We can't explain the universe, just describe it; and we don't know whether our theories are true, we just know they're not wrong. >Harald Lesch
There's a checkbox in the options called restore folder structure? And a dropdown box called Secure overwriting?
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but deep scanning my 500 GB hard drive took less than 10 minutes.
Maybe you are. It should take hours, if not days (in case of bad sectors) for a thorough scan.
Also annoyingly, all of my stuff was in a single folder, but I can only seem to search by file name. I can't actually remember all the file names - so it's a massive pain in the ass to look for all the individual components of this folder I need! Anyway to alleviate that?
Depends on how much got damaged. If folder structure is overwritten there's no way to alleviate. But most of the time only a tiny part of the hdd gets overwritten by initializing, partitioning and formatting so chances are good most of the folder structure remained intact.
Now you just need a program that can detect and recognize it because all there is left is the raw data and no more markers what data means what. So having a good recover tool matters. Recuva *should* be able to do it, but if you made the most thorough scan possible you could give a different program a try.
Speaking of which...
I should have done this overnight since I kinda have to work...
Is there a problem if I stop it?
There could be a problem with hdds that got physically damaged (either by shock, age, faulty components, etc.) when trying to read it over and over. While reading *usually* doesn't make the problem worse it *can* make it worse, especially with deep scans. Reading a drive still means accessing it and working it's mechanics which can lead to data integrity deterioration, even if you're not writing to it.
That's why it's best practice, if at all possible, to make a clone of the hdd before you do anything and then run scans and any recovery attempts on the clone. That makes sure that the hard drive will be read just one last time, and prevents any unnecessary read stress by the scan. (And yes, a scan is a lot of stress for a hdd. Though this stress is not at all a problem if the hdd is not physically damaged.)
That being said, only run cloning with machines you don't need for an hour or a few hours.
After the cloning you can safely abort scans without fear of making the problem worse through multiple reads.