Data recovery software
12 tools 12 software 7 free
Recovery software reads a drive that still works and finds deleted files, lost partitions and formatted volumes. It is the right tool when the drive itself is healthy.
It is the wrong tool when the drive clicks, is not detected, is very slow or has many bad sectors: every scan stresses a failing drive. In that case, image the drive first with an imaging tool and run the software on the image.
Good software never writes to the source drive. Always save recovered files to a different drive.
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TestDisk
Software
by CGSecurity A free, open-source tool that finds lost partitions and makes disks that no longer boot bootable again.
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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.
- 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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DMDE
Software
by DMDE Software A small portable program for data recovery, disk editing and analysis that rebuilds folder trees well and includes a RAID builder, with a capable free edition.
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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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UFS Explorer RAID Recovery
Software
by SysDev Laboratories Recovery software for RAID arrays, NAS boxes and servers that rebuilds the array virtually and recovers the files, without writing to the disks.
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PhotoRec
Software
by CGSecurity A free, open-source file carver: it ignores the file system and finds files by their content, so it works even after formatting or heavy damage.
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ReclaiMe File Recovery
Software
by ReclaiMe Windows recovery software for hard disks, memory cards and NAS disks, covering Windows, Mac and Linux file systems.
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ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery
Software
by ReclaiMe A free tool that works out a broken array's settings — disk order, block size and start offset — so the array can be rebuilt. It does not recover files itself.
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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.
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GetDataBack Pro
Software
by Runtime Software Do-it-yourself recovery software for Windows that restores file names and folders after deletion, formatting or a lost partition.
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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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMDE | DMDE Software | Software | Free edition (up to 4,000 files per folder per recovery); Standard $48, Professional from $95 (one-time) |
| GetDataBack Pro | Runtime Software | Software | $79 (one-time, free updates); free trial with preview |
| GNU ddrescue | GNU Project | Software | Free (open source, GNU GPL) |
| HDDSuperClone | Scott Dwyer | Software | Free |
| OpenSuperClone | OpenSuperClone project | Software | Free (open source, GPL-2.0) |
| PhotoRec | CGSecurity | Software | Free (open source, GPL) |
| 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 |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | ReclaiMe | Software | Standard $89.95, Ultimate $189.95 (lifetime); 7-day licences also sold |
| ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery | ReclaiMe | Software | Free |
| TestDisk | CGSecurity | Software | Free (open source, GPL) |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | SysDev Laboratories | Software | From $699.95 (one-time, with a limited update period) |
| UFS Explorer RAID Recovery | SysDev Laboratories | Software | From $149.95 (personal licence, one-time); free trial saves files up to 768 KB |
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