Top 5 Best Apps to Recover Data from SD Card on Android

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Android Recovery Software

Finding out that your important files went missing from your Android can be devastating. This can happen due to rooting error, hardware malfunction, or accidental deletion. Luckily, there are numerous apps that can help you restore your photos, documents, and videos.

When creating this list, we made sure to include both paid and free Android apps.Every software in this article is also approved by Google Play, meaning they are safe to use. Let’s go through them and see which one is the best app to recover data from an SD card.

Brief selection
1
diskdigger photo recovery icon
DiskDigger Photo Recovery
Platform:AndroidWindows
Distributed as: Freemium
15952
2
photo recovery data recovery icon
Photo Recovery: Data Recovery
Platform:Android
Distributed as: Freemium
15966
3
easeus mobisaver icon
EaseUS MobiSaver
Platform:AndroidWindowsmacOS
Distributed as: Freemium
15982
View complete ranking

Why Should I Use Android Recovery Apps?

Data recovery software is used to locate and restore missing or damaged files to your phone in case of unforeseen circumstances. This is possible because deleted data still exists on your phone, unless it’s been overwritten with new information. You might be able to find your files manually, but this isn’t exactly convenient. A good recovery app will save you time and nerves, which makes it valuable.

Even if you currently don’t experience problems, we would recommend installing one. The truth is, all your files are susceptible to damage to one degree or another. You never know when this is going to happen, so it’s best to be prepared just in case. If your Android device is physically damaged, recovery of your important pictures and videos stored on an SD card may still be possible.

How to Choose SD Card Recovery App

Picking out the right app to restore your files isn’t as easy as it sounds. Before deciding, you should first answer the following questions:

  • Which files do you wish to recover?

    There’s a number of great free recovery apps that can help you restore images, WhatsApp messages, and call logs. However, if you want to recover videos, audio files, and less popular formats, paid premium apps are going to be more effective.

  • What is your budget?

    Are you willing to pay for a subscription or are you just looking for free recovery apps? Don’t forget, many premium apps offer a free trial that you can use to verify which files can be recovered. There are few things more annoying than purchasing a pricey Android app to recover SD card data, only to find that it can’t help you. One of them is not getting a refund. So, always test the trial version before committing, as you can potentially save a lot of money.

  • How much time do you have?

    Are you in a rush to recover important documents or do you have enough time for a thorough scan that is likely to find additional files? 

  • Do you want to use Rooting?

    Rooting gives users complete access to Android’s operating system. Without it, you can only perform a limited scan, which might not find all the files that you wish to recover. However, rooting your device makes it more vulnerable, and if you don’t know what you are doing, you can do more harm than good. If you decide to root your device, make sure that you pick the app you absolutely trust, otherwise, it might expose your private data.

  • Can this app restore my files?

    Not all apps support recovery from an external memory such as SD cards. Make sure to do thorough research before committing.

Attention

How to Maximize Chances of File Recovery?

For best results, you’ll want to act quickly, as your lost data can easily be overwritten by new files. This is why it’s important to stop downloading and installing new applications. It’s best to turn off your internet for a while, as apps can start updating in the background.

Top 5 Android Apps to Recover SD Card Data

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Let’s see which android recovery software tools have the best rating.

DiskDigger Photo Recovery Logo

1. DiskDigger Photo Recovery

4.2 Suitable for basic data recovery tasks – We’re still testing this software. Wait until we’re done for our final verdict!

Platforms

AndroidLinuxWindows

Distributed as

Freemium Some features are provided free of charge, but money is required to unlock the rest.

Limitations

Free preview

Price range

$2.99...$2.99

Overview

DiskDigger is a popular recovery software used for restoring lost images from memory cards, Android’s internal memory, HDDs, and USB flash drives.

We loved DiskDigger because of its clean and user-friendly interface. The app has solid recovery abilities and can restore up to 80% of files. If some of your data was also stored in the internal memory, you have the option to do a limited scan without rooting. However, doing the full scan gives you the ability to recover videos as well. If you root your Android device, DiskDigger will also give you the option to choose which partition to scan. To find an SD card, look for the folder that ends with /mnt/sdcard/. DiskDigger will ask you to specify the types of files that you are looking for, which will make it work much faster.

After the scan is done, I had the option to filter files by type and size by pressing the gear icon. Selecting the checkbox also lets you specify the minimum size, which can make your search much easier. Once I found my lost photos, the app gave me 3 ways to recover them: save to device, save to an app, and FTP upload. I picked save to an app, as this lets me transfer my data to cloud storage like Dropbox, or e-mail them to someone.

DiskDigger Photo Recovery for Android – Gallery
Top DiskDigger Pros
  • User friendly and free to use
  • Doesn’t require rooting
  • Convenient recovery
Top DiskDigger Cons
  • Restored photos can have bad resolution
  • Recovers only photos and videos
Overall experience

Overall, Disk Digger is a good free software that is capable of recovering your photos and videos. We also didn’t find the limit to how many files you can retrieve. Transferring your images is also really convenient, which is a big plus.

Photo Recovery: Data Recovery Logo

2. Photo Recovery: Data Recovery

4.0 Suitable for basic data recovery tasks – We’re still testing this software. Wait until we’re done for our final verdict!

Platforms

Android

Distributed as

Freemium Some features are provided free of charge, but money is required to unlock the rest.

Limitations

Free preview

Price range

$3.99...$3.99

Overview

I was a bit reserved about adding this one to the list. Due to its generic name, I couldn’t find much reliable info on it, but it had a great score on Google Play, so I’ve decided to give it a chance. The app is marketed as an end all be all, as it can recover everything from images and important documents to full audio and video files.

Data Recovery greets you with a minimalistic interface that lets you pick between 4 recovery modes, based on the types of files you wish to retrieve. The app doesn’t require rooting and scans through your memory fairly quickly. However, I didn’t find a way to scan through the specific locations, although you can filter by time and size. This resulted in a somewhat frustrating recovery process and I wished there was a way to only see files stored on an SD card. Before restoring, you get a preview of every file, so that’s something. After some time, I managed to find 3 out of 4 files I was looking for.

Photo Recovery: Data Recovery for Android – Gallery
Top Photo Recovery: Data Recovery Pros
  • Affordable license
  • Fast scans
Top Photo Recovery: Data Recovery Cons
  • Can’t scan specific folders
  • Unorganized
Overall experience

Data Recovery gives you the option to save files to your phone or upload them on Google Disk. The second option is reserved for premium users. Aside from recovery, the app also lets you clean junk files. I wouldn’t recommend this function, as the software crashed immediately after using it. To get the most out of it, you will need a Premium license, which is reasonably priced. A one-time payment of $12 will give you unlimited recovery, cloud backup, as well as remove all ads. Considering the price, I’d say it offers decent capabilities, but nothing worth writing home about.

EaseUS MobiSaver Logo

3. EaseUS MobiSaver

3.8 Suitable for basic data recovery tasks – We’re still testing this software. Wait until we’re done for our final verdict!

Platforms

AndroidWindowsmacOS

Distributed as

Freemium Some features are provided free of charge, but money is required to unlock the rest.

Limitations

Selectively free recovery

Price range

$3.99...$3.99

Overview

Next, we have a product from EaseUs, a popular company with 17+ years of experience in data restoration. MobiSaver claims to be the most intuitive Android recovery app that will easily find lost images, contacts, messages, and videos on your SD card and Android’s internal memory.

MobiSaver does indeed have an elegant interface, with 6 recovery modes to choose from. Besides SD Card, there’s also Photo & Video, Call Logs, WhatsApp, SMS, and Contacts. For this review, I’ve only scanned through my external memory card, which was done fairly quickly. In total, EaseUs MobiSaver supports 9 formats: JPG, GIF, TIF, BMP, PNG, MP4, MOV, AVI, and 3GP. The app displayed all the files located by size, format, and date. Images also had thumbnails, while Contacts showed phone number and name, which made the navigation easier.

EaseUs MobiSaver for Android – Gallery
Top EaseUs MobiSaver Pros
  • Intuitive interface
  • Scan without rooting
Top EaseUs MobiSaver Cons
  • Expensive
  • A free trial is severely limited
Overall experience

Although there is a free trial, it only lets you restore 1 file at a time, which won’t work for everyone. To use it effectively, you will have to purchase a single license and use rooting. Pro version of MobiSaver costs $39.95, which is a bit pricey but offers unlimited restoration. All in all, I wasn’t that impressed by MobiSaver, and judging by the user reviews, I am not the only one.

Dr.Fone - Data & Photo Recovery Logo

4. Dr.Fone - Data & Photo Recovery

4.0 Suitable for basic data recovery tasks – We’re still testing this software. Wait until we’re done for our final verdict!

Platforms

AndroidWindowsmacOS

Distributed as

Freemium Some features are provided free of charge, but money is required to unlock the rest.

Limitations

Free preview

Price range

$9.99...$34.99

Overview

Dr.fone is among the most popular recovery apps, with a user base in 150+ countries. The app was created by Wondershare Technology, a software company based in China. It’s marketed as a premium app, which offers a solution to numerous data loss scenarios.

Dr.fone is a paid app, so I went to test it with higher expectations than usual. Besides the photos, contacts, and messages, the app also lets you recover videos from Cache. It supports many popular formats, such as JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, MP4, 3GP, AVI, MOV, and more. Dr.fone gives you the option to retrieve data from Cache, so rooting is not necessary.

A great feature that sets them apart from the competition is the wireless transfer of files between Android and PC. Simply visit their online service, input a 6-digit key, and you are good to go. Dr.fone also offers a Recycle Bin, which works exactly like on Mac or Windows. If you use it to delete files, they can easily be restored at a later date.

There’s also a desktop version of dr.fone, which comes with bonus tools. Clone will let you transfer all contacts to another phone with just 1 click. Root straightforwardly and securely guides you through the process of obtaining root access, while Backup will make sure that all your important files are copied to PC. All of this makes Dr.fone one of the most convenient recovery apps.

Dr.Fone - Data & Photo Recovery for Android – Gallery
Top Remo Pros
  • Scanning speed
  • Recover during a scan
  • Working with raw disks
  • Good signature-based scanner
  • Ability to choose file types to be scanned
Top Remo Cons
  • Not all file types are highlighted by default
  • Settings are only active when the program is running
  • Limited preview capabilities
  • Slow recovery speed
  • No backups
Overall experience

But, the question remains, how effective is it? I’ve deleted a few files prior to installing it to gauge its effectiveness, and Dr.fone managed to restore around 90% of them. Although it is not perfect, in my case it performed pretty well. If you decide to purchase it, a 1-year license is available for $39.95 and includes 1 PC and up to 5 mobile devices. A lifetime license will cost you $ 49.95. However, if you wish to get a desktop version with more tools, prepare to cash out $ 139.95 annually. All in all, this is a satisfying, although quite expensive, recovery app.

UltData Logo

5. UltData

4.6 Suitable for basic data recovery tasks – We’re still testing this software. Wait until we’re done for our final verdict!

Platforms

AndroidWindowsmacOS

Distributed as

Freemium Some features are provided free of charge, but money is required to unlock the rest.

Limitations

Free preview

Price range

$3.99...$3.99

Overview

The Tenorshare UltData app is said to be a powerful tool for recovering deleted photos, videos, and WhatsApp files from Android devices’ internal memory and SD cards. According to the official Google Play page, the app does not require root access, which means that users can recover their lost data without complex procedures.

However, after conducting research, I found that the app has received mixed reviews from users. While some users have found the app helpful in recovering lost files, others have reported poor-quality photos and videos or being charged for a subscription after using the free trial. Additionally, some users have found the app’s interface difficult to navigate, while others have reported that it failed to detect any deleted files.

UltData for Android – Gallery
Top UltData Pros
  • Can recover lost photos and videos
  • Easy to use
  • Good customer service
Top UltData Cons
  • Poor quality of recovered photos and videos
  • False advertisement of free trial and in-app purchases
  • Expensive, especially when recovering multiple files
  • Inconsistent and unreliable results
Overall experience

Overall, it appears that the app's performance is hit or miss, with some users finding success while others are disappointed.

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Last Thoughts

So, what is the best app to recover data from an SD card? There isn’t an easy answer to this question, as it will depend on your needs. Some free apps are pretty capable of recovering images and various documents, but it’s also true that premium ones often give better results. There are pros and cons to every app on this list, which will depend on your context.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to recover files from an SD card without an app?

Restoring important files is very unlikely if you are not using an app. If your Android isn’t working, you can put your SD card into a reader that’s connected to the PC and search for your files with a desktop recovery app.

Disk Digger is the best app to recover deleted photos from an SD card. It offers a high recovery rate of images, messages, and call logs, without imposing any limits.

Dr.fone offers the most bang for the buck and expertly recovers various types of videos. This includes MP4, AVI, 3GP, and MOV.

marko medakovic
Author

Marko Medakovic is a freelance tech writer that specializes in data recovery. By closely following the industry trends, he manages to present cutting-edge information in easy to understand format. You can find more of his work on MacUpdate, OnMac, and Handy Recovery.

Yevgeniy Tolkunov
Yevgeniy Tolkunov
Approver

Yevgeniy Tolkunov is Hardware Engineer at ACE Data Recovery. Yevgeniy has a Master's Degree in Physics, Information Technology; 15+ years of experience.