any case, you can later use these images to scan and mount them just like you would any hard drive.
If you want to create an image, simply select the specific drive or partition and navigate to Create Image in the upper right corner, like in the image below.
Later, if you want to scan the image you've created, you only need to select the mounted image and navigate to Open Image in the upper right corner.
User Ratings & Comments
The Partition Find and Mount software generally enjoys positive user satisfaction levels. Here's a glimpse into what users say about it.
As far as the specific ratings are concerned, Partition Find and Mount is performing nicely. It's rated 5/5 on CNET, 4/5 on Update Star, 3.7/5 on soft112, and 3.8/5 on Softpedia.
The overall sentiment is that most users are pleased that Partition Find and Mount is free and easy to use. However, most complain about the fact that the thorough scan is excruciatingly slow, especially with larger drives.
Pros & Cons of Partition Find and Mount
Though it's a reliable solution, the Partition Find and Mount software has unique advantages and disadvantages to consider before using it.
Best Alternative – Wondershare Recoverit
If you need a more powerful partition recovery solution with a faster scan than what Partition Find and Mount can offer, or if you need a tool for your Mac , Linux, or newer Windows device, your best alternative will be Wondershare Recoverit. Lauded for its speed and reliability, it works in almost all data loss scenarios and boasts exceptional success rates.
Its most notable features include:
- Crashed computer recovery – Wondershare Recoverit can retrieve data from crashed computers with the utmost ease;
- Support for all external devices – recover data from lost partitions, hard drives, USB flash drives, NAS devices, and other storage media;
- Enhanced recovery – restore lost photos and videos from partitions;
- Support for all file systems and formats – Wondershare Recoverit works with all file systems, including NFTS, FAT, HFS+, and APFS, and thousands of file types, like photos, videos, PDFs, audio files, etc.
You can try all these features for free, but if you want to take full advantage of everything Wondershare Recoverit offers, you'll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Advantages of Wondershare Recoverit Over Partition Find and Mount
| Partition recovery software | Partition Find and Mount | Wondershare Recoverit |
| Supported OS | Windows 2000
Windows 2003 Windows XP Windows Vista Windows 7 | Windows XP Windows Vista Windows 7 Windows 8 Windows 8.1 Windows 10 Windows 11 Linux OS macOS 10.15 (Catalina) macOS 10.14 (Mojave) macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) macOS 10.12 (Sierra) Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Mac OS X 11 (Big Sur) Mac OS X 12 (Monterey) |
| Supported file systems | FAT NTFS Ext2FS/Ext3FS | FAT NTFS HFS HFS+ APFS Encrypted APFS Raw |
| Supported file types | Almost all file types | Almost all file types |
| Supported storage devices | Hard drives External hard disks | Hard drives PC/Mac USB flash drives SSDs External hard disks Pen drives Cameras Drones Dash cams Camcorders Video/music players Others |
| Crashed computer recovery | ❌ | ✅ |
| BitLocker-encrypted drive recovery | ❌ | ✅ |
| Corrupted photo/video repair | ❌ | ✅ |
| Quick and Deep scans | ✅ | ✅ |
| File preview | ❌ | ✅ |
How to Recover a Partition With Wondershare Recoverit
Follow these steps to use Wondershare Recoverit for partition recovery:
- Download and launch Wondershare Recoverit on your PC.
- Choose the drive with your lost partition under Hard Drives and Locations.
- An all-around scan will start. Filter the results by file type, size, time, status, or tag. Pause or stop the process anytime and continue where you left off without losing progress.
- Preview and select the files you want and click Recover.
- Choose a file path, ensuring you don't save the items in the original location, and click Recover.
One of the best advantages of Wondershare Recoverit is that you can stop and save your scans if you're short on time. Unlike with other partition recovery solutions, you can continue scanning without losing progress and wasting time by starting from scratch.
Conclusion
Although Partition Find and Mount can be an effective solution for partition data recovery, there are far better alternatives. Wondershare Recoverit supports a broader selection of operating systems, works with almost all file systems and formats, and offers advanced features and high success rates. If you want to ensure that you get your data back without issues, Wondershare Recoverit is the way to go.
FAQ
Is Partition Find and Mount free?
Yes, Partition Find and Mount is free for personal use.What is the use of Partition Find and Mount?
The Partition Find and Mount software helps find any partition on your hard drive that you accidentally deleted or lost due to a software crash, malware, or other issues.Can I use Partition Find and Mount on a Mac?
No, you cannot use Partition Find and Mount on a Mac. The software is only available for Windows 2000 through 7.
