Not many things in our everyday lives strike terror in our hearts as the prospect of losing our data. It often is a nerve-racking experience and consequences of it can be far-reaching, especially if the information on your hard disk was job-related. Lost personal files can be equally devastating, like pictures or important documents. Sometimes, data loss can be caused by a user, accidentally deleting a folder or overwriting a file. But sometimes, it may be caused by a hard disk failure. In some cases, data can be retrieved by using specialized software.
EaseUS Data Recovery
EaseUS Data Recovery is one of the most powerful data recovery tools on the market today. It will help you salvage not only deleted files but corrupted ones as well. It can also help with deleted partitions. The program has a very capable search function, with a built-in preview tool. Unfortunately, it will only work with Windows machines. The entire package can be your for %77. If you are not sure about it, there is a free version allowing you to test it before making a purchase. You can visit the EaseUS site for more details, as well as customer support.
Recuva
CCleaner has been a staple on many Windows machines over the years, mostly for their registry cleaner tool. They haven’t been sitting idly and have expanded their offer. One of the tools they publish is Recuva, a popular file recovery software. It has multi-platform support, is easy to use and claims that it employs military-grade recovery features. It will work not just on hard disks, but external drives and memory sticks. It even has some success recovering formatted drives. Recuva comes with a handy auto-updater, so you don’t have to worry about updating it. The premium version will cost you around 428. There is a free one as well, but you won’t have any customer support.
DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery Software
DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery Software or DMDE, as it is known, isn’t intended for novice users. Instead, it was written for professionals who understand how data recovery works. As such, its learning curve might be a bit steep, especially for people who aren’t that familiar with computers. If you can handle it, it is a very powerful piece of software that can recover almost any file you may have lost or deleted. Advanced users will love its many features. It has a standard version ($48) and Professional one, that will cost you $95.
CleverFiles Disk Drill
If you are dealing with some exotic file types, CleverFiles Disk Drill may be a solution for you. Boasting support for over 200 file types, Disk Drill will recover almost any file. It is fast and easy to use. The software can recover your lost data in mere minutes. It will also work on Android and iOS devices, as well as various USB memory sticks, cards, and e-readers. This versatility is what makes it so popular, as you only need one program. With some other solutions, you must get a separate software for Windows. CleverFiles Disk Drill costs $89 and for that, you get a license for three devices of your choice. The free version allows you only one installation.
MiniTool Partition Recovery
MiniTool Partition Recovery is a highly specialized tool for recovering deleted partitions on a hard disk. As such, it isn’t really intended for saving lost files on your computer. It is very easy to set up and use, as there are only three steps in its operation. It will provide you with a handy preview tool, so you can choose which files to recover. IT works on all manner of discs, including SATA, IDE and SCSI. One thing we found lacking is that it can’t deal very well with bad sectors. It can’t skip them, so it tends to get stuck on them, vastly increasing the scanning time.
Active File Recovery
One of the more affordable solutions on our list, Active File Recovery is still a capable file recovery software. It will cost you just $29.95 to buy it. But don’t let the price fool you, this program does its job very well. It can help you retrieve various deleted files from your hard disk, as well as from USB flash drives and even cameras hooked up to your computer. It only supports Windows, namely XP, 7, 8, and 10, and Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2012, and 2016.
Prosoft Data Rescue 5 for Windows
Prosoft Data Rescue 5 for Windows is one of the oldest file recovery software on the market. It has been around for 20 years and constant updates and improvements have made it one of the best solutions for saving deleted files. It supports many file types and features an advanced search and scan function. It allows it to search files for various users on the system. It also has an amazing learning tool. You can teach it about a new file type by feeding it a few examples. After that, it can recover them as well. All this comes at a price. Data Rescue 5 will cost you $99.
Stellar Recovery
Stellar Recovery has been around since the 1990s. For a piece of software to survive that long in our ever-changing world, you know it is a quality one. You can scan your entire disk or pinpoint the location or file name. This should shorten the scan times considerably and is handy when you need to do something in a hurry. It also has an option to save files from corrupted or scratched DVDs and CDs, if you still have those around. It isn’t cheap though, and it will set you back $99 for a professional version.
Conclusion
If you have ever suffered the misfortune of losing your data, you know just how stressful that can be. Fortunately, we have many software solutions that can help us recover our deleted files with a minimum of fuss. Hopefully, one of these will help you do just that.