Data loss is becoming more and more of a common occurrence with each day passing. Flash drives have a higher chance of encountering data loss. The same goes for external hard drives.
Simply put, it has become easier for drives, especially those with RAW file systems, to suffer from data loss. This lead to an increase in demand for RAW drive recovery software. In turn, many software can be unreliable.
This article aims to provide a compilation of the best RAW drive recovery software that can serve to be fairly useful in your situation right now.
Why Do You Need RAW Drive Recovery Software?1. FoneDog Data Recovery2. DiskPatch3. DiskGenius4. M3 RAW Drive Recovery5. Zero Assumption Recovery6. DiskInternals Partition Recovery7. ReclaiMe File RecoveryConclusion
Why Do You Need RAW Drive Recovery Software?
Before we delve deeper into the compilation of the best RAW drive recovery software, why should you even learn which is the best in the first place?
To begin with, there are the different causes of RAW drive error. Each cause also requires different methods of recovery. Here’s a look at some of the most common reasons behind such errors:
- A large number of bad blocks are currently present on the RAW drive
- Virus or malware infection is taking over the system
- The firmware is encountering some issues, which is most likely a case of corruption
- File structures are not configured properly
- The system update is necessary to keep the operating system running along with file systems
There aren’t any of these that can guarantee a RAW partition error leading to the need to use RAW drive recovery software. However, they can contribute to increasing its chance of happening. Thus, we suggest making sure you avoid such situations either way.
With that said, it would be too late if it’s already happened to you. In that case, you just have to learn about the best RAW drive recovery software to use. Now let’s begin with our first entry.
1. FoneDog Data Recovery
Our very first entry is FoneDog Data Recovery, and we made it our first best RAW drive recovery software for many reasons.
FoneDog Data Recovery is a product by the FoneDog group which has been developing specialized software since its founding. Its price ranges from $40 to $80 for lifetime licenses.
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Advantages
- Its functions are general and it can serve as a recovery software for most scenarios and that includes solving RAW partition errors.
- FoneDog Data Recovery has an intuitive interface so even beginners can learn to use it effectively in a matter of minutes of tweaking with the software.
- There is a preview option for when you are trying to check whether the photo that you are recovering is truly what you think it is.
- It can be used by both Windows PC and Mac users.
Disadvantages
- Though it really is worth every cent, the software can be a bit expensive as a first choice for most people as well as for those that will only be using it once.
To close, FoneDog Data Recovery is a tool worthy to be considered as one of the best RAW drive recovery software. It may be too much for some, but you will find that it is more useful than most people deem it to be, especially since it has additional features.
2. DiskPatch
FoneDog Data Recovery is more of a software for general data recovery. DiskPatch is what you should use if you want a tool that is more built for the job.
DiskPatch is a DOS-based lightweight data recovery tool that was designed to tackle most of the issues on disk partitions, developed by the Tech-Pro group.
It is priced at $50, but the free version is almost the same as the paid version. Now to discuss how it became one of the best RAW drive recovery software.
Advantages
- Installation of DiskPatch is fairly easy and it is lightweight, too, with only a size of 1.44 MB.
- It is capable of duplicating the current state of the boot sector in case the repair did more harm than good, allowing for users to reverse the repair operation.
- DiskPatch can specify values such as cluster size to make the repair process more customized.
Disadvantages
- Since DiskPatch is DOS-based, some users might have a hard time understanding how it works.
- Considering how little the size is, the interface is not so user-friendly and some icons cannot be understood with just one look.
DiskPatch is certainly one of the best RAW drive recovery software, only that it is not the best if you are not used to these types of software. Additionally, it is a bit expensive, though there are really no significant reasons to purchase the software since there’s a free version.
3. DiskGenius
DiskGenius is a freemium tool developed by Eassos Ltd. It can be considered as an all-in-one tool for solving all sorts of issues regarding RAW partition.
Unlike the DiskPatch tool, it is heavier with a size of around 50 MB, but it is still somewhat easy to install and there are still perks that come with that 50 MB size.
Not only is it a great RAW drive recovery software, but it is also great for partition management such as restoring partitions, formatting partitions, converting partitions, and more.
Advantages
- The most significant advantage to this tool is that it is an all-in-one tool. You don’t have to think of it as a RAW drive recovery software. Rather, it is a disk partitioning tool just like Disk Management, though a bit more complicated.
- It supports most file systems inducing NTFS, FAT, exFAT, and most importantly, RAW.
- There is a built-in hex editor feature that allows you to edit hex RAW data in order to recover your partitions manually instead of automatically
- Most operations done in this software is read-only, so it won’t affect your files directly
Disadvantages
- The interface can be a bit messy considering how many features is fitted into that one tool, to the point that you may not find the part where it is RAW drive recovery software right away.
It might be disadvantageous in the way that there are tons of icons and other buttons, but by thinking of it as disk partitioning rather than a RAW drive recovery software.
4. M3 RAW Drive Recovery
Our next entry is M3 RAW Data Recovery which is your typical data recovery software, only with one exception: it has the ability to recover file systems even if they are encrypted. Its price ranges from $70 to $300.
Advantages
- As previously mentioned, the tool allows you to recover from files that are encrypted. This makes it easier for people to recover files from different file systems.
- There is a free version offered in case users can’t afford the paid version and also offers a preview option.
- Available in both Mac and Windows PC version
Disadvantages
- It can be a bit too expensive for users, especially considering that there are other options out there that are cheaper.
- There is a 1 GB limit to the free version, so you will be forced to pay for the software at some point, regardless of whether you like it or not.
Not only is it too expensive, it is also slow in performance. However, if you’re looking to recover from an encrypted RAW drive, this is perhaps the only reliable RAW drive recovery software out there.
5. Zero Assumption Recovery
Zero Assumption Recovery or ZA Recovery, or ZAR for a shorter term, is a recovery program that can be considered as a recovery tool suite. The license for one user costs $70 and the technician’s license costs $200, which is a bit more expensive than your usual tools.
Advantages
- The main benefit of using Zero Assumption Recovery as your main RAW drive recovery software is that it allows the recovery of compressed file systems.
- Most of the non-recoverable file systems can be recovered when you use ZAR.
Disadvantages
- It is a bit too expensive, though there is a free version in case you want to try it out first to see if it really is worth a shot.
That’s pretty much everything you need to know about ZAR. It’s not perfect and there are downsides, but it is one of the best RAW drive recovery software out there.
6. DiskInternals Partition Recovery
Our second to the last entry for the best RAW drive recovery software is DiskInternals Partition Recovery, a software developed by the DiskInternals group with a price tag of $140 or $220.
As the name suggests, it specializes in recovering disk partitions. There are lots of functions to the software. Besides that, there’s really not many advantages to the software.
Advantages
- The free version has all the features that the paid version has, though there are limits to the size of files that can be recovered.
- The software itself is composed of three modules namely the FAT Recovery Wizard, NTFS Recovery Wizard, and Partition Recovery Wizard, each having different functions that would help with recovery.
Disadvantages
- The interface can be a bit too messy for those that are still not used to data recovery software.
- It is too expensive and thus, risky, for most people, especially for those that don’t plan on using it next time
7. ReclaiMe File Recovery
Our last entry is ReclaiMe File Recovery, a product by the ReclaiMe group. It is a data recovery software that can be used on most occasions just like FoneDog Data Recovery.
It’s the greatest strength is it is a general data recovery which suits most situations and can even be considered as a RAW drive recovery software when in fact, it is not designed to be that way. It costs around $80 for the standard version and $200 for the premium version.
Advantages
The software boasts a higher success rate than most RAW drive recovery software on the market.
It can be used on most occasions since it supports most cases of data recovery such as NAS recovery, unformatting, photo recovery, ultimately making it a great RAW drive recovery software.
It supports most file systems including NTFS, exFAT, and more.
Disadvantage
We don’t really have much to say about its disadvantages except maybe for the price that is a bit expensive, though it’s not really significant since most RAW drive recovery software cost that much nowadays.
To summarize, ReclaiMe File Recovery is a software that you can use whenever you feel like it, as long as there is an issue of course.
Data Recovery
Recover deleted image, document, audio and more files.
Get deleted data back from computer (including Recycle Bin) and hard drives.
Recover loss data caused by disk accident, operation system crushes and other reasons.
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Conclusion
There are tons of issues out there that need to be solved. Data loss is just one of them, though there are more RAW partition errors than you think.
For that reason, it is important for you to always have a way to solve those issues, and perhaps the best solution is to acquire a reliable RAW drive recovery software. Hopefully, this article helped you in that area.
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