There are many free data recovery software products available on the Internet. Some of those products are freeware while others offer free trial download of tools for evaluation.
How to choose the best data recovery software ?
You should never use a data recovery software application without first carefully evaluating whether it is really the best tool for the job. At best, you can lose valuable time. Even worse, you may ruin your chances of recovering your deleted data.
When selecting file recovery software, look beyond screenshots and extravagant marketing claims and consider the following criteria :
⚙️ Performance
Since your ultimate goal is to get back all the deleted files, data recovery performance is by far the most important selection criterion that you need to pay attention to while selecting the best software. Some applications can only recover data from the Recycle Bin that hasn’t been emptied, and such applications are significantly less useful than those capable of recovering permanently deleted files that no longer exist in the Recycle Bin.
🏞 File Type Support
The software should be able to undelete all commonly used file types, including audio files, videos, pictures, documents, executable files, archives, and backups.
📸 Files System Support
Data loss isn’t limited to traditional spinning hard drives—it affects all storage devices, including modern solid-state drives, USB flash drives, and memory cards. Since you never know which storage device you will need to recover next, you should choose a data recovery application that recovers lost data from the file system for both internal and external storage devices including NTFS, FAT, FAT32, exFAT. Supports, which is able to recover. HFS+, APFS, ext2/3/4, and others.
💻 Operating System Supported
Unless you don’t mind using a different operating system to recover your deleted data, you should choose a tool that supports your main operating system. Fortunately, there are many great options available for Windows and Mac users alike, and even Linux users have many solutions to choose from.
✅ Set of Features
All good data recovery software solutions should have several features, such as the ability to preview deleted files before recovery, the ability to recover only specific files, and the ability to recover data from devices that are failing, partial A partition that has been rendered unreadable, or has been lost.
🛒 Price
Just because you can download and install an application for free, doesn’t mean you can also use it to recover deleted data without paying. When selecting the best data recovery software, it is a good idea to start by keeping a certain budget in mind and prioritizing apps that fit into it. When comparing prices, remember that some applications are subscription-based (meaning you are charged every month/year), and some offer lifetime licenses and sometimes even lifetime updates.
🔒 Security
The last thing you want is someone infected with malware or installing a tool made by someone who doesn’t know how to safely recover deleted files. That’s why you should stick to popular solutions with lots of positive online reviews and many satisfied users.
List of free sites of Data Recovery Software
We have compiled a list of best data recovery tools that can be downloaded and tried for free.
1. Recuva (Windows)
The fact that Recuva is on the top of the best data recovery software list may not come as a surprise. This data recovery tool has the ability to restore files from hard drives, DVD or CDs, memory cards, and external drives. There are tons of free file recovery software around but few of them come close to Recuva when it comes to hard drive and photo recovery actions. This recovery perform does its work by searching for unreferenced data.
Best features of Recuva recovery software :
- Superior file recovery.
- Advanced deep scan mode.
- Secure overwrite feature that uses industry & military standard deletion techniques.
- Recovers files from damaged or newly formatted drives.
- Easy User interface.
- Preview screen before final recovery.
- Free/Inexpensive data recovery software.
- Works both on FAT and NTFS systems.
2. Disk Drill Data Recovery (Windows & Mac)
Disk Drill Data Recovery is an undeniable leader among data recovery software, it can recover deleted files from your device even if it is failing, unreadable, or has lost a partition.
With Disk Drill you can easily recover deleted photos, videos, music files, documents from internal or external drives, USB flash drives, SD cards. The Mac version supports iOS and Android recovery as well.
Best features of Disk Drill :
- Displays literally all the storage present on your machine, even the unallocated space.
- Displays scanned data in All files, Pictures, Video, Documents, Archives options.
- Allows filtering of scanned files by files and date.
- Includes search bar.
- Can save the recovery session for later use.
- Can recover data in the form of a disk image (ISO).
- Preview option available.
- Deep scan mode available.
- Retains original folder names.
- Restart required after installation.
- Scan time more than average.
3. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard (Windows & Mac)
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is not only another data recovery software but also a user-friendly app, having Windows Explorer type interface and easy three-step file recovery process.
This app is free to recover data up to 500MB (at the moment). It works on internal and external hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards and different types of partitions. Read our Easeus Data Recovery Wizard review.
Best features of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard :
- Group deleted files with Tags for simpler recovery.
- Greatly enhanced FAT recovery quality.
- Recover up to 2 GB of data for free for clicking the share button.
4. TestDisk Data Recovery (Windows & Mac)
A list of best data recovery software can hardly be termed as being complete without a mention of TestDisk recovery software. It’s an open source software that was created with an aim to get back lost partitions and fix non-booting disks.Packed with features and a file recovery system that can easily overshadow that of any other data recovery software, TestDisk has a lot to offer for both novices and experts.
Best features of TestDisk’s :
- Allows users to recover/rebuild the boot sector.
- Fix or recover deleted partition table.
- Undelete files from FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2 file systems.
Being a command line tool, TestDisk hard drive recovery tool may not be suitable for some users for data recovery. If you’re a fan of GUI, I would recommend you to go with Recuva or Stellar for file recovery.
5. Minitool Power Data Recovery (Windows)
Minitool Power Data Recovery offers users a comprehensive data recovery tool that supports over 100 different file types. The application can restore lost and deleted data from many types of storage devices with a three-step recovery process.
A free version of the tool can be upgraded with monthly, yearly, or lifetime subscriptions. Preview selected file types before recovery and select designated folders to be scanned for faster performance.
Best features of MiniTool recovery tool :
- An easy wizard-based interface.
- Specialized in data recovery on an entire partition.
- Point MiniTool Partition Recovery tool at the problematic drive and it will scan for the missing partition.
- Can’t use data recovery on a bootable disc here.