Intella's file recovery functionality relies on the Master File Table (MFT) to recover deleted files. This is different from the file carving technique used by some other data recovery tools. This article explains the difference between these two approaches without comparing them.
The Master File Table (MFT) is the central repository for file record information in the NTFS file system. Even when a file is deleted, its MFT record remains until it is overwritten. Intella scans the MFT to locate records of deleted files and restores them. This allows Intella to recover files with their original file names, folder structure, metadata, and content.
File carving, on the other hand, attempts to recover files by searching for file headers and footers on the disk without relying on the file system structures. This technique typically recovers files of the most common types, often without file names or folder information.
Intella focuses exclusively on MFT-based recovery. By leveraging information from the MFT, Intella can provide file recovery while preserving the original folder and file name structure. For an overview of how deleted file recovery works in Intella, see File Recovery in Intella: How it Works and What to Expect.