IST logo
Hardware Services

Data Recovery Tools

There exist a plethor of tools to do data recovery on hard disks, some good and some not. This page is mainly intended to index the list of tools I presently use or know about to do data recovery from either hard disks or USB memory devices. It is by no means exhaustive and due to a lack of time not all tools have been researched extensively. If you have any tools that should be added, especially free ones, or have corrections for this page, by all means email me.

Name of package Free or price Brief Description Uses what OS Supports what file systems Supports what OS Supports what devices Comments Web link
HDD Regenerator 1.7.1 $39.95 US Regenerates bad sectors, makes sectors readable again DOS on boot CD Any Any HD Works great, excellent tool http://www.dposoft.net/
MHDD Free Diagnose mechanical of drives, view SMART attributes, perform low-level format, bad sector repair, etc DOS on boot CD Any Any HD Not tested http://hddguru.com
Easus Data Recovery Wizard 5 $89.95 Recovered deleted files, lost partitions, etc. Windows installer NTFS
FAT
Windows HD
USB
memory cards
  http://www.easeus.com
Easus Disk Copy 2.3 Free Copies partitions to other disk, allows bad sector skip Linux boot CD Most Any HD Excellent for copying partitions http://www.easeus.com
IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Free Tests hard disks DOS on boot floppy or CD Any Any All HD Great tool, tests all hard disks, not just Hitachi/IBM http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
PowerQuest Deploy Center Abandoned Copies partitions to other disk DOS NTFS
FAT
Windows up to Visa HD Good tool, but getting old & limited none
GHOST Solution Suite $Varies Copies partitions to other disk DOS
Windows
WinPE
NTFS
FAT
Windows HD Only tested DOS Ghost, not too impressed http://www.symantec.com/business/ghost-solution-suite
Acronis True Image $Varies Copies partitions to other disk Custom OS loader NTFS
FAT
Windows HD Briefly tested. http://www.acronis.com
TestDisk Free Diagnoses, fix boot sector, fix MFT/FAT, undelete files, etc Many Many Many HD, more? Untested http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
PartEd Magic Free Partition recovery, file recovery, etc. Linux Many Any HD, more? Untested http://partedmagic.com
GetDataBack $Varies Recover files from partitions Windows NTFS
FAT
Windows HD, more? Untested http://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm
R-Studio $Varies Recover files from partitions ? NTFS
FAT
etc
Many HD, more? Untested http://www.r-studio.com/#local
Stellar Phoenix $Varies
Recover files from partitions ? Many ? HD, more? Untested http://www.stellarinfo.com
OnTrack Data Recovery Pro $$$
Expensive
Recovers files from partitions, recovers lost partitions, etc Windows installer Many Windows HD, more? Old version tested, was only good to WinXP http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/data-recovery-software
RecoverMyFiles $69.95 Recovers files from partitions Windows NTFS
FAT
Windows HD, more? Untested http://www.recovermyfiles.com

Page created by Peter Schepers, IST


University of Waterloo Home | IST Home | IST Production Support Home | Last updated: Mar 23, 2010