Lexar Recovery Tool is a free data recovery software application developed by Lexar, a leading global brand in flash memory products. The software allows users to recover lost or accidentally deleted photos, videos, and other media files from Lexar USB flash drives, SD cards, microSD cards, and other Lexar storage devices. It supports the FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file systems commonly used on Windows and Mac computers.
The Lexar Recovery Tool first scans the storage device to find recoverable data. It then allows users to preview found files and select which ones to recover. The free version enables recovering up to 100MB of data. For unlimited data recovery, Lexar offers a paid Pro version.
Lexar is owned by Longsys, a leading Chinese technology company. Longsys acquired the Lexar brand in 2017 and continues to develop Lexar’s product line of memory cards, card readers, USB flash drives and more. The Lexar Recovery Tool provides an easy way for customers to rescue lost files from their Lexar devices.
Is Lexar Recovery Tool Free?
Lexar offers both a free and paid version of their Lexar Recovery Tool software. The free version allows you to scan Lexar devices like SD cards, CF cards, and USB drives to see what files can be recovered. It will show you a preview of recoverable photos, videos, audio files, and documents. However, to actually restore your files and save them to another location, you need to upgrade to the paid version.
The paid version of Lexar Recovery Tool enables recovering lost or deleted files from Lexar devices and saving them to your computer or another external media. So the free version mainly serves as a way to preview your lost data, while the paid version is required to recover and export the files. The free scanner works with all major file types though.
Overall, if you just want to see what files may be recoverable from a Lexar device like an SD card, the free version should suffice. But to truly recover and restore your lost or deleted data, you need to purchase the paid software. The free scanner still provides helpful insight into what files can potentially be rescued.
Sources:
https://7datarecovery.com/blog/lexar-data-recovery/
https://recoverit.wondershare.com/memory-card-recovery/recover-deleted-data-from-lexar-memory-card.html
Free Version Capabilities
The free version of the Lexar Recovery Tool can recover a variety of file types from Lexar USB flash drives and memory cards, including photos, videos, music, documents, and more. According to the Lexar website, it supports the file systems FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS (sources: https://www.lexar.com/products/lexar-professional-workflow-cfexpress-usb-3-1-reader, https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/lexar_card_recovery_tool.html).
The free version is able to recover deleted, lost, or corrupted files from Lexar drives that may have been accidentally formatted or had a partition deleted. It can also retrieve data from drives that fail to mount or have suffered a mechanical failure. However, the free version has some limitations compared to the paid version.
The free Lexar Recovery Tool is only designed for recovering data from Lexar devices and has no size limits on the files it can restore. However, the amount of data that can be recovered in the free version is limited to 100 MB per device (source: https://www.easeus.com/storage-media-recovery/recover-data-from-lexar-sd-card.html). For larger data recovery needs, upgrading to the paid version is required.
Paid Version Capabilities
The paid version of Lexar Recovery Tool unlocks the full capabilities of the software without restrictions. Some key advantages of the paid version include:
- Full data recovery – Recover an unlimited amount of data from Lexar drives and memory cards. The free version limits you to recovering only 100 MB.
- All file types supported – Retrieve all major file types like photos, videos, documents, archives, etc. The free version is limited to certain file types.
- Faster scanning – The paid version utilizes optimized scanning algorithms for up to 2x faster drive scans.
- Premium support – Get prioritized email and live chat support from Lexar data recovery experts.
- Secure erasedrive feature – Permanently delete sensitive data from your Lexar products.
Overall, the paid upgrade removes all restrictions and caps that exist in the free version, providing full access to Lexar Recovery Tool’s capabilities for recovering data from Lexar drives and memory cards. It is especially useful for recovering large amounts of data and critical files.[1]
Differences Between Free and Paid Versions of Lexar Recovery Tool
The free and paid versions of Lexar Recovery Tool have some key differences in their features and capabilities:
| Feature | Free Version | Paid Version |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum file size recovery | 2 GB | Unlimited |
| Number of files recovered | Limited | Unlimited |
| File systems supported | FAT16, FAT32, exFAT | FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, HFS+ |
| Media types supported | SD cards, USB drives | SD cards, USB drives, HDDs, SSDs |
| Preview files before recovery | No | Yes |
| Technical support | No | Yes, via email |
As the table shows, the paid version supports larger files, more file systems, additional media types, previewing files, and technical support. The free version has file size and number limitations.
Effectiveness of Free Version
The free version of Lexar Recovery Tool has limited capabilities compared to the paid version, but can still recover some deleted or lost files from Lexar devices. According to some user reports, the free tool has around a 65-75% success rate for recovering JPEG photos from Lexar memory cards (1). However, recovery of other file types like RAW images, videos, and documents is less successful.
The free Lexar Recovery Tool is able to perform a quick scan and recover recently deleted files that have not been overwritten. But it lacks the advanced recovery algorithms of the paid version that can recover formatted, corrupted or partially overwritten data. So while the free version may recover some files, it is not likely to achieve full recovery from a Lexar device with major data loss or corruption issues (2).
Overall, the free Lexar Recovery Tool works reasonably well for basic photo recovery scenarios like accidentally deleted JPEGs. But for more complex recoveries, the paid version has significantly higher success rates according to customer reviews (3). So for minor deletions, the free tool is handy. But for valuable lost data, investing in the full paid recovery software is advisable.
Is the Paid Version Worth it?
The paid version of Lexar Recovery Tool offers some advantages over the free version that may make it worth upgrading in certain situations. According to reddit users, the paid version has much better data recovery capabilities and success rates, especially for more complex cases like corrupted memory cards. The paid software is able to retrieve a wider variety of file types and has more advanced scanning features to detect even erased or damaged data.
Upgrading to the paid version is advisable when you need to recover important or irreplaceable files from a Lexar device, and the free version is unable to find or restore them. The paid software also works significantly faster than the free version, so it’s a better option when time is of the essence. According to comparisons, full scans can take hours with the free tool versus minutes with the paid upgrade.
Overall, the paid Lexar Recovery Tool is recommended for anyone who values their time or needs the best possible chance to recover lost Lexar data. Casual users may be fine with the free version, but professionals or those with critical file recovery needs should consider the paid upgrade.
Alternative Free Data Recovery Tools
Lexar Recovery Tool is not the only free data recovery option available. Here are some other popular free tools and how they compare to Lexar Recovery Tool:
Recuva (Freeware) – Developed by Piriform, Recuva is one of the most widely used free data recovery tools. It has a simple interface and effective recovery capabilities for both files and folders. However, Recuva lacks some advanced features found in Lexar Recovery Tool like clone disk creation.[1]
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard (Freeware) – The free version of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard can recover up to 2GB of data. It supports recovery from many devices and file systems. But file preview and filtering options are limited compared to Lexar. [2]
Disk Drill – Disk Drill Basic is free and works on both Mac and Windows machines. It can recover data from internal and external drives. However, scan results are limited without upgrading to the paid Pro version. Lexar provides full scan results in the free version.[3]
Overall, Lexar Recovery Tool stands out for its comprehensive feature set and effective recovery in the free version. The alternatives have their own strengths but none match Lexar’s capabilities for free.
How to Use Lexar Recovery Tool
Using Lexar Recovery Tool to recover lost or deleted files from a Lexar USB drive or SD card is a straightforward process. Here are the step-by-step instructions:
1. Download and install the Lexar Recovery Tool software from the official Lexar website https://www.lexar.com/lexar-recovery-software/. Make sure to download the version compatible with your operating system (Windows or Mac).
2. Connect your Lexar USB drive or insert your Lexar SD card into your computer.
3. Launch the Lexar Recovery Tool. On the main screen, select the Lexar drive you want to recover files from.
4. The tool will scan the drive and display a list of recoverable files. You can preview files to check their content.
5. Select the files you want to recover by checking the boxes next to them. Choose a destination folder to save the recovered files to.
6. Click the ‘Recover’ button to restore your files to the designated location.
Some tips for using Lexar Recovery Tool effectively:
- Try to recover files from your Lexar device as soon as possible after deletion/loss. The more you use the drive, the lower the chances of recovery.
- Save the recovered files to a different drive than the original Lexar device to avoid overwriting them.
- The free version of the tool allows recovering up to 100 MB of data. For larger recovery needs, purchase the full paid version.
- The tool can recover most common file types like photos, videos, documents, and more.
Conclusion
In summary, the Lexar Recovery Tool offers both a free and paid version. The free version allows you to recover deleted files, photos, videos and other media. It has basic scan capabilities and can recover data from SD cards, USB drives and internal memory.
The paid version offers more advanced features like deep scanning, more file type support, Android data recovery and recovery from formatted drives. The paid version is better at recovering data, especially for serious data loss cases. However, the free version works well for undeleting recently deleted files.
Other decent free recovery tools are available like Recuva and TestDisk. But for superior data recovery from Lexar devices, the Lexar Recovery Tool is worth considering, especially the paid pro version for difficult recovery cases.
In the end, the free Lexar Recovery Tool provides a solid basic recovery solution. For more advanced recovery capabilities, the paid version is recommended.