Best Data Recovery Software for Windows & Mac in 2026

The drive was right there a minute ago. Now the folder is empty, or the external disk shows up asking to be formatted, or the SD card from a whole trip reads as blank. There is a particular kind of quiet that follows, the mental math of what exactly was on there and whether any of it was backed up. If that is where you are, take a breath: on a computer or a memory card, deleted rarely means destroyed straight away, and the next hour matters more than the software you eventually choose.

This guide is about recovering files from computers and drives - Windows and Mac internal disks, external hard drives, SSDs, USB sticks, and SD cards. It is not about phones. If you deleted photos or texts from an iPhone, that is a different job with different tools, and it is covered separately below. Here, we start with the free options you already have, explain honestly what recovery software can and cannot do, then compare the best data recovery software so you can match a tool to your situation.

First, do no harm: stop writing to the drive

The single mechanic that decides most drive recoveries is overwriting. On a traditional hard drive, a USB flash drive, or an SD card, deleting a file removes its entry from the index but leaves the actual data in place until the space is reused. Recovery software works precisely because that data is often still sitting there. The catch is that normal computer use writes constantly - temporary files, updates, browser caches - so the longer you keep using the affected drive, the more likely something lands on top of what you want back.

So the first move is to stop. If the lost files were on an external drive, USB stick, or SD card, unplug it and set it aside until you are ready to scan. If they were on your computer's own system drive, that is harder, because the operating system keeps writing while it runs; the safest approach is to recover from a second computer, connecting the affected disk as an external drive if you can. There is one important exception to the "still there until overwritten" rule, and it is the SSD section below - worth reading before you spend money.

Free options first: what you may already have

Before any purchase, check the recovery paths built into your system and your cloud. For a large share of everyday deletions, one of these is the whole answer.

If one of these brings your files back, you are done, at no cost. If the file predates your backups, was never covered, or the drive itself is misbehaving, that is where data recovery software earns its place.

What recovery software can and cannot do

Data recovery software scans a drive at a lower level than the file system normally exposes, finds traces of files whose index entries are gone, and lets you copy them to a safe location. Two honest limits apply to every tool, paid or free. First, it cannot rebuild data that has already been overwritten by new writes to the same sectors - which is why stopping early matters. Second, it cannot read a drive that has failed physically. If a disk clicks, is not recognised, or has water or impact damage, running scan after scan can make things worse, and the right move is a professional lab, not another download.

Treat any headline "99.5% success" style figure, from any vendor, as marketing rather than a promise about your specific drive. The honest framing is that recovery is a matter of odds set by how the data was lost, what has happened since, and the type of drive involved.

The best data recovery software, compared

The tools below are the mainstream, reputable options for computers and drives. Free tiers and limits change often, so treat the figures as a starting point and confirm the current terms on each vendor's own site before you buy.

The free-first logic still holds here: the best free data recovery software for you is whichever tool's free tier is large enough to rescue your specific files. Recuva (Windows) and EaseUS (up to 2GB on Windows) are common starting points for small, simple losses; the paid tools earn their price on larger jobs, awkward file systems, or when you want the widest device support in one place.

Wondershare Recoverit

Recoverit is Wondershare's dedicated recovery app, with separate builds for Windows and Mac, and it is aimed squarely at the computer-and-drive cases this article is about. According to Wondershare's own materials, it recovers from internal hard drives and SSDs, external drives, USB flash drives, SD and other memory cards, NAS devices, and camera media, and it advertises support across a very large range of devices and more than a thousand file formats. Its workflow is the standard one done well: choose the drive, run a quick then deep scan, filter by file type, and preview individual files before you restore - which, as the HOS resource note points out, reduces the chance of clobbering good data with a wrong pick.

For a cautious buyer, the useful part is that you can scan and preview for free. That lets you confirm your specific files actually show up as recoverable before paying anything. Recoverit also includes a limited free recovery allowance; the exact size of that free allowance is set by Wondershare and is best confirmed on the download page, since it changes. Pricing beyond the free tier is subscription-based and varies by plan and region, so check the current plan and price on the resource page rather than trusting a figure from a review.

What Recoverit will not do is beat the two hard limits above. It cannot recover sectors that have been overwritten, and Wondershare's own guidance acknowledges recovery is only possible where data has not been overwritten. It cannot repair a physically failed drive - deep scans on a struggling disk can worsen the situation - and, like every tool here, it works within the SSD limitation described next. It is a strong generalist for a mixed set of drives and cards, not a magic wand.

Windows vs Mac

The platform you are on changes the picture. On Windows, most drives use NTFS, third-party recovery tools are plentiful, and recovery from external drives and cards is often straightforward if you stopped writing in time. On Mac, three things make recovery harder: modern Macs store data on internal SSDs (see below), FileVault disk encryption is on by default for many users, and macOS security (System Integrity Protection) limits low-level access. If FileVault is enabled and you do not have the password or key, the data is encrypted at rest and recovery tools cannot read it. In practice, Time Machine is the most reliable free route on a Mac, and for external drives and cards a Mac build of a tool like Recoverit works much as it does on Windows. Put simply, data recovery software for Mac is most useful on external media, while the internal disk leans on Time Machine and a healthy backup. Whichever platform you use, recover files to a different drive than the one you are scanning.

HDD, SSD, USB and SD cards are not the same

The type of storage matters as much as the software:

• Traditional hard drives (HDD) offer the best odds. Deleted data typically persists until overwritten, so a prompt scan often recovers a lot. This is where hard drive data recovery software is most effective.
• Internal SSDs are the big exception. Most modern internal SSDs support a feature called TRIM, in which the operating system can mark deleted blocks as free, after which the drive clears them during background garbage collection. When TRIM is active this often makes deleted files unrecoverable, sometimes soon after deletion - but it is not instant or universal. Whether it happens depends on the operating system and file system, whether TRIM is enabled and supported (it is frequently not passed through USB enclosures, for example), the drive's own timing, and encryption - on an encrypted drive, losing the key puts data beyond reach regardless. The practical takeaway still holds: for a deleted file on an internal SSD, do not count on recovery software - check your backups first, and if you do try software, act immediately.
• USB flash drives and SD cards usually do not run TRIM, so deleted files often remain recoverable if you stop using the card immediately. This is why SD card data recovery software and external HDD data recovery software frequently succeed on camera and phone-expansion cards - just avoid taking new photos or copying anything onto the card first.
• Corruption vs deletion: a card or drive that suddenly asks to be formatted is often a file-system problem rather than lost data; recovery software can frequently read past the corruption and pull the files off, but do not click "format" first.

Pricing and limitations

Expect a common pattern across this category: free scanning and preview, a small free recovery allowance, then a paid tier - usually a subscription, sometimes an annual or lifetime license - to recover in volume or unlock premium features like video repair. Because prices and free limits shift, confirm the current figures on the vendor's page before buying, and prefer paying only after a free scan has shown your files are actually recoverable. Budget realistically: seeing a file listed in a scan is not the same as having recovered it, and no tool's price buys certainty.

When NOT to buy software, and when you need a professional

Data recovery software is the wrong tool in three situations. Skip it and restore from backup if a free built-in option already covers the loss. Skip it, in most cases, for a deleted file on a modern internal SSD, where TRIM may already have cleared the data - check your backups first. And stop immediately - do not keep scanning - if the drive is failing physically: clicking or grinding noises, a drive that is not recognised, that disappears and reappears, or that has suffered water, fire, or impact damage. In those cases, continued power and scanning can turn a recoverable problem into a permanent loss. A professional data-recovery lab, which opens drives in a cleanroom and reads them at the hardware level, is the appropriate route, and it is worth getting a quote before writing the data off. Reserve DIY software for logically lost data on a physically healthy drive.

In short

The best data recovery software is the one that matches your drive and your situation - and often you will not need to buy anything, because the Recycle Bin, Time Machine or File History, and your cloud's deleted-items folder cover most everyday losses. When those come up short, stop using the drive, then use a tool's free scan to confirm your files are recoverable before you pay. Recoverit is a strong generalist across Windows, Mac, and a wide range of drives and cards; Recuva and EaseUS are handy for smaller Windows jobs. And know the two lines software cannot cross: overwritten data, and a physically failed drive that belongs with a professional.

Recommended Resource

What it is: the HOS resource page for Wondershare Recoverit data recovery software, kept current with its supported drives, platforms, and plans. Why we recommend it: if the free built-in options have not recovered your files, Recoverit's free scan lets you confirm what is recoverable across Windows, Mac, external drives, and cards before you pay. Who it's for: people who lost files from a computer, external drive, SSD, USB stick, or SD card that is still physically working. What it won't do: recover overwritten data, read a physically failed drive, or retrieve deleted files from a phone.

Companion guide: iPhone data recovery - phone recovery is a different use case, handled by Dr.Fone and Apple's own tools, not by computer recovery software.