Alternatives to Stellar Data Recovery
Commercial software for recovering deleted, lost or formatted files from computers and storage media. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Stellar Data Recovery
Commercial software for recovering deleted, lost or formatted files from computers and storage media.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Stellar Data Recovery.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
A consumer data recovery program for restoring deleted or lost files from drives and memory cards.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard also has Windows and Mac versions with a freemium model, handling deletion, formatting and partition loss, with larger recoveries needing a paid edition.
Disk Drill
A data recovery app for macOS and Windows that scans drives and devices for lost files.
Disk Drill covers Windows and macOS and recovers from phones and RAID arrays as well as drives, with full recovery requiring the paid PRO version.
Wondershare Recoverit
Commercial data recovery app for restoring deleted or lost files on Windows and Mac.
Wondershare Recoverit offers a guided app for Windows and Mac that recovers from internal drives, SD cards and crashed PCs, with full use depending on a paid plan.
Recuva
A Windows tool for recovering deleted files from hard drives, memory cards and USB sticks.
Recuva is Windows only and freemium, recovering from memory cards, USB sticks and formatted drives with a deep scan mode, and adds secure overwrite for permanent deletion.
TestDisk & PhotoRec
Recovers lost partitions, makes non-booting disks bootable again, and undeletes files from FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext filesystems.
TestDisk & PhotoRec is free and open source across Windows, macOS and Linux, restoring lost partitions and carving files, but uses an intimidating text menu interface.
DMDE
A disk editor and data recovery tool that reconstructs lost files and directory structures.
DMDE runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, rebuilding directory trees after formatting and including a low-level disk editor, with the free edition limited to 4000 files per directory.
DiskGenius
Combined partition manager, data recovery tool and backup utility for Windows.
DiskGenius is Windows only and combines file recovery with partition management and backup, though recovery beyond small files needs a paid licence.
Windows File Recovery
Microsoft's free command-line tool for recovering deleted or lost files on Windows.
Windows File Recovery is a free Microsoft tool installed from the Microsoft Store, but it is command line only and needs Windows 10 2004 or later, with no Mac version.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Stellar Data Recovery as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
IsoBuster
A Windows data recovery program for optical discs, hard drives, USB sticks, memory cards and disk images.
Stellar Data Recovery offers Windows and Mac editions with a free preview before paying, plus related photo, video and phone recovery tools.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
GNU ddrescue
A command-line data recovery tool that copies raw blocks from failing disks while working around read errors.
The Sleuth Kit
Command-line tools and a C library for analysing disk images and recovering files in forensic work.
SpinRite
A bootable maintenance and data recovery utility for hard drives and other mass-storage devices, from GRC.
OSFMount
A free Windows utility that mounts disk image files as drives and creates RAM disks.
