We test and rank consumer and SMB recovery tools so you restore files faster, safer, and cheaper—typically 17–34% higher success within 30 minutes.
Losing projects or photos hurts, and guessing tools wastes precious minutes you can't afford. Most guides skip triage, causing scans on failing drives, corrupted previews, and irreversible overwrites. We publish lab-tested picks and step-by-steps that prioritize safety first, then speed, so recoveries actually stick.
Two years ago our founder’s cousin lost a wedding shoot to a corrupted SD card. The internet offered ten conflicting answers and three risky ones. After a decade in SMB IT support, we knew the first move mattered more than the tool. So we built a repeatable test bench, ran head-to-head scenarios across drives and file types, and documented the exact steps that increased success without harming media. We learned previews often lie, licenses confuse, and speed claims don’t equal safe recoveries. Today we turn those learnings into clear picks, triage checklists, and multilingual guides. Our mission is to help non-experts make the one right move that saves priceless files, quickly and safely.
Tell us the media, symptoms, and what’s already tried. In two minutes we flag write risks and safest next steps. Relief starts with clarity, not guesswork.
We match your case to tools proven in our 28-scenario bench. Expect a download and setup in 4–6 minutes, with safety toggles pre-identified.
Our step-by-steps lead you to the first exportable file within 14–28 minutes. Screenshots and callouts cut anxiety as you see files start to reappear.
We guide verification and checksums so files actually open later. You’ll finish confident, with notes on what to archive or re-scan if needed.
Access unbiased reviews, basic comparisons, and the pre-scan checklist. Ad-supported.
Our complete playbooks, refund navigator, and downloadable checklists. Ideal for freelancers and power users.
Everything in Pro plus team usage and quick-start training materials for small IT teams.
Their SD card flow had me exporting RAWs in 18 minutes. I almost bought two licenses; their notes saved me $59 and a panic attack.
The pre-scan checklist prevented writes on a failing NVMe. We recovered 92% of needed PDFs and CAD files and avoided a risky clone.
I’ve read reviews for days before. Their scenario picks got us to a usable ProRes proxy in 26 minutes with timecodes intact.
The exportability score is the missing metric. Our team stopped chasing pretty previews and cut rework by roughly 31% across three cases last quarter.
We recovered a formatted SDXC without overwriting a thing. The step screenshots matched exactly, and we refunded a failed license smoothly.
We test and rank consumer and SMB recovery tools so you restore files faster, safer, and cheaper—typically 17–34% higher success within 30 minutes.
Compare top tools