We´ve talked about Data Recovery before on WindowsInstructed and made a list of the best recovery programs out there. Now there is a new big name out there MiniTool Power Data Recovery. MiniTool Power Data Recovery has over a million downloads on CNet and countless downloads on other websites, but is it any good? We tested it!
Features
MiniTool Power Data Recovery can recover files that were deleted on the partition the program was installed on that is nothing special to be honest. But it can also recover files from damaged partitions that became unreadable by Windows and it can also restore data from formatted (CD-RW, DVD-RW) discs. Features that we love.
To test how the Recovery works and if it’s reliable we downloaded around 200 images from the internet and saved them in a folder. We then removed all the images permanently and rebooted Windows. We then started MiniTool Power Data Recovery and clicked on Undelete Recovery. The software succeeded in recovering 195 images which is a very good result.
The only thing I really did not like about the free version is the 1GB Restoration limit with that limit the free version is almost useless to be honest, however if you choose to run the Personal Version then MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a great piece of software to restore lost files. Scoring a 7.5 out of 10 on features.
Design and Ease of Use
The program looks good. Features are easy to find and the color choices are good. The program itself is easy to navigate and all features are explained to the user which is a good thing. The program itself is very user friendly and requires no technical skill at all.
The user interface uses the same design as the Windows Explorer / File Explorer does and thus making the user interface feel more used too without ever having used the program itself.
The only thing I think the program could have done better is to add buttons to much used folders like My Documents, My Pictures and so on. The user has now go trough all the folders on the hard disk to get to these folders. Which is for people who don´t know precisely where the user folders are quite difficult.
The program scores a 9 out of 10 on Design and a 8 out of 10 on Ease of Use.
Verdict
MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a good choice for recovering files you accidentally lost, partitions that became corrupted or files lost when you accidentally formatted your media card. MiniTool Power Data Recovery is easy to use and the design is clean and clear. The only thing we really did not like is the 1GB recovery limit. It might be enough to restore vacation photo´s but nothing more than that. Overall we scored MiniTool Power Data recovery with a 8,1 out of 10 making it a very good program.
