No one is ever safe from casual deleting an information file or getting a computer infected by malware. According to the Global Data Risk Report*, about 21% of all data isn’t protected or duplicated at all, which puts it in potential jeopardy.
Often, files get corrupted for no apparent reason, and it happens exactly when you need it. Luckily, there is a way to reverse this problem if you are moving fast and don’t panic. Data recovery software can restore deleted files and repair corrupted files.
Factors to consider when choosing a data recovery software
There are thousands of solutions on the market, including free and paid options. Before opting in favour of one of them, you need to assess your device’s technical capacities, type of lost files, and come up with clear choice criteria. Usually, recovery software differs in four key features. Let’s take a closer look below:
Recovery ability
Different file recovery software has different features when it comes to restoring files of various formats. You want to have a versatile tool that’s capable of working with text, media, and software files. Also, some tools don’t support batch recovery – you can restore one file at a time. Others, on the other hand, support multiple recovery methods.
Speed
You want software that can quickly scan computer storage, and detect deleted or corrupted files from Master Boot Record. The software should work fast even in the background mode and preferably, support quick batch restoration as well – so you restore many files without providing manual confirmation.
Universality
The software should be able to recover files under different circumstances. Typical scenarios include accidental file deletion, recovering data after malware attacks, losses on formatted drives, lost partitions, memory card issues, external device problems, and system crashes.
The number of supported data carriers
The tool should support data from laptop, Android and iOS mobile devices, OC, memory cards, SSD, Video Players, camcorders, cameras, floppy disks, and iPods. Some solutions also offer integration with the most popular cloud storage like Google Drive and Dropbox. It’s preferable that the software also supports contact and email files, in case you lost communication records.
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Top Data recovery software 2020
Software that would fit all requirements that are described above, should have rich functionality and versatile customization options. You should be able to determine end file’s quality, the saving options – picking a destination where all the restored files are saved, either a single location for all files or customized, depending on the format. Of course, it’s also important that the tool is simple, so you wouldn’t spend time learning the functionality.
Let’s take a look at the richest and most intuitive data recovery tools on the market, and see their advantages and drawbacks.
Recuva
It’s an affordable data recovery software with a free personal version and a professional edition for $19.95. The free version allows one-by-one data recovery from laptop storage. You can recover deleted, damaged, or corrupted files of text, image, and video formats.
Interface
The software uses a Wizard interface that walks the user through the first time of using a tool. The software will get you started with the recovery – firstly, it’ll ask you what type of formats you want to restore. Then, you can choose between recovering files directly from the drive or making a disk image first – however, this option isn’t available in the free version.
Performance
Renuva requires only 1-2 seconds for the drive to find the requested files. However, the software’s quick scan doesn’t work so smoothly for video files and emails. It’s a nice option for text files and images, but the quality is likely to be lower than the original one. For the USB can, the tool took 1 minute and found almost all requested files. Still, it failed to recognize all the requested data.
Stellar Data Recovery
The software supports data recovery from Windows, iOS, Linux laptops, and mobile devices. The free version also supports external carriers – hard drives, USB devices, and partitions. Stellar Data Recovery has advanced cloning functionality – users can duplicate files, folders, partitions, and hard drive data.
Interface
Stellar Data Recovery has rich functionality, but its interface can be confusing at times. The menu is complicated, and you will have to explore the panels one by one to get to the necessary feature.
Performance
Stellar Data Recovery allows precise file recognition – unlike Recuva, it didn’t fail to find requested files both on the local storage and USB files. However, it’s really slow – the quick scan of a 500 BG partition takes 6 minutes, and deep examination will take at least 2 hours.
Disk Drill
Simple data recovery software with a free basic version and a paid professional edition. The tool supports NTFS, FAT, ETX, EXFAT recovery systems, the restoration of compressed files and works with more than 300 file formats. The software is available for OS, Windows, Android, iOS. The software is often used by mobile and web developers to recover files lost during their work because it works well with big files and can process multiple loads simultaneously.
Performance
For our test, we uploaded files of mp3, exe, jpeg, txt, and zip files, and copied them on the SSD, USB, and HDD. The goal is to measure how much time it would take for the software to EXE identity and receiver each of these files.
The Disk Drill, the most powerful recovery option, used up about 1% of RAM, 10% of CPU. The in-depth scan took 25 minutes, although quick recovery was done in 6 minutes. However, the file quality wasn’t the same for each file – image and video files lost their resolution, although ZIPs were restored perfectly.
Hetman Partition
Data recovery software, created to work for damaged or deleted partitions. If you accidentally deleted a partition or lost it due to the malware attack, all the files on the partition will be erased as well. The software helps with recovering lost files on FAT and NTFS disks.
Performance
The software supports 150+ file formats of text, photos, music, video, documents, software, and compressed files. Hetman Partition has basic scanning algorithms and advanced modes. Basic modality works like a quick scan, detecting a corrupted file in 10-15 seconds. However, such recovery leads to massive quality losses, especially in image and video files. Advanced modes preserve high-quality versions but take from 10 minutes to 5 hours, depending on the size of the partition.
Interface
The software offers a wizard step-by-step guidance for file recovery, although it requires complex manual customization. The interface will walk you through multiple steps before you will get to the recovery.
Bottom line
When choosing file recovery software, users typically have to choose between speed and high quality. We’ve reviewed some tools that prioritize speed over the precision of file detection and recovery – like Recuva, as well as those that emphasize keeping the high file quality, such as Stellar Data Recovery or Hetman Partition. The final choice depends on your priorities.
Sources:
*https://info.varonis.com/hubfs/2018%20Varonis%20Global%20Data%20Risk%20Report.pdf
Guest Post by DDI DevelopmentDDI Development company brings a unique combination of e-business experience and solid technical proficiency to provide high-quality web and mobile digital solutions in a friendly and creative way. We help businesses achieve their goals by offering professional services. Our expertise spans into several industries including e-commerce, CRMs, e-learning platforms, recruitment and financial systems, etc. Our experienced team has delivered 150+ completed projects.
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