Free data recovery programs - TOP 5

What is the best free data recovery program? It is difficult to choose one, so we have several suggestions for you. Here are the best ways to deal with the problem of unwanted file loss caused by system error, infection or simply user inattention. Free data recovery programs.

Recovering data from a disk, USB flash drive or SD card is not that simple. Fortunately, there are programs that effectively help restore lost files, whether by accidental deletion, system error or infection, and some of them are available for free. In this ranking, we present precisely the best free data recovery programs for Windows 10 (or earlier).

Which free data recovery program should you choose? Ranking 2021:

• Disk Drill - an effective data recovery program for Windows
• TestDisk & PhotoRec - Photo Recovery Program (and more)
• Recover - a convenient way to recover data from a disk
• Stellar Free Data Recovery Software - advanced data recovery
• DMDE Free Edition - an effective way to recover files
• Bonus: Windows File Recovery, which is Microsoft's solution

 Data recovery from disk, SD card or USB flash drive. How to go about it?

How to restore a deleted document or photo? You can, for example, give the equipment to a specialized service, but this is often associated with large expenses that ... do not have to be made. You have to know that you can do it yourself. Recovery applications are used for this and although most of them are paid programs, ordinary users rarely really need such advanced tools.

The alternative to these paid ones are free data recovery programs. They are usually easy to use and quite effective at the same time, especially if action is taken quickly (and the file has been deleted in a standard way rather than using a program designed to permanently delete data). Of course, not every tool works equally well, hence this comparison.

Some programs do better in some situations, others - in others, but it is really difficult to say exactly which ones. Therefore, we recommend not just one specific application, but five different ones (and one more). We believe that one of them will be helpful in your situation. Time to tell yourself a little more about them.

Here are the best data recovery software for free

Disk Drill

• Producer: 508 Software, license: free (private), systems: Windows 10/8/7 / Vista / XP
• Download Disk Drill from a trusted source

Disk Drill (formerly known as Pandora Recovery) offers a user-friendly interface. The effectiveness varies, but he is still at the forefront when it comes to free solutions - that's why there are many people who have actually helped.

It works by scanning the disk to create an index of existing and no longer existing directories and files. The index created in this way can be searched manually or the search engine can be used, providing information about the document, photo or film we are looking for, which we know (such as name, size, extension or creation date). Then choose where you want the found data to appear and¦ that's it.

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The application copes with recovering files from hard drives and flash drives, and can even recover a lost partition. However, it should be noted that the free version of Disk Drill is intended for private use only and allows you to recover a maximum of 500 MB of lost data from FAT / NTFS volumes.

TestDisk & PhotoRec

• Producer: CGSecurity, license: free (freeware), systems: Windows / Linux / macOS
• Download TestDisk & PhotoRec from a trusted source

It is a completely free program with great possibilities, which may be discouraging for novice users with its interface. Undoubtedly, this is the biggest downside, but if you want to recover your files, it's worth gritting your teeth and giving it a chance. As the name suggests, it is actually a bundle of two tools that allows you to recover lost data.

Its valuable companion is PhotoRec - a tool that allows you to recover deleted files: documents, archives and - above all - photos that "disappeared" from hard drives and other storage media. Similarly to TestDisk, it is very effective, and also offers a graphical interface, which makes it easier to use for less advanced users.

Recuva

Producer: Piriform, license: free (private), systems: Windows 10/8/7 / Vista / XP

Download Recuva from a trusted source

Recuva is the most popular and at the same time one of the most effective software for recovering files - especially those that were accidentally deleted "just now". In other words: it works best in situations when an attempt to recover a file takes place immediately after its deletion (from the hard disk or memory card) and it does not really matter whether it was deleted by a user error or, for example, as a result of an infection.

The program was created by Piriform, the author of the ccleaner tool, and like it, it is characterized by broadly understood simplicity. This feature not only makes the use of the application child's play, but also ensures appropriate acceleration of the entire process. Its advantage is undoubtedly the low hardware requirements. It is definitely not a perfect tool, but among the free ones it is very close to such a title.

By the way - interestingly, one of the best features of Recuva is the opposite to the one described. Namely, the program offers effective and permanent file deletion - it does it in such a way that no tool can recover them.

Stellar Free Data Recovery Software

• Producer: Stellar, license: free (private), systems: Windows 10/8/7
• Download Stellar Free Data Recovery Software from a trusted source

Stellar Free Data Recovery Software is one of the newest programs of its kind, but it quickly proved its effectiveness on computers of many users. It efficiently recovers lost data and allows you to conveniently search it. It can deal with HDD and SSD disks, flash drives and SD cards, and with various files stored on these media: from documents, through music, to movies and photos.

Using the program is child's play and is limited to three steps: you choose the media and file type, scan the devices and save the data that Stellar Free Data Recovery Software has recovered for you. The clear interface also makes it all easier

Even in the free version, it can do what it needs to do, even in the case of formatted media and files stored on encrypted drives. What's more, without requiring fees, it allows you to recover as much as 1 GB of data, which is a much better result than the competition.

DMDE Free Edition

• Producer: DMDE Software, license: free (private), systems: Windows 10/8/7 / Vista / XP
• Download DMDE Free Edition from a trusted source

It definitely doesn't have the friendliest interface. However, DMDE can be forgiven for this, because in return we get a tool that is extremely efficient at data recovery. It supports all popular file formats, and while it has some limitations in the free version, none of them should be a reason not to give it a shot.

DMDE does not require installation (which could overwrite the data you are trying to recover). It is enough to put the program on a USB flash drive and connect the latter to a USB port on the computer. Once launched, you can start searching and recovering files as well as disks and partitions that have become invisible to Windows. Thanks to special algorithms, it can cope even in situations when other tools are forced to give up.

Again, by the way - DMDE is also a powerful tool for partition management, editing and disk cloning, or RAID configuration.

Windows File Recovery

• Producer: Microsoft, license: free, systems: Windows 10
• Download Windows File Recovery from a reputable source

Finally, a bonus in the form of Microsoft's proprietary program for Windows 10 users. The giant from Redmond decided that since he created this system himself, he knows best how to recover files that for one reason or another have disappeared from a computer disk, flash drive or memory card .

Windows File Recovery - because that's what it's called - is a program that is available for free. You just need to download and install it, and then run it from the command line - with the winfr command. The lack of a graphical interface may be an obstacle for some users, but as it usually happens, something for something.

Microsoft's tool works well for recovering documents, archives, and multimedia files on NTFS, FAT, exFAT, and ReFS. Therefore - although we mention it at the very end - it may be worth starting with it.