This is a review of Remo Recover, a data recovery tool for Mac and Windows.
I provided tech support and managed computer training rooms over several decades. I’ve also written a range of software reviews and how-tos for business users. I’ve taken an in-depth look at Remo Recover to let you know how likely it is to recover your lost data.
Unfortunately, I found it to be less promising than other data recovery tools. Its scans were slow and I found it difficult to locate the files I was trying to recover.
In this Remo Recover 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. Let’s get started.
Contents
Remo Recover Overview
Remo Recover is a data recovery and file repair solution for Windows and Mac. Three plans are available for the Windows version:
- Remo Recover for Windows Basic Edition: $39.97
- Remo Recover for Windows Media Edition: $49.97
- Remo Recover for Windows Pro: $79.97
The Basic Edition offers file recovery only. The Media Edition adds advanced recovery for photos, videos, and music files. Pro adds recovery of lost partitions, and the ability to add support for additional file types.
Two plans are available for the Mac version:
- Remo Recover for Mac Basic Edition: $59.97
- Remo Recover for Mac Pro: $94.97
Similarly, the Basic Edition offers file recovery and Pro adds advanced recovery for photos, videos, and music files, recovery of lost partitions, as well as the ability to add support for additional file types. A free trial will show you if your files can be recovered before paying for the application.
In this review, I’ll explore the Mac and Windows versions of Remo Recover Pro. Unfortunately, not everything I discover is positive.
Recovery Features
How is data recovery possible? When a file is deleted, it is not removed from the directory or folder that lists your files, nor is its data removed from your drive. It is simply marked as being deleted. Recovery cannot be guaranteed because, in time, both the directory entry and data are likely to be overwritten.
Methods of data recovery offered:
- Recover deleted files from any drive or storage media
- Recover lost files from any selected drive or partition
- Recover deleted photos, videos, and music
- Advanced recovery of lost photos, videos, and music
- Recover partitions that are missing, corrupt, or have been accidentally deleted
- Recover drives and partitions that have been accidentally formatted or reinstalled with a new operating system
Supported storage media:
- External hard drives: Seagate, Dell, Kingston, Western Digital, IBM, Buffalo, LaCie, HP, Maxtor, Toshiba, Iomega, Sony, G-Tech, Hitachi, Transcend, Verbatim, and more.
- Memory cards: SD, CF, SDHC, SDXC, miniSD, microSD, XD, SmartMedia, MMC, and more.
- Flash drives: Pen Drives, USB Drives, Jump Drives, Gig Stick, Thumb Drive, Flash Stick, Memory Stick, PNY, and more.
- SD cards: Sandisk, HP, Transcend, Hitech, Kingston, Samsung, Lexar, Toshiba, Fujifilm, Polaroid, Delkin, iXpand, Adata, Sony, Strontium, Patriot, and more.
- Digital cameras and camcorders: Canon, GoPro, Kodak, Casio, Nikon, Sony, JVC, Fujifilm, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Olympus, Pentax, HP, Ricoh, and all DSLR.
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 file systems such as NTFS, NTFS5, FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT, and Mac file systems including HFS, HFS+, and APFS.
Supported file types:
- Photos: JPEG, RAW, TIFF,TIF, PNG, BMP, GIF, PSD, PDD, CRW, CR2, ORF, NEF, ORF, RAF, SR2, MRW, DCR , XCF, DNG, MOS, MCD, VWX, MEF, WP, CDR, PM, PCX, MNG, TGA, JP2,MSP, WMF, WMF, DNG, ERF, and more
- Videos: AVI, MOV, MP4, MPEG, FLC, M4V, 3GP, MKV, WMV, ASF, OGM, M4P, AVS, FLV, SWF, 3G2, H264, XVID, and more
- Audio: MP3, M4A, WAV, WMA, MIDI, AIF, AAC, M3D, AIFF, CDA, OGG, AAC, AU, and more
- Documents: DOC, DOCX, PDF, XLS, XLSX, SDW, PPT, PPS, PPTX, DOT, DOTX, PDF, CWK, HTML, PHP, ASPX, HTM, SLDX, INDD, MDF, EPS, QDF, TXT, OTP, and more
- Email: PST, OST, DBX, EMLX, and more
- Archives: ZIP, RAR, 7Z, SIT, TAR, HQX, SITX, ARJ, and more
Additional Features
Remo Recover offers a number of additional features:
- Pause and resume
- Saving scans for recovery at a later time
- Sorting and searching the files located to narrow down the results to a more manageable number
- Previewing located files
- Recovery Vault to store deleted files for guaranteed recovery
- Disk imaging
However, it lacks a few features offed by some other recovery applications:
- Bootable recovery drive, but the Remo blog explains how to boot from your Windows installer disk
- File overwriting (secure delete)
- Defragmentation
- Deleting duplicates and other cleanup features
- SMART monitoring for early warning of failing hard drives
- Mail-in recovery service
User Experience
Installation is easy and the interface is attractive. No technical knowledge is required to use the application—recovering your data is accomplished in just four steps:
- Select the drive to recover
- Scan for lost or deleted data
- Preview the recovered data
- Save the recovered data
Performance
Scanning for lost files can be time-consuming. How fast is Remo Recover?
To find out, I copied a folder containing 10 files to an empty 4 GB USB stick then deleted it. A scan with the Mac version took 10 minutes, and a scan with the Windows version took 7.
How does that compare with the competition? I performed the same scan with seven other Mac data recovery applications, and Remo was the slowest. The fastest five apps took just 4 minutes. On Windows, the scan was in the middle of the range. The fastest apps took around 5 minutes, and the slowest (Stellar Data Recovery) a very tardy 47 minutes.
Another reviewer performed three tests on the Windows version of Remo Recover: [1]
- A quick “Recover Files” scan on his C: drive took just 5 minutes
- An advanced “Recover Deleted Photos” scan on a 32 GB SD card took about 90 minutes. The actual recovery process took another two hours.
- Scanning a formatted 1 TB external hard drive took 10 hours then another three hours for recovery.
Remo Recover’s scans take longer than many other recovery applications. If a quick recovery is your priority, an alternative will definitely suit you better.
Effectiveness
Data recovery can never be guaranteed. How successful was Remo Recover?
In my own test, it was able to recover all ten deleted files, including PDFs, a Word document, and MP3s. That’s true of both the Mac and Windows versions. Almost every other program I tested did the same. Recovering recently-deleted files is something most data recovery tools do well.
Remo Recover also found other lost files that were deleted previously, as did every other application I tested. Unfortunately, Remo located far fewer files than most alternatives. That means in more difficult data loss scenarios you are more likely to have success with another application.
How successful was the other reviewer with his three tests? He had mixed results. [2]
- When he scanned his C: drive for the files he had intentionally deleted, the application located over 200,000 lost files. That made it difficult to find the files he wanted to recover. Even using the search feature, he was unable to find any of his deleted files.
- He had more success when recovering media files from an SD card. The scan found 37.7 GB of lost data and decided to recover all of the files to his hard drive. He estimates that around 90% of the files were usable.
- When scanning his formatted external drive, a number of lost partitions were located. He was unsure which was the correct one so chose the largest. The app initially crashed while searching for files, but he managed to restore 15.7 GB of data. Unfortunately, he was unable to find his test files.
Remo Recover’s overall effectiveness is questionable. It offers a reasonable chance of recovery in simple scenarios such as recently-deleted files, but not in more complex situations. The app crashes, its scans are slow, and locating the files you want to recover is difficult.
Customer Support
The official website offers instructions on how to install and uninstall the software and a “Need Help?” Page lists frequently asked questions. [3] Support can be contacted via a web form.
FAQs
Is Remo Recover safe?
Yes. Scanning for lost data will not overwrite any of your existing files and scans by Avast Antivirus and Malwarebytes found no malware. The application did crash once while I was testing it.
Is Remo Recover free?
No. The free trial version will show you which lost files can be located, but you need to pay for the software to actually recover them.
Alternatives
If Remo Recover 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.
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’s scans may take even longer than Remo’s but they are more likely to result in success. It’s reliable, easy to use, and 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
Remo Recover is one of the less promising data recovery apps that I tested. Its scans are slow, locating your files is difficult, and the app crashed during my tests and those of another reviewer. It may recover your data in simple data recovery scenarios, but there are much better alternatives. I can’t recommend it.
Recuva offers a free version that will meet many Windows users’ needs as well as an affordable Professional version. It’s at least as effective as Remo Recover, but much easier on the wallet.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and Stellar Data Recovery are more effective at recovering files while still being very easy to use. They are suitable for average users but be warned that Stellar’s scans are often slower than Remo’s.
Finally, if the free trial versions of those alternatives didn’t locate your lost data, R-Studio might. It’s consistently found to be the most effective data recovery tool but has a steep learning curve. If you’re willing to study the manual, it may get your files back when other tools fail.
References
