This is a review of Recover My Files, an easy-to-use Windows data recovery software.
I’ve been offering IT training and support over several decades, and also write software reviews and how-tos for business users. I’ve taken an in-depth look at Recover My Files to let you know how likely it is to recover your lost data.
I found Recover My Files to be effective at recovering data in a range of scenarios, and suitable for non-technical users. It includes the features most users need, but its scans are a little slow.
In this Recover My Files 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
Recover My Files Overview
Recover My Files can rescue files you accidentally deleted, even if you’ve emptied the recycle bin. It can also recover lost files after you’ve formatted a drive.
Three versions are available:
- Standard costs $69.95 and includes the features most users need, including the creation of disk images
- Professional costs $99.95 and adds the ability to scan disk images and raid arrays as well as additional customization options
- Technician costs $349.95 and is designed for data recovery professionals
A free trial will show you if your files can be recovered before paying for the application. In this review, we will consider the Standard version.
Recovery Features
How is data recovery possible? A deleted file’s data actually remains on the drive. It is marked as available space, and in time, will be overwritten by new files. Data recovery is never guaranteed, but you will have the best chance of success by acting promptly.
Methods of data recovery offered:
- Recover files, including lost and deleted files, even after the recycle bin has been emptied
- Recover a drive after an accidental format, Windows reinstall, system restore, or corruption
Supported storage media: Hard drives, camera cards, USB flash drives, Zip drives, floppy disks, iPods, 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 formats: NTFS (3, 4, 5)
- Mac formats: HFS, HFS+, but not the new APFS file system
- Cross-platform formats: FAT (Ex, 12, 16, 32, 64)
Supported file types: More than 200 file types, including popular photo, video, music, document, and email formats.
Additional Features
Recover My Files offers a number of additional features:
- Pause and resume
- Sorting and searching the files located to narrow down the results to a more manageable number
- Previewing located files
- Disk imaging
- SMART monitoring for early warning of failing hard drives
However, it lacks a few features offered by some other recovery applications:
- Saving scans for recovery at a later time
- Bootable recovery drive
- Recovery Vault to store deleted files for guaranteed recovery
- File overwriting (secure delete)
- Defragmentation
- Deleting duplicates and other cleanup features
- Mail-in recovery service
User Experience
Setup and installation of the application are straightforward and the user interface is easy to use and feels at home on a Windows computer. An activation code is required before all of the features are unlocked, and no technical knowledge is required to recover your files.
Performance
Scanning for lost files can be time-consuming. How fast is Recover My Files? To find out, I copied a folder containing 10 files to an empty 4 GB USB stick then deleted it. A deep scan took 12 minutes.
That’s slower than many of the other Windows recovery applications I tested. Many of them completed the scan in just four of five minutes, though two were slower, taking 14 and 47 minutes respectively.
However, Recover My Files allows you to check the types of data to scan for. Selecting fewer options will result in faster scans.
Scanning a larger drive takes much longer. When DigiLab ran some test scans it found that scanning a 32 GB SD card took 1 hour 6 minutes. [1] Scanning a large hard drive will take many hours, or possibly days.
Effectiveness
Data recovery can never be guaranteed. How successful is Recover My Files?
In my own test, I was able to recover all ten deleted files, including PDFs, a Word document, and MP3s. 13 additional files were also located. These would have been deleted prior to my test.
This result is typical of other Windows data recovery applications. All but two of the 17 programs I tested successfully recovered the ten files. Most also located additional files, but not all found as many as Recover My Files.
Other testers also found success with the program. For example, ThinkMobiles were able to recover their files in every test they performed and found it more effective than most of the other apps they tested. [2]
DigiLabs ran five data recovery applications through a whole barrage of tests. [3] They found that Recover My Files is very effective with quick scans, restoring formatted drives, and recovering deleted partitions. However, they did encounter problems when using it to recover large files and corrupted file systems.
All of this leads to the conclusion that Recover My Files is one of the more effective data recovery solutions out there. I recommend it.
Customer Support
The Recover My Files Data Recovery Support Center [4] offers a FAQ, information on data recovery basics, and an online manual. The support team can be contacted via an online ticketing system.
FAQS
Is Recover My Files safe?
Yes, the Department of Homeland Security has validated the software so that even law enforcement can use it. [5]
Is Recover My Files free?
No. The program’s free evaluation mode will locate your lost data but not save it. You need to purchase a license for that.
Alternatives
If Recover My Files 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 it is the free data recovery application I most recommend.
EaseUS Data Recovery is a little easier to use than Recover My Files and its scans are much faster. It’s available for both Windows and Mac.
Stellar Data Recovery is very effective at recovering data, but its scans are among the slowest I encountered. It offers a wide variety of features and is available for 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 Recover My Files. It has a good reputation and has stood up to stringent industry testing. The free evaluation version will show you if your lost data can be located before you need to pay.
But it’s available for Windows only, so Mac users should choose one of the alternatives listed above. Windows users should also consider the alternatives if Recover My Files is unable to locate your lost data. Scanning does no damage, so download the trial version of an alternative and see if you have more success.
References
