10 Best Free Data Recovery Software of 2023

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We are going to discuss about some well-known data recovery tools to recover any type of lost data from Windows systems. Data Recovery software recovers data that is deleted from the system, either recently or earlier.

Sometimes, when data is deleted from a system, it goes to Recycle Bin first. But even after deleting it from Recycle Bin, the data is still on the system. Here comes the role of data recovery software. If the data is not over-written, it can be recovered with a data recovery software.

Choosing a data recovery software is never easy and a bit risky too; going for a wrong data recovery tool can bring the user in an unwanted situation. Let’s check-out ten outstanding free data recovery tools of the year.

1 – Kernel for Windows Data Recovery-Free Version

Kernel for Windows Data Recovery-Free Version is a well-known and reliable Data Recovery tool, designed with the latest technology to recover and restore all sort of lost/deleted data. The tool can successfully retrieve the data from corrupt hard drives, both internal and external. The Free data recovery software recovers all sorts of data, including music files, videos, images, documents, emails, and provides the option to save it at the desired location. The tool comes with a trial version that lets you scan and preview all the files from the desired disk. This helps you to know the tool better before actually investing in it. Let’s have a detailed insight into the tool.

Home Screen of the Tool Showing All Three Recovery Modes

Features:

• Three recovery modes Quick Scan, Deep Scan, and File Trace
• Recovers even permanently deleted files
• Recovers all file formats from Hard disks
• Recovers data deleted from Recycle bin
• Maintains data integrity
• Provides a preview of the recovered files
• Customized data recovery with advanced settings
• Provides preview before saving
• Find option to search for specific files
• Totally free

System Requirements:

• Pentium Class Processor
• Windows 11, 10, 8/ 8.1, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, 98, NT, 95 (FAT 16, FAT 32, NTFS, NTFS5) compatible
• Supports Windows Server 2016, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008, 2003 R2, 2003
• 50 MB disk space required

Pros:

• Save up to 2GB data for free
• Can recover compressed and encrypted files
• Save/Load Snapshot feature to resume recovery after pausing
• Retry multiple times in case of severely corrupt sectors
• Recovers from internal or external hard drives like memory cards, USB flash, cameras, etc.
• Exclude/Include duplicates and deleted files from recovery

Cons:

• Showing progress of the recovery can slow down the process.

Recover My Files is recovery software that recovers deleted files from the system even after deletion from the recycle bin. The tool recovers the files that are accidentally deleted or formatted from the system. The tool also recovers the file lost due to the virus infection, abrupt system shutdowns, and other uncertainties.

Recovery Modes of the Tool

Features:

• Recovers Lost, deleted, emptied files from the system.
• Recovers from external drives and devices like USB, SD card, Camera, Floppy disk, etc.
• Recovers files deleted from Recycle bin
• Recovers files after a partition error
• Recovers all sort of media

System Requirements:

• Compatible with Windows 7, 8, and 10

Pros:

• Provides option to select Recover Files and Recover a Drive
• Recovers HFS, HFS+, NTFS, and FAT files

Cons:

• Supports only a few and new versions of Windows
• Quality of recovered files is not up to the mark

Recuva is a data recovery tool by Piriform, capable of recovering lost/deleted data from the system’s hard disk or an external drive. It is equipped with a quick-start facility. The tool is designed to recover a variety of media including Images, Songs, Videos, Documents, Emails, etc. Let’s discuss the tool in detail.

Recuva’s Interface

Features:

• Undelete data like media, documents, emails, etc.
• Recovers permanently deleted data
• Comes with two recovery modes, Wizard Mode and Advanced Mode
• Quick Start feature to recover files of a specific type

System Requirements:

• The tool can work with Windows OS 98, XP, Vista, 7, and 8.

Pros:

• The tool comes with a Quick Start feature that can help you to recover lost files of a particular type.

Cons:

• Although the interface of the tool is quite easy and can be operated by anyone, at some point, the tool can be complicated. If you want to use the Quick Start feature of the tool then it can be selected when the tool is opened, but sometimes, the tool won’t show it, and you have to struggle to find it.

Puran File Recovery, as the name suggests, is a data recovery software that recovers files, folders, and other items either from the system’s hard drive or from the external drives like USB, Memory cards, CDs, Pen Drives, etc. The tool scans the drive with deep scanning mode to provide the desired results, with the full path of the deleted items.

Working of Puran File Recovery

Features:

• Recovers permanently deleted and lost files and partitions
• Recovers from system’s hard disk as well as external drives
• Provides deep and full recovery modes
• Recovers files from 50 formats
• The search option to locate specific files

System Requirements:

• Supports Windows XP/2003/VISTA/2008/7/8.1/10

Pros:

• The tool is portable and can be used in the BartPE environment.

Cons:

• The recovery process of the tool is a bit slower
• Not suitable for advanced recovery cases

Disk Drill is a data recovery tool and is available online to download and use. It is easy to understand tool that recovers all sorts of deleted data from the system. The user-friendly interface of the tool helps the user to recover files with ease and in a very short duration. The tool comes with multiple recovery modes that helps the user to recover data as per their requirements.

Tool’s interface

Features:

• Recovers deleted data
• Multiple recovery modes
• Assured data security
• Recovers from external and internal drives

System Requirements:

• Supports Windows OS versions 98, XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10.
• Supports file systems like FAT, HFS, NTFS, EXT4, and exFAT.

Pros:

• Equipped with bad sector management feature
• Backup image creation feature

Cons:

• Slow processing – can keep the user waiting for long
• A bit complicated for beginners or users from a non-technical background

Glary Undelete is a renowned data recovery tool that recovers deleted and lost data from the system. The tool is powerful and can recover lost data from internal or external drives of the system; you just need to select the problematic drive before moving forward. The tool can recover all types of files and media from the selected drive.

Glary Undelete’s Interface

Features:

• Undelete files, folders, and media from the system or removable drives
• The tool analyzes the recovery possibilities
• Provides filter option to recover a certain type of files

System Requirements:

• The tool supports the XP/VISTA/2003/7/8/8.1/ and 2010 Versions of Windows OS

Pros:

• Supports FAT, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5, NTFS + EFS file
• Supports basic and dynamic volumes

Cons:

• Fails to recover all types of files or all lost files
• Too many search results sometimes

Wise data recovery recovers accidentally deleted or formatted files or the data lost due to the system crash or similar uncertainty. The tool can also recover the lost files from removable devices like USB, Memory card, Digital camera, etc. This is a light weighted data recovery tool that supports all FAT and NTFS files.

Wise Data Recovery

Features:

• Performs quick scanning to saves time
• Light-weighted tool and hence installs very quickly
• Easy to understand user-interface
• Filter option to search for specific data

System Requirements:

• Compatible with all Windows OS versions (Windows XP and above).

Pros:

• User-friendly interface
• Has anti-malware
• Finds duplicate files

Cons:

• The scanning feature is not that powerful and doesn’t recover all the lost data
• The tool lacks the most important feature, that is the Help option for assistance

FreeUndelete is a data recovery tool that can recover and restore lost and deleted files from the system and removable drives as well. The tool has a user-friendly interface and can be used by people with limited technical skills and beginners. The tool recovers data successfully to the desired location.

Free Undelete’s Interface

Features:

• Undeletes files from the system and removable drives
• Contains the Toolbox button for better recovery experience
• Filter option to search and recover the specific file types
• Provides browse option to Undelete only selected files

System Requirements:

• Supports Windows OS 2000, XP, 2003, VISTA, and 2008
• Minimum 10 MB hard disk is required
• 256-1023 MB RAM is required

Pros:

• Easy to use and understand
• Self-descriptive features

Cons:

• It doesn’t support older versions like Windows 98, 98SE, and ME.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is an easy to use data recovery tool that can quickly recover lost and deleted data from the system and the removable drives. The tool is capable of recovering data from the formatted drives or partitions with errors. The tool is quite easy to understand and can be used by beginners and non-techies.

MiniTool Data Recovery Tool’s Interface

Features:

• A user-friendly tool with an easily understandable interface
• Multiple scanning options for a flexible user experience
• Has preview facility to view the files before saving

System Requirements:

• Supports newer Windows OS versions like 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and old versions like XP and Vista.

Pros:

• Recovers from the hard disk and RAID devices

Cons:

• Not good at handling bad sectors
• You can’t minimize the tool while the recovery process is going on

iBoysoft Data Recovery can easily recover lost and deleted data from the system and from the removable devices like external hard disk, SD Cards, USB, digital cameras, etc. Recovers data from formatted and deleted partitions and a wide variety of file formats, including file systems like NTFS, exFAT, and FAT32.

iBoysoft Data Recovery’s Interface

Features:

• Recovers data from formatted drives
• Recovers data from lost partitions
• User-friendly interface

System Requirements:

• Compatible with Windows OS versions like XP/VISTA/7/8/8.1/10/
• Supports File systems like FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT

Pros:

• Easy to use tool
• Quickly scans drives

Cons:

• Weak scan – misses a lot of files
• Alters recovered files.

Conclusion:

After analyzing and using all the tools to the best of my understanding, I found that Kernel for Windows Data Recovery-Free Version is the most reliable and result-oriented tool of all. While working on the tool, I realized that every step of the tool was leading me to another without having to put effort or technical knowledge. The best about the tool that is just suitable for personal use as it allows the user to recover 2GB data free. The three unique scanning modes of the tool provides you an option to recover files as per the corruption and hence saves time and energy. I personally liked the preview feature of the tool, that allows the user to view all the files that need to be restored. The tool proved to be very powerful and works even for severe data loss situations. I hope this blog was helpful.