USB Data Recovery Software Free Download [2025]

As for USB data recovery software free download, consider EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard (free version), Recuva, TestDisk, PhotoRec, GNU ddrescue, Sleuth Kit, Scalpel,  Foremost, extundelete and safecopy.

If you're wondering if recovering data from a USB drive is feasible, we have good news: in most circumstances, data can be restored from a USB drive by downloading free tools. And we will show you how.

This article was clicked by over 10.9 thousand times last year and received a LOT of good comments, demonstrating that the method we proposed works. If you'd like to skip the technical performance of each free tool and get right to the ideal free recovery downloading and tutorial, go ahead and read Free USB Recovery Software User Guide.

❓Is There Really a Free USB Tecovery Tool?

Many USB flash drive users may lose data because of accidental deletion, malware/computer viruses, incomplete transmission, inaccessible USB drives, bad sectors, physical damage, and drive corruption. If you are using a Windows PC, the deleted files from the USB flash drive cannot be recovered easily from the Windows Recycle Bin in File Explorer. That's why you need free USB data recovery software.

Thus, legitimate free USB recovery tools are available, but their effectiveness depends on your specific situation and the tool's capabilities. Below is a curated breakdown of trusted options, their features, and key considerations after our testing:

Top 10 Free USB Data Recovery Software Download

Here's a curated list of 10 free USB data recovery tools and their advantages, disadvantages, and basic usage instructions.

🏆1. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free Edition

After many experiments, we concluded that EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard will work perfectly for you. Users can instantly recover 500MB of data with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free. Share the software on your Facebook or Twitter to grow to a limit of 2 GB. 

This USB recovery tool can help you recover deleted files in many situations, even after a USB repair, and we'll give four examples here:

• 😱Accidental Deletion: If you accidentally remove essential files from the USB flash drive, like selfies, family photos, favorite movies, and wedding recordings, you can easily recover deleted files from USB.
• 😈Corrupted USB Recovery: With the power scan mode of EaseUS data recovery software, you can easily recover data from corrupted pen drives. If the files are corrupted as well, this tool will repair them automatically during the data recovery process.
• 🔑RAW USB Drive Recovery: If your USB drive is inaccessible or becomes RAW because of malware/computer viruses or file system errors, you can recover data from a pen drive not detected with EaseUS.
• 🧹Formatted USB Recovery: Did you accidentally click "Quick Format" in Disk Management and lose all the data on the USB flash drive? Don't worry - the EaseUS data recovery tool can help you recover a formatted USB without effort.

You may also want to check the support information about EaseUS recovery software. Check the following table to gather the information:

You can share these highlights and real EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard reviews with more friends!

2. Recuva (Windows)

As an open-source free tool, It recovers deleted files including photos, documents, etc., supports deep scans, and works with USB drives, SD cards, and external storage.

During our test of Recuva's safety, we select the USB, choose a scan type (Quick/Deep), preview found files, and recover them to a safe location (not the original USB to avoid overwriting). 

👍Pros:

• Recovering Formatted USBs: Accidental formatting can erase data, but Recuva scans the drive to restore files, even after quick or full formats, leveraging residual data remnants.
• Accessing Corrupted Drives: If a USB becomes corrupted (e.g., file system errors, unrecognized partitions), Recuva bypasses logical damage to extract recoverable files, though it doesn't repair the drive itself (physical repairs require specialized tools).

👎Cons:

• Free version lacks premium customer support.
• Struggles with severe corruption or physically damaged drives.

3. TestDisk

TestDisk is a powerful, open-source partition recovery tool for free focused on repairing disk structures and recovering lost data. Unlike file-centric tools, TestDisk targets low-level disk issues and is ideal for advanced users.

👍Pros:

• Recovers lost partitions.
• Works across multiple OS (Windows, macOS, Linux).

👎Cons:

• Command-line interface (CLI) can intimidate beginners.

💪Usage:

Step 1. Run testdisk in terminal.

Step 2. Select "disk" > "Analyze" > "Recover partitions".

4. PhotoRec

PhotoRec is a free, open-source file recovery tool designed to recover lost files from USB drives and other storage media by scanning disk sectors directly (ignoring file systems). It's ideal for parts that are damaged, formatted, or missing.

👍Pros:

• Supports 300+ file formats (photos, docs, archives).
• Cross-platform.

👎Cons:

• No file preview; CLI-only.

💪Usage:

Step 1. Run photorec.

Step 2. Select disk, choose file types, and output directory.

5. GNU ddrescue

Unlike file-based recovery tools (e.g., PhotoRec), this free tool focuses on low-level data rescue from physically deteriorating drives.

👍Pros:

• Skips bad sectors efficiently.
• Resilient for damaged drives.

👎Cons:

• Only clones data (doesn't "recover" files directly).

💪Usage:

Step 1. Run GNU ddrescue on Linux/Unix, or Windows via Cygwin/WSL

Step 2. Input ddrescue -f /dev/sdX damaged.img logfile.

6. Sleuth Kit (+ Autopsy)

Unlike another open-source tool we test, the Sleuth Kit (TSK) is a digital forensics toolkit for analyzing disk images and recovering data from USB drives. At the same time, Autopsy provides a user-friendly GUI for TSK. Together, they offer robust file system analysis, data recovery, and forensic investigation capabilities - all for free.

👍Pros:

• Advanced file system analysis.
• Autopsy provides a GUI.

👎Cons:

• Steep learning curve.

💪Usage:

1. Use CLI tools like fls or tsk_recover, or Autopsy GUI.
2. Works with dd, E01, AFF forensic image.

7. Scalpel

Scalpel is an open-source file carving tool designed to recover lost files from USB drives (and other storage media) by scanning raw data blocks

👍Pros:

Customizable configuration for file types.

👎Cons:

Requires manual setup of config file.

💪Usage:

Edit /etc/scalpel/scalpel.conf, then scalpel -i disk -o output.

8. Foremost

It searches for file headers and footers (signatures) to reconstruct files, making it useful when partitions are damaged, formatted, or missing.

👍Pros:

• Pre-configured for common file types.

👎Cons:

• Less updated.

💪Usage:

foremost -i /dev/sdX -o output.

9. extundelete

Extundelete is an open-source command-line utility designed to recover deleted files from USB drives or disks formatted with ext3/ext4 file systems (common in Linux).

👍Pros:

• Effective for Linux drives.

👎Cons:

• Limited to ext3/4.

💪Usage:

extundelete /dev/sdX --restore-file /path/to/file.

10. safecopy

SafeCopy is a command-line, open-source data recovery tool designed to maximize data extraction from damaged USB drives (or other storage media) with bad sectors, I/O errors, or physical degradation.

👍Pros:

• Skips bad sectors.

👎Cons:

• Outputs raw data (needs further processing).
• Low-level data recovery from damaged media.

💪Usage:

safecopy --stage1 /dev/sdX output.img.

Key Considerations When Choosing the Free USB Recovery Software:

• CLI vs. GUI: Most tools are CLI-based, requiring technical familiarity.
• Filesystem Support: Tools like extundelete are filesystem-specific.
• Backup First: Always clone failing drives before recovery attempts.

These tools are best suited for users who are comfortable with technical workflows. PhotoRec or Autopsy (with GUI) are recommended starting points for beginners.

Free USB Recovery Software User Guide [Step-by-Step]

EaseUS USB recovery tool supports recovering data from USB drives. Also, it allows you to recover data from other removable media drives, including pen drives, compact flash, secure digital cards, flash memory, other equivalent MP3 and MP4 music players, pocket PCs, super drives, and more.

Download the EaseUS USB data recovery software and follow the video or the text tutorial to recover deleted files from USB flash drives with a few clicks.

Here's the timeline of the video tutorial:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 00:34 Use Command Prompt
• 00:59 Run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
• 02:24 Try Data Recovery Services

Follow the step-by-step guide to use the ultimate USB/ pen drive recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, and recover lost files from the USB device:

Step 1. Choose the USB drive to scan

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and choose your USB drive where you lost important files. Click "Scan for lost data" to start.

Step 2. Check and preview USB drive data

When the scanning is finished, you can quickly locate a specific type of file by using the Filter feature as well as the Search option.

Step 3. Restore flash drive data

After checking and finding lost USB drive files, click "Recover" to restore them. You shall save the found files to a safe location on your PC rather than to your USB drive.

💡Tip: You can restore data on the local disks, external hard drives, and also the cloud storage.

The EaseUS USB recovery tool can deal with data loss issues on most USB drives, including SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston, PNY, Corsair, and more. It is 100% safe and has received many positive reviews from users. It's authorized and recommended by many famous technology websites, including PCmags, G2, Trustpilot, etc.

The user experience of EaseUS:

This tutorial can be very helpful for users lacking computer knowledge to perform Windows file recovery from a USB with a free data recovery program. Please share this page on popular social media to help more readers find recoverable files on the USB!

Bonus Tip: How to Avoid Data Loss on the USB Flash Drive

These days, most USB flash drives have a large capacity and can store thousands of documents, pictures, movies, e-books, and other data. Losing this important data can be a big problem. Although you can use professional data recovery software to retrieve the data, the best way to recover data is to back up the data beforehand.

Here are a few useful tips to prevent data loss on USB flash drives:

🗂️Back Up USB Regularly

Sometimes, lost data may not be recovered for some reason. To prevent important data loss, you should make backups regularly. If you dislike backing up your files manually, use schedule backup software for effective automatic backups.

🔺Keep Computer Up to Date

Upgrade your computer to the latest version with the recent antivirus program, patches, drivers, OS updates, and more to make sure that it is protected from any virus, malware, spyware, etc., that can corrupt and even erase data stored on your USB drive.

❌Avoid Physical Damage

It is very easy to carry a USB device with you wherever you go. It is still important that you keep the USB flash drive in a safe place and avoid any physical damage.

🔌Prevent Sudden Power Outage

One of the primary causes of data corruption is a power outage, so it will be helpful to use a power protector to protect your PC and your flash drive from unexpected power failure.

⛑️Disconnect USB Flash Drive Safely

Never just unplug a USB device after using it. Always disconnect it by following the proper steps to safely remove USB storage devices.

If you have lost USB data again, try free data recovery tools like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.

The Bottom Line

The USB flash drive has become one of the most used portable storage devices today. It became extremely popular due to its portability, large capacity, robustness, fast speed, and easy recovery features. But, like other media, USB devices still tend to fail, and data loss happens, too. EaseUS top free USB recovery software offers the easiest way to get back lost USB data. If you lost data on your USB flash drive, pen drive, SD card, or memory card, ask EaseUS for help immediately. It's never too late to restore the lost data. 

USB Recovery Tools Free FAQs

If you have questions related to how to restore deleted data from a USB drive, read the following questions and answers to resolve your problems:

1. Can USB data be recovered?

Yes, you can recover data from USB by using USB recovery tools. A few users suggest that you can recover USB data with Command Prompt, but retrieving data from a USB using CMD only works when the files are hidden on your USB.

Suppose the files on your USB flash drive are deleted, formatted, or lost for other reasons instead of being hidden. In that case, USB recovery software like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is the only efficient way to retrieve your data.

2. How do you recover files from a flash drive?

How can I restore files from my USB for free? To perform a USB recovery for Windows 10:

1. 1. Connect the USB flash drive to your computer and launch EaseUS USB recovery software.
2. 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard will thoroughly scan your USB flash drive and find all your lost data on it.
3. 3. Choose the target files and click Recover to save them to a secure location on your PC or other external storage devices.

3. How do I fix a corrupted flash drive? 

How can I fix my USB flash drive? You can fix a damaged flash drive by reinstalling the USB driver. See how to repair a corrupted USB drive without formatting.

1. 1. Right-click the Start menu icon and choose Device Manager.
2. 2. Click Disk drives and find the drive name of your corrupted USB.
3. 3. Right-click on the drive and choose the Uninstall device.
4. 4. Unplug the USB drive.
5. 5. Connect the USB to the computer again, and it will reinstall the latest driver automatically.

4. How can I recover my formatted USB for free online?

You can not recover deleted files from USBs free online. EaseUS free data recovery software is your optimal choice to unformat a USB drive for free safely and effectively.

1. 1. Connect the formatted USB drive to your computer. Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. See if the USB drive appears in the drive list. Select the USB and click "Scan".
2. 2. Wait for the scan to complete. When the scan is over, you can click "Filter" to filter a specific type of file quickly.
3. 3. Double-click the files to preview them one by one. Select the files you want and click "Recover".