Interface and Features
Advanced file recovery features
- 2023
- 2022
- 2021
- 2020
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
Network data recovery
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed even if the machines are not on the same local network (network data recovery over the Internet). | |
| WinHex | 2.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. Some data analysis over network is possible in another program: X-Ways Forensics. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 2.0 | We could not find this feature in the program, but there are some other utilities that provide network recovery. | |
| DiskGenius | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients. R-Studio is the only program with full-featured network data recovery capabilities, including recovery over the Internet and can be used on an unbootable machine. The developers of Recovery Explorer Professional and WinHex provide their customers with other utilities for network recovery. | |||
Automatic RAID parameter finding
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 6.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found for RAID 0, RAID 5, and RAID 10 using the ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery utility. | |
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 and 6 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. There are presets for many RAID controllers. The program can read metadata from many RAID controllers and automatically assemble such RAIDs. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | No automatic RAID parameter finding. | |
| DiskGenius | 0.0 | No automatic RAID parameter finding. | |
| R-Studio, Recovery Explorer Professional, DMDE, and ReclaiMe File Recovery can automatically find RAID parameters. ReclaiMe File Recovery supports the largest number of RAID types where parameters can be detected automatically. | |||
Hexadecimal editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create custom templates. | |
| WinHex | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create custom templates. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create customized templates. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| DiskGenius | 4.5 | The editor (Sector Editor) has all standard features. Built-in templates (Data Template) for data interpretation. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.0 | The Pro version: The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| DMDE and WinHex are well-known for their hexadecimal editors, but R-Studio’s features are equally as versatile and intuitive. These two programs rival standalone hexadecimal editors in their capabilities. | |||
Standard RAID level presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID 0 (Stripe Set), RAID1 (Mirror), RAID1E, RAID3, RAID4, RAID5 and RAID6, RAID10, RAID50, 60, 50E with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. Support for many specific RAID controllers. Reworked RAID1E module: added support of multiple missing drives and optimized data access procedure. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID10 (1+0), RAID1E, RAID5, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAIDZ, RAIDZ2, HP EVA vRAID, with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels | |
| R-Studio | 5.0 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1 (Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAID6E with all their variants. Nested RAID levels like 10, 50, 60, 50E can be created from standard RAID levels. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| DiskGenius | 4.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 HP/Compaq. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID1 (Mirror), RAID4, RAID5, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants, and JBOD (Volume Set). Parity delay support for all applicable levels. DVHD: Differencing VHDisks. | |
| WinHex | 4.0 | RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5, RAID5EE, RAID6 | |
| All programs support RAID 0 and RAID 5, which are the most commonly used RAID levels. Recovery Explorer Professional gets the highest ratings with their extended list of supported RAID levels including RAID 3 and 7, which are rarely utilized. ReclaiMe File Recovery supports the RAIDZ and RAIDZ2 RAID configurations based on the now very popular ZFS file system. Since our last review: Recovery Explorer Professional: Support for Reworked RAID1E has been added. DiskGenius: Support for JBOD (Volume Set) has been added. DMDE: Support for DVHD: Differencing VHDisks has been added. | |||
User-defined RAID layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using both a graphic RAID editor and XML RAID description files. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. There are presets for various RAID controllers. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | The user can use a pseudo-graphic RAID editor and create/load/save XML RAID description files. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| WinHex | 4.0 | The user can specify parameters only for standard RAID levels: 0, 5, and 6. | |
| DiskGenius | 3.5 | The user can specify parameters only for standard RAID levels: 0, 4, and 5. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio, DMDE, and Recovery Explorer Professional. R-Studio features graphic RAID editors - we could not find equivalent features in any of the other programs during our tests. | |||
Support for disk and volume managers
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks and Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs/CoreStorage/File Vault/Fusion Drive (including APFS Fusion Drive) Volumes, Linux mdadm RAIDs, Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). R-Studio can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs) and Storage Spaces, Apple Software RAID, APFS Fusion Drive, Linux mdadm RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2), Btrfs-RAID, ZFS RAID-Z, Drobo BeyondRAID, and Synology Hybrid RAID. Recovery Explorer Professional can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added/disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs) and Storage Spaces, Apple Fusion Drive, Linux MD RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. The program also supports some less common managers like the Drobo file system and HP EVA vRAID LUNs. | |
| WinHex | 4.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux MD RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. | |
| DiskGenius | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs) and Storage Spaces. | |
| DMDE | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs) | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery and R-Studio supports the largest number of disk and logical volume managers. All programs support Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs). Since our last review: Recovery Explorer Professional: Support for Btrfs-RAID, ZFS RAID-Z, Drobo BeyondRAID, and Synology Hybrid RAID has been added. | |||
Startup version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DiskGenius | 6.0 | WinPE bootable USB drive or MS-DOS startup feature: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | MS-DOS startup disk: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 |
| |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | No such feature for Recovery Explorer Professional. However, the same vendor provides a separate UFS Explorer Backup and Emergency Recovery CD, which is equivalent in its features to the Windows version of UFS explorer (which later became Recovery Explorer Professional). | |
| WinHex | 2.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. There’s another software X-Ways Forensics - Runs under Windows FE, the forensically sound bootable Windows environment, e.g. for triage/preview, with limitations. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| All but two programs tested include startup versions that are equivalent to the Windows version. The exceptions are ReclaiMe File Recovery and WinHex which do not have this feature (WinHex has another software for this purpose). | |||
RAID recovery features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object can be added to a virtual RAID. Support for reverse RAIDs. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. Support for reverse RAIDs, that is, data decomposition of an object into virtual RAID parents. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| WinHex | 4.5 | Internal RAID 0/5/5EE/6 reconstruction. | |
| DiskGenius | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| DMDE | 4.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| All products support direct access to a virtual RAID, and most of the products support adding disks and disk images to a virtual RAID. R-Studio and Recovery Explorer Professional have the most advanced set of RAID recovery parameters and are rated the highest in this category. | |||
S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T., which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a widely-used in hard drives and solid-state devices to monitor various conditions that indicate drive reliability and predict hardware failures. It is crucial to be aware of disks that are heavily damaged, since further read/write activity may cause increased data loss.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. All S.M.A.R.T. attributes can be copied in one action. | |
| DiskGenius | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes through the shortcut menu Disk/View S.M.A.R.T. Information. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | There is a special option Tools/S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. Update to S.M.A.R.T. monitoring/log pages reader tool: - Reading of both GP log and S.M.A.R.T. log (when possible); - Fixed issue with indication of 'seek error count' when it includes seek statistics; Update to S.M.A.R.T. monitoring tool: added 'SSD life' indication and support of SCSI Log Sense | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. There’s a link to another program. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Most of the programs show the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. Since our last review: R-Studio: All S.M.A.R.T. attributes can be copied in one action. Recovery Explorer Professional: Additional features for S.M.A.R.T. monitoring have been added. | |||
Startup version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 |
| |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | No such feature for Recovery Explorer Professional. However, the same vendor provides a separate UFS Explorer Backup and Emergency Recovery CD, which is equivalent in its features to the Windows version of UFS explorer (which later became Recovery Explorer Professional). | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 6.0 | There’s an option More Tools/ Create Recovery Drive that creates a startup version. | |
| DiskGenius | 6.0 | WinPE bootable USB drive or MS-DOS startup feature: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| WinHex | 2.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. There’s another software X-Ways Forensics - Runs under Windows FE, the forensically sound bootable Windows environment, e.g. for triage/preview, with limitations. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| All but two programs tested include startup versions that are equivalent to the Windows version. The exceptions are ReclaiMe File Recovery and WinHex which do not have this feature (WinHex has another software for this purpose). | |||
Standard RAID level presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID 0 (Stripe Set), RAID1 (Mirror), RAID1E, RAID3, RAID4, RAID5 and RAID6, RAID10, RAID50, 60, 50E with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. Support for many specific RAID controllers. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID10 (1+0), RAID1E, RAID5, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAIDZ, RAIDZ2, HP EVA vRAID, with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels | |
| R-Studio | 5.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1 (Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAID6E with all their variants. Nested RAID levels like 10, 50, 60, 50E can be created from standard RAID levels. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 4.5 | RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| DiskGenius | 4.5 | RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 HP/Compaq. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| WinHex | 4.0 | RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5, RAID5EE, RAID6 | |
| All programs support RAID 0 and RAID 5, which are the most commonly used RAID levels. Recovery Explorer Professional gets the highest ratings with their extended list of supported RAID levels including RAID 3 and 7, which are rarely utilized. ReclaiMe File Recovery supports new RAIDZ, RAIDZ2, and HP EVA vRAID levels. Since our last review: ReclaiMe File Recovery: Support for RAIDZ, RAIDZ2, and HP EVA vRAID types has been added. | |||
RAID recovery features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object can be added to a virtual RAID. Support for reverse RAIDs. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. Support for reverse RAIDs, that is, data decomposition of an object into virtual RAID parents. | |
| DiskGenius | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| WinHex | 4.5 | Internal RAID 0/5/5EE/6 reconstruction. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 4.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. | |
| All products support direct access to a virtual RAID, and most of the products support adding disks and disk images to a virtual RAID. R-Studio and Recovery Explorer Professional have the most advanced set of RAID recovery parameters and are rated the highest in this category. Since our last review: Recovery Explorer Professional: Support for reverse RAIDs has been added. | |||
Automatic RAID parameter finding
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 6.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found for RAID 0, RAID 5, and RAID 10 using the ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery utility. | |
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 and 6 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. There are presets for many RAID controllers. The program can read metadata from many RAID controllers and automatically assemble such RAIDs. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | No automatic RAID parameter finding. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 0.0 | No automatic RAID parameter finding. | |
| DiskGenius | 0.0 | No automatic RAID parameter finding. | |
| R-Studio, Recovery Explorer Professional, and ReclaiMe File Recovery can automatically find RAID parameters. ReclaiMe File Recovery supports the largest number of RAID types where parameters can be detected automatically. | |||
User-defined RAID layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using both a graphic RAID editor and XML RAID description files. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. There are presets for various RAID controllers. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| WinHex | 4.0 | The user can specify parameters only for standard RAID levels: 0, 5, and 6. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 4.0 | The user can specify parameters only for standard RAID levels: 0, 5, and 6. | |
| DiskGenius | 3.5 | The user can specify parameters only for standard RAID levels: 0, 4, and 5. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio and Recovery Explorer Professional. R-Studio features graphic RAID editors - we could not find equivalent features in any of the other programs during our tests. | |||
Support for disk and volume managers
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks and Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs/CoreStorage/File Vault/Fusion Drive (including APFS Fusion Drive) Volumes, Linux mdadm RAIDs, Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). R-Studio can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs) and Storage Spaces, Apple Software RAID, APFS Fusion Drive, Linux mdadm RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2), Btrfs-RAID, ZFS RAID-Z, Drobo BeyondRAID, and Synology Hybrid RAID. Recovery Explorer Professional can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added/disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs) and Storage Spaces, Apple Fusion Drive, Linux MD RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. The program also supports some less common managers like the Drobo file system and HP EVA vRAID LUNs. | |
| WinHex | 4.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux MD RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. | |
| DiskGenius | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs) and Storage Spaces. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery and R-Studio supports the largest number of disk and logical volume managers. All programs support Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs). Stellar Windows Data Recovery cannot process these volume managers. Since our last review: Recovery Explorer Professional: Support for Btrfs-RAID, ZFS RAID-Z, Drobo BeyondRAID, and Synology Hybrid RAID has been added. ReclaiMe File Recovery: Support for Apple Fusion Drive has been added. | |||
S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T., which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a widely-used in hard drives and solid-state devices to monitor various conditions that indicate drive reliability and predict hardware failures. It is crucial to be aware of disks that are heavily damaged, since further read/write activity may cause increased data loss.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DiskGenius | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes through the shortcut menu Disk/View S.M.A.R.T. Information. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | There is a special option Tools/S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 6.0 | There is a special option Stellar Drive Monitor including S.M.A.R.T. Status | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. There’s a link to another program. | |
| Most of the programs show the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. | |||
Hexadecimal editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create custom templates. | |
| WinHex | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create custom templates. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| DiskGenius | 4.5 | The editor (Sector Editor) has all standard features. Built-in templates (Data Template) for data interpretation. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.0 | The Pro version: The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| WinHex is well-known for their hexadecimal editors, but R-Studio’s features are equally as versatile and intuitive. These two programs rival standalone hexadecimal editors in their capabilities. Stellar Windows Data Recovery doesn’t have a hexadecimal editor. | |||
Network data recovery
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed even if the machines are not on the same local network (network data recovery over the Internet). | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 2.0 | We could not find this feature in the program, but there are some other utilities that provide network recovery. | |
| WinHex | 2.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. Some data analysis over network is possible in another program, X-Ways Forensics. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DiskGenius | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients. R-Studio is the only program with full-featured network data recovery capabilities, including recovery over the Internet and can be used on an unbootable machine. The developers of Recovery Explorer Professional and WinHex provide their customers with other utilities for network recovery. | |||
Network data recovery
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed even if the machines are not on the same local network (network data recovery over the Internet). | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients. R-Studio is the only program with full-featured network data recovery capabilities, including recovery over the Internet and can be used on an unbootable machine. | |||
Support for disk and volume managers
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks and Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs/CoreStorage/File Vault/Fusion Drive (including APFS Fusion Drive) Volumes, Linux mdadm RAIDs, Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). R-Studio can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux MD RAIDs, Windows Storage Spaces, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. The program (Pro) also supports some less common managers like the Drobo file system and HP EVA vRAID LUNs. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 4.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Windows Storage Spaces, Apple Software RAID, APFS Fusion Drive, Linux mdadm RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2), Intel Matrix. Recovery Explorer RAID can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| WinHex | 4.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux MD RAIDs, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. | |
| DMDE | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs) | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery and R-Studio supports the largest number of disk and logical volume managers. The only disadvantage of ReclaiMe File Recovery is that it does not support Apple RAIDs. All programs, except one, support Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs). | |||
S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T., which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a widely-used in hard drives and solid-state devices to monitor various conditions that indicate drive reliability and predict hardware failures. It is crucial to be aware of this feature when disks are heavily damaged, since further read/write activity may cause further data loss.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 6.0 | There is a special option Stellar Drive Monitor including S.M.A.R.T. Status | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 6.0 | There is a special option Tools/S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 1.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. There’s a link to another program. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Most of the programs show the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. Since our last review: Recovery Explorer RAID: a special S.M.A.R.T. monitoring option has been added. Stellar Windows Data Recovery: a special S.M.A.R.T. monitoring option has been added. | |||
User-defined RAID layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using both a graphic RAID editor and XML RAID description files. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. There are presets for various RAID controllers. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | The user can use a pseudo-graphic RAID editor and create/load/save XML RAID description files. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. There are presets for various RAID controllers. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 4.0 | The user can specify parameters only for standard RAID levels: 0, 5, and 6. | |
| WinHex | 4.0 | The user can specify parameters only for standard RAID levels: 0, 5, and 6. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio, Recovery Explorer RAID and DMDE. R-Studio features graphic RAID editors—we could not find equivalent features in any of the other programs during our tests. | |||
Standard RAID level presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 6.0 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 1E, RAID3, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAID7, RAID level 10, 50, 60, 50E, with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID5, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels | |
| R-Studio | 5.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAID6E with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 4.5 | RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID4, RAID5, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| WinHex | 4.0 | RAID 0 (Stripe Set), RAID5, RAID5EE, RAID6 | |
| All programs support RAID 0 and RAID 5, which are the most commonly used RAID levels. Recovery Explorer RAID gets the highest ratings with its extended list of supported RAID levels including RAID 3 and 7, which are rarely utilized. | |||
Automatic RAID parameter finding
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 6.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found for RAID 0, RAID 5, and RAID 10 using the ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery utility. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found. | |
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 and 6 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | No automatic RAID parameter finding. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 0.0 | No automatic RAID parameter finding. | |
| All programs, except WinHex and Stellar Windows Data Recovery, can automatically find RAID parameters. ReclaiMe File Recovery supports the largest number of RAID types where parameters can be detected automatically. | |||
Hexadecimal editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMDE | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create custom templates. | |
| WinHex | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create custom templates. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed even if the machines are not on the same local network (network data recovery over the Internet). | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Data can be saved as a “spare” file. Data can be split into fragments. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. The users can create custom templates for data parsing. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.0 | The Pro version: The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE and WinHex are well-known for their hexadecimal editors, but R-Studio’s features are equally as versatile and intuitive. All three programs rival standalone hexadecimal editors in their capabilities. Stellar Windows Data Recovery doesn't have a hexadecimal editor. | |||
RAID recovery features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. Support for reverse RAIDs, that is, data decomposition of an object into virtual RAID parents. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| WinHex | 4.5 | Internal RAID 0/5/5EE/6 reconstruction. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 4.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. | |
| All products support direct access to a virtual RAID and most of the products support adding disks and disk images to a virtual RAID. R-Studio has the most advanced set of RAID recovery parameters and is rated the highest in this category. | |||
Startup version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMDE | 6.0 | MS-DOS startup disk: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 |
Text user interface version: a limited number of features.
| |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 6.0 | No such feature for Recovery Explorer RAID. However, the same vendor provides a separate UFS Explorer Backup and Emergency Recovery CD, which is equivalent in its features to the Windows version of UFS explorer (which later became Recovery Explorer RAID). | |
| Stellar Windows Data Recovery | 6.0 | There’s an option called More Tools/ Create Recovery Drive that creates a startup version. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| All but two programs tested include startup versions that are equivalent to the Windows version. The exceptions are ReclaiMe File Recovery and WinHex which do not have this feature. Since our last review: Stellar Windows Data Recovery: an option has been added to create a startup version. | |||
RAID recovery features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. Support for reverse RAIDs, that is, data decomposition of an object into virtual RAID parents. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| WinHex | 4.5 | Internal RAID 0/5/5EE/6 reconstruction. | |
| GetDataBack+RAID Reconstructor | 4.0 | No support for virtual RAIDs. There’s a special utility RAID Reconstructor that can create an image of a RAID. | |
| All products, except GetDataBack Pro, support direct access to a virtual RAID and most of the products support adding disks and disk images to a virtual RAID. R-Studio has the most advanced set of RAID recovery parameters and is rated the highest in this category. | |||
Standard RAID level presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 6.0 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 1E, RAID3, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAID7, RAID level 10, 50, 60, 50E, with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID5, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels | |
| R-Studio | 5.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAID6E with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID4, RAID5, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| WinHex | 4.0 | RAID 0 (Stripe Set), RAID5, RAID5EE, RAID6 | |
| GetDataBack+RAID Reconstructor | 3.0 | RAID0 (Stripe Set) and RAID5. | |
| All programs support RAID 0 and RAID 5, which are the most commonly used RAID levels. Recovery Explorer RAID gets the highest ratings with its extended list of supported RAID levels including RAID 3 and 7, which are rarely utilized. | |||
Network data recovery
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed even if the machines are not on the same local network (network data recovery over the Internet). | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| GetDataBack+RAID Reconstructor | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients. R-Studio is the only program with full-featured network data recovery capabilities, including recovery over the Internet and can be used on an unbootable machine. | |||
User-defined RAID layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using both a graphic RAID editor and XML RAID description files. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | The user can use a pseudo-graphic RAID editor and create/load/save XML RAID description files. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. There are presets for various RAID controllers. | |
| GetDataBack+RAID Reconstructor | 4.0 | The user can specify parameters only for standard RAID levels: 0 and 5. | |
| WinHex | 4.0 | The user can specify parameters only for standard RAID levels: 0, 5, and 6. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio, Recovery Explorer RAID and DMDE. R-Studio features graphic RAID editors—we could not find equivalent features in any of the other programs during our tests. Since our last review: Recovery Explorer RAID: There are presets for various RAID controllers. | |||
Automatic RAID parameter finding
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 6.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found for RAID 0, RAID 5, and RAID 10 using the ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery utility. | |
| GetDataBack+RAID Reconstructor | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found for RAID 0 and 5 using the RAID Reconstructor utility | |
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 and 6 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | No automatic RAID parameter finding. | |
| All programs, except WinHex, can automatically find RAID parameters. ReclaiMe File Recovery supports the largest number of RAID types where parameters can be detected automatically. | |||
Hexadecimal editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create customized templates. Files can be shown and edited in the hexadecimal editor using a shortcut command. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create customized templates. | |
| WinHex | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create customized templates. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 4.5 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Files can be saved as a“spare” file and can be split into fragments. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| GetDataBack+RAID Reconstructor | 3.0 | Files can be viewed in a hexadecimal viewer. | |
| DMDE and WinHex are well-known for their hexadecimal editors, but R-Studio’s features are equally as versatile and intuitive. All three programs rival standalone hexadecimal editors in their capabilities. GetDataBack Pro+RAID Reconstructor has a hexadecimal viewer. | |||
Support for disk and volume managers
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks and Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs/CoreStorage/File Vault/Fusion Drive (including APFS Fusion Drive) Volumes, Linux mdadm RAIDs, Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). R-Studio can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux MD RAIDs, Windows Storage Spaces, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. The program also supports some less common managers like the Drobo file system and HP EVA vRAID LUNs. | |
| WinHex | 4.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux MD RAIDs, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 4.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Windows Storage Spaces, Apple Software RAID, APFS Fusion Drive, Linux mdadm RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2), Intel Matrix. Recovery Explorer RAID can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| DMDE | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs) | |
| GetDataBack+RAID Reconstructor | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery and R-Studio supports the largest number of disk and logical volume managers. The only disadvantage of ReclaiMe File Recovery is that it does not support Apple RAIDs. All programs, except one, support Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs). Since our last review: R-Studio: Support for APFS Fusion Drive was added. Recovery Explorer RAID: Support for APFS Fusion Drive was added. | |||
Startup version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 |
| |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 6.0 | No such feature for Recovery Explorer RAID. However, the same vendor provides a separate UFS Explorer Backup and Emergency Recovery CD, which is equivalent in its features to the Windows version of UFS explorer (which later became Recovery Explorer RAID). | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | MS-DOS startup disk: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| GetDataBack+RAID Reconstructor | 0.0 | A runtime Live CD и WinPE Plugin | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| All but two programs tested include startup versions that are equivalent to the Windows version. The exceptions are ReclaiMe File Recovery and WinHex which do not have this feature. | |||
S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T., which stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a widely-used in hard drives and solid-state devices to monitor various conditions that indicate drive reliability and predict hardware failures. It is crucial to be aware when disks are heavily damaged, since further read/write activity may cause further data loss.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 1.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. There’s a link to another program. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| GetDataBack+RAID Reconstructor | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| WinHex | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Only R-Studio and DMDE show the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. data. | |||
RAID recovery features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. Support for reverse RAIDs, that is, data decomposition of an object into virtual RAID parents. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate | 5.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks, disk areas, and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. | |
| All products, support direct access to a virtual RAID and most of the products support adding disks and disk images to a virtual RAID. R-Studio has the most advanced set of RAID recovery parameters. | |||
Support for disk and volume managers
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks and Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs/CoreStorage/File Vault/Fusion Drive Volumes, Linux mdadm RAIDs, Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). R-Studio can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux MD RAIDs, Windows Storage Spaces, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Pro: The program also supports some less common managers, like the Drobo file system and HP EVA vRAID LUNs. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 4.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Windows Storage Spaces, Apple Software RAID, Linux mdadm RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2), Intel Matrix. Recovery Explorer RAID can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Storage Spaces, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). | |
| DMDE | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs). | |
| Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery and R-Studio supports the largest number of disk and logical volume managers. The only disadvantage of ReclaiMe File Recovery is that it does not support Apple RAIDs. All programs, except one, support Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs). | |||
Startup version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate | 6.0 | Runtime Live Linux/WinPE 3.1 CD: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | MS-DOS startup disk: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 |
| |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 6.0 | No such feature for Recovery Explorer RAID. However, the same vendor provides a separate UFS Explorer Backup and Emergency Recovery CD, which is equivalent in its features to the Windows version of UFS explorer (which later became Recovery Explorer Professional). | |
| Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| All but two programs tested include startup versions that are equivalent to the Windows version. The exceptions being ReclaiMe File Recovery and Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician which do not have this feature. | |||
S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T., which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a widely-used in hard drives and solid-state devices to monitor various conditions that indicate drive reliability and predict hardware failures. It is crucial to be aware when disks are heavily damaged, since further read/write activity may cause further data loss.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMDE | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Only two of the six tested products show the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. data. Since our last review: Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician (2014) lost this S.M.A.R.T. monitor features. | |||
Hexadecimal editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create their own templates. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create their own templates. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 4.5 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate | 4.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.0 | Pro: The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE is well-known for its hexadecimal editor, but R-Studio’s features are equally as versatile and intuitive. Both programs rival standalone hexadecimal editors in their capabilities. | |||
Network data recovery
Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed even if the machines are not on the same local network (network data recovery over the Internet). | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients. R-Studio is the only program with full-featured network data recovery capabilities, including recovery over the Internet and can be used on an unbootable machine. Since our last review: Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician (2014) lost its network recovery feature. | |||
User-defined RAID layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using both a graphic RAID editor and XML RAID description files. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | The user can use a pseudo-graphic RAID editor and create/load/save XML RAID description files. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio, Recovery Explorer RAID and DMDE. R-Studio features graphic RAID editors—we could not find equivalent features in any of the other programs during our tests. | |||
Automatic RAID parameter finding
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 6.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found for RAID 0, 5, and 6. | |
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found. | |
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 and 6 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Four out of six programs can automatically find RAID parameters. ReclaiMe File Recovery supports the largest number of RAID types where parameters can be detected automatically. | |||
Standard RAID level presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery Explorer RAID | 6.0 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID3, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAID 1E, RAID7, RAID level 10, 50, 60, 50E, with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| R-Studio | 5.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAID6E with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID5, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID4, RAID5, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician | 4.0 | RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate | 3.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID-1 (Mirror), RAID5 with all their variants. | |
| All programs support RAID 0 and RAID 5, which are the most commonly used RAID levels. Recovery Explorer RAID gets the highest ratings with its extended list of supported RAID levels including RAID 3 and 7, which are rarely utilized. **Since our last review: ** Recovery Explorer RAID (2018) can now work with RAID 1E, RAID7, RAID level 10, 50, 60, 50E. Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Technician (2014) lost its ability to work with RAID 4. | |||
Startup version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 |
| |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | No such feature for Recovery Explorer Professional. However, the same vendor provides a separate UFS Explorer Backup and Emergency Recovery CD, which is equivalent in its features to the Windows version of UFS explorer (which later became Recovery Explorer Professional). | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 6.0 | Runtime Live Linux/WinPE 3.1 CD: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | MS-DOS startup disk: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| Data Rescue 5 | 3.0 | A startup disk is available for booting into the normal Mac desktop environment. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Do Your Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| All but two programs tested include startup versions that are equivalent to the Windows version. The exceptions are ReclaiMe File Recovery and Do Your Data Recovery Enterprise which do not have this feature. Data Rescue PC5 has only a startup disk for the Mac platform. | |||
RAID recovery features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. Support for reverse RAIDs, that is, data decomposition of an object into virtual RAID parents. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 5.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks, disk areas, and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Data Rescue 5 | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Do Your Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| All products, except Do Your Data Recovery Enterprise, support direct access to a virtual RAID and most of the products support adding disks and disk images to a virtual RAID. R-Studio has the most advanced set of RAID recovery parameters and is rated the highest in this category. | |||
Standard RAID level presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), RAID6E with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.5 | JBOD (Volume Set), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID3, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID5, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 3.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID-1 (Mirror), RAID5 with all their variants. | |
| Data Rescue 5 | 2.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set). | |
| Do Your Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| All programs (except Data Rescue 5 and Do Your Data Recovery Enterprise) support RAID 0 and RAID 5, which are the most commonly used RAID levels. R-Studio gets the highest ratings with its extended list of supported RAID levels. Recovery Explorer Professional supports RAID 3, which is rarely utilized. Data Rescue 5 supports only JBOD, RAID0, and Do Your Data Recovery Enterprise doesn't have RAID recovery capabilities. | |||
User-defined RAID layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using both a graphic RAID editor and XML RAID description files. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | The user can use a pseudo-graphic RAID editor and create/load/save XML RAID description files. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| Data Rescue 5 | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Do Your Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio, Recovery Explorer Professional and DMDE. R-Studio features graphic RAID editors—we could not find equivalent features in any of the other programs during our tests. | |||
Support for disk and volume managers
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks and Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs/CoreStorage/File Vault/Fusion Drive Volumes, Linux mdadm RAIDs, Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). R-Studio can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 5.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux MD RAIDs, Windows Storage Spaces, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. The program also supports some less common managers like the Drobo file system and HP EVA vRAID LUNs. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 4.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Windows Storage Spaces, Apple Software RAID, Linux mdadm RAIDs and Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). Recovery Explorer Professional can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added /disconnected manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Storage Spaces, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2) | |
| DMDE | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs) | |
| Do Your Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Data Rescue 5 | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery and R-Studio supports the largest number of disk and logical volume managers. The only disadvantage of ReclaiMe File Recovery is that it does not support Apple RAIDs. All programs, except one, support Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs). Since our last review: R-Studio supports now Apple CoreStorage/File Vault/Fusion Drive Volumes, and Linux mdadm RAIDs. Recovery Explorer Professional supports now Apple RAIDs. Active@ File Recovery supports now Windows Storage Spaces. | |||
S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T., which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a widely-used in hard drives and solid-state devices to monitor various conditions that indicate drive reliability and predict hardware failures. It is crucial to be aware when disks are heavily damaged, since further read/write activity may cause further data loss.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Do Your Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Data Rescue 5 | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Only three of the seven tested products show the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. data. Since our last review: DMDE can now show the S.M.A.R.T. data. | |||
Network data recovery
Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed even if the machines are not on the same local network (network data recovery over the Internet). | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Do Your Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Data Rescue 5 | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| R-Studio is the only program with full-featured network data recovery capabilities, including recovery over the Internet and can be used on an unbootable machine. | |||
Automatic RAID parameter finding
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 6.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found for RAID 0, 5, and 6. | |
| DMDE | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found. | |
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 and 6 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| Data Rescue 5 | 2.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically found for RAID0. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Do Your Data Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Four out of seven programs can automatically find RAID parameters. ReclaiMe File Recovery supports the largest number of RAID types where parameters can be detected automatically. | |||
Hexadecimal editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create their own templates. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. Numerous templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can also create their own templates. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 4.5 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 4.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery | 4.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| Do Your Data Recovery | 2.5 | A hexadecimal viewer that allows the user to view the selected disk contents and to search the disk by hex patterns. | |
| Data Rescue 5 | 2.5 | A hexadecimal viewer that allows the user to view the selected disk contents and to search the disk by hex patterns. | |
| DMDE is well-known for its hexadecimal editor, but R-Studio’s features are equally as versatile and intuitive. Both programs rival standalone hexadecimal editors in their capabilities. Data Rescue 5 and Do Your Data Recovery Enterprise have more limited read only support. | |||
Network data recovery
Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed even if the machines are not on the same local network (network data recovery over the Internet). | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe file recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 0.0 | Remote recovery using VNC technology. | |
| R-Studio is the only program with full-featured network data recovery capabilities, including recovery over the Internet and can be used on an unbootable machine. FILERECOVERY Enterprise states that it supports network data recovery using VNC, but this is true for all data recovery programs. | |||
Standard RAID level presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| ReclaiMe file recovery | 5.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID5, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID3, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 3.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID-1 (Mirror), RAID5 with all their variants. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 3.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5 with parity delays, with all their variants. | |
| All programs support RAID 0 and RAID 5, which are the most commonly used RAID levels. R-Studio gets the highest ratings with its extended list of supported RAID levels. Recovery Explorer Professional supports RAID 3, which is rarely utilized. | |||
Automatic RAID parameter finding
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReclaiMe file recovery | 6.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID0, RAID 5 and 6 automatically. | |
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 and 6 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 4.5 | The program suggests a number of RAID parameters and layouts to the user. The best one is selected by the user manually. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Three out of six programs can automatically find RAID parameters. ReclaiMe File Recovery supports the largest number of RAID types where parameters can be detected automatically. | |||
RAID recovery features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. Support for reverse RAIDs, that is, data decomposition of an object into virtual RAID parents. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 5.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks, disk areas, and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| ReclaiMe file recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| All products tested support direct access to a virtual RAID and most of the products support adding disks and disk images to a virtual RAID. R-Studio has the most advanced set of RAID recovery parameters and is rated the highest in this category. | |||
Support for disk and volume managers
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks and Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs, Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). R-Studio can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| ReclaiMe file recovery | 5.5 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux MD RAIDs, Windows Storage Spaces, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). The program can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. The program also supports some less common managers like the Drobo file system and HP EVA vRAID LUNs. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 4.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Windows Storage Spaces, Linux MD RAIDs, and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). | |
| DMDE | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs) | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs), Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2)*. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe File Recovery and R-Studio supports the largest number of disk and logical volume managers. The only disadvantage of ReclaiMe File Recovery is that it does not support Apple RAIDs. All programs, except one, support Windows Dynamic Disks. (Windows software RAIDs). Only FILERECOVERY Enterprise does not support data recovery for disk and volume managers. Since our last review: Active@ File Recovery: The program now supports Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). | |||
Startup version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMDE | 6.0 | MS-DOS startup disk: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 6.0 | Runtime Live Linux/WinPE 3.1 CD: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 6.0 | No such feature for Recovery Explorer Professional. However, the same vendor provides a separate UFS Explorer Backup and Emergency Recovery CD, which is equivalent in its features to the Windows version of UFS explorer (which later became Recovery Explorer Professional). | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 |
| |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| ReclaiMe file recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| All but two programs tested include startup versions that are equivalent to the Windows version. The exceptions are ReclaiMe File Recovery and FILERECOVERY Enterprise which do not have this feature. Since our last review: FILERECOVERY Enterprise: We could not find this feature in the program any more. | |||
Hexadecimal editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMDE | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. A number of templates can be used to parse and interpret data. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. A number of templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can create its own templates. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 4.5 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 4.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| ReclaiMe file recovery | 4.0 | In the Pro version: The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 2.5 | A hexadecimal viewer that allows the user to view the selected disk contents and to search the disk by hex patterns. | |
| DMDE is well-known for its hexadecimal editor, but R-Studio’s features are equally as versatile and intuitive. Both programs rival standalone hexadecimal editors in their capabilities. FILERECOVERY Enterprise has more limited read only support. | |||
S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T., which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a widely-used in hard drives and solid-state devices to monitor various conditions that indicate drive reliability and predict hardware failures. It is crucial to be aware when disks are heavily damaged, since further read/write activity may cause further data loss.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 6.0 | Shows a detailed S.M.A.R.T. analysis. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. | |
| ReclaiMe file recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Only two of the five tested products show the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. data. | |||
User-defined RAID layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using both the graphic RAID editor and XML RAID description files. | |
| Recovery Explorer Professional | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| DMDE | 2.0 | The user can create/load/save XML RAID description files. | |
| ReclaiMe file recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio, Recovery Explorer Professional and DMDE. R-Studio features graphic RAID editors - we could not find equivalent features in any of the other programs during our tests. | |||
Advanced data recovery features are like the specialized tools in a toolbox that aren't used frequently, but when the job demands it, no other tool will do. These are the features that differentiate a do-it-yourself data recovery software from a truly professional data recovery suite. Serious data recovery pros should pay close attention to the ratings in this section.
Automatic RAID parameter finding
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 and 6 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 4.5 | The program suggests a number of RAID parameters and layouts to the user that should select the necessary ones manually. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Only two out of five programs can automatically find RAID parameters. | |||
Standard RAID level presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 5.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID3, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. | |
| DMDE | 4.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 3.5 | JBOD, RAID-1 (Mirror), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5 with all their variants. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 3.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, with all their variants. | |
| All programs support RAID 0 and RAID 5, which are the most commonly used RAID levels. R-Studio gets the highest ratings with its extended list of supported RAID levels. UFS Explorer supports RAID 3, which is rarely utilized. | |||
Hexadecimal Editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. A number of templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can create custom templates. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. A number of templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can create custom templates. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 4.5 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 4.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 2.5 | A hexadecimal viewer that allows the user to view the selected disk contents and to search the disk by hex patterns. | |
| DMDE is well-known for its hexadecimal editor, but R-Studio’s features are equally as versatile and intuitive. Both programs rival standalone hexadecimal editors in their capabilities. FILERECOVERY has more limited read only support. | |||
S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology. S.M.A.R.T. is a widely-used technology in hard drives and solid-state devices that monitors the various conditions that serve as indicators for drive reliability with the goal of predicting hardware failures. It is crucial to be aware when disks are heavily damaged, since further read/write activity may cause further data loss.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 5.5 | Shows S.M.A.R.T. attributes of a hard drive in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 5.5 | Shows detailed S.M.A.R.T. analysis. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Only two of the five tested products show the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. data. We rated them at 5.5 because the top 6-star rating went to Restorer Ultimate (one of the programs we tested in our last year review) for its prominent pop-up window and warning message with a recommendation to create an image of the drive if it has bad S.M.A.R.T. data. | |||
Support for disk and volume managers
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks and Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs, Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). R-Studio can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 4.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs) and Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs). | |
| DMDE | 3.0 | Support for Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs). | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| R-Studio supports the most widely used disk and logical volume mangers. UFS Explorer Professional Recovery, Active@ File Recovery, and DMDE support Windows Dynamic Disks (Windows software RAIDs). Only FILERECOVERY does not support data recovery for disk and volume managers. | |||
Startup version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | R-Studio Emergency: Graphic version: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. R-Studio Agent Emergency: for network data recovery from an unbootable computer. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 6.0 | UFS Explorer Backup and Emergency Recovery CD: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 6.0 | Runtime Live Linux/WinPE 3.1 CD: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | MS-DOS startup disk: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 4.5 | FILERECOVERY RepairIT with limited features. | |
| Almost all of the programs tested include startup versions that are equivalent to the Windows version. FILERECOVERY has a startup version, but with limited features. | |||
Network Data Recovery
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be made even over the Internet, even if the machines are not on the same local network. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 0.0 | Remote recovery using a kind of VNC technology. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients. R-Studio is the only program with full-featured network data recovery capabilities, including recovery over the Internet and can be used on an unbootable machine FILERECOVERY states that it supports network data recovery using VNC, but this is true for all data recovery programs. | |||
RAID recovery features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. Support for reverse RAIDs, that is, data decomposition of an object into virtual RAID parents. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| All products tested support direct access to a virtual RAID and most of the products support adding disks and disk images to a virtual RAID. R-Studio has the most advanced set of RAID recovery parameters and is rated the highest in this category. | |||
User-defined RAID Layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using both the graphic RAID editor and XML RAID description files. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| FILERECOVERY Enterprise | 3.0 | The user can specify its own RAID layouts within supported RAID types. | |
| DMDE | 2.0 | The user can create/load/save XML RAID description files. | |
| Active@ File Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio, UFS Explorer and DMDE. R-Studio features graphic RAID editors—we could not find equivalent features in any of the other programs during our tests. | |||
Advanced data recovery features are those that may not be used for every task, but are nevertheless essential to a professional data recovery technician’s toolset. These are features that you won’t see in do-it-yourself data recovery software and are almost strictly utilized by trained data recovery professionals.
S.M.A.R.T. which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, is a widely-used technology in hard drives and solid-state devices that monitors their various conditions that serve as indicators for drive reliability with the goal of predicting hardware failures. It is crucial to be aware when disks are heavily damaged, since further read/write activity may cause further data loss.
Network Data Recovery
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be made even over the Internet, even if the machines are not on the same local network. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 5.5 | Includes full-featured network data recovery, although recovery agent only runs under Windows. Supports Internet data recovery. Recovered data, disk images and scan results can be saved locally or remotely. Unbootable machines can be stated using the emergency version | |
| Stellar Phoenix Technician | 4.5 | Full-featured network data recovery. Recovered files can be saved on the local computer only. Recovery agent on remote computers runs under Windows. | |
| Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise | 1.0 | Network data recovery using the VNC technology. Actually, this technology can be used with any data recovery program. This program earns 1 star because it is explicitly mentioned in the program help. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Recover My Files | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Network data recovery is becoming increasingly useful for technicians serving remote clients. R-Studio, Restorer Ultimate, and Stellar Phoenix Technician are the only programs with full-featured network data recovery capabilities. OnTrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise states that it supports network data recovery using VNC, but this is true for all data recovery programs. The network versions of R-Studio and Restorer Ultimate receive the highest ratings, as they can both be used over the Internet and can be used on an unbootable machine. Restorer Ultimate scores slightly lower than R-Studio because its recovery agent only supports Windows. | |||
Automatic RAID Parameter Detection
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be found for RAID 5 and 6 automatically and semi-automatically with manual intervention. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 5.0 | Automatic RAID parameter finding for RAID 0 and 5. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 5.0 | Automatic RAID 5 and RAID 6 parameter and layout detection. Also includes “semi-automatic” detection with some user input. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Technician | 2.0 | Pseudo-automatic RAID parameter finding. The program tests variants specified by the user. | |
| Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise | 2.0 | Pseudo-automatic RAID parameter finding. The program tests variants specified by the user. | |
| Recover My Files | 2.0 | Automatic RAID parameter finding for RAID 0 and 5. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Only four out of nine programs can automatically find RAID parameters. Stellar Phoenix Technician and Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise can test RAID parameter variants specified by the user. | |||
Hexadecimal Editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. A number of templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can create its own templates. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | The editor has all standard hex editing features, such as advanced search and custom patterns. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. A number of templates can be used to parse and interpret data. The user can create its own templates. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 5.0 | The hex editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 4.5 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 4.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Built-in templates for data interpretation. | |
| Recover My Files | 3.0 | Only hex viewer is present. | |
| Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise | 3.0 | Only hex viewer is present. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 3.0 | Only hex viewer is present. An additional commercial program (Disk Explorer) is required to edit the program. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Technician | 1.0 | Only hex viewer for several file types is present. | |
| DMDE is well-known for its hexadecimal editor, but R-Studio’s features are equally as versatile and intuitive. Both programs rival standalone hexadecimal editors in their capabilities. Recovery My Files, Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise, GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo, and Stellar Phoenix Technician have more limited read only support. | |||
S.M.A.R.T.
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restorer Ultimate | 6.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a pop-up window. Throws a special warning when attempting to work with a drive with bad S.M.A.R.T. data. Recommends creating an image of the drive and performing all recovery from that image. | |
| R-Studio | 5.5 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Technician | 5.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab in Advanced Options. Difficult to find this feature. | |
| Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise | 5.0 | Shows hard drive’s S.M.A.R.T. attributes in a special S.M.A.R.T. tab. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Recover My Files | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Only four of the nine tested products show the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. data. Although all programs with this feature are rated at 5 stars or higher, Restorer Ultimate gets a full 6 stars for its prominent pop-up window and warning message with a recommendation to create an image of the drive if it has bad S.M.A.R.T. data. This is in contrast to Stellar Phoenix, which has S.M.A.R.T. reporting features, but buries them in the Advanced Options tab. | |||
Standard RAID Level Presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 6.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5E, RAID5EE, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 5.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID3, RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Technician | 4.0 | RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID4, RAID5, RAID6 (Reed-Solomon), with all their variants and parity delays. | |
| DMDE | 4.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID4, RAID5, RAID5 with parity delays, RAID6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 3.5 | JBOD, RAID-1 (Mirror), RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5 with all their variants. | |
| Recover My Files | 3.5 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5 with all their variants. | |
| Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise | 3.0 | JBOD, RAID0 (Stripe Set), RAID5 | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 3.0 | RAID 0 and RAID 5 only. | |
| All programs support RAID 0 and RAID 5, which are the most commonly used RAID levels. R-Studio and Restorer Ultimate get the highest ratings with their extended list of supported RAID levels. UFS Explorer supports RAID 3, which is rarely utilized. | |||
Startup Version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | R-Studio Emergency: Graphic version: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. Text user interface version: a limited number of features. R-Studio Agent Emergency: for network data recovery from an unbootable computer. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 6.0 | UFS Explorer Backup and Emergency Recovery CD: equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 6.0 | Runtime Live CD: Equivalent in its features to the Windows version of GetDataBack. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | MS-DOS startup disk: Equivalent in its features to the Windows version of DMDE. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 6.0 | Runtime Live Linux/WinPE 3.1 CD: Equivalent in its features to the Windows version. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 2.0 | Restorer Ultimate Emergency Engine: for network data recovery from an unbootable computer. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Recover My Files | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Five of the programs tested include startup versions that are equivalent to the Windows version. Restorer Ultimate includes a startup version, but it only supports network data recovery. | |||
Support for Disk and Volume Managers
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restorer Ultimate | 6.0 | Automatically assembles Windows Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs, Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2), even if service data is slightly damaged. Can add objects manually in cases of severe damage. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Support for Windows Storage Spaces, Apple RAIDs, Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM/LVM2). R-Studio can assemble these objects automatically, even when their service data is slightly damaged. Objects can be added manually if the service data is severely corrupted. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 2.0 | Support for Apple RAIDs. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Recover My Files | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| R-Studio and Restorer Ultimate support the most widely used disk and logical volume mangers. UFS Explorer Professional Recovery supports Apple RAIDs only. During our tests, the remaining programs did not appear to support data recovery for disk and volume managers. | |||
User-defined RAID Layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restorer Ultimate | 6.0 | Includes graphic RAID editor and support for XML RAID description files. Allows for very complex RAID layouts. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using both the graphic RAID editor and XML RAID description files. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| DMDE | 2.0 | The user can create/load/save XML RAID description files. | |
| Recover My Files | 2.0 | The user can create/load/save XML RAID description files | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Technician | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 0.0 | We could not find this feature in the program. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio, UFS Explorer, DMDE, Restorer Ultimate and Recover My Files. R-Studio and Restorer Ultimate feature graphic RAID editors—we could not find equivalent features in any of the other programs during our tests. | |||
RAID Recovery Features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. Support for reverse RAIDs, that is, data decomposition of an object into virtual RAID parents. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 5.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Disk objects and regions can be added to a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Active@ File Recovery Ultimate Corporate | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Recover My Files | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Ontrack® EasyRecovery™ Enterprise | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 3.0 | Access to RAID data only after its image is copied to another storage device. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. | |
| Stellar Phoenix Technician | 2.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| Except for GetDataBack, all products tested support direct access to a virtual RAID and most of the products support adding disks and disk images to a virtual RAID. We couldn’t find an option to use disk images for RAID reconstruction in Stellar Phoenix Technician, which severely reduces its usefulness for professional RAID recovery. R-Studio has the most advanced set of RAID recovery parameters and is rated the highest in this category. | |||
For this rating, we evaluated each program’s support for a number of essential advanced data recovery features. These are features that may be infrequently used, or only used in business settings with more complex data storage configurations. Nevertheless, their inclusion with the standard data recovery features can vastly expand the level of service that a technician can offer.
Standard RAID Level Presets
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | JBOD, RAID 0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 10 (1+0), RAID 1E, RAID 4, RAID 5, RAID 5E, RAID 5EE, RAID 6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID 6E (Reed-Solomon), RAID 6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. Parity delay support for all applicable levels. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 5.0 | JBOD, RAID 0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 4, RAID 5, RAID 5 with parity delays, RAID 6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID 6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 5.0 | JBOD, RAID 0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID3, RAID 4, RAID 5, RAID 5 with parity delays, RAID 6 (Reed-Solomon), RAID 6 (Double Xor), with all their variants. | |
| DMDE | 4.0 | JBOD, RAID 0 (Stripe Set), RAID 1(Mirror), RAID 4, RAID 5, RAID 5 with parity delays, with all their variants. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 3.0 | RAID 0 and RAID 5 only. | |
| R-Studio has the best set of supported standard RAID levels. Restorer Ultimate and UFS Explorer Professional Recovery support fewer RAID levels than R-Studio, but they support the most widely used standard RAID levels. | |||
Network Data Recovery
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed over the Internet or on a local area network. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 5.5 | Full-featured network data recovery. All data (recovered files, disk images, scan results, etc.) can be saved both on the local and remote computers. Recovery agents on remote computers can run under Windows. An unbootable computer can be started using a special emergency agent. Network recovery can be performed over the Internet or on a local area network. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| Only R-Studio and Restorer Ultimate can recover data over network. Network data recovery allows professionals to offer their clients full-fledged remote data recovery service. | |||
Hexadecimal Editor
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The editor has all standard features, including custom patterns and advanced search. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. A number of templates can be used to parse and interpret data. Users can create their own templates. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. A number of templates can be used to parse and interpret data. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 5.0 | The editor has all standard features, including custom patterns and advanced search. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Any visible object (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 4.5 | The editor has all standard features. Data may be represented in any coding or as hex values. Excellent navigation. Only disk objects (real or virtual) can be edited. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 3.0 | Includes a hex viewer only. Requires an add-on program (Disk Explorer) in order to edit data. | |
| R-Studio and DMDE have outstanding hexadecimal editors rivaling many commercial stand-alone products. | |||
RAID Recovery Features
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. Data can be copied to and from a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 5.0 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Any object (including regions) can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| DMDE | 4.5 | Direct access to a virtual RAID. Only disks and images can be added to a virtual RAID. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 3.0 | Access to RAID data only after its image is copied to another storage device. Only disks can be added to a virtual RAID. RAID consistency can be checked. | |
| R-Studio has the best set of RAID recovery parameters. | |||
Automatic RAID Parameter Detection
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 5.0 | RAID parameters and layout can be automatically detected for some RAID 5 and RAID 6 volume sets. Partial RAID parameters and layout can be detected in other cases, with the user providing the missing or incorrect information. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 5.0 | Automatic RAID parameter finding for RAID 0 and RAID 5. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| All programs can create images of hard drives and partitions. R-Studio and Restorer Ultimate have the best disk imaging capabilities. They can also scan the disks while creating images. R-Studio and DMDE can also copy disk objects. | |||
User-defined RAID Layouts
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-Studio | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using the graphical RAID editor and the XML RAID description files. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 6.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using the graphical RAID editor and the XML RAID description files. | |
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 5.0 | The user can specify very complex RAID layouts using a special language for RAID description files. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| DMDE | 0.0 | No such feature. | |
| User-defined RAID layouts can be created in R-Studio, Restorer Ultimate and UFS Explorer. A special graphic RAID editor exists in R-Studio and Restorer Ultimate. | |||
Startup Version
| Product | Rating | Test Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UFS Explorer Professional Recovery | 6.0 | Restorer Ultimate Emergency Engine: Client-side agent for network data recovery from an unbootable computer. | |
| R-Studio | 6.0 | R-Studio Emergency: Graphical user interface version: equivalent in its features to the Windows version of R-Studio. Text-based user interface version: offers a limited number of features. R-Studio Agent Emergency: Client-side agent for network data recovery from an unbootable computer. | |
| GetDataBack + RAID Reconstructor + Captain Nemo | 6.0 | Runtime Live CD: Equivalent in its features to the Windows version of GetDataBack. | |
| DMDE | 6.0 | MS-DOS startup disk: Equivalent in its features to the Windows version of DMDE. | |
| Restorer Ultimate | 5.5 | Restorer Ultimate Emergency Engine: Client-side agent for network data recovery from an unbootable computer. | |
| All programs, except Restorer Ultimate, have startup disks equivalent in features to the Windows version. R-Studio and Restorer Ultimate have additional startup versions that are required for network data recovery from an unbootable computer. | |||
