How to Choose the Right Data Recovery Software

Answer a few questions about your data loss, storage device, and the data you need to recover. We’ll recommend the Hetman Software tool that best matches your situation, so you can download it and try it for free.

  • Step 1 of 3: What happened to your data?

    • The Windows Recycle Bin or macOS Trash was emptied.
    • Files were deleted with Shift + Delete or another permanent deletion method.
    • A program, cleanup utility, or malware deleted the files.
    • Files were deleted directly from a camera, phone, memory card, USB drive, or other device.
    • Files were removed from external or removable storage without being moved to the Recycle Bin or Trash.
    • Files were lost after a crash during copying, moving, saving, or editing.
    • A drive, partition, or memory card was formatted or wiped.
    • A partition was deleted, recreated, or became inaccessible.
    • The file system became corrupted, damaged, or RAW.
    • The operating system crashed or can no longer access the storage device.
    • The operating system asks you to format the drive before use.
    • The storage device has errors, bad sectors, wear, or other problems.
    • Choose this option if you are unsure what caused the data loss.

  • Step 2 of 3: Where was the data stored?

    • Internal or external hard drive (HDD).
    • Internal or external solid-state drive (SSD).
    • USB flash drive or other removable storage device.
    • SD, microSD, CompactFlash, or other memory card.
    • Digital camera, smartphone, recorder, or other portable device.
    • Any other single physical storage device that is not part of a RAID or multi-disk system.
    • Hardware RAID arrays created with dedicated RAID controllers.
    • Software RAID arrays created by Windows, Linux, macOS, or NAS operating systems.
    • NAS devices from Synology, QNAP, NETGEAR, Buffalo, ASUSTOR, TerraMaster, and other manufacturers.
    • DAS devices and external multi-disk storage systems.
    • Server storage with multiple HDDs or SSDs.
    • Other RAID, JBOD, or multi-disk storage configurations.
    • Virtual disks used by VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, VMware ESXi, Hyper-V, VirtualBox, Parallels, QEMU/KVM, Proxmox, Xen, and other virtualization platforms.
    • Virtual disk formats such as VMDK, VHD, VHDX, AVHD, AVHDX, VDI, HDD, HDS, QCOW, QCOW2, COW, QED, RAW, and IMG.
    • Disk images created from HDDs, SSDs, USB drives, memory cards, RAID members, and other storage devices.
    • Forensic disk images and evidence formats, including E01, Ex01, S01, AFF, and AFF4.
    • Apple disk images such as DMG, CDR, sparsebundle, and sparseimage.
    • Backup copies, snapshots, cloned disks, or other image-based storage containing lost or deleted data.
    • BitLocker-encrypted drives and partitions used in Windows.
    • LUKS-encrypted disks and volumes used in Linux systems.
    • VeraCrypt-encrypted disks, partitions, and containers.
    • FileVault and encrypted APFS or HFS+ volumes used on Mac computers.
    • Files protected with EFS in Windows or fscrypt in Linux.
    • Other supported encrypted disks, partitions, volumes, or file systems.
    • Choose this option if you do not know the storage type or configuration.

  • Step 3 of 3: What file types would you like to recover?

    • Choose this option to recover different file types, including documents, photos, videos, archives, and other files.
    • Digital photos in JPEG, JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP, and other common image formats.
    • Camera RAW files such as CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, ORF, RW2, DNG, and others.
    • Raster graphics and professional image files such as PSD, TIFF, BMP, GIF, and similar formats.
    • Vector graphics such as CDR, EPS, AI, SVG, and other supported formats.
    • Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and other Microsoft Office files.
    • OpenDocument and OpenOffice files, including ODT, ODS, ODP, and related formats.
    • Adobe PDF documents and other common document formats.
    • View browsing history from Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, and other browsers.
    • Recover deleted browsing history and other browser activity.
    • Analyze social media and online communication data stored by browsers.
    • View saved passwords, addresses, downloads, bookmarks, and other browser data.

File system support: All products support FAT, exFAT, NTFS, ReFS, APFS, HFS+, Ext2/3/4, XFS, Btrfs, ReiserFS, ZFS, and UFS. VMFS and HikvisionFS are available in Partition Recovery™ and RAID Recovery™. Multi-device Btrfs and ZFS configurations, including setups that require block-level access to individual member devices, are supported only by RAID Recovery™. Snapshot recovery for Btrfs, ZFS, UFS, and APFS is supported by Partition Recovery™ and RAID Recovery™.

Want to compare recovery tools side by side? Use our data recovery software comparison to compare features, supported storage types, file systems, encryption, RAID, virtual machines, and recovery capabilities.

We recommend the following programs for your situation. You can start the wizard again at any time.
Recommended Software

  • Data Recovery Pack™ 5.2

  • Five recovery tools in one cost-saving package: Partition Recovery™, Uneraser™, Photo Recovery™, Office Recovery™, and Internet Spy™.
  • 5-in-1 Bundle

  • Partition Recovery™ 5.4

  • All-in-one recovery from deleted, formatted, corrupted, and inaccessible HDDs, SSDs, USB drives, memory cards, forensic disk images, virtual machine disks and snapshots, and encrypted volumes.
  • Best Seller

  • RAID Recovery™ 3.1

  • Combines the capabilities of all our other data recovery products with advanced tools for reconstructing and recovering hardware and software RAID arrays, NAS, DAS, and server storage affected by disk failures, rebuild errors, formatting, or metadata corruption.
  • Flagship

  • Internet Spy™ 4.2

  • Recovers browser data and presents browsing history, visited pages, downloaded files, bookmarks, and social network correspondence in clear, easy-to-read reports.
  •

  • Office Recovery™ 5.2

  • Recovers deleted or lost documents and spreadsheets from formatted, damaged, or inaccessible storage devices, verifies each file for integrity, and displays only complete, recoverable files without corrupted results.
  •

  • Photo Recovery™ 7.2

  • Recovers deleted or lost photos, digital images, and RAW files from formatted, damaged, or inaccessible storage devices, verifies each file for integrity, and displays only complete, recoverable images without corrupted results.
  •

  • Uneraser™ 7.4

  • Recovers files removed from an emptied Recycle Bin or Trash, as well as files deleted without using them. Designed specifically for undelete scenarios, it does not recover data after formatting or locate lost partitions.
  • Best Value

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Do I need to know the file system of my drive?

    No. You do not need to identify the file system before using the software selector. Choose the data loss scenario, storage type, and the data you want to recover. Hetman Software supports the file systems commonly used by Windows, macOS, Linux, NAS, RAID, and other storage systems.

  • Should I stop using the drive after data loss?

    Yes. Avoid writing new data to the affected drive, as new files may overwrite deleted or lost data and reduce the chances of recovery. Do not install recovery software or save recovered files to the same storage device. If possible, work with a disk image instead of the original drive.

  • Can deleted files be recovered from an SSD with TRIM enabled?

    Sometimes, but the chances are significantly lower. When TRIM is active, deleted blocks can be cleared by the SSD, making their contents unavailable for recovery. Recovery may still be possible if TRIM was not executed, is disabled or unsupported in the storage configuration, or the required data has not yet been cleared.

  • Do I need the password or recovery key to recover data from encrypted storage?

    Yes, in most cases. To access data protected by BitLocker, LUKS, VeraCrypt, FileVault, encrypted APFS or HFS+, you normally need the corresponding password, recovery key, key file, or other valid decryption credentials. Data recovery software can recover data from supported encrypted storage, but it does not bypass the encryption itself. Hetman Software supports several encrypted volume and file technologies.

  • What if a virtual machine is stored on a failed RAID or NAS?

    Recover the storage layers in the correct order. First, reconstruct or recover access to the failed RAID or NAS, then locate and mount the virtual disk, and finally scan the file system inside the virtual machine for lost data. RAID Recovery™ supports RAID and NAS recovery together with virtual disk processing, allowing complex storage configurations to be handled within the recovery workflow.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Privacy Policy