M3 Data Recovery Free 5.6

M3 Data Recovery Free allows you to retrieve lost or deleted files and disk partitions in just a few simple steps. The program’s intuitive and clear interface helps you through the various stages of this delicate process in a stress-free manner. The program supports all types of files, external and internal drives, and file systems, including partitions and data stored in RAW hard and USB drives.

Having lost a few JPG image files, which I accidentally deleted a few days back from my pen drive, I decided to give M3 Data Recovery Free a chance. From the program’s main menu, I chose the Data Recovery option, capable of bringing back to life all kinds of files, even from formatted partitions. The program can perform two types of scans – a fast scan and a deep scan, which is slower but more efficient. First, select the drive where you had your files, and once the scan process has finished, all you need to do is search for your files either using the search engine provided or by simply moving around your folders until you find them among all the files with a red mark. You can tell the program to show only the deleted files – those with the mark – to help you locate those elusive files you wish to recover.

The program will let you preview the file (either as plain text or in hexadecimal format) prior to recovering them and saving the files in the folder of your choice. In just a few seconds, M3 Data Recovery Free managed to save my five lost files in the folder selected in their original format and the tool congratulated itself for such an achievement. When I tried to view them using a standard image tool, the program failed to open them, though. So the files were there, but they were totally unusable. I know that this free tool allows you to recover as much as 1 GB of data, and my five images put together were way below that size. I will assume, therefore, that the files were probably too damaged to be safely recovered.

This free tool also offers you to recover RAW partitions, entire RAW hard drives (internal and external), RAW USB drives, etc., as well as to recover data in BitLocker encrypted partitions. In this case, the recovery process is equally simple and stress-free thanks to the program’s wizard-based interface.

All in all, M3 Data Recovery Free works as expected, though it seems to produce mixed results. It successfully recovers the deleted files, though it is not clear until you try to open them if they are still usable or not. A warning message informing the user about the expected quality of the data recovered would help to avoid adding more frustration to an already frustrating situation.