Best SD Card Recovery Software in 2026

Most SD card recovery tool claim to rescue files from deleted, formatted, or unreadable SD cards. But do they actually deliver, or is it just marketing hype? To find out, we put all the popular SD card recovery software to a real-world test.

We deleted around 50 photos, 10 videos, and RAW files from a 16GB SD card, then tested each recovery tool on Windows and Mac systems. Below is a detailed analysis of how they performed, what features they offer, and how they rank.

Note: We downloaded the free version of each tool from its official website for this test.

How We Tested the Best SD Card Recovery Tools?

Test card: a 16 GB SanDisk SD card (Class 10, 48 MB/s)

Test files: 50-odd mixed photo files deleted from the card, JPEGs, PNGs, and RAW formats, including CR2 and NEF. Additionally, we deleted 10 video files (MP4, MKV, and MOV) for this test.

Test benchmark: How many deleted files an SD card recovery tool actually recovered after quick formatting the SD card, RAW format support, whether recovered files opened correctly, scan speed, ease of use for a first-time user, and the free-tier recovery limit.

Platforms: Windows 11 Pro and a macOS Tahoe.

Quick Comparison of the 10 Best SD Card Recovery Tools

Pricing for the software isn't included above because it frequently changes. You can visit each vendor site for the most accurate pricing at the time of purchase.

1. Stellar Photo Recovery

Stellar Photo Recovery tool excelled in our test. On both Windows and Mac, the software found every deleted photo (50/50) and video (10/10) deleted from the card, including the camera RAW files. The tool’s advanced file type and format filter allows users to instantly separate photos, videos and audio files with option to narrow down search by specific format.

The interface is lite and has everything you need within the first few clicks. It’s easy to navigate through the recovery process, just choose the file type you want to recover, select the physical drive, scan it, preview the files and then recover. While the deep scan takes time, it delivers satisfactory results. Because of its curated features, widest photo format support and high recovery limit for recovering deleted photos from SD cards of all types, its often ranked excels others.

Key features

• Recovers 200+ formats, including JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and RAW formats (CR2, NEF, ARW, and DNG)
• Works on all external storage devices, including SD, SDHC, SDXC, etc.
• Compatible with BitLocker-encrypted drives.

Pros

• Wide RAW format support for all file types.
• Deep Scan worked on the formatted SD card.
• Preview feature aids with recovery.

Cons

• Free tier caps recovery at 10 files/100MB each.
• Error while previewing certain RAW format photos.
• Demo mode restricts preview of files above 10MB.

Verdict: Stellar Photo Recovery scanned and listed all deleted files in our test; the free tier recovered a batch of 10 photos and videos for no cost.

2. Recuva

Recuva is a completely free Windows platform-based data recovery tool that even works on your SD card. It offers a very basic WindowsXP era UI, but despite that, it’s easy to navigate. Select the type of files, select the drive, and then enable deep scan to start with the scanning process.

The scan speed is super slow, it took 37 minutes to scan. After completion it found 39 out of the 50 deleted photos and 5 videos on our test card, including MP4 and MOV file formats. However, as the results display it did struggle to find RAW files and some recovered files failed to open cleanly. Also, there's no way to filter the recovered files by file format, everything is recovered in a single dashboard which seems messy.

Key features

• Unlimited recovery, no size or file cap
• Deep scan mode available
• Shows thumbnail preview of the recoverable files

Pros

• Recovers most common file type and formats
• Lightweight and easy to install and operate

Cons

• Weak RAW format support
• Some recovered files didn't open
• Windows only

Verdict: Recovered standard formats like JPEG and MP4, recovery was inconsistent for less common and RAW file types.

3. Disk Drill

Disk Drill offers a plain and clean interface, with results grouped by category and thumbnail previews during the scan. The catch is the free tier of just 100MB total, that’s hardly enough for a small batch of photos, and rarely one or two small video files. 

The scanning speed was also noticeably slower than most competitors, however, it was capable of listing most of the deleted photos and videos. Although, it failed to load previews for some of the RAW file formats.

During the scan, you get a thumbnail preview of your recoverable files.

Key features

• Dedicated advanced recovery module for recovering RAW files.
• Offered similar recovery experience across Windows and Mac.

Pros

• Most intuitive interface among all the tools we tested.

Cons

• 100MB free limit is hardly useful.
• Slight slower scan than some competitors.
• Previewing recovered RAW format files displays broken images.

Verdict: Listed deleted files, but only 100MB of complete data was recoverable in its free cap.

4. Wondershare Recoverit

Among all the tools we tested, Wondershare gets a built-in AI feature that aids with recovering your important photos, videos, and other files. Wondershare Recoverit successfully surfaced all of the photos and videos removed from the card after a quick format. The interface looks modern, and is easy to navigate. It offers a filtering feature to find the file of your choice.

However, all of these advanced features are of no use unless you are ready to upgrade to a paid plan. Sadly, there is no preview allowed in the demo version, while recovery is capped at a generous 500MB.

Key features

• Supports recovery from formatted, deleted, and unrecognized (RAW) partitions
• File-type filtering during preview
• Available on Windows and Mac

Pros

• Scan speed is faster than most competitors
• Easy-to-navigate AI-powered interface

Cons

• No preview in demo version
• No recovery in demo version

Verdict: Found all deleted photos and videos from the SD card in our test, offered enhanced AI features and video files were easy to preview.

5. MiniTool Data Recovery Free

MiniTool's data recovery greeted us with an interface reminiscent of recuva. The tool initially struggled to detect the SD card, requiring multiple attempts to fix it. Once connected, the tool bypasses file type selection and immediately begins scanning the selected physical drive.

While the scan speed lagged behind other competitors, it successfully listed all photo and video files for recovery except 6 RAW photo files. Furthermore, the file preview feature is locked behind a paywall, and some of the recovered files turned out to be corrupted as there was no thumbnail preview available and dimensions information was not available.

Key features

• Both Quick Scan and Deep Scan available
• 1GB free recovery limit
• Results organized by file type

Pros

• Fastest scan of the Windows tools tested
• Simplest interface for a first-time user

Cons

• Certain recovered files in our test were corrupted or unreadable
• Preview thumbnails failed to load
• Windows only

Verdict: Detected the SD card after multiple attempts, scan took some time. Recovered almost every photo, but unable to properly recover certain RAW files.

6. PhotoRec

PhotoRec is a genuinely powerful command-line tool, but it lacks proper implementation of the features. We have tested this tool multiple times and it recovers almost all files every time from any storage, including SD card. But one major drawback is that not all of us can use this tool. Because, you don’t get an UI to navigate through the recovery process, it’s a complicated command line screen that requires some expertise in command lines.

Apart from the usability tradeoff, it lacks a preview feature, and renames every recovered file to a number rather than preserving the original file name. This makes finding your lost files a tedious task after recovery. However, despite the usability tradeoff it recovered 50/50 photos and 7 video files.

Key features

• Recovers most file formats and also supports some RAW support
• Works on Windows, Mac, and Linux-based computer system

Pros

• Completely free with no recovery limit
• Works on all storage drives

Cons

• Command-line interface, only for pro users
• No preview feature
• Complicated recovery process
• Requires understanding of storage drive structure
• Recovered files are renamed to random numbers

Verdict: Recovered files successfully across formats, but renamed everything to random numbers with no preview.

7. Remo Recover Free

Remo Recover looks simple, does the job and offers what it promises but it’s time consuming. You choose the file type, select the physical drive, and start the scan process. It offers a dynamic recovery view feature enabling preview of recovered files as the scan runs, similar to Stellar and some other tools.

In our tests, it handled certain RAW formats and photos really well. It recovered 44/50 photos and 8 video files. Although, the video was more of a mixed bag, as 3 recovered clips wouldn't play. It's also noticeably heavier on system resources than the rest of the list, so expect fan noise and some slowdown during a scan.

Key features

• Dynamic recovery view feature
• Supports JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and RAW formats, including CR2 and NEF
• Deep Scan available for formatted or corrupted cards

Pros

• Optimized for SD, SDHC, SDXC, CF, and microSD cards
• Strong RAW format support

Cons

• Resource-heavy - noticeably slows down other tasks during a scan
• Some recovered videos failed to play
• Slow scan speed than some competitors

Verdict: Offers improved usability, recovered most photos and videos. Although some recovered video files wouldn't play afterward.

8. DMDE

DMDE is designed for advanced users who are comfortable using complex, highly technical interfaces. It is great at locating deleted files, and the free version offers a generous 4,000-file recovery limit, with no size cap. The tool’s specialty lies in recovering files from damaged or corrupted storage devices.

However, the tool has some downsides. In our tests, 7 recovered photos and 3 recovered video files were found to be corrupted and unusable. Additionally, there is no preview feature to check the files before you save them.

Key features

• Recovers up to 4,000 files with no size cap
• Supports FAT and NTFS drives
• Deep scan runs by default

Pros

• Useful for complex recovery scenarios beyond simple deletion

Cons

• Some recovered files in our test did not open
• No preview before recovery
• UI is not beginner-friendly

Verdict: Found a large number of deleted files (4,000-file free cap), but it’s complicated to use.

9. TestDisk

Unlike other tools on this list, TestDisk solves a completely different problem. Instead of finding deleted files, it tries to repair and recover the card's lost partition itself. Hence, it works best when a computer cannot read a card or finds it blank because of corruption issues.

Testdisk is an extension of PhotoRec, it also does not offer an UI and works on complicated command line code, and does a completely different job. However, be mindful because one wrong command can cause further data loss, making it unsuitable for casual users.

Key features

• Recovers lost or deleted partitions from formatting errors or corruption
• Supports FAT, NTFS, exFAT, and ext2/3/4 file systems
• Works on Windows, Mac, and Linux

Pros

• Fixes partition-level problems other tools on this list can't touch
• No recovery limit

Cons

• Command-line only
• Requires real understanding of drive structure to use safely
• Not the right tool if your files are simply deleted rather than the card being unreadable

Verdict: Successfully repaired a card that was showing as empty or unreadable, rather than scanning for individual files.

10. EaseUS

EaseUS is designed for beginner users rather than professionals, and the results are automatically split into Pictures and Video and other file types. The tradeoff is speed; deep scan took close to 0.5 hour for our 16GB test card and recovery results as it found only 27/50 photos and 3 video files, the lowest among all tools in our tests.

Key features

• Automatically filters results by file type
• Recovers Photos, Videos, Audio, and other file types
• Targets NTFS and FAT recovery on Windows

Pros

• 2 GB free recovery
• Simple layout for non-technical users

Cons

• No RAW format support
• Deep scan is very slow
• Recovered very less files in our tests

Verdict: Recovered deleted files and auto-sorted them into Pictures and Videos, but the deep scan took over an hour on a 16GB card.

Quick Decision Guide to Help Choose Your Tool

Conclusion

Software claims and real results aren't always the same thing, in our test, two well-known tools (EaseUS and MiniTool) underperformed on a quick formatting (deleted-photo) scenario, while Stellar Photo Recovery, Recuva, and Wondershare Recoverit, delivered on what they promised with exceptional results. Stellar often excels as one of the best free photo recovery tool for its features. If you're recovering deleted photos or video from a healthy card, start with Stellar Photo Recovery or Recuva. If the card itself won't mount, TestDisk and DMDE are the right tools for that specific problem.