Best Free Data Recovery Software for Windows PC (2022 Selective)
- Comparison of the Top Data Recovery Software
- No. 1 Disk Drill
- No. 2 EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
- No. 3 Wondershare Recoverit
- No. 4 Stellar Data Recovery
- No. 5 Recover My Files
- No. 6 MiniTool Power Data Recovery
- No. 7 Wise Data Recovery
- No. 8 Advanced Disk Recovery
- No. 9 Piriform Recuva
- No. 10 TestDisk
- Data Recovery Software FAQ
Review on the best free data recovery software for Windows users to recover lost/deleted files from HDD/SSD/external hard drive/USB drive/SD card, etc. Select the one that suits your requirement best.
Data recovery software is a sort of program that can deep scan storage media and show the lost files to users for data recovery.
In the daily use of computers, data loss happens without alerts. Here we summarize the most common reasons responsible for data loss.
Tip: As we can see from the figure above, hardware failure and human errors are the main causes for file loss. Thus, it is highly recommended that you back up important files often to prevent severe data loss impact.
Once data loss happens, what is the best free data recovery software?
List of The Best Free Data Recovery Software for Windows:
- Disk Drill
- EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
- Wondershare Recoverit
- Stellar Data Recovery
- Recover My Files
- MiniTool Power Data Recovery
- Wise Data Recovery
- Advanced Disk Recovery
- Piriform Recuva
- TestDisk
Comparison of the Top Data Recovery Software #
| Platform | Supported file format | Supported file system | Rating | |
| Disk Drill | Windows and Mac | Documents, videos, archives, music, or photos. | FAT, NTFS, HFS+, Ext4. | 5/5 |
| EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard | Windows and Mac | Documents, videos, audios, graphics, Email, and other files. | FAT, exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5, ext2/ext3, HFS+, ReFS. | 5/5 |
| Wondershare Recoverit | Windows and Mac | Documents, photo, video, audio, message, Email. | NTFS, FAT, HFS+, APFS. | 5/5 |
| Stellar Data Recovery | Windows and Mac | Photos, videos, audio files, contacts, messages, calendar, and call history. | NTFS, FAT, FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT HFS, HFS+, and APFS. | 5/5 |
| Recover My Files | Windows | Documents, photos, video music, and Email. | NTFS, FAT(12/16/32), exFAT, HFS, HFS+. | 5/5 |
| MiniTool Power Data Recovery | Windows | Documents and archives, graphics, videos, audios, Email, and CD-ROMs. | FAT(12/16/32), exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5, Ext(2/3/4), HFS+. | 4.5/5 |
| Wise Data Recovery | Windows | Documents, graphics, videos, audios, Emails, and other files. | FAT, NTFS, HFS, HFS+, HFSX, Ext2, and Ext3. | 4.5/5 |
| Advanced Disk Recovery | Windows and Mac | Documents, pictures, audio, and videos. | FAT, exFAT, NTFS, Ext2, and Ext3. | 4.5/5 |
| Piriform Recuva | Windows | Documents, pictures, music, video, compressed, Emails. | FAT(12/16/32), exFAT, NTFS, Ext(2/3/4). | 4/5 |
| TestDisk | DOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, SunOS and Mac | Documents and archives, pictures, video, CD-ROMs. | NTFS, FAT(12/16/32), exFAT, Ext(2/3/4), btrfs, BeFS, CramFS, HFS, JFS, Linux Raid, Linux Swap, LVM, LVM2, NSS, ReiserFS, UFS, XFS. | 4/5 |
Bonus: How to Format/Reformat a Hard Drive on Windows 10/8/7/XP
No. 1 Disk Drill #
Disk Drill is a quick and easy data recovery software for both Windows and Mac users. Its algorithm includes quick scans and deep scans to find the files from all kinds of data loss situations. It supports multiple file systems like NTFS, FAT, HFS, EXT4, exFAT, or even not initialized disks.
Disk Drill makes it possible for you to quickly pick up a data recovery process when there are too many files to deal with. Saving a data recovery session, next time you can run the session file to continue with the data recovery.
- Neat interface.
- Useful features.
- Fast scanning speed and excellent success rate.
- Keep recent data recovery sessions.
- Does not work on APFS disks.
- Free to recover only 500MB files.
No. 2 EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard #
“No data-recovery app can retrieve everything, but EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro does the best job in testing at recovering lost and deleted files – including files that rival products couldn’t find a trace of.”
— PCMag
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is one of the best data recovery programs we have ever used. It offers a selection of features for you to recover lost files due to multiple data loss scenarios. No matter the partition is lost or damaged, this data recovery software can deeply scan the hard drive sectors and then show you the best matches to do a quick check.
What impressed us most is the outstanding preview function, which allows previewing files continually and recovering files directly at the preview interface. In all cases, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is responsive and satisfying.
- User-friendly interface.
- Specify location recovery.
- All-in-one preview and recovery.
- Accurate recovery results.
- Scan limit over the file saving process in the freeware.
- High upgrade price.
No. 3 Wondershare Recoverit #
Recovery is a program designed to recover lost files from internal and external disk drives. It also works for USB drives and SD cards. This program has an elegant and similar interface to its competitors and brings satisfying data recovery results.
Data loss also comes with system crashes. In this aspect, Wondershare Recoverit can deep scan the system hard drive and retrieve the lost files. This is very user-friendly. Despite that, it also makes it possible for users to upload a corrupt video file to repair.
- Ease of use.
- Preview before recovery.
- Recover from corrupted computer.
- Video repair (paid feature).
- Limited preview on file types.
- The scanning process takes longer.
No. 4 Stellar Data Recovery #
“Stellar Data Recovery is one of the best data recovery tools we’ve used, with highly customizable searches, a huge file-type library, and deep scan abilities.”
— Techradar
Simple yet powerful data recovery program to help you recover from a wide variety of data loss situations. At first glance, Stellar Data recovery takes you to a menu where different types of files are listed there. After that, you have more options, such as to recover data from the desktop and recycle bin.
In short, Stellar Data recovery is really full-featured and is more like a combination of Disk Drill and EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. Likewise, it scans fast and the data recovery rate is really satisfying.
- Clear and elegant interface.
- Quick scan and deep scan.
- Very clear and system consistence tree structure.
- Unable to maximize the main user interface.
- The preview window is too small.
No. 5 Recover My Files #
Recover My Files data recovery software recovers deleted files emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin, files lost due to the format or re-install of a hard drive, or files removed by a virus, Trojan infection, unexpected system shutdown, or software failure.
Different from all the former listed software, its GUI looks complex for the new users. However, once getting up with this program, you will find it no different from the other. Simply select the target storage path and the software will perform a deep scan to get lost files back to you.
- Fast scanning speed and high data recovery rate.
- Easy to filter deleted files.
- Recover from preview.
- Complex GUI & slightly backward style.
Bonus: [Useful Tips] How to Migrate Windows 10 to SSD
No. 6 MiniTool Power Data Recovery #
Differ from its alternatives, the first interface MiniTool Power Data Recovery gives you is the selection of storage media. In many cases, you can find your storage space from the predicted menu. However, sometimes you may find it difficult to understand the interface, for you may find one partition in several locations.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery can preview a number of files, in the form of a picture. If you are not sure whether you are recovering the right tool, you can go for a preview first. Additionally, MiniTool Power Data Recovery is able to recover 1GB of data for free.
- Support multiple file systems.
- Preview 70+ file types.
- Recover 1GB data for free.
- Save previous recovery results.
- Lagging recovery efficiency.
- Poor success rate.
- Only works on Windows.
No. 7 Wise Data Recovery #
Wise Data Recovery also can scan HDD/SSD/external hard drives and flash drives to recover lost files including emails, video files, deleted photographs, and regular hypertext documents. No matter it is filed deletion, hard drive error, or system corruption, Wise Data Recovery is a good data recovery assistant.
Wise Data Recovery brings a very clean interface. Starting with choosing the target partition and then this software can quickly scan or deep scan the drive. Remember, recovering files from a whole hard disk drive is not supported using this data recovery software.
The most obvious flaw is that this software does not offer a file preview option, making it hard for users to determine whether they are recovering the right files.
- Really clean GUI.
- Exquisite icons for each file types.
- Fast file filter.
- Huge language support.
- Quick scan rarely helps.
- Slow scanning and no progress is showing.
- No preview before recovery.
No. 8 Advanced Disk Recovery #
Advanced Disk Recovery is among the best free data recovery. It is really a tiny data recovery program with a smart scanning option. By default, it uses a quick scan to find the lost/deleted files at an extremely fast scanning speed. Users can customize whether to have a deep scan and what files to display.
Advanced Disk Recovery also comes with multiple language support. Given the simple yet user-friendly interface, a novice can even use it without any difficulty. However, its preview is a paid feature.
- User-friendly interface.
- Quick scan and deep scan options.
- File health filter.
- Multiple language support.
- Preview is not free.
- Full screen brings multiple windows.
No. 9 Piriform Recuva #
Piriform Recuva is one of the most popular free data recovery programs that devote to recovering deleted pictures, documents, music, videos, emails from external hard drives, USB drives, CD, and more on PC and Mac. It can restore deleted files from the Recycle Bin even when it is emptied.
Piriform Recuva is an easy-to-use effective file recovery software program. Its advanced mode will lead you to a quick file filter to only display pictures, music, documents, video, compressed file, and emails. In addition, it can recover the file structures.
- Wizard mode and Advanced mode offered.
- Wizard mode and Advanced mode offered.
- Secure file deletion.
- Unfriendly interface, lagging beginning.
- Some file recovery is not available in the free version.
No. 10 TestDisk #
TestDisk is powerful data recovery software that can be used on almost all kinds of operating systems. It is designed to help recover lost partitions and can make non-booting disk bootable again especially when the startup failure is caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses, or human error. It can also be used to repair some file system errors.
TestDisk does not have a GUI and needs to run using a batch of commands. So it is not user-friendly for the green hands. Users who are interested can refer to this blog to get the detailed steps.
- Full OS support.
- Recover deleted partitions and all files in.
- Fix file system errors.
- Command line interface that is difficult to use.
Data Recovery Software FAQ #
Most data recovery software is read-only. That means they are for data recovery only instead of data writing/rewrite. So in general, data recovery software will do no harm to your computer or steal any private information on the drive.
The successful rate of data recovery depends on the health condition of the file system as well as how long the data was lost and whether some new data was saved in that drive. Usually, stopping using that drive for data saving and going to data recovery in the first place will enhance the data recovery success rate.
When you delete a file from your computer, it doesn’t disappear right away. All your deletion does is to make the space on your hard drive vacant. As long as the space is not overwritten, the deleted files are still located there hence you can do data recovery.