This is a review of NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials, a little-known problem-solving tool for Windows.
I’ve worked in tech long-term, and have offered IT support and training over decades, and written software reviews and how-tos for business users. I’ve taken an in-depth look at NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials to let you know whether it’s worth buying.
NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials is able to solve a number of technical problems with Windows computers, but data recovery isn’t one of them. Many users find the software difficult to set up and use, and it won’t magically solve every problem.
In this NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials review, I’ll explore what the software can do and whether you should buy it.
Let’s get started.
Contents
NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials Overview
NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials boots from a CD or USB drive and fixes and finds problems that prevent your Windows PC from starting up or working correctly.
It doesn’t perform file recovery by scanning for lost files as other recovery apps do but can protect your files if you run the software before you suffer data loss.
NeoSmart offers a number of versions of Recovery Essentials:
- Home Edition: $19.75
- Professional Edition: $39.75
- Server Edition: $99.99
The Home and Professional editions are reasonably priced and can be used on a single computer. The Professional Edition adds an antivirus scanner and partition editor and there’s a more expensive Technicians’ Edition for each plan that allows you to repair multiple computers.
In this review, we’ll focus our attention on the Home Edition.
If you inadvertently lost important computer data, this recovery tool won’t help. It can help with a number of other problems that prevent Windows from running correctly or starting at all, but it’s not necessarily the best tool for those problems either.
Recovery Features
NeoSmart is designed to intelligently repair a wide range of computer problems and does not offer normal data recovery. However, if you run the software before encountering data loss, its file backup and recovery feature offers one way to get your data back.
It works with Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, and Vista. You can even use it with Windows XP.
Additional Features
NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials can’t help you with data recovery but does offer these features:
- One-click Windows repair
- Hardware testing and diagnostics
- System rollback and restore
- File backup and recovery
- Web browser
- Antivirus scanner (Professional Edition only)
- Partition editor (Professional Edition only)
User Experience
NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials cannot be simply downloaded and launched like other recovery apps. You’re required to burn a CD or create a bootable USB drive that contains the software.
You then reboot your computer and make sure it starts up from the NeoSmart device. There are a few ways to do that, including these:
- Hold down Shift while selecting Restart from the Windows menu. This is the easiest way, as long as Windows is still running.
- Watch your screen as it boots to enter your BIOS setup. This changes from computer to computer, though Delete and F2 are commonly used keys. From there, make sure that CDs and flash drives come before your C: drive in the list.
Normally users have commented that they have found this process a little difficult and time-consuming, but advanced users won’t have a problem.
Effectiveness
How effective is NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essential? To find out I turned to consumer reviews.
It was difficult to find any—the software seems to have a very small user base—and Sitejabber was the only place I found a rating and reviews from those who have used it. [1]
That rating is a very low 1.68 out of 5 stars, a score that rings alarm bells, and is based on just 19 reviews. And 15 of those reviews gave the app just one star.
Some users had success with the app, at least initially. Others had no success at all. Some of these were able to obtain a refund, while others didn’t.
Some problems seemed related to the difficulty the users had in creating a bootable CD, a step that seems to be beyond the technical capability of many normal users.
One user tried to download the software again after the initial purchase, but the download link he had been emailed no longer worked.
He reports that NeoSmart Support wouldn’t provide a new download link because of the considerable time that had passed since his purchase. So make sure you keep your own copy of the app if you do purchase it.
Some users refer to the program as a “scam” and “rip off”, but that’s going too far. It does solve a variety of Windows problems, but can’t automatically solve every problem you’ll encounter.
Be aware that most of what it offers can be done using Windows itself or free third-party utilities. What it offers is ease-of-use, but that’s offset by the difficulty many users have with the initial setup.
Customer Support
The NeoSmart Knowledgebase [2] offers searchable help articles and guides on a number of topics, including setup and use of the software. The support team can be contacted via email.
FAQS
Is NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials legit?
Yes. It can help with a number of problems with Windows PCs and won’t hurt your computer.
Is NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials free?
No. I found mentions online of a product called “Easy Recovery Essentials Free” but it seems to be discontinued. There is no mention of a free product on the official website.
Can NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials recover my lost data?
No. It can help with a number of computer problems, but data recovery is not one of them.
Alternatives
If you’ve lost important data, NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials won’t be able to help you. Here are some alternatives I recommend that will.
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.
Recuva is Windows-only recovery software from the CCleaner developers. The free version will meet many users’ needs.
Stellar 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 can’t recommend NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials as a data recovery solution. While it can back up your data, it is unable to rescue lost data that was not backed up as genuine data recovery applications can. It can help with numerous other problems with Windows computers, but given its low consumer ratings, I can’t recommend it for that either.
If you have encountered the loss of important data through a computer crash or human error, choose one of the alternatives listed above. I recommend them.
References
ZB
Paragon Rescue Kit with “boot corrector” allowed me to recover an unbootable system where EasyBCD set the active partition wrong without asking. Boot Corrector was previously included with Paragon Alignment Tool 4.0 (now discontinued)
ZB
NeoSmart seems pretty scammy; they even want $20 for a tray application boot selector. On many occasions I have seen NeoSmart EasyBCD break a working multi-boot system and destroy the boot loader. Then they try to sell you Easy Recovery Essentials (which does not repair it, and will sometimes break the last bootable option which remains in a multi-boot Windows system.) There are better tools for this purpose; this one is not worth the money and rarely works. FYI: the alternatives listed here are data recovery tools, not boot repair tools.
jay davis
^^^^^TONY^^^^ Above me, is a Complete And Total Shill. The TRUTH is the software is garbage. The Support is a myth, it flat out doesn’t exist. I will admit Tony was honest regarding the huge number of reviews on SiteJabber….except 99% of them are NEGATIVE. Other than the few obviously fake reviews by shills such as Tony (or maybe he wrote them all?) they all are complaints about the software not working, the company being a fraud and basically just stealing the unfortunate folk’s (maybe I should call them victims?) money. STAY AWAY! STAY FAR AWAY from this TRASH!
Tony
“How effective is NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essential? To find out I turned to consumer reviews.
It was difficult to find any—the software seems to have a very small user base—and Sitejabber was the only place I found a rating and reviews from those who have used it. [1]” – this really destroys the validity and credibility of your review since at the NeoSmart site there are more than 30 pages of reviews (I don’t know how many total because I stopped looking after 30), and they are mostly rave reviews and thank yous.
I used it and it brought a completely dead laptop fully back to life. Also, it doesn’t claim to be a data recovery program, so your “I can’t recommend NeoSmart Easy Recovery Essentials as a data recovery solution.” and comparisons to other data recovery programs is nonsensical. And no, I don’t work for NeoSmart – just a very relieved user.
J ORourke
This product would never load its recovery environment. Sent multiple requests to support and was ignored.
Sent multiple requests for refund and was ignored. Sent an angry email to the CEO and was ignored.