We offer an honest look at the scenarios where a free tool is specifically what was needed, as well as other free tools worth exploring, and the three warning signs that indicate you should immediately stop attempting to recover your data. This information comes from professionals who witness the results of what occurs when you attempt to recover your data improperly.
As professionals who make a living recovering data, we will continue to say that, for deleted files located on a healthy hard drive, good quality free data recovery programs will typically get it back. The real skill is the ability to determine the proper solution for each unique situation.
Four conditions for recovery: meet them all and getting a free tool as your first action will likely make sense.
The context: Files have been removed/deleted off a hard drive (or a removable media card/stick) and/or the device has been reformatted but the rest of the device seems fine. File deletion usually doesn't delete files, it simply unlinks the reference/pointer to the location of the file in question. So if there's an application available that searches under the file system, then potentially those "lost" files can be restored.
The conditions. Condition 1: the disk works as expected, i.e., no clicks, no beeps when you try to read/write to it and it does not disappear during use. Condition 2: You’re going to quit using this disk immediately: every time you use it after losing access to its contents, you may overwrite what you’ve lost. Condition 3: The recovery tool(s) should be installed onto a different physical disk than the disk you are attempting to recover. Condition 4: Any recovered files should also be written to a separate disk. If you violate any of these four, you are essentially risking the integrity of what you’re trying to recover.
A brief honest listing of the tools, none of which we attempt to sell.
The two free tools, PhotoRec and TestDisk, both come without cost due to their open-source nature. There are no caps, nor do they contain any up-sell tactics. PhotoRec allows users to extract photographs, videos, etc. and hundreds of other file types directly from raw storage. It is the perfect companion for TestDisk, which repairs and extracts missing partition information. In return for using them, you'll find the interfaces to be very basic/spartan (capable but not user-friendly).
Recuva (Windows) is a user-friendly, free version of recovery software to help users recover files that have been removed from healthy media by using an easy-to-use interface for recovering recently removed files.
Commercial versions of recovery software such as Disk Drill, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and Wondershare Recoverit also offer ‘free’ versions, however these versions only serve as demo versions. In their free versions they will perform a full scan and list all the available files; however, the amount of recoverable data will be limited to approximately several hundred MBs or a couple of Gigs of information depending on the application before requiring purchase of a licence. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this model: just make sure you know how much data your free trial allows you to recover prior to investing a good amount of time scanning.
Three signs that software is now a problem versus a solution.
The drive is making noises or disconnecting. A clicking, buzzing, grinding, or a device that loses its connection mid-scan indicate a mechanical issue. Since software requires continuous reading operations, and a bad mechanism cannot continue to operate under those conditions, the behaviour seen at the bench is that a large portion of the data could have been recovered, but after three long scans of the device it no longer can be.
It’s an internal SSD and the files were deleted. Most modern solid state drives use TRIM technology. When files are deleted on an SSD, TRIM sends the command to delete the block(s) associated with the file(s), allowing the drive to quickly reuse that space. In most cases, there are no remaining remnants of data to allow any recovery software to locate. However, if an SSD has died, then the controller has failed, typically leaving the data intact behind it. That is when lab testing is required to recover lost data, not a software based recovery attempt.
The data is irreplaceable. So if you have some files that are expendable (you’ll never miss them) then you might want to use a “free” tool for those files. For example, if you have the only copy of all of your company’s financial records, or ten years worth of family photographs stored in a single location, the first shot counts the most, and a complimentary, no-obligation diagnostic will tell you what type of “risk” you’re taking with your file(s) before any work is done. We go into greater detail about the risk versus reward aspect in our software-versus-lab comparison.
Morning one: a working USB stick that held all of the files you deleted yesterday, working just fine and you have access to a working laptop. That’s four yeses: take the laptop and install Recuva, let it do its thing and you’ll have recovered all of the files by the time you’ve had your first cup of coffee. Morning two: you decide to pull out your family external hard drive, hear it clicking softly and realise it contains every photo from 2011 to today. Well question number one is a big fat no, and that single no makes everything else irrelevant; no download will ever touch the files, you shut down the equipment as soon as possible and only a gentle bench read is going to be safe for your files. Morning three: you deleted a folder from your laptop’s SSD an hour ago and now you need to recover it. Questions three and four both failed at the same time, because the machine that lost the files is also the machine you’d be installing Recuva to and recovering on, and TRIM has likely already taken care of it. That morning should be spent using the Recycle Bin/cloud backup/your other recovery options, not scanning devices. Three mornings, three right answers, one simple four-question test.
Yes, absolutely, for the right fault. This software was made for exactly the kind of situation described; if your device has been otherwise unharmed and simply had a file(s) deleted or a card formatted, these programs are great. No software program can get at data which is lost due to a mechanical failure: a "clicking," "dropped" or completely undetectable drive needs to be worked on mechanically before it can even be scanned; scanning it repeatedly will only increase the likelihood that you'll shorten the life span of the drive as well.
A scan alone doesn’t delete anything: the entire process is read-only. However, the damage is done by the options surrounding the scan, i.e., loading the recovery tool onto the same drive you’re trying to recover data off of, saving those recovered files back onto said drive, or repeatedly forcing a mechanically-failing drive through a series of scans. One simple rule should help prevent such potential damage: never write anything to the device you’re trying to rescue. In most cases, the cost associated with attempting such a recovery will be minimal.
There isn’t a single “best” program when dealing with various types of failures. Instead, there is a specific program designed for each type of failure. For example, photos missing from a camera card: PhotoRec. A simple file deletion on Windows: Recuva. A partition that has seemingly disappeared: TestDisk. If the drive itself is malfunctioning, then using any software would likely only worsen your chances of recovering your lost files.
Give an engineer a description of the device and the nature of the failure: they'll give you an honest assessment about whether the use of software will be useful or if it's just going to waste your time. The diagnostic process takes place for free regardless of their decision.