Reviews Software Windows

Wondershare Data Recovery – Recover Lost Pictures and Files

It has happened to the best of us all, accidently removing that one file you needed or that one picture you loved so much. We here on WindowsInstructed have reviewed multiple solutions that are able to recover lost files like Recuva. However, we haven’t seen what Wondershare Data recovery can do. In the past, we’ve taken a look at some other software they’ve published and till now we were always positive of their solutions

So what’s Wondershare Data Recovery you might ask? According to Wondershare themselves, it’s an all-in-one solution for lost photo’s, documents, downloads, movies and any other file type you might imagine. They themselves call it “The Best and Complete Recovery Software for Computer & Storage Devices” with “A non-destructive data recovery that enables you to retrieve data deleted, formatted or otherwise lost from PC and removable storage devices.”

Is their claim right? Let’s test Wondershare Data Recovery! The timing of this review was perfect since I’ve “accidently” deleted 32GB of RAW (NEF) pictures from my main hard disk.

Features

What can it recover?

Wondershare Data Recovery can recover any file type. However, to help you it does have some filters you can choose from before you start scanning, making the scan faster. The default filters are as follow:

  • Photo / Graphic
  • MP3 / Audio
  • Video
  • Office Documents
  • Email

And the last option it offers is like I said; All file types. While this type of filtering / predefined file type list is common in the field of Recovery solutions it’s something that some big recovery solutions still don’t have.

Wondershare Data Recovery
Wondershare Data Recovery

Where can it recover files?

Like you can imagine yourself it can recover files from your built-in hard disks and attached storage devices, like a USB flash drive.  However, it can also recover files from:

  • Memory Cards
  • Deleted Partitions
  • Digital Cameras

Sadly, it cannot recover files lost on a Network Attached Storage Device (NAS) or any other network based storage devices. I do hope that Wondershare will add this feature in the future since more and more people are using Network Attached Storage Devices.

My experience

The most important thing of a software product designed to recover files is that it does the recovering part like a charm.

What’s better than testing 32GB of lost NEF data to test this? Disclaimer; I did install this program and downloaded some other programs before starting the program. This disclaimer is quite important since most people know that installing, downloading or anything else that requires using your storage device overwrites deleted data, so in my case a 100% recovery is simply not expected and normal.

Wondershare Data Recovery
Wondershare Data Recovery

Of the 318 removed pictures the program was able to restore 290 pictures, 28 however where lost most likely because of the downloading and installing of several pieces of software.

Overall verdict on Features

Wondershare Data Recovery simply does what it says, it recovers your files and does a pretty good job at it. I do however miss the ability to recover files from a network location. I would, however, score the effectiveness of the scanner and recovery process a 9 out of 10.

Ease of Use

Kudo’s where they belong, the software instantaneously starts with the screen asking you to answer two questions and the program will do the work for you! Brilliant. After answering that I lost Photo/Graphical material I clicked Next. I wasn’t really sure where the files where so I choose “I can’t remember” and Wondershare Data Recovery directly began scanning all attached media storage devices and built-in storage device.

I must say by including this Wondershare has done something I gave so much credit to Recuva for, they made it easy for any kind of Windows user to recover their files without having to do any technical work.

Overall verdict on Ease of Use

Like you might have read above, I was happy that the program was so easy to use. Simple asking me what I want to recover and where I want to recover it without providing me with an entire interface might be a bold choice for technical users however for our audience on WindowsInstructed it’s simply the best. Most of our audience are normal Windows users and just want to have programs function as easy as possible. Therefore, I would score Wondershare Data Recovery a 9 out of 10.

Design

Take a look at the features, the image I attached there showing the results of the scan. It might be nothing, however, I find it annoying that it shows a big empty space with only an error saying “No preview available. File size exceeds maximum preview limit.” Why does that box have to be that huge? I would love to have that space to see more of the results because that results list is simply too small.

Next to that I really do not like that huge search bar, there is absolutely no need for it to be that huge, and it’s in a rare location… When I type there where does it filter on? File type? Results? Of course, I understand that it searches in the results, however, why not place the search bar there.

However, that is, of course, my personal feeling and it won’t affect the score much. I do believe that the design is a bit outdated, it reminds me of Windows XP. Therefore, I would score the design of the program a 7 out of 10. It could be better but it’s not bad.

Verdict

Wondershare Data recovery simply does what it promises and it does it well. In our test, it recovered 290 out of 318 files lost, or a 91% recovery rate, which could have be higher if I used this software earlier. The scanning of your drives for lost files is very fast and the recovery process is easy to understand and works like a charm. Overall Wondershare Data Recovery scores a good 8.5 out of 10 making it an Excellent score. Always remember; When you accidentally deleted important files, cease all unnecessary operation of the computer(stop surfing websites or watching online videos), and run the data recovery software as soon as possible to increase recovery rate.

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