Data loss is one of the less pleasant aspects of the digital world. It is surprisingly easy to delete important files by mistake or to experience hardware failures. Whichever the case, losing data can cause enormous stress.

What does this mean for you?

For one, it means you should back up your data more often. But in case the unthinkable happens, you can use data-recovery tools as a backup option. Here’s our expert opinion on which recovery tools are worth your time.

Stella Data Recovery

Stella Data Recovery is one of the best recovery tools in the market. It has a free option that comes with a 1-gigabyte cap, and both standard and pro versions that offer a wide range of features.

This software can recover data from lost or missing partitions, deleted files, and malware-infected files. On top of that, this software can even recover files from a crashed hard disk, even if the system won’t reboot.

Crashplan

Crashplan doubles as a recovery tool and the ultimate backup plan. This software is so comprehensive that you will never have to look at another option. It runs quietly in the background, backing up almost everything you do both online and off. What’s more, it keeps a copy of all deleted files unless you turn the feature off.

If someone infects your computer with malware, CrashPlan will help you recover everything, even the non-essential stuff.

OnTrack Easy Recovery

OnTrack Easy Recovery is professional-level software that can recover files from CDs, DVDs, HDDs, and SDDs. In addition to recovery, the developers added a nice little feature that reconstructs video and picture data.

This tool offers a free version with a 1-gigabyte limit, along with Technician and Toolkit editions. These paid subscriptions allow users to recover data on reformatted RAID volumes. And they also come with commercial licenses for commercial use.