Disk drives you use to store your files are made up of characters that make no sense, but it's how machines understand commands given through an interface. File recovery applications can read both your input and file system formats, snooping through them in an attempt to retrieve removed files. As an alternative, DiskExplorer for NTFS lets you read the code as your computer would, with better chances of file recovery success if properly used.

The application's core function is to give you full access to all sectors in the NTFS file system volumes, and this comes in handy since it's the most commonly used. System requirements are not something to worry about, but your knowledge level should be above average because improper management can lead to permanent damage to the specific storage device.

Running the application brings up a drive selection screen, cleverly displaying NTFS volumes, including removable ones, along with all GPT partitions, size, and a few technical specifications. Further details can be accessed by simply selecting a drive.

What's more, depending on your intentions, you are also able to import image files under the IMG, IMC and VIM formats, as well as the possibility to remotely connect to a computer. This can be done either through a serial port connection, or via LAN, in both cases specifying com port, respectively the target IP address.

There are several regions that can be accessed separately so you're not overwhelmed with details. You can view value tables for boot record, root directory, Mft, clusters and partition table. Note that some values can be modified, but the application's default settings prevent changes from directly being written to the volume. You can disable this feature by either running tests in a virtual environment, or directly writing them to the drive.

You might need to keep a text editor at hand, because the only way to get ahold of files is providing the proper values, such as clusters to look through. Provided the correct data, the toolbox lets you access more volume info, create a virtual volume, recover files from selected clusters, or simply view the file just to be on the safe side.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that DiskExplorer for NTFS is a powerful application that lets you read content of a drive volume the same way your computer does. Great deals of caution and knowledge are required if you're using the application to retrieve files, otherwise it's suitable for thorough analysis.