AccessData FTK Imager 3.1

AccessData FTK Imager is a forensics tool whose main purpose is to preview recoverable data from a disk of any kind. It can also create perfect copies, called forensic images, of that data. Furthermore, it is completely free.

This powerful tool can create forensic images of local hard drives, floppy disks, Zip disks, CDs, and DVDs, entire folders, or even of individual files from various places within the media storage device. The fact that it can export files and folders from the created image means that this application can also recover data on its own (in some circumstances). Therefore, it can do more than just allow previewing that data for the sake of preparing intricate recovery procedures which usually involve other sophisticated tools. Anyway, its main purpose remains disk imaging.

Though it is a powerful tool not exactly meant for the casual users but for forensics experts or professionals working in the data recovery field, its interface is simple, intuitive and easy to operate with. In my opinion, additional features and functions like the possibility to create file hashes or mount already created disk images are other important advantages to discuss.

In an end note, even if AccessData FTK Imager looks like a professional tool created only for serious investigations and advanced forensics procedures, it’s actually suitable for a wider range of types of users and needs.