The 19 Best Free Data Recovery Software Tools of 2025
Get files back that you thought were gone forever with any one of these freeware data recovery tools. These apps recover documents, videos, images, music, and more from your hard drive, USB drive, media card, etc.
I recommend every computer owner install a file recovery program, preferably as soon as possible (like right after you get a computer or install the OS).
Our Favorite Free Data Recovery Programs
I’ve ranked these programs in order of how easy they were for me to use and the usefulness of their features. Start at the top for our best recommendations, then move down the list if you’re looking for something else.
Tips: Data recovery software is just one way to go. See How to Recover Deleted Files for a complete tutorial, including how to avoid common pitfalls during the file recovery process.
1. Recuva
- Lots of advanced options.
- A wizard walkthrough makes it easy to use.
- Works on most Windows operating systems.
- Infrequent updates.
Recuva is the very best free data recovery software tool available, hands down. It’s very easy to use but has many optional advanced features as well. It’s always my first recommendation for anyone who wants one of these tools.
It can recover files from hard drives, external drives (USB drives, etc.), BD/DVD/CD discs, and memory cards. This program can even undelete files from your iPod!
Undeleting a file is as easy as deleting one! I highly recommend that you try Recuva first if you need to recover a file.
This free app from Piriform will undelete files in Windows 11, 10, 8 & 8.1, 7, Vista, and XP. I tested file recovery on Windows 11.
Wise Data Recovery
- Scans for deleted files quickly.
- There’s a portable option.
- Can’t recover more than 2 GB of data.
- Doesn’t show a file’s chance of usability before undeleting it.
- Recovery doesn’t retain the original folder structure.
Wise Data Recovery is a free undelete program that’s really simple to use. I like that the program installed very quickly and scanned my PC in record time. It can check for deleted files on various USB devices like memory cards and other removal devices.
An instant search function makes it really quick and easy to search for deleted files that the program has found, and there’s both a quick and a full scan option depending on how deep of a scan you want to perform.
Most programs tell you how recoverable a file is before you attempt to undelete it. This program does not do that, so that’s a bummer. It also prevents you from undeleting more than 2 GB of data.
This app is said to run on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP, as well as macOS. The portable version of Wise Data Recovery is available through Softpedia.
03. Disk Drill
- Organizes deleted files by category for easier viewing.
- Lets you filter the results by size and/or date.
- Supports a quick scan and a deep scan mode.
- Works with several different file systems.
- Lets you recover only 500 MB of data.
- Has to be installed (no portable version).
Disk Drill is an excellent free data recovery program not only because of its features but also due to the very simple design, making it almost impossible to get confused.
According to their website, Disk Drill can recover data from “virtually any storage device,” such as internal and external hard drives, USB devices, memory cards, and iPods.
It has several useful features: preview files before recovering them, pause scans and resume them later, perform partition recovery, back up an entire drive, filter files by date or size, run a quick scan versus a full scan for faster results, and save scan results so you can easily import them again to recovery deleted files at a later time.
Of course, my biggest complaint is the 500 MB recovery limit. That’s quite small, especially if you have lots of stuff to retrieve.
The latest version works with 64-bit editions of Windows 11 and Windows 10, plus macOS 10.15 and newer. Earlier versions work with older operating systems like Windows 8 through XP.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
- You can back up the scan results to restore files later without having to rescan the whole drive.
- Works on Windows and macOS.
- Lets you sort files by file type, date it was removed, and name.
- Browse folders like you would in File Explorer.
- Supports previewing files prior to restoration.
- Only 2 GB of data can be recovered.
- No portable version.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is another great file undelete program. Recovering files is very easy to do with just a few clicks.
My favorite thing about this program is that the user interface is structured much like File Explorer. While that may not be everyone’s ideal way to display files, it’s a very familiar interface that most people are comfortable with.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard will undelete files from hard drives, optical drives, memory cards, iOS devices, cameras, and pretty much anything else that Windows sees as a storage device. It also does partition recovery!
Please know that EaseUS’ program will only recover a total of 512 MB of data before you’ll need to upgrade (or up to 2 GB if you use the share button in the program to post about the software on social media).
I almost didn’t include this program because of that limitation, but since most situations call for undeleting much less than that, I’ll let it slide. That said, this program will only be useful a few times, or less if the file is big. Fortunately, there are nearly two dozen other options on this list!
Data Recovery Wizard supports macOS 14 through 10.9; Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7; and Windows Server 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012, 2008, and 2003.
05 Windows File Recovery
- Microsoft-approved method.
- Works with internal and external drives, including SD cards.
- Lots of options.
- Requires Windows 11/10.
- Works over the command line.
- Must restore to a different drive.
Even Microsoft has a tool for data recovery, but it’s not as easy to use as most of these other programs. This one runs over the command line, so you have to type out everything you want to do. It’s still uncomplicated, though.
To undelete files this way, download and install Windows File Recovery and then search for it in the Start menu to open in. Once you’re on a screen like you see above, you could enter a command like this to recover PNG images from your C drive’s Downloads folder and copy them to the Images folder on a drive called E:
winfr C: E:\Images /n \Users\jonfi\Downloads\*PNGOnly Windows 10 and Windows 11 users can download this tool.
06 Glarysoft File Recovery Free
- Viewing the list of deleted files is easy and user friendly.
- Recovery to any folder you want.
- Free recover maxes out at 2 GB.
- Setup attempts to install another program with this one.
- Doesn’t show a file’s recoverability odds.
- Can’t be used portably, so you have to install it.
Glarysoft File Recovery Free is a user-friendly file undelete program. There aren’t a ton of options, and it doesn’t compare to some of the choices ranked higher in this list, but it does work and is easy to use.
Choose a drive, scan for deleted files, and then pick out the ones you want to recover. You can undelete things even while the scan is still running, which is nice so you don’t have to wait. Pausing the scan is also supported.
You can filter by file type, time deleted, size, and keywords. There’s a setting you can adjust to pick which file extensions belong to which categories, such as ensuring that MP4s are listed as videos; you can add your own, too.
Unfortunately, you can’t recover an unlimited number of files with this app because the free version caps you out at 2 GB. That should be enough for most people, however, especially if you don’t use tools like this often and if your files are small.
It works with FAT, NTFS, and EFS file systems. I tested v1 in Windows 10.
07 iBoysoft Data Recovery Free
- Walks you through a short wizard to restore files.
- Very minimal design.
- Lets you recover the file to any folder of your choosing.
- Supports a quick scan and a deep scan mode.
- Results of a scan can be saved to a file.
- Limits data recovery to 1 GB.
- Must be installed to the drive (no portable option).
- Doesn’t show the health of the file before you restore it.
Another free data recovery program is available from iBoysoft. This one is severely limited in the same ways some of these other tools are: it can recover only 1 GB of data, there isn’t a portable option, and there’s no way to tell ahead of time if the file you undelete will actually be usable.
iBoysoft Data Recovery Free starts off by having you select the hard drive to scan and then shows all the deleted files in a regular folder structure like you see above. You can browse through them much like you can in File Explorer, and easily select the files you want to restore.
Besides being able to filter the results by file extension and search by file name, the only other thing you can do before recovering a file is preview it, but only if it’s smaller than 5 MB. I found this to be useful for images, but nothing else.
When you exit the results screen, you have the opportunity to save the results to an SR file that you can later reopen in iBoysoft Data Recovery Free to work out of the same list of deleted files. This is great so that you don’t have to rescan the drive to continue sifting through the results.
When it comes to the 1 GB limitation, I really don’t think it’s a huge issue for more people, especially if you need to undelete just a few files or even a video or collection of music. But if you know there’s a lot more you need to get back, don’t even bother with this program and instead choose any of these other options that don’t have that limitation.
You can install this tool on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
8 Puran File Recovery
- Two ways to view the list of deleted files.
- Supports running as a portable version.
- Scans NTFS and FAT12/16/32 file systems.
- It’s easy to see whether the file can be recovered well.
- Free for home use only.
- Updated infrequently.
Puran File Recovery is one of the better options I’ve seen. I don’t like that it’s so outdated, but that doesn’t affect its functionality. It’s very easy to use, will scan any drive that Windows sees, and has a lot of advanced options if you need them.
One particular thing to note is that Puran File Recovery identified more files on my test machine than most other tools, so be sure to give this one a shot in addition to Recuva if it didn’t find what you were looking for.
This tool will even recover lost partitions if they haven’t been overwritten yet.
It’s said to work with Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP. It’s also available in a portable form for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, so it doesn’t require installation.
- Has a clean, modern interface.
- Undeletes files from several types of storage devices.
- Scans for deleted files quickly.
- You can recover multiple folders simultaneously.
- The scan for deleted files can be paused midway.
- No portable option.
- Recovers no more than 1 GB for free.
Unlike some file recovery programs from this list, this one needs to be installed to your computer before you’re able to use it. This isn’t the best way to work with this type of software because the installation may overwrite your deleted files and make them less likely to be recoverable.
Another downside to Power Data Recovery is that you can only recover 1 GB of data before you have to upgrade to a paid version. But again, like I said for the other apps in this list with that same limitation, it’s really only a limitation if you need to uncover more than that. 1 GB is enough to uncover probably 300 normal-sized images.
However, I do like the fact that the program finds deleted files quickly and that you can recover files from both internal drives and USB devices, as well as easily undelete data from the desktop, Recycle Bin, or a specific folder.
Also, Power Data Recovery lets you search among the deleted data, recover more than one folder or file at once, export the list of deleted files to a text file, pause or stop the scan when you find what you need, and filter the files by name, extension, size, and/or date.
It’s reportedly available for Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7. I tested it in Windows 11.
10 iBeesoft Data Recovery Free
- Great for novice users.
- Preview files up to 100 MB.
- Supports pause/resume.
- Instant search.
- Search by category (e.g., only archives or docs).
- Free only up to 2 GB of data recovery.
- Zero advanced search options.
- Must install it to the hard drive (no portable version).
- Doesn’t restore to original folder; must pick one manually.
Similar to some of the others in this list, this app is completely free to use, but you’re limited to recovering just 2 GB of data. If you need to undelete a large video file, or lots of data, you’re better off picking something else from this list. That, or pay for the full edition.
iBeesoft’s file recovery program is super easy to use. The program itself is free from ads and simple to understand. The start screen has you choose a hard drive or folder to recovery files from, or you can pick the Desktop or Recycle Bin.
The website says that it supports over one thousand file types, so there’s a good chance it includes all the normal files you’re needing to undelete. It can recover deleted files from a wide variety of devices beyond your typical hard drive, including cameras, memory cards, and music players.
A few things worth mentioning that I like: the search tool is instant, you can sort the column headings to find the largest deleted files and to group file types (like to list all MP4s next to each other), and the settings let you define what to search for if not everything (e.g., Archives, Pictures, Video, Audio).
I tested data recovery with this program in Windows 11, and it worked just as advertised. It also works on Windows 10, 8, and 7. The Mac edition can only recover 200 MB of data.
