Losing files that we need is one of those challenges that rears its ugly head every so often. Once a file has been deleted from our hard drive or an SD card formatted, it seems like there's no way back. Those files are gone, right? Wrong. In most instances, especially if the drive or card doesn't have new data on it, the data can be restored using recovery software.
Wise Data Recovery is one such paid-for application that offers a free alternative with limited functionality. Through either the Windows or Mac version, it is possible to recover deleted photos, documents, videos, emails, etc, and to recover this data from local drives, external drives, USB drives, SD cards, mobile phones, and other removable devices.
No matter the reason for the data loss, Wise Data Recovery is a capable assistant to guide you through the process. If you find yourself in the position of accidentally formatting a disk, encountering a system crash or suffering a corrupted hard drive, then in most cases, Wise Data Recovery will be able to help you out.
Key Features
Like almost all of the more equipped data recovery software, Wise Data Recovery is able to recover almost all document types, no matter the reason for the data loss. Here are some of the main features:
Wise Data Recovery can recover an impressive number of different file types—1,000+ to be precise. These types include documents, images, videos, audio files, emails, and other file types, including zip and HTML.
It is possible to lose data from any electronic device, and Wise Data Recovery makes it possible to recover files from hard drives, SSDs, USB flash drives, memory cards, and even floppy disks. File systems that are supported include FAT, NTFS, HFS, HFS+, HFSX, Ext2, and Ext3 file systems.
Supporting Windows systems (64 and 32-bit) and MacOS, Wise Data Recovery is a great option for users working across operating systems. The Windows version has a pro option, and the MacOS alternative has professional, premium, and technician options. Each of these offers different functionality.
Interface and usability
Wise Data Recovery has a really nice interface that presents the workflow and associated settings in a clear and intuitive way. The interface begins by letting the user choose the exact location to be scanned. All drives are displayed in a drop-down style menu that is overlaid on top of the main interface. Personally, I think the drive selection could form a separate section of the interface, but I could be in the minority.
With the scanning process underway, users are presented with a percentage wheel for progress as well as an estimated time of completion and the number of files found so far.
The files can be displayed and sorted either by file type or by file path. Having these two options really helps to group files in a way that makes lost files much easier to find. Alongside this, there are also filter options for displaying the results based on file size and date modified. These additional options really help to make the recovery process as streamlined and smooth as possible.
The final cherry on the cake is the search functionality, which makes it even easier to find lost files. It's worth noting that filenames don't seem to be part of the scanning and results process until right at the end, so if you want to search by filename, then you'll want to wait until the whole scan has finished.
Results
To get a clear idea of whether Wise Data Recovery was going to be able to cope with the majority of data recovery tasks, we tested it for a number of different file types across various drive types.
The first test was probably the most challenging, and that involved recovering photo and video files from a formatted SD card that had since had new data saved to it. I was pleased to find that all of my deleted files were discovered in the scan, but the recovery of those files was a little bit more patchy. For photos, there were no problems, with all data restored. Videos, on the other hand, included a mix of results, with some videos losing all video data and leaving just muffled audio. As with any recovery test, it can be difficult to know whether these poor results were due to the algorithm or the data just being unrecoverable.
The other test was a lot simpler but equally important. Having permanently deleted a simple text file from one of my drives, I wanted to see if I could get it back. The software found it during the scan with no problems, and recovery was 100% accurate.
Having tested a number of different recovery software, I have to say that Wise Data Recovery is as accurate and effective as all of the top performers, including Ontrack EasyRecovery and EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.
Verdict
Wise Data Recovery is not only one of the more affordable options for recovery software but is also one of the best. With a clean and intuitive interface, it is possible to scan a range of different drives and recover over 1,000 different file types. Recovery tests proved to be mostly successful and were as reliable as other top-performing alternatives. The option for both Windows and Mac versions makes this a great option for those working with both operating systems. The free version is really limited, with a 10MB cap on file recovery, but the pro versions have a great set of features.
