This is a review of Lazesoft Recovery Suite, a data recovery tool for Windows that offers a compelling free solution for non-commercial use.
I’ve offered IT training and support over several decades, and write software reviews and how-tos for business users. I’ve taken an in-depth look at Lazesoft Recovery Suite to let you know whether it is likely to recover your lost data.
I found Lazesoft Recovery Suite to be easy to use and effective. It’s free for home users and the Professional Edition is very affordable. However, one tester found that the software crashed several times.
In this Lazesoft Recovery Suite review, I’ll explore the types of data the application can restore, how long this is likely to take, and weigh up your chance of success. I’ll also list other features that are offered and whether it’s suitable for beginners or advanced users.
Let’s get started.
Contents
Lazesoft Recovery Suite Overview
Lazesoft Recovery Suite is a suite of data recovery applications for home and business Windows users. The main components include:
- Lazesoft Windows Recovery: Windows system recovery and fixing Windows boot problems
- Lazesoft Data Recovery: recovering data from drives and partitions that have been deleted, formatted, or damaged
- Lazesoft Recover My Password: Windows password recovery
- Lazesoft Disk Image & Clone: Disk backup, clone, and partition manager
While Lazesoft advertises their software as a free recovery kit, there are actually five different editions, and two are appropriate for typical home and business users:
- Home Edition: free, home license
- Professional Edition: $27.95 (normally $49.99), business license
The free Home Edition is for non-commercial use only and includes the features most users need and is what we will cover in this review. At the discounted price, the Professional Edition is very affordable. A free trial will show you if your files can be recovered before paying for the application.
Recovery Features
How is data recovery possible? When a file is deleted, it is not actually removed from the directory or drive. It’s simply marked as being deleted and the space it occupies is considered available. Recovery is not guaranteed because, in time, as you create new files, both the directory entry and data are likely to be overwritten.
Methods of data recovery offered:
- Fast scan: Quickly scans for lost files on a partition in a few minutes
- Undelete: Recovers deleted files from a partition or removable media
- Unformat: Recovers lost files and folders from an accidentally formatted partition
- Deep scan: Recovers lost, deleted, and damaged partitions, and then recovers lost files and folders
Supported storage media: IDE, SATA, and SCSI hard drives, SSDs, USB drives, iPods, iPhones, RAID disk arrays.
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 formats such as NTFS (including encrypted and compressed) and FAT32
- The HFS+ Mac format, but not the newer APFS
Supported file types: 160+ file types, including documents, videos, emails, and archives.
Additional Features
Lazesoft Recovery Suite offers a number of additional features:
- Sorting and searching the files located to narrow down the results to a more manageable number
- Previewing located files
- Bootable recovery drive
- Disk imaging and cloning
- File overwriting (secure delete)
- Reset Windows passwords (Professional Edition and above)
- Windows recovery to repair boot and crash errors (Professional Edition and above)
However, it lacks several features offered by some other recovery applications:
- Pause and resume
- Saving scans for recovery at a later time
- Recovery Vault to store deleted files for guaranteed recovery
- Defragmentation
- Deleting duplicates and other cleanup features
- SMART monitoring for early warning of failing hard drives
- Mail-in recovery service
User Experience
Installation of the software is easy, and using it doesn’t require advanced technical knowledge. Data recovery is achieved step-by-step using a straightforward interface.
Performance
Scanning for lost files can be time-consuming. How fast is Lazesoft Recovery Suite? To find out, I scanned a 4 GB USB stick. A fast scan was almost instantaneous, and a deep scan took 8 minutes.
This is in the middle of the range of other Windows data recovery applications I tested. The fastest took just four or five minutes, and the slowest apps took 14 and 47 minutes.
Effectiveness
Data recovery can never be guaranteed. How successful is Lazesoft Recovery Suite? In my informal test a fast scan located very few lost files, and a deep scan 177.
ThinkMobiles carefully tested 28 data recovery applications, and they found Lazesoft Recover Suite has a restore efficiency of 92%. [1] That’s impressive. While seven competing products scored even higher, most were lower, going down to just 46%.
They were impressed with the effectiveness of the software overall but found errors in the Settings window, and encountered periodic crashes during the scanning process.
Customer Support
The Lazesoft Support page [2] offers a FAQ and how-to guides. The support team can be contacted via email.
FAQS
Is Lazesoft Recovery Suite safe?
Yes, scanning for lost data will not overwrite your existing files. Be aware that the software crashed several times while ThinkMobiles were testing it. [3]
Is Lazesoft Recovery Suite really free?
Yes, it’s free for personal, non-commercial use. Commercial use requires the purchase of a license.
Alternatives
If Lazesoft Recovery Suite isn’t right for you, here are some alternatives I recommend.
Recuva is Windows-only recovery software from the CCleaner developers. The free version will meet many users’ needs and is easier to use than Lazesoft Recovery Suite, but it doesn’t offer the same wide suite of features. ThinkMobiles gave it the same restore efficiency score.
EaseUS Data Recovery offers an easy-to-use wizard that will scan your drive quickly for lost files. It’s available for both Windows and Mac.
Stellar Data Recovery is an easy-to-use application with a wide variety of features. It is a reliable and effective application, but its scans can be time-consuming. It’s available on both Windows and Mac.
R-Studio is an advanced tool suitable for data recovery professionals. It’s available for both Windows and Mac.
Final Verdict
I recommend Lazesoft Recovery Suite. It offers a compelling suite of recovery apps totally free of charge for non-commercial use, and the Professional Edition for business users is more affordable than the competition. Recuva Free is another excellent free data recovery application for Windows users.
If these apps fail to locate your lost files—or if you’re a Mac user—consider testing commercial alternatives like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and Stellar Data Recovery. The free trial version will demonstrate whether they are capable of locating your lost data.
References