Are you worried you lost important data because of a failing, deleted, or formatted USB flash drive? Luckily, with the help of good recovery tools, you can easily get your information back. In this guide, we’ll cover 15 of the best free USB recovery software for Mac or Windows PC you can find online. With that being said, let’s start.
The demand for USB flash drive data recovery is often due to file loss or damage caused by many reasons, such as accidental deletion, formatting, logical damage, virus attack, physical damage, etc., and then the device itself and the file system are also diverse. However, not all applications can support these. Therefore, having a reliable USB recovery software can effectively and easily help you retrieve lost data to avoid unnecessary losses
Nowadays, there are many free USB drive SD card recovery online software. If used improperly, it may even cause your data to be lost forever. Therefore, in order to better protect your data security, we mainly consider the following aspects when screening such tools.
This tool should have an easy-to-understand interface and concise operation steps, making it easy for ordinary users to get started.
It is compatible with mainstream operating systems, file systems used by USB drives and can be applied to almost all data loss situations.
It has multiple scanning modes, previews files before recovery, a powerful filtering system, and supports various file types.
Learn about other users' experience and evaluation through search engines, forums and social media to verify reliability and practicalit
Although we provide users with free USB recovery software, it still needs minimal limitations on necessary functions.
Choose a tool that offers great customer support in case you run into issues and don't get timely feedback.
Losing data from your USB flash drive is a hassle, but don't be afraid! Here are the top 15 free tools to help you.
FileRescuer is fairly comprehensive for the best free USB recovery software option. It’s simple to use, and as long as you know where the files are supposed to be, you can easily get them.
Although it is not easy to use and has a single program function, we still place this combination in second place because PhotoRec is used to recover lost files in Windows 10, 11, and macOS, while TestDisk can repair damaged drives. This combination is sufficient to help most users cope with thumb drive recovery in various situations, and it is also open-source.
Recuva provides a range of useful features for both enterprise and individual users, even supporting virtual drives. It can reliably recover various types of data from all sorts of storage devices supporting FAT32, NTFS, ext, and many more. However, compared to others, the best features of this free USB recovery tool must be paid to use.
As an established provider of this free file recovery software for Mac or Windows, its effectiveness is beyond doubt. But some of its best features are hidden behind the most expensive subscriptions, which we hope to improve.
While Disk Drill might not be the best free USB recovery software it this lists, its free version does have an edge over others. Unlike others, which only allow limited functionality, it allows users to access all features but can only restore 500MB. However, as an alternative, it is not very useful if you have to recover large files.
EaseUS is one of the oldest and best recovery tool currently available on the market, supporting a multitude of file formats and file system types. While scans be a little slow, especially on the free version, it is comprehensive and capable of gathering all of your lost data.
Although the free version allows you to easily recover some image and text files from a USB drive, the 2GB limit may mean you have to pay expensive fees for more data.
iBeesoft is listed as the best flash drive data recovery software because of its simple operation and its ability to effectively recover information from damaged drives and even repair damaged files during our verification.
However, its only drawback is the limitation of saving recoverable files.
Wise is a good choice for thumb drive recovery as it is a lightweight application that focuses on its own work. In addition, it also has good performance in scanning speed and success rate, but users regret that it cannot be updated.
Despite having a pro version iCare Data Recovery still offers a lot of features as a USB recovery tool free version. However, for users who have lost files due to reasons other than accidental deletion, you may want to consider other tools.
It features impressive recovery features that can recover information from damaged or dead USB devices. However, it does have a very antiquated user interface that actually interfered with the features. Finding the right drives requires trial and error and the different types of scans feels like extra steps compared to quick and deep scan features.
IObit Undelete is easily one of the best USB recovery tools free that you can find online. It strips down to the very essentials that people might need without dragging them down with features that are too advanced. So it can easily recover permanently deleted files on Mac and Windows PC without a limit. Granted, this also means that more advanced features like repairing videos or encrypted files are not available.
Even though DMDE has an old-fashioned user interface, its high recovery rate is still worth trying. However, it can only recover 4000 files in a given session, so it is only good for small-scale recovery operations.
You can skip FreeUndelete for users who are not familiar with the file type. But it is still an effective undelete and unformat hard drive tool for users who need to recover lost files.
Glarysoft is fairly comprehensive for a flash drive recovery software free option that can help users quickly retrieve lost data. However, it is not a good choice for users who have lost videos or other large files.
Windows File Recovery offers a fairly comprehensive list of features for a free service, but it still has a long way to go. Overall, this is a good service for technical users because it is sufficiently professional.
In this list of Best free USB recovery software, we have provided a detailed introduction to each popular program so that you can get a preliminary understanding of it. If you are still hesitant, then check out the comparison table below:
| Score | Recovery Quality | Usability | Platform Compatibility | Special Features | Speed | Customer Support | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ToolGeeker FileRescuer | ★★★★★ | Excellent | High | Windows and macOS | Repairs damaged files and automatically records scan results | Fast | Excellent |
| TestDisk & PhotoRec | ★★★★☆ | Good | Poor | Windows, macOS, and Linux | - | Fast | - |
| Recuva | ★★★★☆ | Good | General | Windows | Average | Securely delete files | General |
| Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition | ★★★★★ | Excellent | High | Windows and macOS | Virtual and encrypted drives | Fast | Good |
| Disk Drill | ★★★★★ | Excellent | High | Windows and macOS | Disk detection, protection and cleaning | Average | Excellent |
| EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free | ★★★★★ | Excellent | High | Windows and macOS | Encrypted Data Recovery | Average | Excellent |
| iBeesoft Free Data Recovery | ★★★★☆ | Excellent | High | Windows and macOS | - | Fast | General |
| Wise Data Recovery | ★★★★☆ | Good | General | Windows | - | Fast | Good |
| iCare Data Recovery Free | ★★★☆☆ | General | General | Windows | - | Slow | Poor |
| GetDataBack | ★★★☆☆ | General | Poor | Windows | Most scanning modes | Average | General |
| IObit Undelete | ★★★☆☆ | Poor | General | Windows | Scan multiple drives simultaneously | Slow | Good |
| DMDE | ★★★☆☆ | Good | General | Windows, macOS, and Linux | Disk cloning | Average | Good |
| FreeUndelete | ★★★☆☆ | General | Poor | Windows | - | Fast | General |
| Glarysoft File Recovery Free | ★★★★☆ | Good | High | Windows | - | Fast | General |
| Windows File Recovery | ★★★☆☆ | General | Poor | Windows | - | Fast | - |
In most cases, your lost photos, documents, videos, or other files should be retrievable using the free applications in this list. However, do you still want to face the situation? I think anyone would say no, right? For this, please refer to the following prompts:
These top free USB recovery software are indispensable when we face data loss issues on our drives without backup. Their developers have endowed them with unique features to ensure the quality of recovery. For this, you can choose one that suits you and meets your needs. Finally, accidents always happen in unexpected situations. To better avoid such difficulties, please follow the above tips.
First, stop using the USB drive immediately after data loss, and then choose a comprehensive free tool such as ToolGeeker FileRescuer, TestDisk & PhotoRec, Stellar, Disk Drill, Recuva, etc.
Compared to paid versions, they typically have some limitations, such as the capacity or quantity of recoverable files saved (e.g., up to 500 MB, 2 GB, or 10 files). In addition, some software also restricts its advanced features. Despite these limitations, they can still meet basic needs. Here, we recommend using ToolGeeker FileRescuer, all of its key features are free for users.
No problem. In our list, they support other storage devices besides USB, such as hard drives and memory cards.
In our tests, if your computer can recognize the USB drive, then all the tools work except Glarysoft File Recovery Free. But that's just the basics. The key to this type of tool is the success rate.
First, check to see if your device is listed in File Explorer/Disk Management (Windows) or Disk Utility (macOS). If not, try a different port or computer. If you still have problems, you may need professional help.
Yes, these free tools can help you get the erased files back as long as the data has not been overwritten.
No. These tools can only handle drives that are damaged due to logical problems. For physical damage, you can only use professional data recovery services.
ToolGeeker only uses cookies to ensure you get the best browsing experience.