We have all had this happen to us, accidentally hitting the delete button on some of our information. We end up having so much regret, not realizing that there are ways to still recover the deleted data. You need to realize that files you have deleted are still on your hard drive, just the pointers to those locations are deleted (unless you have overwritten it). All you need is the proper software to help with recovery. Here is our list of the best data recovery software for pc.
1. Recuva
Recuva is one of the best data recovery software out there. It makes undeleting files just as easy as deleting them. The best part of the software is that it offers great backward compatibility. It can even work on Windows 2000 (despite it not being popular anymore). The software allows you to recover files from different drives such as Hard drives, DVD, and even iPods. This is all made possible by the combination of ease of use as well as advanced features available with the software.
2. Stellar Data Recovery
Stellar Data Recovery is the perfect tool to recover almost any kind of your PC files including documents, videos, pictures, email files, etc. The sky is the limit on what you can recover with this excellent tool for Windows. Being in the industry for more than a decade, you can definitely trust the service with your files. The user interface of the tool is very user-friendly, thus, can be used by anyone without any prior data recovery expertise.
3. Puran File Recovery
The third best data recovery software in the market is Puran File Recovery. It offers a number of advanced features similar to Recuva. The difference is that it doesn’t offer as much backward compatibility as Recuva. It only works as far back as Windows XP. It does make this up by offering the ability to recover files from lost partitions. The only condition is that the partition shouldn’t have been overwritten yet. The program is also very easy to use, and it does scan all drives that are attached to the PC. There is a portable version offered for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
4. Disk Drill
This data recovery software works both for Mac OS X and Windows. It can work as far back as Windows XP. The tool is for people that love simple designs that are not confusing. The program offers a great user experience and anyone can understand how to use it. You can use it to recover data from both internal and external hard drives. It does offer some great features such as preview image files, back up a drive, filter files by date and size, and many more. A feature that we found useful is the fact that you can save scan results and import the files later.
5. Pandora Recovery
Pandora recovery is great. In fact, it’s one of the best out there. The only issue is that it doesn’t have a portable version, which is a turn-off for many people. Apart from that, the program is easy to use and the process of recovering files is very easy. You have 2 methods of scanning, depending on your needs. You could use “surface scan” which allows you to perform a more advanced scan on your device to recover more files. The only condition is that it should be of certain accepted formats. Another option is, you could use the standard, simple-scan. It works with almost any drive that can be connected to your PC.
6. Glary Undelete
Glary Undelete is a free program that is great and very easy to use. There is a downside in that you have to fully install the program on your PC (no portable version) and it does ask you to install a toolbar (you can decline as well). One thing that stands out about this software is the user interface. It has a Windows explorer style view of recoverable files. This makes it familiar and easy to use for those that like using familiar things.
7. Wise Data Recovery
The UX for this software is great and very easy to use. One of the few things to like about it is that it has an instant search function. This function makes it quick and easy to access the recovered files that the program has found. We also liked the recoverability column, as it shows how likely a file can be recovered. It uses good, poor, very poor or lost as its scale. It can work as far back as Windows XP.
8. Restoration
This software is quite similar to many of the other software on this list. It runs on Windows 10, 8, 7 all the way to Windows 98. It’s easy to use and has a user-friendly design. Likewise, it can recover files from any drive that is attached to the PC. Be it a USB drive or a memory card. The great part about it is that it’s portable and doesn’t need to be installed on your PC for it to work.
9. SoftPerfect File Recovery
This program is very portable as it’s sized at only 500 KB. It makes it very easy to run from your USB flash disk or, if you’re feeling very old school, your Floppy disk. It offers great backward compatibility and can be used even on Windows 98. Furthermore, it also supports the 64-bit version of Windows. The software is very easy to use and won’t cause confusion for anyone using it. SoftPerfect file recovery allows for recovering files from any drive that is connected to your PC. The sad news is CD/DVD drives are not supported by this program.
10. Mini Tool Power Data Recovery
Let’s start with the downsides, Mini Tool Power Data Recovery needs to be installed on your PC to work. This raises concerns as it might overwrite the data that we need to recover. In addition to that, it only allows recovery of up to 1 GB, at which point you need to pay and upgrade to the paid version. With that said, the software can find deleted files pretty quickly and can find files on internal and external drives. You can even search the deleted data or export it to a TXT file.
11. Photo Rec
The last on our list is here for a reason. It does great in recovering deleted files, but its user interface is quite hard to use. You need to understand how to use command-line if you want to enjoy this app. With that said, the software works great and can recover files from any drive attached to the PC.
