EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
Version 20.1 · EaseUS · Windows 7 / 8 / 10 / 11 + bootable environment · ranked #48 in the library
A recovery tool that scans a drive for what is still physically present after a delete, a format or a partition loss, with a bootable environment for the machines that will not start at all.
Read the installation section below before you start. The order of the steps matters on this release.
About this release
Overview
Deleting a file does not erase it. The entry that points to it is removed and the space is marked available, but until something writes over that space the data is still sitting there. This tool scans for exactly that: intact file records that no longer have a directory entry, and recognisable file structures in space the system now considers free. On a drive that has not been used since the loss, the recovery rate is high.
There are two scan depths and the difference matters. The quick scan reads the file system structures and finds deletions that are still recorded, which takes a couple of minutes and covers the most common case. The deep scan reads every sector and identifies files by their internal signatures, which takes hours on a large drive but finds material after a format, a partition table loss or a file system that no longer mounts. Results from both are shown in one tree with a preview pane.
The bootable environment in the archive is the part that turns this from a convenience into a rescue tool. Written to a stick, it starts a machine that will not boot and runs the same recovery against its internal drives without ever writing to them. That matters because the single worst thing you can do after data loss is install recovery software onto the drive you are trying to recover from.
What it does
Feature breakdown
Quick and deep scanning
A fast pass over file system structures for ordinary deletions, and a full sector level signature scan for formats, lost partitions and unmountable volumes.
Preview before recovery
Photographs, documents, video and audio previewed in place so you know a file is intact before spending time and space restoring it.
Bootable recovery environment
Write the included environment to a stick and recover from a machine that no longer starts, without installing anything onto the affected drive.
Partition and volume recovery
Find and restore partitions lost to a damaged table or an accidental repartition, with the file systems intact.
Filtering and search across results
Narrow thousands of found files by type, size, name fragment or original path, which is essential after a deep scan.
Resumable scan sessions
Save a scan result and reload it later rather than repeating an eight hour deep scan on a large drive.
Changed in this build
Version 20.1
- Deep scan speed improved substantially on large mechanical drives.
- Additional file signatures added for current camera raw and project file formats.
- Preview pane now handles more video formats without an external codec.
- Scan session files made smaller and faster to reload.
- Bootable environment refreshed with newer storage drivers so it sees more controllers.
Installation
Follow these in order
- Stop using the affected drive immediately. Every write reduces what can be recovered.
- Install this on a different drive or build the bootable environment instead.
- Extract the archive and disable real time protection.
- Run the installer, choosing an install location that is not the drive you are recovering from.
- Apply the included licensing step before launching.
- Start the application, select the affected drive, and run a quick scan before committing to a deep scan.
Release notes
From whoever packed it
- Never recover files back onto the same drive you are recovering from. Use a second drive as the destination.
- A drive making unusual mechanical noises should be imaged first, not scanned repeatedly. Repeated scanning of failing hardware finishes it off.
- Solid state drives with trim enabled often have nothing left to recover after a delete. This is a hardware behaviour, not a limitation of the tool.
System requirements
Minimum and recommended
| Operating system | Windows 7 through Windows 11, plus the standalone bootable environment |
|---|---|
| Processor | Any x86 or x64 processor |
| Memory | 2 GB minimum, 4 GB recommended for deep scans on large drives |
| Storage | A separate destination drive with at least as much free space as you intend to recover |
| Media | A USB stick of 2 GB or larger if you intend to build the bootable environment |
Questions about this release
Answered before you ask
- Can it recover after a format?
- Often yes, with the deep scan, as long as nothing substantial has been written since.
- Will file names come back?
- From a quick scan usually yes. A deep scan identifies files by content, so names and folder structure are frequently lost even when the data is intact.
- Does it work on an external drive?
- Yes, any drive the system can see, including memory cards and USB storage.
Download
Pick a mirror