Stellar Free Data Recovery Software Review [2025]

Stellar is a popular name among data recovery programs, whether free or paid. The Stellar Free Data Recovery Software enables you to recover up to 1GB of data. The standard plan starts at $69.99 and includes unlimited data recovery and other special features. There are four additional plans with higher prices and more features, but today we will focus on the free plan and assess whether it is worthwhile.

This is my second article in a series where I will review various free data recovery programs. Earlier, we tested EaseUS Free Data Recovery Wizard, which offered 2GB of data recovery.

With the free Stellar Data Recovery plan, we can recover most types of deleted files, including images, videos, documents, and more. We can recover data from formatted drives and any other storage media. The free version can recover files from various file systems, including NTFS, exFAT, FAT, etc. BitLocker data recovery is also supported.

In the free version, you get no options to recover from lost partitions, NAS, or RAID. However, if you want to perform a basic data recovery of 1GB or less in size, this free version should suffice. We will soon test its capabilities.

Best Free Data Recovery Software Review [2025]

User Interface & Ease of Use

The program is easy to use, with a simple, intuitive design. However, I found the UI to be a little outdated. On the main page, you can select the files you want to recover. In the Recover From tab, you can select a specific drive.

You get options to resume any recovery that may have stopped, along with some settings to change. All in all, it is easy to get going without getting confused in the menu. You can select the drive or file type and start scanning immediately. The Scan button is given at the bottom and requires the drive or files to be chosen.

The main menu starts with the option to select the file types, which then allows you to target the specific drive with that data. Therefore, if you want to recover only the videos from a USB flash drive, the program will do so without affecting any other data that may have been deleted.

Key Features of the Stellar Free Data Recovery Program

Before we proceed

In the case of NAND flash-based storage with TRIM enabled, there is a chance that the data may be lost entirely and cannot be recovered. When we delete data from SSDs or flash drives, the TRIM command marks it as invalid immediately; however, the physical erasure isn’t immediate. Therefore, the data remains intact and can be recovered. However, once the process of garbage collection is run, your data is completely gone. Now, how long the garbage collection will take to run depends on the SSD usage and the controller. So, you never know if it is recoverable or not. Software like EaseUS can help you identify and, if possible, recover it for free. To increase the chances of data recovery, it is better to disconnect your drive from the computer so that these clearing processes don’t run in the background.

For the test, I will utilize my secondary Gen 3.0 NVMe SSD and a USB 2.0 flash drive. To prepare them for this test, I secure erase them using KillDisk. This should clean any residual data in them, and I will ensure that only the test folder is present during the scan.

Test Data

I created a folder containing a mix of files, including images, videos, documents, and zip files. The total size of this data was around 400MB. To verify the accuracy of the recovery, I kept a copy of this folder on my main drive for verification.

Recovering Accidentally Deleted Files

In the first test, I would delete this folder completely from the drive and then empty the recycle bin. This should represent an accidental data deletion; then, we will attempt to recover it using Stellar.

I ran the test immediately after deletion. Therefore, it should recover everything because the TRIM will not have the opportunity to run. As I chose the drive and ran the scan, the files started to appear. When you select your drive, you have the option to enable Deep Scan, which promises to search your drive more thoroughly but will take longer to complete. So, I checked it and let the scan run.

The test took around 4 minutes to complete, and all the data was recovered.

It automatically creates a root folder on the desktop, but you can change the recovery location if desired.

Formatted Flash Drive

My drive doesn’t have TRIM functionality. So, any data that is deleted will generally be recoverable until new data is written at the exact physical location. So, I secure erase it as well before proceeding. The same folder was moved to the flash drive, and then I just formatted it.

Now, let’s run the deep scan on this flash drive and see if we can recover the deleted test folder. I am also selecting the Deep Scan option.

The test took around 8 minutes to complete, and it recovered all the deleted files and folders. I had created a single folder with different files, but the program returned folders for each of the files. Now, I can choose to recover files specifically or recover everything at once by checking the folders.

Now, because there is a recovery limit of 1GB, I didn’t recover everything; however, I verified the total number of files recovered, and it was 100% accurate.

BitLocker Data Recovery

To test the BitLocker recovery feature, I cleared my secondary SSD again and moved the test folder to it. Then I enabled BitLocker and set a password.

Then, I corrupted some files intentionally and reran the scan. Once the scan was complete, the software requested the BitLocker password. Some files were missing, but most of them were recovered ideally.

Customer Support Service

I got in touch with the support through their chat widget on the homepage and got connected within a minute. All of my questions were answered.

Recovery Performance: Goods and Bads

Stellar Free Data Recovery software is intuitive and beginner-friendly, making it easy for non-technical users to recover deleted or formatted files without much hassle. It supports a wide range of file systems (NTFS, FAT, exFAT) and file types, covering everything from basic documents to photos and videos. The preview feature is also a significant advantage, allowing you to see what can actually be recovered before committing to a paid upgrade. Overall, it’s a clean, functional tool that delivers solid results for lightweight data recovery tasks.

The biggest downside is that the free tier’s 1 GB cap isn’t substantial if you’ve lost anything significant, and upgrading to the paid version can become expensive quickly. However, it scans the entire drive and shows the data regardless of its size. Deep scans are painfully slow, especially on larger drives. Otherwise, it is a good software for personal data recovery up to 1GB.

Free vs. Paid Limitations

The free version of Stellar Data Recovery is tightly capped, allowing you to recover only up to 1 GB of data, and it locks most advanced features behind a paywall. You won’t be able to recover lost or formatted partitions, RAID arrays, NAS devices, or unbootable drives, nor repair corrupted photos and videos. Free users also miss out on disk imaging, cloning, and full technical support, leaving them to rely on basic documentation. Paid versions remove the data cap and unlock all these advanced recovery tools, including support for more complex storage setups, damaged media repair, optical drive recovery, and priority customer assistance. Essentially, the free version is suitable for minor file losses, but anything serious or large-scale almost always requires an upgrade.

Other Alternatives

EaseUS Free Data Recovery Wizard

• Best for: Beginners and quick recoveries.
• Highlights: Up to 2GB of data recovery with a User-friendly interface.
• Limitations: Limited advanced features; may not handle complex data loss scenarios.
• Platform: Windows.

Disk Drill

• Best suited for users who require a comprehensive tool with additional features.
• Highlights: Recovers up to 500 MB for free on Windows, offering features such as Recovery Vault and Drive backup.
• Limitations: Free version has data recovery limits; full features require a paid upgrade.
• Platform: Windows and macOS.

PhotoRec

• Best for: Advanced users comfortable with command-line interfaces.
• Highlights: Open-source, supports a wide range of file formats and storage devices.
• Limitations: No graphical user interface; may be challenging for beginners.
• Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux.

Conclusion

I liked the user interface, scanning speed, and overall performance of the Stellar Free data recovery software. I would recommend it to anybody looking to recover personal data from their SSDs, Hard drives, or flash drives. While 1GB of recovery cap might be insufficient for some people, if you have some photos or videos to recover, it is undoubtedly a good software.