One of the best ways to recover lost data on your computer, Mac or Windows is to use a data recovery tool. They make data recovery easy and many of them even recover the data regardless of how it was deleted in the first place. Data recovery programs are a dime a dozen. So many of them flock the market that it is increasingly very difficult to find the right one for your particular circumstance. This is why we have decided to list the top free data recovery software in the market for both Windows and Mac to help you to recover deleted files free. It is our hope that our detailed analysis of each one of these programs will go a long way in helping you find the right tool for you. We have included some of the most popular tools but also some new ones you may not have heard of.
Part 1: Top 5 Free Software to Recover Deleted Files for Mac
1# Recoverit (IS) for Mac
It is one of the best data recovery programs in the business. Not only is it 100% safe, it is also very easy to use and gives you more options when it comes to data recovery. You can use it to recovery different types of data including document, photos, music, videos and so much more.
Pros:
- It comes with a lot of features designed to make data recovery very easy and super-fast
- You can use this program to recover more than 200 types of data
- It is safe for your system because it utilizes read-only technology
2# Free Disk Drill
This is another great data recovery tool that can be used for scanning, recovery, restoring and ultimately protecting the Mac system. It can be used to recover just about any type of data from your Mac’s hard drive as well as any type of disk media including USB, Flash Drives and even Memory cards.
Pros:
- It is a highly effective data recovery program
- Scanning with disk drill is fast and you can even preview the contents of the file before recovery
Cons:
- The basic version is free but lacks some of the more valuable features
3# Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery
Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery is another data recovery program that can be useful when you want to recover lost data. It is useful when you want to recover deleted Mac data from an internal hard drive, external hard drive, USB flash disks, memory cards and more. It can recover data even if the partitions have been damaged, reformatted or deleted.
Pros:
- It is highly effective in data recovery, even recovers data from a disk that is damaged or has been formatted
Cons:
- Some customer reviews were negative. Most complaining of malfunction
4# M3 Free Mac Data Recovery
It may not be as popular as the others we have seen on this list but M3 Free Mac Data Recovery works well to recover deleted data from files that have been lost. It even allows you to preview the files before recovery and can also be used to recover data from external storage devices.
Pros:
- It is safe and reliable
- Can be used to recover data from external storage devices
Cons:
- Only recovers data that has been lost after the trash was emptied
- It is relatively new, with few reviews that are generally not good.
5# TestDisk
The TestDisk download will come with two programs; TestDisk and PhotoRec. The TestDisk program in particular is a very powerful data recovery program for Mac users. It is very useful in recovering lost partitions and making non-bootable disks bootable again. It is highly reliable able to recover just about any type of data that has been lost under any circumstance.
Pros:
- It is very reliable and quite useful in data recovery
- You can use it to recover all types of data including photos, videos, music and documents
- It can even recover files that have been lost due to virus attacks
Cons:
- When you first install the program it can be hard to figure out how to use it
- Scanning a partition may take a while
Part 2: Top 6 Free Softwares to Recover Deleted Files for Windows
The following are the top choices when you want to recover lost data on Windows.
1# Recuva
Recuva is a free program that is useful when recovering data from just about any Windows disk. It can recover all types of data from, your hard disk and even external storage devices such as USB drives. It is almost effortless to use and has pleasing interface that makes navigation very easy. It however lacks some of the additional features you will find on more sophisticated data recovery programs for Windows.
Pros:
- It is easy to use and can undelete any type of data
- It comes with a secure-delete feature
- It also has a portable version that runs from a USB stick
Cons:
- Not as powerful as some of the other programs
- Marks some files as "unrecoverable"
2# Recoverit (IS) for Windows
It is another of the most powerful data recovery programs in the market. It can be used to recover all types of data regardless of the circumstances leading up to the data loss. The program comes with an easy to use and very pleasing user interface although there is also a tutorial if you get stuck. The program also enables for deep scanning just in case the normal scanning mode failed to yield the missing data.
Pros:
- It is highly powerful and almost always recovers the missing data
- It can recover all types of data including photos, music, documents and videos
- It is easy to use and works very fast
3# Puran File Recovery
Puran File Recovery is another free file recovery program for windows that is also very useful in scanning disks and recovering the missing files from the disk/ it provides a super easy way to navigate the partitions to find the missing data. It even provides a way to preview the data before recovery, making it easy for the user to determine that they are indeed recovering the data they want.
Pros:
- It can be used to search for and recover up to 50 different file types
- It is 100% free to use
- A filter allows you to select the file type you would like to download, reducing the time it takes to scan the drive for the file.
Cons:
- Scanning is very slow especially when recovering data-heavy files such as videos and images
- It cannot be used to recover data from external storage devices
4# Glary Undelete
Glary Undelete is another one of the more reliable free data recovery programs for Windows users. It comes with a clean, easy to sue interface that makes it the ideal software for novices and experts. It particularly has a great way of organizing the results into folders and file types to make it easy for you to find the data you want to recover.
Pros:
- It comes in a small package making it easy to download
- Allows for advanced searching by data and size
Cons:
- Scanning is a bit slow
- It lacks some of the really useful features you will find on other more advanced programs
5# Wise Data Recovery
This is another free data recovery program for Windows whose major selling point is that it comes in a familiar interface (looks a little like Windows Explorer). This makes it very easy to use even if you have never used this type of data recovery program before. It is also ideal for data recovery purposes, allowing the user to recover data from both external and internal hard drives. The program also goes further by having features that can recover data from MP3 players and even cameras.
Pros:
- Very quick to install
- It will show you the recoverability of a file
- Can be used to recover multiple files at once and even has a portable version
- Has an advanced search utility
Cons:
- Recovered files may not remain in their original folder structure
- It can be a little bit slow and lack a deep scan feature
6# Pandora Recovery
This is a great program to help you recover NTFS formatted drives and is a free program that is very easy to use. It can be used to recover just about any type of data but will only work for computer drives and not on external storage devices. It is also not useful when you want to recover photos but has a unique feature that will help you recover individual emails.
Pros:
- It can quickly locate and recover deleted files of all types
- A built in preview feature allows you to see the files before recovery
Cons:
- It can only recover files from NTFS formatted disks which means it will not help if you want to recover data from USB drives and memory cards
- The program has been known to hang a few times during operation and is also a little slow when scanning
