What is the best data recovery software? StellarDataRecovery or Disk Drill? Disk Drill is substantially cheaper. The free trial options seem like click and bait. They will scan but not retrieve lost data.
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Data recovery.
- Thread starter CarlLikesTech
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Carbon Copy Cloner. Restores your data from the backups you make in case your drive gets a case of dementia.
If you mean something to recover when you haven't been keeping backups ... well ... now you know better.
For partition recovery – TestDisk https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
TestDisk Step By Step https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
For files - PhotoRec “is file data recovery software designed to recover lost files including video, documents and archives from hard disks” https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
Commercial software with free trial
Ontrack EasyRecovery
TestDisk Step By Step https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
For files - PhotoRec “is file data recovery software designed to recover lost files including video, documents and archives from hard disks” https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
Commercial software with free trial
Ontrack EasyRecovery
https://www.ontrack.com/en-us/data-recovery/software
I have used Disk Drill with really good results. The only time I had issues with it was with a friend’s failing Fusion Drive with an intermittent working HDD portion. When extracting a large amount of data, if the drive unmounts during, you lose any progress that you made. Not sure why it cannot save items individually when recovering a large amount of files. The only way around this was to do smaller batches, which was annoying.
I guess it is so they get paid. If they had a fully working demo, a lot of people only need it once.
Yes they do seem like that, but gives you a chance to discover whether they will actually find anything on your particular corrupted media. Saves you wasting money in the first place.
I have used Disk Drill. Doesn't present as professional looking, but did the job for me many years ago.
But, in general, I prefer to rely on backup.
The backup nazis …
Talking about backup when somebody asks about data recovery is like shouting “you should have learned to swim” to a drowning person.
Talking about backup when somebody asks about data recovery is like shouting “you should have learned to swim” to a drowning person.
In my case, I think you are being a little unfair. My two previous paragraphs were intended to add substance and experience to the question and answers.
To be fair, they are also getting hints about possible solutions, and drawbacks to each.
With the arrival of the t2 chip, and the "integrated memory" CPU's of the m-series Mac SSD's (which have built-in encryption), I'm thinking that most "data recovery" software may become useless.
I'd be interested in hearing about the use of data recovery apps by anyone who HAS a t2 Mac or an m-series Mac.
What worked for you?
I'd be interested in hearing about the use of data recovery apps by anyone who HAS a t2 Mac or an m-series Mac.
What worked for you?
This is a poor analogy because it implies someone can just jump in and save him.
If OP doesn't have backups, then either 1) he didn't know about backups, 2) didn't think he needed them, 3) doesn't care about his data, or 4) assumed data recovery is good enough. Or perhaps he does have backups and is just surveying the recovery landscape. Or perhaps he helping someone in one of the above situations.
In all cases, it must be stressed that backups are the correct solution. Begin with the 321 strategy: 3 different backups, 2 different kinds of storage media, 1 different physical location. You may have data loss today, but you can prevent it from happening again tomorrow.
As to data recovery, I share your recommendation of PhotoRec. And depending on how valuable that lost data is, you can spend serious money shipping your drive somewhere for potential recovery using physical forensic analysis.
To other commenters, I don't see how a trial version of recovery software merely scanning for recoverable files as a trap: it tells you if it can find anything that might be recoverable. Would you rather there not be a trial version at all?
Yes, by providing an answer to what he asked for.
The title of the thread is “Data recovery.”, the question is about data recovery software. The thread was started on 11 August 2022, the OP hasn’t responded since. It’s high time to stop talking about backups.
Some recovery software (e.g. Disk Drill) can be downloaded and partially run for free. That is enough to discover if it can recover files. You then can decide whether to pay to do the recovery.
But disk disaster recovery has become more difficult with APFS.
A better recovery strategy is to do so from a backup.
As well as only running on Windows, I don't think it supports APFS which does rather limit it for Mac recovery.
you can also try this software: https://www.easeus.com/mac-data-recovery-software/. nut this tool is not com pletely free but you can get a limited amount of data back.
gilby wrote above:
"But disk disaster recovery has become more difficult with APFS."
Question:
Can anyone name sine 3rd-party data recovery apps that work with APFS?
To my knowledge, most will only work with disks formatted for HFS+.
But I could be wrong and behind the curve on this one.
EDIT:
I AM "behind the curve", I reckon.
I tried the easeus.com software (reply 21), and it DOES seem capable of reading the boot partition on my 2018 Mini's internal SSD (which is formatted to APFS).
I'll have to try some newer versions of other data recovery software as well.
"But disk disaster recovery has become more difficult with APFS."
Question:
Can anyone name sine 3rd-party data recovery apps that work with APFS?
To my knowledge, most will only work with disks formatted for HFS+.
But I could be wrong and behind the curve on this one.
EDIT:
I AM "behind the curve", I reckon.
I tried the easeus.com software (reply 21), and it DOES seem capable of reading the boot partition on my 2018 Mini's internal SSD (which is formatted to APFS).
I'll have to try some newer versions of other data recovery software as well.
Last edited:
It's been a while since I needed it, but I've been using Diskwarrior. They appear to be working on APFS compatibility, but so far you can't rebuild those drives: https://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior5apfs.