MiniTool Power Data Recovery
Developer Website: http://www.powerdatarecovery.com/power-data-recovery.html
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
Overall Product Rating: 4.0
The program has a quite good user interface and a very good file recovery performance. In addition, it can recover up to 1 GB of data in its demo mode. Unfortunately, its localization support is quite poor: only English is available for the interface language and it does not support Asian languages or non-Latin characters. And unlike EaseUS, MiniTool has not made efforts to improve in this area over the years.
File search, mark for recovery, sorting: 4.0Compare
Search parameters: individual file search, file mask search, file sorting by file extension.
File systems supported for file recovery: 5.5Compare
FAT/exFAT, NTFS/NTFS5, search for HFS+ and CD/DVD
Deep analysis of disks (disk scan): 4.0Compare
Some scan parameters (file systems to search for, type of disk objects, etc ) can be specified. Scan results are automatically stored in a file after the scan is completed and may be loaded later. Scan results cannot be loaded in the demo version.
File recovery using file signatures (raw file recovery): 4.0Compare
This feature exists with a pre-defined file signature set. Can be disabled, if necessary.
User interface: 4.5Compare
Good wizard interface. The user can save and restore frequently used recovery parameters.
Localization support: 2.0Compare
Languages supported: English only
Localized file name recognition: Characters recognized: Russian, Characters unrecognized: French (changed to similar Latin ones), Arabian, Japanese, and Chinese (changed to the dash character).
Demo mode restrictions: 5.5Compare
File preview. Unrestricted file recovery of up to 1 GB. No time limit for the demo mode.
Limitations: Scan files cannot be opened.
File recovery performance
Emptied Recycle Bin (exFAT file system): 4.0Compare
After Scanning the partition: The program could not scan and find the partition. Apparently, it doesn’t support the exFAT file system.
After Full scan: Only raw files could be found. File and folder structure: No file and folder names were recovered. Successfully recovered as raw files (without file names): 10 mp4 and avi video files, 100 jpg files, 6 doc and 6 docx files, 1 ods and 1 odt files, 6 xls and 6 xlsx files, and 6 pdf files. Partially recovered as raw files (without file names): the flv file (with a wrong size, but playable), mp3 (split into pices). Not recovered (files damaged): mpg and m4v files.
Emptied Recycle Bin (NTFS file system): 4.0Compare
After Scanning the partition: File and folder structure: All file names in the subfolders were correctly recovered. Subfolder names and file names in the root folder (2 mp4 files) were not recovered. Successfully recovered: 1 mp4 file, 6 doc and 5 docx files, 6 mp3 files, 6 video files, 6 pdf files, first 53 jpg files. Not recovered (files damaged): All xls and xlsx files (appeared damaged), 1 mp4 file, 1 docx file, the last 47 jpg files. After Full scan: None of the unrecovered files were found, even among the raw files.
Files Deleted without Recycle Bin (FAT32 file system): 3.5Compare
After Scan the partition: File and folder structure: Only files in the root folder (with correct file names) were found. Successfully recovered: 2 mp4 files and the pseudo-random file in the root folder. Not recovered (files damaged): all files from the subfolders.
After Deep Scan: A FAT32 partition was found. File and folder structure: All folders (without their names) were found in the Lost Files section. All files in the folders were with correct names, except the first character in the names of the jpg files was replaced with _. Not recovered (files damaged): all files from the subfolders. Successfully recovered as raw files (without names): all mp4 files, and all doc, docx, xls, xlsx, odt, and odtx files. Partially recovered as raw files (without file names): flv (with a wrong size, but playable), mp3 (split in pieces).
Reformatted disk (NTFS to NTFS): 3.5Compare
After Scan the partition: File and folder structure: No files or folders were found.
After Deep Scan: Successfully recovered as raw files (without names): all 6 pdf files, 5 docx files, all 6 doc files, all xls and xlsx files, ods and odt files, all jpg files, avi, 6 mp4. Partially recovered as raw files (without file names): 1 flv file (with a wrong size, but playable) 2 mts files (in one file), 4 mp4 with an incorrect extension m4a. Partially recovered as raw files (without file names): mp3 files (split into pieces) Not recovered (files damaged): 1 docs file, m4v and mpeg files, 2 mov files (damaged), the pseudo-random file.
Reformatted disk (exFAT to exFAT): 3.5Compare
After Scan the partition:
File and folder structure:
No files or folders were found.
After Deep Scan (Damaged Partition Recovery):*
Successfully recovered as raw files (without names):
all jpg files, all pdf, xls, xlsx, doc, docx, ods, odt files, avi and 2 mts files, 6 mp4 files.
Partially recovered as raw files (without file names):
1 flv file (with a wrong size, but playable), 3 mp4 with an incorrect extension m4a, mp3 files (split into pices),
Not recovered (files damaged):
1 mp4 file from the root folder, m4v and mpeg files, 2 mov files (damaged), the pseudo-random file.
Reformatted disk (FAT32 to FAT32): 5.5Compare
After Scan the partition: File and folder structure: No files or folders were found.
After Full scan: File and folder structure: All files and folders were found in the Lost Files with correct names. The files from the root folder were found in the $Dir2 folder. Successfully recovered: All files were correctly recovered
Reformatted disk (exFAT to NTFS): 4.0Compare
After Scan the partition: File and folder structure: No files or folders were found.
After Deep Scan (Damaged Partition Recovery): File and folder structure: No files or folders were found. Recovered as raw files (without file names): avi file,2 mts files, 6 mp4 files, all jpg, pdf, xls, xlsx, doc, and docx files, ods, odt Partially recovered as raw files (without file names): flv (with an incorrect file size, but playable), 4 mp4 files with an incorrect extension m4a, mp3 files (split into pices) Not recovered (files damaged): m4v and mpeg files, 2 mov files (damaged), and the pseudo-random file.
Reformatted disk (NTFS to exFAT): 5.5Compare
After Scan the partition: File and folder structure: No files or folders were found.
After Deep Scan (Damaged Partition Recovery): The previous NTFS partition was found. File and folder structure: All files and folders were found in correct place with correct names. Successfully recovered: All files were correctly recovered, except: Not recovered (files damaged): 1 docx file and 1 mp4 file from the subfolder.
Damaged partition (NTFS): 5.5Compare
After selecting Damaged Partition Recovery: Could not open the partition.
After Full scan: 2 NTFS partitions were found. One of the correct size, the other was 8 GB. File and folder structure: All files and folders were found on the first partition with correct names. Successfully recovered: All files were correctly recovered.
Damaged partition (exFAT): 4.5Compare
After selecting Damaged Partition Recovery: Could not open the partition.
After Full scan: Only Found files (raw files) were found. This program does not appear to support the exFAT file system. File and folder structure: No file and folder names were recovered. Successfully recovered: all doc, docx, xls, xlsx, pdf, ods, and odt files, 100 jpg files, avi file, 2 mts files, 6 mp4 files. Partially recovered as raw files (without file names): 4 mp4 files with an incorrect file extension m4v, flv (with an incorrect file size, but playable), mp3 files (split into pices). Not recovered (files damaged): m4v files, mpeg file, 2 mov files (damaged), and the pseudo-random file.
Damaged partition (FAT32): 5.5Compare
After selecting Damaged Partition Recovery: Could not open the partition:
After Full scan: The previous FAT32 partition was found. File and folder structure: All files and folders were found in the Lost Files with correct names. The files from the root folder were found in the $Dir2 folder. Successfully recovered: All files were correctly recovered.
Damaged partition (exFAT): 4.5Compare
After selecting Damaged Partition Recovery: Could not open the partition.
After Full scan: Only Found files (raw files) were found. This program does not appear to support the exFAT file system. File and folder structure: No file and folder names were recovered. Successfully recovered: all doc, docx, xls, xlsx, pdf, ods, and odt files, 100 jpg files, avi file, 2 mts files, 6 mp4 files. There were small copies of jpg files (apparently thumbnails). Partially recovered as raw files (without file names): 3 mp4 files with an incorrect file extension m4a, flv (with incorrect file size, but playable), mp3 files (split in pieces). Not recovered (files damaged): m4v, mpeg file, 2 mov files (damaged), 1 mp4 file from the root folder, and the pseudo-random file.
Deleted partition (NTFS): 6.0Compare
After selecting Lost Partition Recovery: The deleted partition was immediately found, without Full scan File and folder structure: All files and folders were found with correct names. Successfully recovered: All files were correctly recovered.
Deleted partition (exFAT): 4.0Compare
After selecting Lost Partition Recovery:
Full Scan: Successfully recovered as raw files (without names): all jpg files, all pdf, xls, xlsx, doc, docx, ods, odt files, avi and 2 mts files, 6 mp4 files. Partially recovered as raw files (without file names): 1 flv file (with a wrong file size, but playable), 4 mp4 with an incorrect extension m4a), mp3 files (split into pieces). Not recovered (files damaged): m4v and mpeg files, 2 mov files (damaged), the pseudo-random file.
Deleted partition (FAT32): 6.0Compare
After selecting Lost Partition Recovery: The deleted partition was immediately found, without Full scan File and folder structure: All files and folders were found with correct names. Successfully recovered: All files were correctly recovered.
Deleted partition (exFAT): 6.0Compare
After selecting Lost Partition Recovery: The deleted partition was immediately found, without Full scan File and folder structure: All files and folders were found with correct names. Successfully recovered: All files were correctly recovered.
Overall Product Rating: 4.5
The program has a quite good user interface and a very good file recovery performance. In addition, it can recover up to 1 GB of data in its demo mode. Unfortunately, its localization support is quite poor: only English language is available for the interface language and it does not support Asian languages or non-Latin characters
File systems supported for file recovery: 5.5Compare
FAT/exFAT, NTFS/NTFS5, search for HFS+ and CD/DVD
Deep analysis of disks (disk scan): 3.5Compare
Limited scan parameter set. Scan results are automatically stored in a file after the scan is completed and may be loaded later. Scan results cannot be loaded in the Demo version.
File recovery using file signatures (raw file recovery): 4.0Compare
This feature exists with a pre-defined file signature set.
File search, mark for recovery, sorting: 4.0Compare
Search parameters: individual file search, file mask search, file search for date, file search for size
User interface: 4.0Compare
Good wizard interface but only a few recovery parameters can be specified.
Localization support: 2.0Compare
Characters recognized: Russian
Characters unrecognized: French (changed to similar Latin ones), Arabian, Japanese, and Chinese (changed to the dash character).
Demo version restrictions: 5.5Compare
File preview. Unrestricted file recovery for files up to 1 GB. No time limit for the demo mode. Limitations: Scan files cannot be opened, doesn’t support Windows server versions.
File recovery performance
FAT file system: 4.0Compare
Recently deleted files: The program successfully recovered all files with their original names.
Previously deleted files: The program could find many (not all) files with their original filenames. Many recovered files appeared damaged.
NTFS file system: 4.0Compare
Recently deleted files: The program successfully recovered all test files and the deleted folder, but their names were changed.
Previously deleted files: The program could find some files, mostly using raw file.
A FAT32 partition reformatted to a new NTFS partition of the same size: 3.0Compare
Raw files found and successfully recovered: pdf, 2 jpg, avi, xls, doc
Partially recovered: piece of the txt file.
An NTFS partition reformatted to a new NTFS partition of the same size: 3.0Compare
Raw files found and successfully recovered: pdf, 2 jpg, avi, xls
A FAT16 partition reformatted to a new FAT16 partition of the same size: 5.5Compare
Successfully recovered all files. Could not recover the original folder name.
An NTFS partition reformatted to a new FAT32 partition of the same size.: 6.0Compare
Successfully recovered all files and the folder with its original name.
An NTFS partition reformatted to a new FAT32 partition of the same size.: 6.0Compare
All files were found and successfully recovered with their original file and folder names.
A FAT32 partition reformatted to a new FAT32 partition of the same size: 3.0Compare
Raw files found and successfully recovered: pdf, 1 jpg, avi, xls, doc
An NTFS partition reformatted to a new NTFS partition of the same size: 3.0Compare
Raw files found and successfully recovered: pdf, 2 jpg, avi, xls, doc
A damaged FAT32 file system: 5.0Compare
The file system was immediately recognized, but the program crashed after an attempt to open it. After a disk scan, all files were found and successfully recovered. We could not recover the name of the original folder.
NTFS partition deleted from a 2 GB disk using Windows Disk Management: 6.0Compare
The programs successfully recovered all files with their original folder.
Overall Product Rating: 4.0
The only good point of this program is that it can recover up to 1 GB of data in its demo mode, but it showed quite poor file recovery performance.
Interface and Features
File systems supported for file recovery: 2.0Compare
FAT/exFAT, NTFS/NTFS5, search for HFS+ and CD/DVD
Deep analysis of disks (disk scan): 2.0Compare
A limited scan parameter set. Scan results are automatically stored in a file after the scan is completed and may be loaded later. Scan results cannot be loaded in the Demo version.
File recovery using file signatures (raw file recovery): 2.0Compare
The feature is present with a predefined file signature set.
File search, mark for recovery, sorting: 2.0Compare
Software features that help users find, sort, and mark files for recovery: Individual file search, file mask search, file search for date, file search for size.
User interface: 4.0Compare
A good wizard interface, but only a few data recovery parameters can be specified.
Localized file name recognition: 2.0Compare
Characters recognized: Russian.
Characters unrecognized: French (changed to similar Latin ones), Arabian, Japanese, and Chinese (changed to the dash character).
Demo version restrictions: 5.5Compare
Unrestricted file recovery of up to 1 GB. Includes file preview. No time limit for the demo version.
Other limitations: Scan files cannot be opened, doesn’t support Windows Server OS.
File recovery performance
NTFS file system: 3.0Compare
Recently deleted files: Successfully recovered all test files and the deleted folder.
Previously deleted files: Could find some files, mostly using raw file search.
FAT file system: 3.0Compare
Recently deleted files: Recovered all files.
Previously deleted files: Could find many (not all) files with their original filenames. Many recovered files appeared damaged.
An NTFS partition reformatted to a new NTFS partition of the same size.: 4.0Compare
Found in raw files and successfully recovered: pdf, jpg (2 files), avi, xls.
An NTFS partition reformatted to a new NTFS partition of the same size.: 4.0Compare
Found in raw files and successfully recovered: pdf, jpg (2 files), avi, xls, doc.
A FAT32 partition reformatted to a new FAT32 partition of the same size.: 4.0Compare
Found in raw files and successfully recovered: pdf, jpg (1 file), avi, xls, doc.
A FAT16 partition reformatted to a new FAT16 partition of the same size.: 4.0Compare
Successfully recovered all files with their original file names. Could not recover the original folder name.
An NTFS partition reformatted to a new FAT32 partition of the same size.: 4.0Compare
Successfully recovered all files with their original file names and the original folder name.
A FAT32 partition reformatted to a new NTFS partition of the same size.: 4.0Compare
Found in raw files and successfully recovered: pdf, jpg (2 files), avi, xls, doc.
Partially recovered: piece of the txt file.
An NTFS partition reformatted to a new FAT32 partition of the same size.: 4.0Compare
Found the deleted NTFS partition, although with incorrect size. All files were found and correctly recovered with their original file and folder name.
A damaged FAT32 file system: 5.0Compare
The file system was immediately recognized, but the program crashed after an attempt to open it. After a disk scan, all files were found and successfully recovered. Couldn’t recover the name of the original folder.
A damaged NTFS file system: 5.0Compare
All programs could successfully recover all files and the original folder.
NTFS file system: 6.0Compare
All programs successfully recovered all files with their original folder.
