Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery v4.1 - Review

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery v4.1 - Review

Synopsis:

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery proved successful in recovering my years of documents from a corrupted, though visible, partition, which I doubt was the result of some MBR issues. The latest version v4.1 has all the modern functionalities including Windows 7 support, e-mail recovery options for Outlook PST and Outlook Express DBX, RAW recovery and my favorites- Clone Disk, Create Image, and Drive Status. I downloaded its demo version first to get confirmed about recovery results, and as expected, all the files were there- the tree structure adds to its excellence. As the demo version just allows to preview the files and not to save them, I finally bought the software through the included online option. Below are some screenshots of windows, I went through:

Interface

The main window is divided into various tabs- Data Recovery, Email Recovery, Resume Recovery, Advance Options and Recovery Services, some of which are further subdivided. The software designers have been clever to describe functions of all tabs and options in concise form at the bottom of window. Though I found some of the logos (like for Quick Recovery) not corresponding to their job, but overall the interface gives a good experience- Easy to navigate and work with.

Working

My savior option was 'Raw Recovery' under 'Advance Options' tab as it claims to perform signature based file recovery from a corrupted volume. I did a full scan of my 150 GB data partition, but observed it somewhat slow, however, listed all the files I was looking for. The software includes 'File Type' and 'Append Header File' (under 'Settings') to perform selective file recovery and add file header of choice respectively. There are numerous options that one may find usable and practical. The software also supports for multiple media on the system.

Best Features

One of the excellent qualities is the file preview (complete or in hexadecimal form when the file is corrupted) and so it doesn't impart any false notions. The software is light-weight, around 5.8 MB and so, doesn't eat much of the hard drive space.  Further, the disk cloning and disk imaging options help you to safeguard the data against any mishaps. The drive status is the disk monitoring function that gives a great control.

Some Bads

The software didn't recover one of my access database files and declared it corrupted. Although the file got listed but with a red cross, however, all the rest files were fine. Unless your data is of too much importance, $99 is a high amount to pay.

Conclusion

The software has doubtlessly been engineered by minded professionals- the interface and scanning capability support the same. If one keeps the pricing apart, Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a true solution that a data loss sufferer must use for recovery.