Important files on your SD card or even suffer a total loss of all your files on your PC. Usually, these files include photos, documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, videos, a saved game file, or your creative work.
There are many SD card recovery software free to download on the internet to help you recover your lost files easily. The table below contains free SD card recovery tool and their corresponding features:
| Compatibility | File Format Types | Deep Scan Capability | Pause/Resume Scan | Preview Functionality | |
| PhotoRec | Windows, Linux, & macOS | exFAT, FAT, NTFS, ext2/ext3/ext4, and HFS+ | ✅️ | ❌️ | ❌️ |
| Puran File Recovery | Windows | NTFS, exFAT, and FAT32 | ✅️ | ✅️ | ❌️ |
| ONERECOVERY | Windows & Mac | NTFS, FAT, NTFS + EFS | ✅️ | ✅️ | ✅️ |
| Recuva | Windows only | NTFS, FAT, NTFS + EFS | ✅️ | ❌️ | ✅️ |
| SoftPerfect File Recovery | Windows only | NTFS, FAT, NTFS + EFS | ✅️ | ✅️ | ✅️ |
| Remo Recover | Windows & Mac | ExFAT, FAT32, FAT16, NTFS, and NTFS5 | ✅️ | ❌️ | ❌️ |
| TestDisk | Windows, Linux, & macOS | ext2, HFS, exFAT, JFS, NTFS, ext3, ext4, and FAT32 | Limited | ❌️ | ✅️ |
| Glary Undelete | Windows | NTFS, FAT, NTFS + EFS | ✅️ | ❌️ | ✅️ |
| Wise Data Recovery | Windows & Mac | NTFS, FAT, NTFS + EFS | ✅️ | ❌️ | Limited |
| Recover My Files | Windows, Mac, & Android | NTFS, exFAT, and FAT32 | ✅️ | Limited | ✅️ |
Top 1. PhotoRec
The top 1 on this list of SD card recovery tools is PhotoRec, an SD memory card data recovery software designed to search and find lost SD card files. For users looking for a free tool with decent features, this open-source data recovery program will retrieve lost SD files like videos, pictures, and documents.
PhotoRec gets back lost files by tracking the metadata information of your deleted files. However, to interact with this free software, you need intermediate to advanced technical knowledge due to its archaic text-based graphical interface.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows, Linux, & macOS
Pros:
✅️ Works with numerous storage devices.
✅️ Can retrieve different types of files including ZIP and HTML files.
✅️ Free to use.
Cons:
➖ May require professional help.
➖ Poor user interface.
➖ Difficult installation.
Top 2. Puran File Recovery
Puran File Recovery is an SD card recovery software free to recover lost SD card files for Windows users. With a feature-rich interface that recovers data from regular external files as well as formatted SD cards and disks, this software is undoubtedly among the top 3 tools for retrieving lost SD files.
Being a portable software that requires no installation, Puran File Recovery enables users to run it from external and removable devices. This SD card file recovery freeware is free for personal use and utilizes multiple scanning options to recover data.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows
Pros:
✅️ Friendly user interface.
✅️ Easy installation.
Cons:
➖ The software is only compatible with Windows.
➖ No updates since 2016.
➖ Deep scans take a long time.
Top 3. ONERECOVERY
If you are looking for advanced SD card software that supports, recovers, and repairs all file formats including documents, videos, and pictures, then ONERECOVERY is a better option. It recovers videos and images in all formats and at a high resolution. ONERECOVERY software has a user-friendly interface that is easily understood and does not require technical know-how before using the software.
Regardless of damage to the SD card, this software is equipped to retrieve data from over 1000 data loss scenarios. In addition to getting your lost files on SD cards, this software also supports fixing corrupted SD cards and then recovering your data.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows and Mac
Pros:
✅️ Easy user interface.
✅️ Its unique double scan mode helps check every lost data to ensure no file goes missing.
✅️ It allows different computers to use the same license, saving you more money.
✅️ The software is safe and secure.
Cons:
➖ The free trial is limited.
➖ Deep scanning can take some time.
Top 4. Recuva
Recuva is an SD memory card data recovery software that finds lost files for free. The software is built with multiple features that simplify SD card recovery and they include the “estimated recovery period” function that allows users to know the estimated time of recovery, file erasure function, and multiple scanning instances.
This SD card restore software can run simple and advanced operating modes and also possesses multiple scanning settings.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows only
Pros:
✅️ Completely free.
✅️ Scans and restores pictures, documents, and audio easily.
Cons:
➖ It only allows users to scan images and videos if they subscribe to the paid version.
➖ Sometimes the accuracy of file recovery can be inaccurate, causing the software to crash.
➖ It cannot scan unmountable SD cards or raw filesystems.
Top 5. SoftPerfect File Recovery
SoftPerfect File Recovery is a free software recovery tool to restore files and data that were accidentally deleted or removed from your hardware. Its “Filter ” function allows users to narrow down their search. They can also save and resume scans at will, providing ease during file recovery.
Unlike many recovery tools in its range, it does not have a “Preview” function that ensures users can preview the lost files before choosing to delete or restore them.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows only
Pros:
✅️ Being portable.
✅️ Recognises and restores storage media such as audio, pictures, and videos.
✅️ Free recovery program for Mac and Windows
Cons:
➖ It is compatible with only a few file systems.
Top 6. Remo Recover
To recover data from SD card free, Remo Recover is a data recovery program for Windows, Mac, & Android. The software has a Basic, Media, and Pro version available. The Basic version performs quick scans and tries to recover certain files.
This may not be effective if you are in search of some less commonly used file types. The media version can find about 30GB of files while Pro can search up to 200,000 files.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows and Mac
Pros:
✅️ Easy to use as there is a simplified instruction you can follow.
✅️ Different versions to suit different budgets.
Cons:
➖ Prolonged scanning period.
➖ Difficulty in locating files.
➖ Limited Preview function.
Top 7. TestDisk
TestDisk SD card file recovery freeware is designed to recover lost partitions without any data loss. In addition, it has no set data recovery limit, making it usable as often as possible.
Installing this open-source SD card recovery software is easy and fast because it is portable. All you need to do is download and extract the application and it becomes usable. Besides the recovery of SD cards, TestDisk can also work as a free USB recovery software program.
Although it is powerful, it employs a complex user interface and may require professional support to set up.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows, Unix, Linux, & macOS
Pros:
✅️ It is a free and open-source application with no data recovery limit.
Cons:
➖ It is ineffective against severely damaged SD cards.
➖ Problems in recovering data in large SD cards.
➖ Poor optimization.
➖ No GUI interface on Linux.
Top 8. Glary Undelete
Glary Undelete is an SD card restore software popular for its user-friendly interface. It uses a graphical interface instead of a complex text-based interface like that of TestDisk software. It is easy to use and does not require technical knowledge of the computer before use.
In addition to its interface, there are additional helpful features like file previewing that allow users to preview the files before cloning or recovering them to their desired storage location.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows only
Pros:
✅️ Free and easy to use.
Cons:
➖ To recover data with unmountable devices, users may have to pay for the paid version.
➖ Little professional help is available.
➖ Depends on regular software updates to maintain efficiency.
Top 9. Wise Data Recovery
Wise Data Recovery by WiseCleaner is a suitable software to recover files from SD cards easily and quickly. It is suitable for recovering large SD card files in a fraction of the time.
When compared to other recovery software in the same subscription grade, Wise only recovers your lost files without offering protection against potential data-loss situations.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows and Mac
Pros:
✅️ Fast scanning mode
Cons:
➖ Limited customer service support.
➖ Expensive when compared to other tools.
➖ Poor recovery rate (in some systems)
➖ Limited Preview function.
➖ Mac and Windows versions are different and can be confusing to users.
Top 10. Recover My Files
This is another SD card recovery software free to download if you are looking to recover your lost files. It is a powerful software that can recover hundreds of lost files, although its efficiency depends on the hardware as there are reports of constant crashing on certain hardware.
In addition to this commendable data recovery feature, this free SD card recovery program also discovers whether a retrieved file is corrupt or not. This feature comes in handy to select usable files from a large library of lost files.
🖥️ Compatibility: Windows, Mac, & Android
Pros:
✅️ Powerful internal previewer.
Cons:
➖ The paid version is quite expensive.
➖ Resource-intensive and may not work on low-spec PCs.
➖ No free version.
Conclusion
Recovering data from your hardware is no longer an impossible mission as long as you have suitable SD card recovery software for Mac and Windows. These SD card recovery software free to download can help you retrieve your files within minutes or hours, depending on your file size.
With a straightforward user interface, easy installation, and readily available support, you can get your files with no hassle. We recommend the ONERECOVERY software tool to recover your lost files on your SD Card with ease.
