Table of Contents
About the Author
Reviews and Awards
- Video Recovery
- SD Card Recovery
- Recycle Bin Recovery
- Recover Data from USB
- Recover Deleted Emails
- Hard Drive Not Showing Up in Windows
- Recover Unsaved Word Documents
- Recover Deleted Files
- Recover Files from Virus Infected Hard Drive
- Best Free Photo Recovery Software
- Recover Files from Formatted Hard Drive
A folder usually stores many important files. If you accidentally delete a folder, all the files in it will be lost. Yet it is impossible to recover the folder by yourself and then you would get much annoyed. But you can recover the deleted folder with the five best folder recovery software.
Why the Deleted Folders Can Be Recovered After Empty Recycle Bin
When a folder has been deleted from the computer, the files in it seem to disappear. Actually, these files are not immediately destroyed. Windows simply marks the hard drive space as being available for use by changing one character in the file table so that the file entry won't be displayed in My Computer or a command line DIR command, etc. The data area remains intact.
This is the major reason why the deleted folder could be recovered. If you manage to start to undelete files before Windows uses that part of the hard drive to write a new file, all you have to do is to set that flag back to "on" and then you will get the file. The sooner you try to recover the folders, the more successful your recovery will be.
The Fabulous Folder Recovery Software Is Ready For You
To recover the deleted folders, you have to turn to the data recovery software. It is hard for you to choose the most suitable one. Thus, I have tested at least 10 data recovery software. And here, I list the 5 most effective folder recovery software.
After testing dozens of folder recovery software, we picked 10 of them. And we further reduced the number of top-performing best free folder recovery tools to 5 based on the overall ranking of the recovery rate under common data loss scenarios, easiness of interfaces, compatibility, features, and scan options.
🔢 Number of tested tools | 20 |
⏳ Time lasting | 5 weeks |
⚙️ Folder loss scenarios | File deletion, format, RAW drives |
🖥️ OS version | Windows 11/10/8/7 |
💸 Minimum cost | Free |
💰 Average cost | $70 |
Top 1. EaseUS Free Folder Recovery Software (Windows & Mac)
EaseUS free data recovery software is the most efficient recovery software. It can recover deleted Word, Excel, PowerPoint, photo, Email, database, and all document formats and folders in Windows, which have been emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin. In addition to deleted folder recovery, this effective data recovery software can also do the following thing for you:
Formatted recovery:
You can still retrieve your lost data after a format on your device. Formatting a disk does not erase the data on the disk, only the data on the address tables.
OS crash recovery:
EaseUS provides a downloadable WinPE bootable media so that you can start your computer and recover lost data after the system crash.
RAW partition recovery:
You can also get back data even your hard disk or partition suddenly becomes RAW and you cannot get to the stored data.
Virus attack recovery:
Virus attacks can cause data loss, but this tool can recover your data safely and quickly after the attack.
Pros
- The easy 3-step recovery process
- Virus-free and plugin-free
- Supports for 1000+ file types
- Photo repair and video repair is available
EaseUS Data Recovery, I swear to God, is the MVP of data recovery for when SD cards just go nuts (definitely not because I eject them without doing so properly)
— dave (@ddryan) December 11, 2019
Cons
- Free trial with a 2GB recovery limit. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro costs $69.95 and has no recovery limits.
Top 2. Recuva - Recover Deleted Files Quickly and Easily (for Win)
Recuva is another free folder recovery software. It is totally free. I have tested deleted file recovery on my D drive. This software has recovered 100 percent of the JPG images and most of the word, excel, and PPT files. It guides you through the data recovery process by asking you several questions, which makes it more user friendly.
Pros
- 100% free data recovery software
- Deep scan mode for hard to find files
- A portable version is available
Cons
- You cannot preview the result during the scanning
- No update version for a long time
Top 3. Wise Data Recovery (Windows Only)
I tested Wise Data Recovery with the same data loss scenarios. It supports recovering 1000+ types of files. It can recover data from HDD, SSD, External hard disks, Floppy Disks, USB flash drives, Memory cards, Digital cameras, and any other storage devices.
Pros
- The data recovery software is free
- It can get all types of files back in easily
- A portable version is available
Cons
- Shows messy codes in the preview pane for unsupported formats
Top 4. Recover My Files (Windows only)
You can get data back with free Recover My Files. In my testing, Recover My Files can retrieve almost 80% of the deleted data from these four data loss scenarios. During the test, it takes a longer time to scan the deleted files. Besides, Recover My Files is compatible with Windows only, not for macOS users.
Pros
Allows to scan the backup (image file) of a partition
You can adjust the layout of the items
It is free for advanced file recovery
Cons
The data recovery process is relatively more complex than its competitors.
Top 5. Photo Rec (Windows, Mac, and Linux)
I have tested PhotoRec with the same data loss scenarios. It recovers images from all kinds of digital devices. Besides, It supports different systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux. During the testing, it has taken the longest time to scan deleted files in any data loss scenarios.
Pro
- The data recovery software is free.
- This software works on many file formats, not just images.
Cons
- It is unable to restore file names and folder structure
- It is quite technical for users
Recover Deleted Folders with Free Folder Recovery Software
In this article, I have reviewed 5 free data recovery software. You can utilize them to recover lost or deleted files. Here are the steps to recover deleted folders with EaseUS EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.
Step 1. Select a folder to scan for lost files
Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. Choose "Select Folder" under Specify a location. Click "Browse" to choose the location where you lost the folder and click "OK" to scan the lost folder.
![select folder to scan](/images/en/data-recovery/drw-pro/screenshots/recover-folder-step1.png)
Step 2. Find and preview found files in the lost folder
If you remember the folder name, type the folder name in search box to quickly find the lost files. Then, open the found folder and double-click to preview scanned files. Or you can use the Filter feature to find a certain type of files.
![choose files to recover](/images/en/data-recovery/drw-pro/screenshots/recover-folder-step2.png)
Step 3. Recover and save the lost folder
Last, select the folder and files you need, click "Recover" and choose a new & secure location on your PC to keep the recovered data.
![Restore lost folder data](/images/en/data-recovery/drw-pro/screenshots/recover-folder-step3.png)
To Sum Up
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can easily recover lost files, pictures, documents, videos, and more from deletions, formatting errors, partition losses, OS crashes, virus attacks, and other data loss scenarios. You should also take preventive measures to avoid data loss. For example, often create a backup and say no to data loss. Share this post to let more people know.
Folder Recovery Software FAQs
After the recommendation, here are some frequently asked questions. You can read the following answers to learn more:
1. How to recover the folder structure of a formatted HDD?
Basically, you have three options to recover folder structure of formatted HDD:
- 1. Use Windows Backup and Restore option. You can easily restore all the files with this functional option.
- 2. Use a third-party data recovery program - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. This software will help you recover files from a formatted HDD.
- 3. If you cannot recover anything useful by yourself, it is time to turn to professional help. Go to the repair store to recover essential files.
2. How to recover data from a specific folder?
Recover data from a specific folder is easy. You should download a reliable recovery program. You should try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard:
- 1. Scan the specific folder or the hard disk to search for lost files.
- 2. Scroll down the results to find the wanted files.
- 3. Restore the files after previewing them.
3. Is EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard free?
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can be freely downloaded, and you will get 2GB of free recovery space. If you want to recover files larger than 2GB, you can pay for the pro version.
4. What is the best folder recovery software?
Here are the top five folder recovery software we recommend:
- 1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
- 2. Recuva
- 3. Wise Data Recovery
- 4. Recover My Files
- 5. PhotoRec
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Cedric Grantham is a senior editor and data recovery specialist of EaseUS. He mainly writes articles and how-to tips about data recovery on PC and Mac. He has handled 10,000+ data recovery cases and is good at data recovery of NTFS, FAT (FAT32 and ExFAT) file systems, and RAID structure reorganization.
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Approved by Evan Galasso
Evan Galasso is a digital forensics and data recovery engineer with over 10 years of experience in the field. He presents opinions on the current state of storage media, reverse engineering of storage systems and firmware, and electro-mechanical systems of SSDs and HDDs.
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EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a powerful system recovery software, designed to enable you to recover files you’ve deleted accidentally, potentially lost to malware or an entire hard drive partition.
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EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is the best we have seen. It's far from perfect, partly because today's advanced disk technology makes data-recovery more difficult than it was with the simpler technology of the past.
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EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro has a reputation as one of the best data recovery software programs on the market. It comes with a selection of advanced features, including partition recovery, formatted drive restoration, and corrupted file repair.
Read More
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