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How to Use Free Data Recovery Software to Recover Lost Data

Data Could Get Lost due to Different Reasons as Below

Data loss problem can be caused by different reasons like formatting, deleting, not formatted error, raw file system, bad sectors, virus attack, file not accessible or unreadable, storage media not detected or recognized and more other unknown reasons.

Data can be lost from a memory card, hard drive, flash drive, pen drive, external hard drive, floppy disk, digital camera, cell phone, and almost all storage devices.

Several Free Data Recovery Software to Recover Lost Data

The best way to get back lost data is to use data recovery software, so I would like to share several free data recovery software in this article. I have tested all those free data recovery software recommended in this article, so you can choose any of the software below when you encounter data loss problem.

Most important tip: no matter which software you would like to use, you must prevent the storage media where you want to recover lost data from being overwritten by new files. Otherwise, you may lose the chance for file recovery. You can neither write new files nor install the software to the storage device where you want to recover data.

In this article, I will share how to use the free data recovery software step by step to recover lost data.

1.  Recuva
recuvaRecuva is a free file recovery software application which can work under Windows operating system. It can recover deleted files from hard drive, flash drive, external hard drive, memory card (SD, XD, CF, TF, etc), pen drive and more. No matter you format the storage media or delete important files, you can simply restore any format of files like photos, documents, videos, etc. This software support fat12, fat16, fat32, ntfs, exFat file system.
Free download Recuva

 

 

Steps on how to use Recuva
Step1. Free download and install the Recuva on your computer. Run this software and you will enter the main interface of this software, on which you can choose the file type you want to recover.
step one

Step2. Choose the file type you want to recover and click "Next" button. Choose the file location, from which you lose the files. Then click "Next" button and the software will scan the selected file location to look for the lost files.
step 2

Step3. After scan, you can see all the found files. Select all the files you want to recover and click "Recover" button to save the selected files to any partition instead of the original storage media.
step 3
2. PC Inspector File Recovery
pc inspectorPC Inspector File Recovery is a free data restore application which support fat12/16/32 and ntfs file system. This freeware allows users to recover almost all formats of files including ARJ, AVI, GIF, BMP, CDR, DOC, DXF, DBF, XLS, EXE, JPG, MOV, MP3, MP4, PDF, ZIP, etc from formatted or deleted flash drive, hard drive, external hard drive, etc. Even if the storage is corrupted or infected with virus and shows raw file system, this software can also do a perfect work to restore lost files.
Free download PC Inspector File Recovery

 

 


Steps on how to use PC Inspector File Recovery
Step1. Free download the PC Inspector on your computer. Follow the wizard to install and run the software so that you will go to its main interface, on which there are three categories include Recover deleted files, Find lost data and Find lost drive. Create a new folder to save recovered files before you launch the software. Choose Recover deleted files if data is lost due to deleting. Choose Find lost data if data is lost due to formatting. Choose Find lost drive if data is lot due to system crash, raw file system, storage media not accessible, etc.
how to use pc inspector 1

Step2. Select the drive where you need to recover lost files and click the green tick so that the software will scan the drive for lost files. You need to wait patiently during the scan process.
use inspector
Step3. When the scan is finished, the software will list all the found files. The files which are shown in green color are recoverable, while the files shown in yellow color are not recoverable.
step three

Step4. Select the file you want to recover and right click on the file, choose the "Save to" option to save the selected files to the new created folder in the step1. You can recover the files one by one or you can recover all files you need by using Ctrl or Shift key.
recover files

Step5. After you choose the folder where you want to save files and click the green tick, you will see a recovery bar. When the recovery bar disappears you can see all recovered files in the selected folder.
restore

3. iCare Data Recovery Free
icareiCare Data Recovery Free enables users to free recover 2GB data from hard drive, USB flash drive, pen drive, external hard drive, memory card, memory stick, etc after formatting, deleting, not formatted error, raw drive and more other errors. This freeware features in its four basic recovery modules. Format Recovery module is designed to recover files after simply formatting. Lost Partition Recovery is designed to restore data from lost or deleted partitions. Advanced Files Recovery is designed to retrieve files after deleting. Deep Scan Recovery module is designed to recover files when storage media has not formatted error, raw file system or other system errors. Deep Scan Recovery module can help users perform a deep scan on every sector of the device so that users can restore lost files even other software doesn’t work.
Free download iCare Data Recovery Free


Steps on how to use iCare Data Recovery Free
Step1. Free download the iCare Data Recovery Free and install it on your computer. Run the software and choose the appropriate recovery module based on your data loss situation.
step one
Step2. Select the drive you need to recover files and click "Recover" option to let the software scan the selected drive.
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Step3. After the scanning, you can see a partition list that contains all the partitions the software has found. Choose the partitions and click the "Show Files" option to see all the files. Preview the files by click "File Preview". It is strongly recommended to choose the Partition1 which is in green color to show the files. If you are unable to find the lost files from Partition1, you can go back to choose the rest partitions.
step three

Step4. Select all the files that you need and click "Save Files" option; choose a path folder to save the files. Never should you attempt save the files to the original storage device.

step four

4. TestDisk
diskTestDisk is a disk restore tool which is specially used to restore corrupted or lost partition. It can restore corrupted partitions and fix the disk problem when it is infected with virus and inaccessible. TestDisk supports Windows、Linux、Unix、Mac operating system. Besides, TestDisk also supports various file systems like FAT, NTFS, Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, etc. Users don’t need to install the TestDisk since you can use it directly after you download it from the site.
Free download TestDisk

 

 


Steps on how to use TestDisk
Step1. Download the TestDisk on your computer. Double click on the icon of the TestDisk to run the software. Select [Create] to create a new log file or [No Log] to not record anything. Press Enter to proceed.
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Step2. Choose the disk you want to recover and choose the Proceed. Then press Enter to proceed.
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Step3. Choose [Intel] and press Enter to proceed
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Step4. Choose [Analyse] and press Enter to proceed.
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Step5. Choose [Quick Search] and press Enter to proceed.
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Step6. Press Y and Enter to proceed.
Step7. Choose the disk you want to repair and press Enter to proceed.
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Step8. If you are unable to find the disk you want, choose [Deeper Search] and press Enter to perform a search again. If you have found the disk you want, choose [Write] and press Enter.
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Step9. Press Y and Enter to fix the disk.
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Step10. Choose [Backup BS] and press Enter.
Step11. Press OK and Enter.
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Step12. Press [Quit] and Enter]
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5. EaseUs Data Recovery
boxEaseUs Data Recovery is a fast and reliable data recovery freeware, with which users can free recover 1GB data. This EaseUs Data Recovery Wizard Free edition supports to recover files that are deleted from hard drive, external hard drive, memory card, digital camera, cell phone, recycle bin and all other storage devices. This freeware can recover photos, images, videos music files, emails, etc after formatting. It also provides data recovery when partition is lost or infected with virus, or system crashed. By the way, this software is easy to use and it only has a small size. Users can specify the file recovery module based on the data loss situations.
Free download EaseUs Data Recovery

 


Steps on how to use EaseUs Data Recovery
Step1. Download the software from the link above. Follow the wizard to install and launch the software on your computer (not on the drive where you want to recover data).
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Step2. Choose the file recovery module based on the data loss case and select the types of files you want to recover. Then click "Next" option to continue.
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Step3. Choose the drive where you want to recover data and click "Next" option so the software will begin to scan the selected drive for lost files.
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Step4. After scanning, you can see all the found files listed there. You can preview those files before you decide if you want to recover them.
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Step5. Choose all the files you want to recover and click Save option to save the selected files to a storage device (not to the original drive).
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6. Power Data Recovery
boxPower Data Recovery is a powerful data recovery freeware for all home and business users. It enables users to free recover 1GB data including videos, photos, music, documents, emails, etc from formatted or deleted hard drive partition, external hard drive, memory card, memory stick, pen drive, USB flash drive, CD/DVD disks, iPod, iPhone, and all other devices. This freeware has five recovery modules, which are Undelete Recovery, Damaged Partition Recovery, Lost Partition Recovery, Digital Media Recovery and CD/DVD Recovery. Users can select different recovery module based on the data loss situations so that they can do a perfect job to perform the data recovery.
Free download Power Data Recovery

 


Steps on how to use Power Data Recovery
Step1. Free download, install and run the Power Data Recovery on your computer.
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Step2. Select the proper recovery module and choose the drive you need to recover. Then click "Full Scan" option and the software will scan the selected drive for lost files.
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Step3. After scan, you can see all found files. Choose any of the file and click "File Preview" to preview the found files.
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Step4. Choose all files you need and click "Save Files" option. Then choose a path folder and click "OK" option to save the files to the destination you chose.
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Download Link for Each Freeware

Recuva: Free download Recuva

PC Inspector: Free download PC Inspector File Recovery

iCare Data Recovery Free: Free download iCare Data Recovery Free

Test Disk: Free download TestDisk

EaseUs Data Recovery Free: Free download EaseUs Data Recovery

Power Data Recovery Free: Free download Power Data Recovery