In the modern digital age, losing critical files is something everyone has experienced at least once. Whether you lost a file because of an accident, a system crash, or a corrupted drive, it can be stressful to lose data. Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Windows is a tool that can help recover lost files relatively easy, and fast.
Simple and User-Friendly Interface
One of the first things that stands out about Stellar Data Recovery Professional is its usability. The design is simple and clear which makes it easy for anyone to navigate, even if that person isn’t tech-smart. Once the software launches, it simply walks you through the entire process step by step, like picking the file type you want to have recovered, picking the device you want to scan, and scanning the device to find lost files. You can even preview the file before having it recovered so that you know you are recovering what you need.
Performance and Recovery Abilities
Stellar Data Recovery Professional is designed for various file loss situations. It can handle different file systems like NTFS, exFAT, and FAT32, so it’s compatible with various storage devices. The software supports two different scans:
Quick Scan: This is ideal for recovering recently deleted files. This type of scan runs quickly and easily, so it will be the one to run if you accidentally deleted a file and need to retrieve it.
Deep Scan: This is a longer scan that attempts to recover lost or inaccessible files on a formatted or corrupted drive. While this takes a little longer, it is ideal to recover files if an external or portable storage drive has been damaged.
I tried both types of scan in varying situations with different storage devices including an SSD, external hard drive, and a USB flash drive. The Quick Scan worked very well to recover deleted files; however the Deep Scan took longer but brought back files from a corrupted USB drive that I thought was irretrievable.
What File Types and Devices Does It Support?
An outstanding feature of Stellar Data Recovery Professional is its file recovery options on almost any device. The software can recover:
1. Documents (including Word, Excel, PDFs, etc.)
2. Photos (including JPEG, PNG, RAW, etc.)
3. Videos (including MP4, AVI, MOV, etc.)
4. Audio Documents (MP3, WAV, etc.)
5. Email (Outlook PST, EDB, etc.)
It supports various device types, such as hard drives (HDD/SSD), USB flash drives, SD cards, and even BitLocker-encrypted drives, this software is an excellent option for personal and IT professional data recovery use.
Advanced Features That Add Value
In addition to basic file recovery, Stellar Data Recovery Professional is a data recovery software with other features that will set it apart from other recovery software
BitLocker Drive Recovery: If you have lost files from a drive protected by BitLocker, Stellar can still help recover them, provided you have the key to decrypt the files.
Preview Prior to Recovery: This feature allows you to preview what files are recoverable prior to recovery so you do not waste time recovering unusable files.
SMART Drive Monitoring: Helps you monitor the health of your storage device and alerts you to potential failure before it occurs.
These features just add another level of convenience and reliability, especially for those who rely on their devices for work or personal projects.
Pricing and Licensing
This Data Recovery Professional software does offer a free trial, which allows you to scan for the lost files and to preview them. You will need to have a paid license to recover them. Pricing is as follows:
Professional Edition: $89 per year
Lifetime License: $149 (Lifetime Support)
It may seem expensive for the average user, but it is worth every penny for a professional or business that works on sensitive data. Other recovery software is competitively priced, and I would say that Stellar is reasonably priced, depending on what features the software has to offer.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Interface that anyone can easily use – It’s so easy to use that you don’t need to be a tech wizard to do it.
- Recovers almost all types of files – Your files can be just about any type, such as documents and videos.
- Completely works with multitudes of storage devices– It can regain files from HDDs, SSDs, USB flash drives, and even drives that are encrypted.
- Deep scan also helps even if storage is not all the way functional—Even if the storage device is significantly damaged, it is still possible to recover files through deep scan.
- Other helpful software features— SMART monitoring and many other features—will help reduce the chance for future data loss.
Cons:
- Long wait times for deep scans – Wait a while for the results, particularly with larger drives.
- Full recovery requires payment – The free trial version allows you to view the files but you cannot recover them without a license.
- No cloud recovery – You use the recovery option but not from cloud backups.