In this article, you will learn the 5 best free file recovery software for Windows, including FastRecovery, Recoverit, Recuva, PhotoRec, and Windows File Recovery. Scroll down to explore more.
Today, people usually save their data on hard drives or cloud backups. Apart from that, you may also store your essential data on your USB or other electronic devices. However, if you encounter the malfunction of a storage device, logical failure of storage devices, or accidental deletion, you may lose your files and folders.
Thankfully, many file recovery software and services make it possible to recover deleted files and folders on your computer. The deleted files might still be on your hard disk drives before overwriting. Let’s have a closer look at the 5 best free file recovery software for Windows and how to recover deleted files.
We have picked 5 eligible apps based on the consideration of usability, capability, compatibility, and speed. Detailed info on every free data recovery software in Windows will be offered in the following sections.
Supported by AOMEI Tech and its sophisticated team, FastRecovery is safe & reliable to use in data recovery. All users can recover deleted/lost files from SSD/HDD/USB/SD card, etc., without difficulties.
It possesses advanced scanning technology and unique features for various data loss scenarios. Also, it provides users with some flexible and hassle-free features to simplify this process. What's more, it's read-only and does not write any data to your devices, causing data overwriting.
Recoverit is a freemium that allows users to recover data from Windows and Mac. In its Premium version, it offers some unique features like corrupted video repair.
Recuva supports data recovery from Windows PC/cameras/MP3 players. It provides a Recuva Wizard to guide users. With this clear and easy guide, users can easily choose what & where to scan and recover.
PhotoRec is a multi-platform open-source data recovery software for Windows, Mac, Linux, Sun Solaris, etc. It features data recovery from severely damaged file systems.
Yet, it provides no intuitive and easy user interface. All operation has to be done with keyboards. In addition, users have to decide the file system, source drive, scanning mode, and destination drive on their own, which is challenging. Many users need help with learning how to use PhotoRec to recover files.
Pros:
Windows File Recovery is a command-line software program from Microsoft without a graphical user interface. It is now available for Windows 10 2004 and later, which can recover files from a local hard disk drive (HDD), USB flash drive, or memory card such as an SD card.
You can recover MP3 files, MP4 videos, PDF documents, JPG images, and typical office documents like Word, Excel, and PPT. However, recovery from cloud storage and network file sharing is disabled. Many users need help with learning how to use Windows File Recovery, including the syntax and parameters.
| Software | Easy GUI | Recovery Rate | Speed | Compatibility | Price | TotalScore |
| 🏆FastRecovery | ✔ | High | 3–40 min | Windows 11/10/8/7/Server | Freemium | ★★★★★ |
| Recoverit | ✔ | High | 2–50 min | Windows & Mac | Freemium | ★★★★☆ |
| Recuva | ✔ | Medium | 2-60 min+ | Windows | Freemium | ★★★★☆ |
| PhotoRec | ✘ | Relatively low | 30-60 min+ | Windows /Mac/Linux/DOS | Freeware | ★★★☆☆ |
| Windows File Recovery | ✘ | Relatively low | 15-60 min+ | Only Windows 10 and above | Freeware | ★★☆☆☆ |
Here we'll take FastRecovery as an example to show you how to recover deleted files in Windows 10 & 11. Don't download and save it to the location where you deleted files in Windows 10 or 11, as it will cause data overwriting.
Step 1. Download FastRecovery on the computer. Then, click Deleted Files Recovery. You can also choose a more suitable alternative, such as Disk Data Recovery, Recycle Bin Recovery, etc. All of them can help you retrieve data without causing any damage.
Step 2. After loading the disk, hover the mouse over the disk/partition that includes the needed files. Then, click Scan.
Step 3. It will automatically start a Quick Scan to find all the deleted/lost files. While scanning, you can sort, search, filter, and preview files to recover as you like.
Step 3. Once confirmed, select the files you want and click Recover to begin the recovery process. Please select a new location to save your recovered data to avoid data overwriting.
Try it if you're losing any data! With it, you can recover deleted files in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and servers.
Based on capability (features), usability (GUI & operation), Compatibility (supported devices, files systems, operating systems, etc.), and speed, we recommend these 5 best free file recovery software for Windows 10 & 11 for you.
1. FastRecovery Free
2. Recoverit
3. Recuva
4. PhotoRec
5. Windows File Recovery
Some of them are freemium, while some are open source and totally free.
Firstly, try inbuilt tools like File History, Previous Versions, Backup & Restore, etc. All these tools require backups made in advance. Without backups, try freeware and freemium like FastRecovery, PhotoRec, Windows File Recovery, etc.
On Windows PC, when deleting a file, it gets logically deleted; physically, it stays where it was until new data come to overwrite it. Thus, before overwriting, we can say that the files are still not “deleted”.
Therefore, avoiding using the affected drives can improve the data recovery rate.
As mentioned above, avoiding overwriting is a contributory factor in recovering files. In the Windows file system, the space used by a deleted file is designated as free space, implying that the file can still exist and be recovered.
That implies if you want to improve or maximize the chances of recovering a file, you’d better avoid or minimize using your computer as soon as possible. Thus you can recover permanently deleted files in Windows 10, and 11 successfully.
This post introduces 5 types of the best free file recovery software for Windows 10/11. Among all the eligible apps, FastRecovery will be the best choice for you since it is fast, efficient, reliable and easy to use. Why not have a try?
Meanwhile, it turns out that it is necessary to make regular backups. AOMEI Backupper Standard, a free Windows backup software, provides basic and advanced features to ensure data safety. You can choose to backup only files, partition(s), OS, entire disk, etc.