Hard disk data recovery tools
14 tools 9 hardware 5 software 3 free
A hard disk can fail in three ways: its files are damaged (software can help), its firmware is damaged (the drive is not detected, shows the wrong size or stays busy), or its mechanics are damaged (clicking, beeping, not spinning).
The tools on this page work below the file system. They talk to the drive in the maker's factory mode, repair the firmware stored in its service area and on the board's ROM, and copy the drive sector by sector while working around weak heads and bad sectors. The firmware sets in our free library are used with these tools.
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SalvationDATA DRS
Hardware + software
by SalvationDATA SalvationDATA's all-in-one hardware and software kit for getting data off working or damaged drives, used for both recovery and forensics. Writes HDD firmware: Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi (HGST), Toshiba
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R-Studio
Software
by R-Tools Technology A long-standing disk recovery suite from R-Tools (Canada) with RAID reconstruction; the Technician edition adds imaging and forensic features for labs.
- HDDSuperClone Software by Scott Dwyer A free Linux program for cloning and imaging failing hard disks, with head-aware reading and drive resets that ordinary copy tools lack.
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DFL-URE Plus
Hardware + software
by Dolphin Data Lab A compact Dolphin unit mainly for imaging drives with bad sectors and extracting files, including from NVMe SSDs.
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Atola Insight Forensic
Hardware + software
by Atola Technology A Windows program with Atola's DiskSense 2 unit for forensic imaging and recovery from damaged drives, built to keep imaging drives that make other imagers stall. Writes HDD firmware: Western Digital, Hitachi (HGST), Toshiba
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PC-3000 Express
Hardware + software
by ACE Lab A PCI Express card with its own software that turns a lab PC into a hard disk repair station: it reaches the drive's firmware, repairs it and then gets the data off. Writes HDD firmware: Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi (HGST), Toshiba
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PC-3000 Portable PRO
Hardware + software
by ACE Lab ACE Lab's portable PC-3000: a USB-connected box with a touch screen that repairs and images hard disks and, with add-on kits, SSDs and RAID. It replaces the PC-3000 Portable III. Writes HDD firmware: Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi (HGST), Toshiba
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UFS Explorer Professional Recovery
Software
by SysDev Laboratories The professional edition of UFS Explorer for recovery engineers: complex and damaged RAID, encrypted volumes, virtual machines and drives imaged with lab hardware.
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DeepSpar Disk Imager 4
Hardware + software
Discontinued
by DeepSpar Data Recovery Systems A hardware imager for unstable drives with bad sectors that treats each head according to how worn it is. DeepSpar now lists it as obsolete, replaced by the USB Stabilizer 10Gb.
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MRT Ultra 3.0
Hardware + software
by MRT Lab MRT Lab's main hard disk repair and recovery kit: an MRT SATA controller card plus software with a module for each drive brand. MRT Express is the smaller 2-drive model. Writes HDD firmware: Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi (HGST), Toshiba
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GNU ddrescue
Software
by GNU Project A free command-line tool that copies a failing disk to an image or another disk, saving the easy areas first and coming back for the hard ones.
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DFL-SRP
Hardware + software
by Dolphin Data Lab Dolphin Data Lab's all-in-one USB 3.0 kit for hard disk firmware repair and data recovery, working on three faulty drives at once. Writes HDD firmware: Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi (HGST), Toshiba
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Atola TaskForce 2
Hardware
by Atola Technology A rack-mounted forensic imager with 26 ports that images many drives at once, including damaged ones, run from a web browser.
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OpenSuperClone
Software
by OpenSuperClone project A free, open-source Linux tool based on HDDSuperClone for cloning and imaging failing drives.
At a glance
| Tool | Maker | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atola Insight Forensic | Atola Technology | Hardware + software | Not published (sold through Atola and resellers) |
| Atola TaskForce 2 | Atola Technology | Hardware | Not published |
| DeepSpar Disk Imager 4 | DeepSpar Data Recovery Systems | Hardware + software | Discontinued. Its successor, the USB Stabilizer 10Gb, is listed at US$2,490 (US$2,899 with R-Studio Technician). |
| DFL-SRP | Dolphin Data Lab | Hardware + software | Not published (quotation from Dolphin) |
| DFL-URE Plus | Dolphin Data Lab | Hardware + software | Not published (quotation from Dolphin) |
| GNU ddrescue | GNU Project | Software | Free (open source, GNU GPL) |
| HDDSuperClone | Scott Dwyer | Software | Free |
| MRT Ultra 3.0 | MRT Lab | Hardware + software | Not published (MRT Lab offers instalment plans and one-time versions) |
| OpenSuperClone | OpenSuperClone project | Software | Free (open source, GPL-2.0) |
| PC-3000 Express | ACE Lab | Hardware + software | Not published (quotation from ACE Lab) |
| PC-3000 Portable PRO | ACE Lab | Hardware + software | Not published (quotation from ACE Lab) |
| R-Studio | R-Tools Technology | Software | R-Studio US$79.99; Corporate US$179.99; Technician about US$899 (one-time); demo recovers files up to 1 MB |
| SalvationDATA DRS | SalvationDATA | Hardware + software | Not published (free trial and quotation form) |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | SysDev Laboratories | Software | From $699.95 (one-time, with a limited update period) |
Free tools from DataCare Labs
See the tools
HDD Switch by DataCare Labs Freeware
Spin drives down and up from Windows, without unplugging them.
Works with SATA, USB and SAS disks, shows the model and serial before anything is sent, and warns you when the drive is in use.
Folder Snapshot by DataCare Labs Freeware
Send your customer a browsable report of the files you recovered.
One HTML file that opens in any browser, with your own logo and colours and an optional password.
Drive Health by DataCare Labs
Check a drive's SMART health before you start a recovery.
HDD and SSD health and temperature for Windows, read straight from the drive. Works offline; nothing is uploaded.
Coming soon
Product names and trademarks belong to their makers. DataCare Labs is not affiliated with them and does not sell these tools. Facts come from each maker's official pages on the date shown; prices and features change, so check the maker's site before you buy. We never link to cracked or copied software. Tools appear in a new random order every time the page opens (the comparison table is A to Z): the order is not a ranking, and we do not promote any tool. Suggest a tool · Tool makers: contact us