What is the best hard drive recovery tool out there?
- a question from Quora
If a similar query has brought you here, then this would be a must-read post for you. In the last few years, the DIY disk recovery tools have made a lot of progress. A while back, we barely had a few reliable hard disk recovery tools, but now there are so many applications that they end up confusing us. For your convenience, we have taken the recommendations of industry experts and have handpicked the top 10 hard drive data recovery tools that you should certainly give a try.
The first disk recovery application on our list is Recoverit (IS) due to the tons of features that it provides. The tool has one of the highest data recovery rates in the industry and an intuitive interface that does not need any prior technical experience. Also, it supports 1000+ different file formats and offers an excellent customer support.
The HDD data recovery application supports every major Windows and macOS version with its basic tool available for free.
You can perform data recovery on an internal drive or any other external source like SD card, flash drive, digital camera, drone, and more.
It fully supports all kinds of file systems like NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, HFS+, APFS, etc.
There is a provision to preview your photos, videos, and documents before recovering them to the desired location.
It yields exceptional results under numerous data loss scenarios like accidental deletion, malware attack, Recycle Bin recovery, lost partition, and so on.
If you are looking for a freely available HDD data recovery tool, then you can also try Recuva by CCleaner. While the application does not provide as many features as iSkysoft, it will certainly meet your basic HDD recovery needs for Windows.
The basic version of Recuva is available for free and users can later upgrade to its Pro version by paying a one-time fee.
The disk recovery tool is pretty easy to use and supports almost every type of media content.
It can recover data from an internal hard drive or an external device like hard disk or USB drive.
Pros:
Easy to use
Most of the features are already available in the free version of Recuva.
Cons:
Only available for Windows (no Mac version)
3. Recoverit Data Recovery
Recoverit is another popular and recommended disk recovery tool for Windows and Mac that you can try. It has one of the highest data recovery rates in the industry and a really simple user interface. You can recover your data from different sources by following an easy click-through process.
Recoverit hard drive recovery works on both Windows and Mac with support to numerous file systems like NTFS, FAT, APFS, HFS+, and more.
It can also create a bootable media so that you can recover files from a malfunctioning computer.
Supports almost every file type, including the recovery of raw photos
Users can also attach their devices like SD cards or USB drives and perform data recovery on it.
Pros:
DIY easy to use tool
High recovery rate
Responsive customer support
Cons:
No Linux version is provided as of now
4. Recover My Files
This is another free hard drive recovery tool that you can run on your Windows computer. It supports almost every Windows version like Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10. If you are happy with its basic free version, then you can later upgrade to its professional version as well.
The application is pretty lightweight and supports data recovery under different scenarios.
It can also recover data deleted via Shift + Delete, Recycle Bin deletion, and formatted drives.
All the major file systems for Windows like NTFS, exFAT, FAT 16, FAT 32, etc. are supported.
You can preview your photos and some documents (like PDF files) before restoring them.
Pros:
The basic version is available for free
Easy to use
Cons:
Low recovery success rate
Not available for Mac or Linux
5. Disk Drill
Disk Drill is a reliable and easy drive data recovery tool that you can use on either Windows or Mac. If you want, you can give its free version a try that would let you recover data up to 500 MB. Later, you can upgrade it to access its unlimited data recovery features as well.
It is a freeware disk recovery tool that is known to yield positive results under different data loss scenarios.
You can scan your computer’s drive or any other external source like SD card or a USB drive.
Available for free and can later be upgraded to a premium version.
Supports almost every data format and major file systems
Pros:
Easy to use
Preview of data available
Cons:
Limited customer support
Not available for Linux
6. Undelete 360
Although Undelete 360 was released a while back, it is still trusted by many as a go-to hard disk recovery tool. You can install it on your Windows system and run a deep scan on the drive from where you have lost your data. Though, if you have a Mac, then you can consider any other tool as it only supports Windows systems.
It can recover data from Recycle Bin and files deleted using Shift + Delete as well.
You can even preview your photos on its native interface before restoring them.
It is available for free and is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10.
You can also perform data recovery on a USB drive, SD card, or an external hard drive.
Pros:
Freely available
Cons:
Haven’t been updated in a while
Low recovery rate
Not available for Mac
7. PC Inspector File Recovery
This disk recovery tool is a recommended choice of Windows users as it runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10. You can run it on any external device as well to get optimum results. Although, the basic version of the HDD recovery tool comes for free, you can later upgrade it to unlock its premium features.
The basic version of the tool will let you recover your data up to a certain limit (can later be upgraded).
You can preview your photos on its interface so that you can perform a selective recovery of data.
It supports the recovery of other data types as well like videos, documents, music, compressed files, etc.
Pros:
Easy to use
Preview of photos available
Cons:
Only runs on Windows (no Mac version)
It hasn’t been updated in a while
8. Wise Data Cleaner
Wise Data Cleaner is one of the most recommended hard drive recovery tools that you can use for free. It supports the recovery of almost every kind of data and has a high success rate as well.
The interface is extremely user-friendly with an option to select the location to scan.
It has a high recovery rate and can extract your data from a formatted external drive as well.
You can preview your photos and other media files before recovering them.
The tool is available for free and supports every leading Windows version.
Pros:
Comes free of cost
Easy to use
Provides a preview of data
Cons:
Not available for Mac
Limited customer support
9. Data Rescue
Commonly known as Data Rescue 5, this disk recovery tool is developed by ProSoft and supports leading Windows and macOS versions. If you want, you can use its free trial version before buying its paid subscription as well.
The application can recover your data, lost under different scenarios and from various sources.
You can also use it to clone your hard drive or create a bootable media to recover data from a non-responsive system.
Since it supports both Windows and Mac recovery, you won’t face any compatibility issues using it.
Pros:
High recovery rate
Free trial version
Cons:
A bit complicated to use
Restricted to 5 drives
Expensive than its counterparts
10. Stellar Professional Data Recovery
Last, but not the least, you can also try Stellar hard drive recovery tool to get back your lost data. The application has different versions for Windows and Mac that you can pick as per the operating system you own.
It can recover your photos, videos, documents, compressed files, and different types of data.
You can select the type of content that you wish to scan on the target location.
It can recover data from an encrypted hard drive and can even create a disk image of a bad sector.
You can preview the extracted results after the scan is completed and select the files you wish to get back.
Pros:
High data recovery rate
Good reputation in the industry
Cons:
A bit complicated to use
Not available for Linux
Part 2: What is the Best Hard Drive Recovery Software?
As you can see, we have listed 10 different hard drive recovery tools that are most popular and are recommended by experts. We have considered the following things in mind while picking the best hard disk recovery tool.
The success rate of data recovery
The support of the tool with operating systems and file systems
What kind of different data types it can recover?
Can users get a preview of their data before restoring it?
The support for external hard disk recovery
The ease of use and the overall interface of the application
Is the tool available for free or how much does it cost?
Other features like customer support, reputation, security, and so on.
After weighing all these parameters, we have handpicked Recoverit (IS) as an ideal hard drive recovery application. It runs smoothly on every leading computer and file system. Also, the tool features an intuitive interface and has one of the highest data recovery rates. It will let you preview your data beforehand and offers so many other advanced features as well.
Part 3: How Can I Recover Data from My Hard Drive for Free?
Ideally, you can pick either of the above-listed disk recovery tools to reclaim the lost content from your drive. Since Recoverit (IS) is a recommended choice, let’s see how to use it to perform hard disk recovery in 3 easy steps:
Step 1 Select a location to scan
Firstly, launch the Recoverit (IS) application on your computer and select a location to scan. You can also connect any external device to scan as well. It will let you select a drive, partition, folder, or browse any location of your choice.
Step 2 Scan the location
Once you click on the “Start” button, the application would try to extract all the stored data from the location. You can just wait for a few minutes for the disk recovery process to be completed.
Step 3 Preview and restore your data
Later, you can preview your photos, videos, documents, etc. on the interface and just select the files/folders that you wish to save. Click on the “Recover” button to simply select a location where your files would be saved in the end.
That’s a wrap, everyone. I’m sure that after reading this post, you would be able to pick the best hard drive recovery tool for your system. I would strongly recommend keeping a reliable HDD recovery tool like Recoverit (IS) handy. In this way, whenever you would suffer from an unexpected data loss, you can quickly use a recovery tool and get back your lost or inaccessible content without any trouble.
Before failing entirely, a hard disk seems to malfunction and yields all kinds of errors. Apart from getting different error prompts on your system, you might hear a clicking sound while working on your computer. The hard disk would take more time to load and some of its partitions/folders/files might become unavailable. The system can also restart unexpectedly or encounter logical hard disk errors.
Q2. How much does hard drive recovery cost?
It is totally subjective. A lot of hard disk recovery tools are available for free entirely while some offer only a basic version for free. If you want, you can try a freeware or download the trial version of a premium tool as well. Mostly, a DIY hard disk recovery tool for home users would not cost more than $70.
Q3. Can data be recovered from a damaged hard drive?
If the hard drive is physically damaged, then it is tougher to recover data from it. Though, if its firmware or memory management features are damaged, then you can use a data recovery tool to get back your lost content from it.
Q4. Can you recover files from a wiped hard drive?
Yes, even if you have wiped your hard drive or got it formatted by mistake, then you can use a data recovery tool to get back your lost or inaccessible content. Ideally, when a disk is formatted, the stored content just becomes unavailable from it (but it is still there). Thus, you can use a professional data recovery tool to extract your deleted content from its storage.
Do you want to wipe the disk completely? Looking for the right hard drive eraser software programs to clean the whole storage device? You can’t miss this read.
Elva
staff Editor