Our reviewers evaluate products and services based on unbiased research. Top Consumer Reviews may earn money when you click on a link. Learn more about our process.
Data recovery is something we don't often think about until it's too late. Let's say you are working on a very important document when you step away for a moment. Suddenly, the cat jumps onto the desk and knocks your laptop on the floor. The computer will no longer turn on and you realized that procrastinating buying that backup drive wasn't a good move. Or, perhaps your spouse was a little overzealous in deleting old files and removed some precious photographs you had intended to organize later.
Maybe that fast new SSD drive failed a lot faster than the manufacturer promised it would. And, sometimes, a computer just will not start because of technical problems or software updates that went badly. Regardless of the scenario, without a backup or recovery plan, losing data can make you feel pretty hopeless.
Sunday, March 26th
Ontrack is a data recovery software service that has been around since 1985. They specialize in helping Windows, Mac, and iOS users recover from loss of files, photos, and other media. They perform an average of 50,000 data recovery operations per year. The software provides increasing amounts of capabilities the further up the pricing tier you go. It has few complaints and does a great job of data recovery, earning Ontrack our highest recommendation in the industry.
Salvage Data is an ISO certified full-service data recovery company that offers free, do-it-yourself software as well as on-site data recovery services. This is a company you'll want to use if you have data that is critically important, or hard drives and other storage media that are too compromised to try to deal with yourself.
Wondershare Recoverit comes in PC and Mac versions and is geared for individuals, teams and businesses. Wondershare's price points for its Recoverit software are low enough to be affordable for most people and high enough to show that they take your data recovery needs seriously. Some problems with the software exist, but support representatives are actively addressing complaints.
EaseUS offers three main products to help you manage unlimited backups and data recovery: Data Recovery Wizard, Partition Master, and Todo Backup. Since 2004, EaseUS has helped individuals, small- and medium-sized businesses, and enterprises manage disk backup, security, and recovery. It comes in three tiers of pricing: Free, Pro, and Pro+Bootable with a 30-day warranty. Mixed customer feedback is the main reason EaseUS doesn't come in a little higher in the rankings among data recovery services.
Stellar is a data recovery software and services company that is ISO certified. It offers software for individuals, professionals, and businesses to recover and repair all types of files from a variety of devices. There's something for everyone in their array of software and services. Customer feedback on the products is generally positive with only a few complaints, earning this data recovery platform a high ranking among the competition.
O&O Software is based in Berlin, Germany and is a Microsoft Gold-Level Partner that helps individuals and companies improve data workflow and capabilities. Their software focuses on backups, transfers, data rescue and protection, as well as system optimization. They are Microsoft certified, but unfortunately don't support MacOS, so Mac users will have to look elsewhere.
Remo Recover by Remo Software is a Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS file recovery suite that promises complete data recovery and file repair for every type of file and device. However, user experiences indicate that this data recovery service is difficult to understand and use, and you may wind up feeling like you've been duped into paying for software when you expected a free version. You may want to look elsewhere for more straightforward data recovery help.
Among the lower-cost options for data recovery, Wise Data Recovery stands out a bit more from the rest, but just barely. The dizzying array of options presented on their website is hard to make sense of if you don't know what you need, so if you're going to use this software, stick with the All-in-One offering. Otherwise, you may want to look at some of the more highly-rated data recovery services in our review.
Undelete File Recovery is an uncomplicated, bare-bones approach to data recovery software. And, that is its primary weakness in an age when data recovery is more complicated than ever. Undelete File Recovery is suited to an earlier and simpler era of computing, so it's not likely to be a good option for most users.
However, with the right data recovery service, all is not lost! Just remember that not all data recovery software is the same. Before you purchase your next data recovery utility, you should consider a number of factors. These include:
TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best data recovery services available today. We hope you find this information helpful in restoring your valuable files the next time you encounter a data disaster.
Select any 2 Data Recovery Products to compare them head to head