Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery Review – This App Belongs in a Museum

Out of 5 Total Score
No. 9 Among all macOS solutions
Data recovery software applications that promise to recover lost files for free are in high demand and short supply, and Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery is one of them. But can it deliver the same results as paid alternatives? This review has the answer to this question.
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Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery – Overview
#A cursory look at a screenshot of Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery should be enough to tell you that the data recovery application comes from a bygone era. Indeed, the last version was released in 2015, and Lazesoft hasn’t released a single update since then. As a result, the software no longer runs on the latest version of macOS, with macOS Mojave 10.14 being the last compatible version.
Factsheet
Requirements | macOS 10.5-10.9, 10.10-10.14 (unofficial support) |
Latest version | 2.2 • Released 20th Sep, 2015 |
Download size | 14.3 MB |
Category | Data Recovery Software |
UI languages | English |
Pricing
Distributed as | Freeware All features are provided free of charge without any limitations |
Trial version available | Trial version available |
License model | Lifetime |
No credit card to try | No credit card to try |
The main reason why Lazesoft Data Recovery still gets plenty of attention despite being so outdated is its free price. Unlike many other data recovery software applications that claim to be free even though they are limited in all kinds of ways, Lazesoft Data Recovery can truly recover an unlimited amount of data free of charge.
Developer — Lazesoft
Lazesoft has been developing software since 2009, and the company is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Besides its data recovery application for Mac, Lazesofs offers the same application for Windows, and it also has several other software products, most of which belong in the data recovery category.
1% 10.6% than avg
Reflects the share of online traffic within the niche occupied by data recovery software, based on data taken from ahrefs.com (from Google US search engine).
260 39.2% than avg
Based on the number of brand-related search queries on Google US according to ahrefs.com.
Despite being featured in a number of reputable publications, such as Cnet and ghacks, Lazesoft has a very small online market share, and its products require some digging to discover.
Developer website | macdatarecoveryfreeware.com/index.html |
Support email | support@macdatarecoveryfreeware.com |
Founded | 2009 • 14 years on the market |
HQ location | 9625 West 76th Street, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 |
Phone | 1-952-646-5331 |
Social media | Twitter Facebook YouTube |
We respect that Lazesoft provides customer support both via email and phone. There are several much larger companies in the data recovery industry that don’t do that, and they definitely should. Lazesoft does have social media accounts, but it uses them mainly to announce updates.
Data Recovery with Lazesoft for macOS
Tested on: macOS 10.14.6 (18G9323)
A completely free data recovery software application like Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery can still be next to useless if it’s unable to deliver good results, and that’s exactly what our in-depth testing process is here to discover.
How We Test
Here at Pandora Data Recovery Review, we don't just "play" with the software we test for a while before we write down our impressions. Instead, we apply our comprehensive testing process to gather heaps of data that objectively reveal all strengths and weaknesses of the tested software.
# | Step | Description |
---|---|---|
1 | Installation | The best data recovery software can be installed quickly and easily. If the software requires special permissions, detailed instructions are provided to the user. |
2 | Source selection | The selection of the storage device you want to scan should be intuitive, and the same goes for the selection of the scanning method. |
3 | Scanning process | Since it can take a long time for scanning to finish, the software should keep the user informed from start to finish. |
4 | Managing found data | A capable data recovery software application can typically find many lost files, so it should provide scan results filters and other features that make it easier to go through them. For example, it's always useful when data recovery software can preview files before their recovery. |
5 | Recovery and post-processing | The software should make it easy to select a suitable recovery destination and stop the user from accidentally recovering data to the original storage device. |
As we perform these steps, we collect data and take notes, which we then present and summarize in our in-depth reviews, such as this one.
Installation
The installation of Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery is straightforward. First, we downloaded the application installer from the official website. Then we launched the installer and dragged the Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery app icon into the Applications folder. Done!
Unfortunately, we couldn't use the latest version of macOS because Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery doesn't run on anything newer than macOS Mojave 10.14. In fact, Mojave isn't even the last officially supported version of macOS—that would be Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks (released in 2013).
Source selection
Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery has an outdated user interface that leaves a lot to be desired in terms of usability, and the source selection process is a great example of how the software can complicate something that should be simple.
Instead of simply selecting the storage device you want to scan and clicking a single button to start the scan process, you have to go through an entire scan wizard and make several important choices—none of which are explained as well as they should be. The worst issue by far is the fact that the application doesn't scan all supported file signatures by default, and you have to enable them manually before each scan.
Scanning process
During scanning, Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery displays a progress bar with information about the number of found files. You can even browse found files in real-time, so you don't have to wait for scanning to finish before you can start looking for your missing files.
You can stop scanning at any time, but you can't pause the scanning process to temporarily free up system resources. Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery also doesn't display the amount of time remaining for scanning to finish.
Managing found files
Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery organizes found files according to their path and type. You can then apply filters to further narrow down the results and sort them according to name, size, path, modified date, created date, and file state. That's right, the software is able to evaluate the state of recoverable files to determine the likelihood of their successful recovery.
The most popular image file formats, such as JPG, PNG, and GIF, can be previewed directly inside Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery, but other file formats can be viewed only in their hexadecimal form. Folders that contain a huge number of files take a while to load, but this issue is unlikely to affect many users.
Recovery and post-processing
To conclude our real-world recovery test, we clicked the Save Files button, selected a recovery destination, and waited a short while for Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery to recover selected files. A pop-up window appeared to confirm that all data were successfully recovered.
Again, the outdated user interface left a lot to be desired in terms of usability and convenience, but that's a price many users are willing to pay to recover their data without spending a single dollar.
Tutorials
Lazesoft for macOS – Tutorials and Other Videos
Would you like to see Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery in action and see how it compares against other data recovery software? Then watch the videos below!
Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery – Full Review
In this section of our Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery review, we share our data and explain what they mean to help you determine if this data recovery software application has what it takes to meet your needs.
Karma
13 rating criteria
Our karma rating is based on multiple criteria that collectively reflect how well a software developer is taking care of its data recovery application and the people who use it. Unfortunately, Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery has received a very low rating because the application is abandoned and doesn’t run on the newest Macs.
It’s almost surprising then that Lazesoft still provides customer support via phone. Hopefully, the company will update Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery in the future and make it possible for the users of newer Macs to recover lost data for free, but we wouldn’t get our hopes up.
# | Feature | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Update frequency | More than 6 months |
2 | Updated recently | No |
3 | Changelog available | Not available |
4 | Latest macOS supported | No, needs more developer's attention |
5 | Runs natively on M1 Macs | Does not support |
6 | Genuine or clone? | Genuine |
7 | Brand name popularity | Unpopular |
8 | Online market share | Poor |
9 | Maturity | Mature |
10 | Extensive knowledge base | Not available |
11 | Helpdesk support | Available |
12 | Live chat | Not available |
13 | Phone support | Yes |
Bang for the buck
8 rating criteria
As a free data recovery software application capable of recovering an unlimited amount of data, Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery delivers excellent value for money.
# | Feature | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Competitive pricing | Yes |
2 | Price-quality ratio | Excellent |
3 | Free trial | Can be used without limitations |
4 | Is it free? | Yes |
5 | Pricing policy | Freeware |
6 | Unlimited recovery in full version | The free version is completely unlimited |
7 | Free upgrades | Yes |
8 | Commercial rights in the cheapest license | No |
Usability
18 rating criteria
It’s clear that Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery has been designed with ease of use in mind. The only problem is that our usability expectations have increased massively since the last version of this data recovery application was released in 2015.
The user interface of Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery looks outdated, and it frequently contradicts our modern expectations of how a data recovery software application should behave. The resulting user experience is underwhelming to say the least.
# | Feature | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Modern user-friendly interface | No |
2 | Dark mode | No |
3 | Easy-to-locate features | Yes |
4 | Automatic implementation of multiple appropriate scanning methods without user interaction | No |
5 | Auto-resuming scans of failing drives | No |
6 | Auto-resuming backups of failing drives | No |
7 | Convenient source selection on start | So-so |
8 | Convenient file-by-file preview of recoverable items | So-so |
9 | Convenient thumbnail preview of recoverable items | No |
10 | Mount recoverable items as disk | No |
11 | Built-in updater | No |
12 | Multiple view modes in scan results | No |
13 | Hex view for recoverable items | Limited |
14 | Filter recoverable items by type | Limited |
15 | Search recoverable items by file names | Yes |
16 | Sort results | Yes |
17 | Multilingual UI | No |
18 | Simple deployment | Yes |
Recovery performance
128 rating criteria
The recovery performance of Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery is underwhelming, to say the least.
Unsurprisingly, this has a lot to do with the fact that the application hasn’t been updated in a long time, so it doesn’t support many modern file formats.
As if to make the situation even worse, Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery doesn’t look for all supported signatures by default—you need to enable them manually each time you perform a scan.
# | Feature | Result | Description |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Deep scan | Bad | In addition to being unnecessarily complicated to use, Clever in-depth scan mode fails to produce decent results. |
2 | Quick scan | Bad | Quick scan mode fails to deliver praiseworthy data recovery results. |
3 | Other types of scan | Bad | No other scan types are supported by Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery except for partition recovery. |
4 | Device support | Bad | The software can recover data only from external storage devices. |
5 | Real-life recovery challenge | Bad | Our real-life recovery challenges turned out to be too challenging for Lazesoft. |
6 | Other notable recovery features | Bad | Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery doesn't come with any other notable recovery features. |
Clever scan
# | Feature | Score |
---|---|---|
1 | HFS+ partitions | 2 |
2 | APFS partitions | 0 |
3 | FAT32 partitions | 3 |
4 | exFAT partitions | 0 |
5 | NTFS partitions | 4 |
6 | EXT4 partitions | 0 |
Unless you’re recovering lost data from an NTFS-formatted storage device, don’t expect the application to recover the original folder structure and file names. And if you need to recover data from an APFS, exFAT, or EXT4 partition, then you might as well use a different data recovery software tool.
Quick scan
# | Feature | Score |
---|---|---|
1 | HFS+ partitions | 2 |
2 | APFS partitions | 0 |
3 | FAT32 partitions | 3 |
4 | exFAT partitions | 0 |
5 | NTFS partitions | 4 |
6 | EXT4 partitions | 0 |
Again, Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery can deliver decent results only when scanning NTFS partitions.
Other scan types
# | Feature | Score |
---|---|---|
1 | The number of formats supported by deep scan | 1 |
2 | Native deep scan of system drives on M1-powered Macs | 0 |
3 | Native deep scan of system drives on T2-encrypted Macs | 0 |
4 | Native data recovery from local Time Machine snapshots | 0 |
5 | Scan for lost partitions | 5 |
6 | HFS+ directory rebuild | 0 |
7 | Recovered files' labeling | 0 |
8 | Partial file recovery | 0 |
9 | Disk images: scan and recovery | 0 |
Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery can scan for lost partitions, but it often struggles to recover data from them.
Device Support
# | Feature | Score |
---|---|---|
1 | Internal and external HDD | 0 |
2 | Internal and external SSD | 0 |
3 | USB thumb drives / Classic iPods (non-iOS) / FireWire devices | 5 |
4 | Memory cards | 5 |
5 | iOS devices | 0 |
6 | iOS backups | 0 |
7 | iCloud | 0 |
8 | Android devices | 0 |
9 | Recovery from RAID1, 0, JBOD | 0 |
10 | Encrypted device support | 0 |
11 | Unmountable partitions | 5 |
It seems that the developers of Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery focus exclusively on removable external storage devices, such as USB thumb drives and memory cards. Internal hard drives, mobile devices, and RAID arrays are not supported. Interestingly, the application can scan unmountable partitions.
Real-life recovery challenges
# | Feature | Score |
---|---|---|
1 | Raw photo recovery | 4 |
2 | Video formats recovery | 4 |
3 | Document formats recovery | 4 |
Raw photo recovery
# | Feature | Score |
---|---|---|
1 | 3fr (Hasselblad 3F raw image) | 3 |
2 | arw (Sony alpha raw) | 1 |
3 | bmp (bitmap image file) | 5 |
4 | cr2 (Canon raw version 2) | 0 |
5 | cr3 (Canon raw version 3) | 0 |
6 | crw (Canon raw CIFF image file) | 0 |
7 | dcr (Kodak digital camera raw) | 0 |
8 | dng (digital negative lossless raw image) | 2 |
9 | CinemaDNG (Blackmagic, Penelope, Pocket) | 0 |
10 | erf (Epson raw file) | 2 |
11 | exr (high dynamic-range file format) | 0 |
12 | fff (Hasselblad raw image) | 0 |
13 | gpr (GoPro raw format) | 0 |
14 | heic (high efficiency image file format) | 0 |
15 | iiq (intelligent image quality raw Leaf, Phase One) | 2 |
16 | insp (panoramic image Insta360) | 0 |
17 | jp2 (bitmap image format JPEG 2000) | 0 |
18 | jpg (joint photographic experts group compressed image) | 5 |
19 | kdc (Kodak digital camera raw image) | 3 |
20 | mef (Mamiya raw image file) | 0 |
21 | mos (Leaf and Mamiya raw image file) | 0 |
22 | mpo (multi picture stereoscopic object file) | 0 |
23 | mrw (Konica Minolta raw image format) | 0 |
24 | nef (Nikon raw image file) | 4 |
25 | nrw (Nikon raw image file) | 4 |
26 | orf (Olympus raw format) | 4 |
27 | pef (Pentax raw image file) | 3 |
28 | raf (Fujifilm raw image file) | 2 |
29 | raw (native digital camera file) | 0 |
30 | rw2 (Panasonic LUMIX raw image file) | 0 |
31 | rwl (Leica raw image format) | 0 |
32 | sr2 (Sony raw 2 image file) | 0 |
33 | srf (Sony raw file) | 0 |
34 | srw (Samsung raw image file) | 3 |
35 | tiff (tag image file format) | 3 |
36 | x3f (Sigma camera raw picture file) | 0 |
37 | x3i (Sigma super fine detail picture file) | 0 |
Many raw file formats have become popular only in recent years, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery struggles greatly with them.
Video formats recovery
# | Feature | Score |
---|---|---|
1 | 360 (GoPRO 360 degree videos) | 0 |
2 | ari (ARRI professional digital video camera) | 0 |
3 | arx (ARRI professional digital video camera) | 0 |
4 | avi (GoPRO CineForm intermediate codec) | 4 |
5 | avi (MJPG, H.264, MSMPEG4 v2 codecs) | 4 |
6 | braw (Blackmagic raw video file) | 1 |
7 | insv (Insta360 panoramic AVC H.264 video file) | 1 |
8 | insv (Insta360 panoramic HEVC HVC1 video file) | 0 |
9 | mov (Apple ProRes 422 Proxy/LT/HQ) | 2 |
10 | mov (Apple ProRes 4444 Raw/HQ) | 0 |
11 | mov (advanced video coding H.264) | 1 |
12 | mov (CineForm HD codec) | 1 |
13 | mov (HEVC, HVC1 codecs) | 1 |
14 | mp4 (advanced video coding H.264) | 1 |
15 | mp4 (HEVC, HVC1, Apple ProRes codecs) | 2 |
16 | mxf (advanced video coding H.264) | 0 |
17 | mxf (DVCPRO HD codec) | 0 |
18 | mxf (ARRI raw, Apple ProRes codecs) | 0 |
19 | mxf (XDCAM HD422, HD35 MPEG2 codecs) | 0 |
20 | r3d (Red digital camera company raw video file) | 0 |
21 | wmv (pro raw 9 codec) | 3 |
Back when Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery was new, AVI was the dominant video file format, but it’s being slowly replaced by other formats, most notably MP4. These newer video file formats are not well supported by the software.
Document formats recovery
# | Feature | Score |
---|---|---|
1 | accdb (Microsoft Access 2007+ database file) | 0 |
2 | djvu (compressed image format) | 0 |
3 | doc (Microsoft Word 97 – 2003 document file) | 2 |
4 | docx (Microsoft Word 2007+ document file) | 2 |
5 | fb2 (FictionBook 2.0 File) | 0 |
6 | key (Apple Keynote) | 2 |
7 | mdb (Microsoft Access 97 - 2003 database file) | 5 |
8 | numbers (Apple Numbers) | 2 |
9 | odp (OpenOffice presentation file format) | 0 |
10 | ods (OpenDocument spreadsheet file format) | 0 |
11 | odt (OpenDocument text document file format) | 1 |
12 | pages (Apple Pages) | 2 |
13 | pdf (portable document format) | 2 |
14 | ppt (Microsoft Powerpoint 97 - 2003 presentation file) | 1 |
15 | pptx (Microsoft Powerpoint 2007+ presentation file) | 0 |
16 | rtf (rich text format) | 4 |
17 | xls (Microsoft Excel 97 - 2003 spreadsheet file) | 2 |
18 | xlsx (Microsoft Excel 2007+ spreadsheet file) | 0 |
Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery doesn’t perform well when tasked with the recovery of document file formats. Even popular file formats like DOC, DOCX, and PDF give the software a lot of trouble.
Other notable recovery features
# | Feature | Score |
---|---|---|
1 | Overall non-intrusive read-only algorithms | 0 |
2 | Network recovery | 0 |
3 | Effectively filters out corrupted scan results | 0 |
4 | Byte-to-byte device backups | 3 |
5 | Bootable recovery drive creation | 0 |
6 | Runs in macOS native recovery mode | 0 |
7 | Convenient scan session management | 2 |
8 | Bad sector management | 0 |
9 | Recovery chance prediction | 3 |
10 | RAID reconstructor | 0 |
11 | Disk vitals monitoring and tracking during scan | 0 |
12 | Data protection | 0 |
13 | Links to in-lab recovery service for physically damaged devices | 0 |
14 | Scan speed | 4 |
15 | Scan free space only | 0 |
16 | Start file recovery without interrupting the scan | 5 |
17 | Preview recoverable items without interrupting the scan | 5 |
18 | Forensic features | 0 |
Not many additional recovery features are supported by Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery, and they don’t always work great. The best extra features are the ability to start file recovery without interrupting the scan and the option to preview recoverable files.
Extras
12 rating criteria
As the table below shows, Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery doesn’t come with any extra features.
# | Feature | Result | Description |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Disk space mapping | No | Not supported |
2 | Disk clean up | No | Not supported |
3 | Corrupted video repair tool | No | Not supported |
4 | Corrupted photo repair tool | No | Not supported |
5 | Time Machine backups parser | No | Not supported |
6 | S.M.A.R.T. | No | Not supported |
7 | Bootable macOS installer | No | Not supported |
8 | Duplicate finder | No | Not supported |
9 | Built-in disk space secure eraser | No | Not supported |
10 | Disk cloning | No | Not supported |
11 | Disk surface test | No | Not supported |
12 | Secure data shredding | No | Not supported |
While it’s perfectly understandable that a free data recovery software application isn’t as feature-packed as its paid alternatives, it would be nice to see at least some additional features beyond those directly related to data recovery.
it says works in mac 10.5 or above and really works in 10.13 in 2020.
MauRicio238
recovered files from a damaged pendrive and keep the original names.
“Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery” needs to be updated - is the response I got when I installed and attempted to run ''Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery 2.2'' on ''macOS Catalina 11.15.7''. Even though the software is expected to run on macOS 10.5 or later version.
aualiyu
In my testing, I had to restart the app in order to identify the USB stick that I inserted after launching Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery. Hence, the program doesn't list devices that were connected to your Mac after the app was opened.
The application also lacks an option to scan individual folders.
Ashley Griggs
Bottom line
Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery could have been an excellent free data recovery software application for Mac if it were not abandoned by its developers. Because it was, its data recovery performance leaves a lot to be desired, and the application doesn’t even run on the latest Macs anymore.
For these and other reasons, we can recommend Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery only to people who still cling to old Macs and don’t want to spend any money at all to recover lost data. Everyone else should consider the application to be a living museum exhibit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to several frequently asked questions about Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery.
What is Lazesoft Data Recovery?
Lazesoft Data Recovery is a free data recovery software application that promises to recover lost data from the HFS/HFS+, FAT, FAT32, NTFS, and EXFAT file systems.
Does Lazesoft work on Mac?
Yes, Lazesoft Data Recovery works on Mac computers, but it doesn’t support the latest version of Apple’s operating system. macOS Mojave 10.14 is the newest supported version.
How to use Lazesoft on Mac?
To use Lazesoft Data Recovery on your Mac, you need to:
- Download it from its official website.
- Open the downloaded installer and move the application into the Applications folder.
- Launch Lazesoft Data Recovery and scan the storage device you want to recover.
- Select files for recovery.
- Recover the selected files to a safe destination.
Is Lazesoft Data Recovery free?
Yes, Lazesoft Data Recovery is completely free, so you can use it to recover an unlimited amount of data without paying.
Is Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery safe?
Yes, Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery is developed by a reputable company and doesn’t contain any malware.
👌 Satisfactory
Out of 5 Total score
No. 9 Among all macOS solutions
Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery is a good example of what happens when a software developer stops working on an application with a lot of promise.
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David Morelo is a professional content writer with a specialization in data recovery. He spends his days helping users from around the world recover from data loss and address the numerous issues associated with it.
When not writing about data recovery techniques and solutions, he enjoys tinkering with new technology, working on personal projects, exploring the world on his bike, and, above all else, spending time with his family.
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Yevgeniy Tolkunov is Hardware Engineer at ACE Data Recovery. Yevgeniy has a Master's Degree in Physics, Information Technology; 15+ years of experience.
What Users Say about Lazesoft Mac Data Recovery