Best free data recovery software: the real limits compared

The published free-tier limits

We recorded what each vendor said about its free edition. Free limits change with promotions, platform and version, so confirm on the vendor’s page before relying on a number. Vendor prices and free limits change often and many run permanent sales, so treat every figure here as approximate and confirm on the vendor’s own page before you buy.

What the numbers mean in practice

• 100 MB is a handful of photos or one video clip. A single RAW photo from a modern camera can be 25–60 MB.
• 2 GB is a few hundred phone photos, not a wedding shoot.
• 256 KB per file is enough to prove the tool can see a file, and nothing else.
• “Scan free, pay to save” means you will see a promising file list before you know whether the files open.

How to choose without wasting money

1. Decide what you lost. A drive that stopped mounting is a different problem from a deleted file. The first often needs a file-system reader, the second a carver or an undelete tool.
2. Try the free tools first if the data is more than a couple of gigabytes: PhotoRec, or Retrova for a graphical interface. They will not cost you anything but time.
3. If you pay, read the refund policy. Some vendors exclude refunds once the scan completed. Prefer a licence that matches the job: monthly plans auto-renew, and “lifetime” sometimes means one major version.
4. Never save to the drive you are recovering from and never install the recovery tool onto it.
5. Check the results. Open a few recovered files, and ideally verify the copy. See how to verify copied files.

Where free tools fall short

Paid products are stronger at undeleting files with their original names on more file systems, at a wider range of encrypted volumes, at RAID, and at supporting 400 or more file types. Retrova undeletes with names only on NTFS, FAT and exFAT, opens encrypted drives only when you have the key, has no RAID support, and carves 72 types. It is also not signed or notarised yet, so you click through a first-launch warning. For how this plays out against one paid tool, read Retrova vs Disk Drill; for the free-with-no-cap angle, see free data recovery software with no recovery limit.

What Retrova cannot do

To be explicit, here is what Retrova cannot do today:

• Undelete with names outside NTFS, FAT and exFAT. Retrova lists deleted files with their names and folders on NTFS, FAT12/16/32 and exFAT only. On APFS, ext and other file systems it falls back to deep scan, so names and folders are lost and fragmented files may come back damaged. On NTFS, compressed or encrypted deleted files, and ones whose details span several records, are not listed.
• Encrypted drives without the key. Retrova opens BitLocker (password or 48-digit recovery key), LUKS 1/2 (passphrase) and FileVault or encrypted APFS volumes (password) only when you have the key. It cannot open BitLocker startup-key (.bek) or TPM-only drives, or the startup disk of a T2 or Apple silicon Mac away from that Mac. Decryption runs at about 100 MB/s.
• RAID and NAS volumes, APFS snapshots, bootable media and phones. Not supported.
• Code signing. Builds are not signed or notarised yet, hence the first-launch warning.
• Fragmented file carving. Deep scan finds contiguous files of 72 types, which is fewer than the 400 to 1,000 types some paid tools claim. Names are lost, and files stored in pieces may come back damaged or not at all.

The first-launch warning

Retrova’s builds are not signed or notarised with a paid Apple or Microsoft certificate yet, so the first time you open it you will see a warning. On a Mac, open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, click Open Anyway and confirm (on macOS 14 or earlier, right-click the app and choose Open). On Windows, when SmartScreen says “Windows protected your PC”, click More info, then Run anyway. You only do this once. The source code is public if you would rather build it yourself or read what it does.

How we checked

We read each vendor’s published free-tier and pricing information in October 2026. Where we could not confirm a figure on a vendor page we labelled it approximate. We did not test recovery rates. Competitor details were checked in October 2026 and are dated in the text. Vendor prices and free limits change often and many run permanent sales, so treat every figure here as approximate and confirm on the vendor’s own page before you buy.

Questions

Related guides

• Free data recovery software with no recovery limitMost “free” recovery apps stop at 100 MB or 2 GB. What to look for.
• A free Disk Drill alternative with no recovery capFree tools compared, with their real limits.
• A free EaseUS alternative with no 2 GB limitFree tools compared with EaseUS’s free tier.
• A free Recoverit alternative without the 100 MB capFree tools compared with Recoverit’s free tier.
• A free alternative to Stellar Data RecoveryFree tools with no cap compared with Stellar’s free tier.
• A free R-Studio alternative for Mac and WindowsFree tools compared with R-Studio.