Quick versus Long Search

You should try the Quick Search first, which usually takes only a few minutes. If the Quick Search is not successful then you must use the Long Search, which scans every sector of the disk and may take several minutes to a few hours, depending on the size, speed and condition of the subject drive and the processor speed of the computer.

The Quick Search in many cases can produce cleaner results than the Long Search. The latter can find more files but may also include defunct files of no interest which you later may have to sift through and remove. See "Search section" in Chapter 9 for more information.

The following cases are better handled with the Quick Search:

• Files have been accidentally deleted but the drive is otherwise intact.
• The drive is corrupt. (It may work better to select to search the disk number instead of the drive letter.)
• Files have been accidentally removed from the Recycle Bin.
• You are reconstructing a RAID or spanned volume.