This is a review of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, an effective and easy-to-use data recovery tool for Windows and Mac.
I’m a tech professional and offered IT training and support over several decades and have written numerous software reviews and how-tos for business users. I’ve taken an in-depth look at EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to let you know whether it will meet your needs.
I found EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to be effective at recovering data in a number of scenarios, and using it requires little technical knowledge. While some scans are slow, that is typical of other apps in this software genre. When you’ve lost valuable information, success in retrieving it is more important than speed.
In this EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard review, I’ll explore the types of data the application can restore, how long its scans will take, and weigh up your chances of success. I’ll also briefly cover any other features that it has.
Let’s get started.
Contents
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Overview
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard helps Windows and Mac users recover lost data in three simple steps. The app can rescue you from a range of scenarios where you have lost data, including deleting the wrong file or formatting the wrong disk.
EaseUS offers one free version and two paid versions of Data Recovery Wizard:
- EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free (free for Windows and Mac) offers the same features as Pro within limits. Only 2 GB of data can be recovered, though this can be increased by 1.5 GB by sharing the product on social media. If you only need to restore a few crucial files, that may be enough.
- EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro ($69.95 for Windows and $89.95 for Mac) gives access to free remote consultation and assistance from specialists in difficult recovery cases. Note the price difference for Windows and Mac users.
- EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Technician ($299 for Windows and Mac) is aimed at service providers, not end-users.
In this review, we’ll focus on the Pro version, but all information is applicable to the Free version as well if you take into account its limitations. We’ll consider both the Windows and Mac versions, sharing screenshots, observations, and test results of each.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard does not require any special knowledge to get started and is suitable for the average user. As long as your lost data has not been overwritten by the ongoing use of the drive, it offers an excellent chance of recovery. A free trial will show you if your files can be located by the Pro version before you pay for it.
Recovery Features
How is data recovery possible? When a file is deleted, its name is not actually removed from the folder or directory that lists your files, nor is its data removed from your drive. It is simply marked as being deleted. Data can even be recovered from formatted drives, though it may take longer.
But recovery is not guaranteed. In time, as you create new files, both the directory entry and data are likely to be overwritten. For the best chance of success, attempt data recovery at your earliest opportunity.
Methods of data recovery offered:
- A quick scan of the directory structure will locate deleted files even if the recycle bin or trash has been emptied
- A deep scan of a partition will locate lost files and file fragments when they are no longer listed in the directory structure
- You can also recover lost, deleted, RAW, and inaccessible partitions
Supported storage media: Hard drive, external disk, SSD, USB drive, Micro card, memory card, camcorder, digital camera, music player, video player, iPod, RAID, CF/SD card, Zip drive, pen drive, and more.
Disclaimer: It is difficult to recover data from solid-state drives (SSDs). The TRIM technology that increases their efficiency also makes it impossible to recover your files once the trash has been emptied.
Supported file systems:
- Windows version: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, NTFS5, ext2, ext3, HFS+, ReFS
- Mac version: APFS, HFS+, HFS X, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS
This means that the Windows version can access drives formatted with the older HFS+ format, but not the new APFS. The Mac version can access drives formatted with the commonly used Windows NTFS file system. Only the Windows version can access Linux-formatted drives.
Supported file types:
- Graphics: JPG, TIFF/TIF, PNG, BMP, GIF, PSD, CRW, CR2, NEF, ORF, SR2, MRW, DCR, WMF, RAW, SWF, SVG, RAF, DNG, and more
- Document: DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, PPT/PPTX, PDF, CWK, HTML/HTM, INDD, EPS, and more
- Audio: AIF/AIFF, M4A, MP3, WAV, WMA, APE, MID/MIDI, RealAudio, VQF, FLV, MKV, MPG, M4V, RM/RMVB, OGG, AAC, WMV, APE, and more
- Video: AVI, MOV, MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, MKV, ASF, FLV, SWF, MPG, RM/RMVB, MPEG, and more
- Email: PST, DBX, EMLX, and more
- Archive: ZIP, RAR, SIT, ISO, and more
- Other: EXE, HTML, SITX, and more
Additional Features
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard offers a number of additional features:
- Pause and resume so that you don’t need to complete lengthy scans in one sitting
- Saving scans for recovery at a later time or date
- Sorting and searching the files located to narrow down the results to a more manageable number
- Previewing located files to identify the ones you want to recover
- SMART monitoring for early warning of failing hard drives
- A bootable recovery drive is available as a separate $99 purchase which comes bundled with EaseUS Data Recovery Pro
However, it lacks a few features offed by some other recovery applications:
- Imaging and cloning a drive, including lost files for future recovery
- File overwriting (secure delete)
- Defragmentation
- Deleting duplicates and other cleanup features
- A mail-in service for difficult recovery jobs (though Pro users can consult with remote specialists)
User Experience
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is quick to download and easy to install and the software is easy to use. Its interface is efficient and straightforward and asks as few questions as possible so that you can get started quickly.
Data recovery requires just three steps:
- Choose the hard drive that contains the lost information
- Scan the drive to locate the files
- Preview the files to identify the ones you wish to recover
Performance
Scanning for lost files can be time-consuming. How fast is EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard? To find out, I copied a folder containing 10 files to an empty 4 GB USB stick then deleted it.
On Windows, the scan took exactly five minutes, which is similar to other file recovery applications, many of which took between five and six minutes. The fastest app took 3:58 and the slowest, a very tardy 47:25. I was satisfied with the time the scan took.
On my Mac, it was slightly faster, taking four minutes, which was also typical of other apps. That was the fastest time (shared by four apps in total), while the slowest scan was just 10 minutes.
ThinkMobiles performed a comparative data recovery app on seven Windows applications. When scanning for 50 deleted files on a USB flash drive, EaseUS took 6:32, which is around the middle of the range. Their fastest scan was 0:55 and slowest, 35:45. [1]
Both their scans and mine were quite simple and so took very little time. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard’s scan times are comparable with similar applications.
Another user, Victor Corda [2], performed two tests on EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, though he didn’t compare the results with other applications:
- Scanning a 16 GB USB flash drive took just a few seconds when performing a quick scan, and 13 minutes for a deep scan. Recovering 2.4 GB of data took less than five minutes more.
- Scanning a 1 TB external hard drive took more than eight hours. A deep scan on a large drive can be very time-consuming.
Effectiveness
Data recovery can never be guaranteed. How successful was EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard at recovering data in industry tests? It was very good.
Using both the Windows and Mac versions, I was able to successfully recover all ten deleted files, and these included PDFs, a Word document, and MP3s. Most of the other recovery apps that I tested did the same.
I appreciated the ability to preview the files that were located. EaseUS will often locate more files than you were expecting and the file name alone may not be enough to go by.
But that’s not the complete story: on Windows, 32 lost files were located in total, and that includes 22 files that had been deleted prior to my experiment. That’s more files than most other data recovery applications found. The Mac version was similarly successful and located a large number of files that were on the drive before I formatted it.
ThinkMobiles’ tests showed similar results: all 50 deleted files were located and successfully recovered. When they performed a complete scan on their C: drive, 38,638 lost files were found, more than any other application they tested. [3]
Victor Corda [4] also had success with both of his tests. A quick scan was able to locate and restore all of the files he deleted, which included Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, PNG and JPG images, MOV and MKV videos, an MP3 audio file, and a PDF. A deep scan located files that were on the drive before Victor formatted it.
So, while there is no guarantee that your data will be recovered, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard offers a great deal of hope. Few data recovery apps outperform it.
Customer Support
The EaseUS Support Center offers online help, video tutorials, a FAQ, a knowledge base, and offline documentation as a downloadable PDF. The support team can be contacted via email. As I’ve already mentioned, Pro users have access to remote consultants for help with difficult recovery cases.
FAQs
Is EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard safe?
Yes. Avira Antivirus, Panda Antivirus, and Malwarebytes Antimalware detected no malware. Using the program will not erase or overwrite any of your data.
Is EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard really free?
Yes, to an extent. The free version has significant limitations: only 2 GB of data can be recovered and tech support is not available. The Pro version does not have these limits and costs $69.95 for Windows and $89.95 for Mac.
How long does EaseUs Data Recovery take to finish the scan?
Quick scans are often completed in just seconds, and deep scans on a typical USB flash drive take about five or six minutes. Deep scans on a large hard drive can take many hours—or even days—depending on its size and condition.
Why is it taking so long to build a new directory after a scan on EaseUs Data Recovery Wizard?
Be patient when you see the message ”Deep scan completed the program is intelligently building trees.” It can take time with a slow drive and low RAM. If you can’t wait, EaseUS Support lists some steps you can take. [5]
Alternatives
If EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard isn’t right for you, here are some alternatives I recommend.
Stellar is an easy-to-use application with a wider variety of features. It is a reliable and effective application, but its scans are significantly slower than EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. It’s available on both Windows and Mac.
R-Studio is an advanced tool suitable for data recovery professionals rather than the average user. It assumes a high level of technical knowledge and is available for both Windows and Mac.
Recuva is an easy-to-use alternative for Windows users and was created by the developers of the popular CCleaner utility. The free version will meet many users’ needs, making it an excellent alternative for those wanting to recover more than 2 TB with a free tool.
Final Verdict
I recommend EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to both Windows and Mac users who require an easy-to-use but effective data recovery tool. It offers an excellent chance of data recovery with a minimum of fuss.
Quick scans rapidly locate recently deleted files, and deep scans are potentially able to locate files that existed before the drive was formatted. Its deep scans are not the fastest in the industry but are comparable with many similar applications.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is one of the best data recovery tools I have used that is suitable for average users. If you’ve encountered data loss, don’t hesitate to download the trial version and run it to confirm that it can locate your files.
References
