Top 8 Free Folder Recovery Software in Windows

A folder usually stores many important files. If you accidentally delete a folder, all its files will be lost. Yet it is impossible to recover the folder by yourself, and you would get very annoyed. However, you can recover the deleted folder with the five best folder recovery software.

Why the Deleted Folders Can Be Recovered

When a folder is deleted from the computer, its files seem to disappear. Actually, these files are not immediately destroyed. Windows marks the hard drive space as available 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. The data area remains intact. 

This is the major reason why the deleted folder can be recovered. If you start undeleting files before Windows uses that part of the hard drive to write a new file, you have 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 Top 8 Folder Recovery Software

To recover deleted folders, you have to turn to data recovery software. It is hard to choose the most suitable one. Thus, I have tested at least 10 data recovery software. Here are the 8 most effective folder recovery software.

1. EaseUS Free Folder Recovery Software
2. Recuva
3. Wise Data Recovery
4. Recover My Files
5. Photo Rec
6. OnTrack EasyRecovery
7. Orion File Recovery
8. Data Rescue

After testing dozens of folder recovery software, we picked 12 of them. We further reduced the number of top-performing best free folder recovery tools to 8 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 structure recovery, this effective data recovery software can also do the following things for you:

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

✅Pros

• The easy 3-step recovery process
• Virus-free and plugin-free
• Supports for 1000+ file types
• Photo repair and video repair is available

🛑Cons

• Free trial with a 2GB recovery limit.

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 updated 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 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 with 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 and supports different systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux. During the testing, it took the longest time to scan deleted files in any data loss scenario.

✅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

Top 6. OnTrack EasyRecovery

OnTrack EasyRecovery is a free folder recovery software with a storage capacity of up to 1GB. It provides several alternatives for data recovery as a professional, home, toolbox, technician, and premium, and all these options can be attempted in the free version. Apart from recovering data from hard drives, EasyRecovery can also retrieve data from cloud servers.

✅Pro

• It supports recovering deleted volumes.
• Supports pause and resume.

🛑Cons

• It has a sluggish scan speed.
• There is no portable version.

Top 7. Orion File Recovery

Orion File Recovery is a folder recovery software with user-friendly features. NCH Software provides efficient deleted folder recovery software. Supports the recovery of music, photos, documents, and other file types.

✅Pro

• It is simple to use and has an intuitive UI.
• It comes with a tool for permanently erasing data.

🛑Cons

• It does not offer many configuration possibilities.
• There is no preview option before file recovery.

Top 8. Data Rescue

Data Rescue enables users to recover lost, erased, or corrupted files from various storage media, including SSDs, USB drives, and memory cards. The software employs sophisticated algorithms to examine and retrieve data from damaged disks and missing partitions.

✅Pro

• Supports RAID recovery.
• Supports file preview before recovery.

🛑Cons

• There is no refund policy.
• No trial recoveries.

Recover Deleted Folders with Free Folder Recovery Software

In this article, I have reviewed 8 free folder recovery software. You can utilize them to recover lost or deleted files. Here are the steps to recover deleted folders with 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. 

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. 

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. 

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 do I recover the folder structure of a formatted HDD?

Basically, you have three options to recover the folder structure of the formatted HDD:

1. 1. Use the Windows Backup and Restore option. You can easily restore all the files with this functional option.
2. 2. Use a third-party data recovery program, such as EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. This software will help you recover files from a formatted HDD.
3. 3. If you cannot recover anything useful by yourself, it is time to seek 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. 1. Scan the specific folder or the hard disk to search for lost files.
2. 2. Scroll down the results to find the wanted files.
3. 3. Restore the files after previewing them.

3. Is EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard free?

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can be downloaded for free, and you will get 2GB of free recovery space. You can pay for the pro version if you want to recover files larger than 2GB.

4. What is the best folder recovery software?

Here are the top five folder recovery software we recommend:

1. EaseUS Free Folder Recovery Software
2. Recuva
3. Wise Data Recovery
4. Recover My Files
5. Photo Rec
6. OnTrack EasyRecovery
7. Orion File Recovery
8. Data Rescue