R-Studio Review: Great Option for Professionals

3.88

Out of 5 Total Score

No. 3 Among all Windows solutions

Price range $49.99...$899 • R-Tools Technology Inc. • Windows

Last update:

Some data recovery applications are made for a specific subset of users, and R-Studio is one of them. Aimed at data recovery professionals, this application boasts an assortment of advanced features, but does it also have a lot to offer to regular home users. Read this review to find out. 

R-Studio – Gallery

Main Pros and Cons of R-Studio

PROS

  • Supports all major operating systems. R-Studio runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Even older versions of the three major operating systems, such as Windows 2000, are supported.
  • Compatible with many file systems. All commonly used Windows, Linux, and macOS file systems are supported.
  • RAID reconstruction module. The program is able to automatically reconstruct broken RAID arrays, and many different configurations are supported.
  • Good performance of file system scanners. The software generally delivers great results and is able to recover not just files but also the original folder structure.
  • Network recovery. The program can connect remotely to a client computer and restore data on it.
  • Byte-to-byte disk copies. The program can create regular full-size byte-by-byte copies and compressed copies of storage devices.
  • Emergency Version. There is a separate version of the program that is able to run both from a flash drive and from a CD disk. It is useful when recovering data from computers that refuse to start from the main HDD.
  • Recovery Chances Prediction. The program can show you how likely individual files can be successfully recovered.
  • S.M.A.R.T. You can easily see S.M.A.R.T. information to evaluate the health of your storage devices.
  • Support for a large number of older storage devices. Supports data recovery from old storage devices, such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks, and ZIP drives.
  • Delivers the same results across all supported operating systems. R-Studio is a true multi-platform data recovery application, and each version of the software delivers the same data recovery results.
  • Supports professional data recovery hardware. Professional data recovery hardware devices, such as DeepSpar Disk Imager and USB Stabilizer, are supported by R-Studio, making it easier to obtain great results.
  • Custom file types. You can add your own custom file types to recover even obscure file formats that are not supported by any data recovery software.
  • Forensic mode. R-Studio comes with a special mode that, when enabled, generates audit logs that can be presented at court hearings. The logs include hashes of recovered files and the hardware configuration of the recovered computer, among other things.
  • Scan speed. R-Studio is the fastest software on the market in terms of scanning speed.

CONS

  • Limited preview feature. Only a handful of file types can be previewed. Even many commonly used file types, such as RAW photos, are impossible to preview.
  • Complicated. The software is aimed at professionals, and it shows. The user interface is too complicated for the average user to learn.
  • Unintuitive scanning process. After the disk is scanned and you try to open the results, a new scanning process opens instead, and it can take a long time to finish.
  • Very complex scan results. When the scan is complete, the program interface shows a bunch of found partitions, and it can be confusing to know which one to open.
  • S.M.A.R.T. The S.M.A.R.T. feature doesn’t support many modern NVM express (NVMe) disks.
  • High RAM consumption on startup. R-Studio can be hungry for system memory, especially immediately after being started.
  • Signature scanner. The signature scanner does not support many modern audio/video/photo formats.
  • Source selection. The startup interface is so crowded that choosing the right drive to scan is a real hassle.
  • No auto-resume. R-Studio doesn’t handle storage device reconnections well, and it doesn’t automatically resume scanning when a disconnected device is connected again.
  • No built-in preview window. To view preview files, you have to press the view button every time, which is very inconvenient, especially when you want to preview a large number of files.
  • Real-time scan results. While scanning, the program does not allow you to see the results and navigate and preview them.
  • Browsing results. R-Studio displays found files in a rather intricate way, and it can take some time to make sense of what can be recovered.
  • Bad sectors. The program can recognize that it takes too long to read from the disk, but it does not remember the sectors where it happened and does not allow you to build a map of bad sectors.
  • Session management. Essential scan session management features are lacking.
  • Slow preview functionality. The preview functionality is too slow to be truly useful when previewing a large number of files one by one.
  • Photo and video corruption. R-Studio can’t fix partially corrupted photos and videos that can’t be opened anymore.
  • Recovery during scanning. It’s not possible to recover files until the scan process is 100% over.

R-Studio Summary

🏅 Highly recommended

R-Studio stands out as a robust data recovery software, particularly for professionals and advanced users. It supports all major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS, and is compatible with a wide range of file systems. The software’s performance is impressive, with a high recovery rate and superb scan speed, making it one of the fastest on the market.

R-Studio’s capabilities extend to the reconstruction of RAID arrays, network recovery, and the creation of byte-to-byte disk copies. It also offers an Emergency Version that can run from a flash drive or CD disk, which is useful when recovering data from computers that won’t start from the main HDD.

However, the software’s advanced features and complicated user interface make it difficult to recommend to beginners. That said, R-Studio offers a free trial, allowing you to test its capabilities before committing to the $49.99 starting price for a perpetual license, so there’s nothing stopping you from giving it a try and deciding for yourself. 

TitleResult
Compatibility Good
Recovery Rate Good
Usability Good
File Type Support Good
Scan Speed Superb
Free Trial Yes
Starting Price $49.99 / Perpetual
Money-Back Guarantee No

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R-Studio for Windows

R-Tools Technology Inc.

Visit website

What is R-Studio?

 #

R-Studio Data Recovery is a data recovery tool that offers an impressive range of features to meet the needs of demeaning professionals. The same features, however, make it somewhat intimidating in the eyes of regular home users. In this review, we focus on the Windows version of R-Studio, but this data recovery software also runs on Linux and macOS, and it offers the same data recovery performance across all platforms. 

R-Studio Factsheet

RequirementsWindows 2000-11
Latest version 9.4.191303 • Released 10th Apr, 2024
Download size59.38 MB
CategoryData Recovery Software
UI languagesEnglish, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Portuguese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese

Sibling version

R-Studio for Mac

3.68

If you’re a data recovery professional or an advanced Mac user, then R-Studio for Mac deserves your attention. Read full review

No. 4 Among all macOS solutions

R-Studio Logo

How Much Does R-Studio Cost?

Distributed as Freemium Some features are provided free of charge, but money is required to unlock the rest
Trial version availableTrial version available
Trial version limitations

With trial version you can:

  • Recover files smaller than 256 KB
  • Preview recoverable files
Paid plans
  • R-Studio FAT
  • R-Studio NTFS
  • R-STUDIO
  • R-Studio T80+
  • R-Studio Corporate
  • R-Studio Technician
Price range $49.99...$899.00
License model Subscription + Lifetime
No credit card to tryNo credit card to try
Money back guaranteeMoney back guarantee

R-Studio licenses start at $49.99, and they go all the way up to $899.00. The regular Windows license, which is called simply R-Studio, costs $79.99 per machine, and it can’t be transferred to another PC even if a licensed PC is utilized. Before you purchase any R-Studio license, you can trial the software for free and use it to recover files that are smaller than 256 KB. More importantly, however, the trial version can tell you if your missing files (regardless of how large they are) can be recovered with a licensed version of the software.

All R-Studio Pricing Options

1Price $49.99
2Details
  • Permanent License
  • FAT/exFAT
  • Ext2/Ext3/Ext4/ ISO9660
  • RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 1E, 5E, 5EE, 6EE, 50, 60, 50E, etc
  • Auto RAID parameter detection
  • Windows dynamic volumes (RAIDs), Storage Spaces, Apple software RAIDs, Fusion Drive, LVM, mdadm
  • VMware (VMDK) Support
  • Hex Viewer
  • SMART Monitoring
1Price $59.99
2Details
  • Permanent License
  • NTFS/ReFS
  • Ext2/Ext3/Ext4/ ISO9660
  • RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 1E, 5E, 5EE, 6EE, 50, 60, 50E, etc
  • Auto RAID parameter detection
  • Windows dynamic volumes (RAIDs), Storage Spaces, Apple software RAIDs, Fusion Drive, LVM, mdadm
  • VMware (VMDK) Support
  • Hex Viewer
  • SMART Monitoring
1Price $79.99
2Details
  • Permanent License
  • NTFS/ReFS
  • FAT/exFAT
  • Ext2/Ext3/Ext4/ ISO9660
  • HFS+/APFS/ HFS/UFS
  • RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 1E, 5E, 5EE, 6EE, 50, 60, 50E, etc
  • Auto RAID parameter detection
  • Windows dynamic volumes (RAIDs), Storage Spaces, Apple software RAIDs, Fusion Drive, LVM, mdadm
  • VMware (VMDK) Support
  • Hex Viewer
  • SMART Monitoring
1Price $80.00
2Details
  • Transferability
  • Commercial Use
  • Serving Third-Party Devices
  • Forensic Mode
  • NTFS/ReFS
  • FAT/exFAT
  • Ext2/Ext3/Ext4/ ISO9660
  • HFS+/APFS/ HFS/UFS
  • UStar/Tar/ CPIO/Pax
  • RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 1E, 5E, 5EE, 6EE, 50, 60, 50E, etc
  • Auto RAID parameter detection
  • Reverse RAIDs
  • Windows dynamic volumes (RAIDs), Storage Spaces, Apple software RAIDs, Fusion Drive, LVM, mdadm
  • VMware (VMDK) Support
  • VMDK Image Creation
  • Hex Viewer
  • Hex Editor
  • SMART Monitoring
  • Recovery over network
  • Recovery over Internet
  • Portable Version
  • Multi-Pass Disk Imaging
  • Runtime imaging
  • Sector Map
  • Drive Copy Wizard
  • Virtual Object (RAID, custom regions) Mounting
  • Symbolic Links Management
  • Data Recovery Hardware Support
1Price $179.99
2Details
  • Permanent License
  • NTFS/ReFS
  • FAT/exFAT
  • Ext2/Ext3/Ext4/ ISO9660
  • HFS+/APFS/ HFS/UFS
  • RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 1E, 5E, 5EE, 6EE, 50, 60, 50E, etc
  • Auto RAID parameter detection
  • Windows dynamic volumes (RAIDs), Storage Spaces, Apple software RAIDs, Fusion Drive, LVM, mdadm
  • VMware (VMDK) Support
  • Hex Viewer
  • SMART Monitoring
  • Recovery over network
1Price $899.00
2Details
  • Permanent License
  • Transferability
  • Commercial Use
  • Serving Third-Party Devices
  • Forensic Mode
  • NTFS/ReFS
  • FAT/exFAT
  • Ext2/Ext3/Ext4/ ISO9660
  • HFS+/APFS/ HFS/UFS
  • UStar/Tar/ CPIO/Pax
  • RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 1E, 5E, 5EE, 6EE, 50, 60, 50E, etc
  • Auto RAID parameter detection
  • Reverse RAIDs
  • Windows dynamic volumes (RAIDs), Storage Spaces, Apple software RAIDs, Fusion Drive, LVM, mdadm
  • VMware (VMDK) Support
  • VMDK Image Creation
  • Hex Viewer
  • Hex Editor
  • SMART Monitoring
  • Recovery over network
  • Recovery over Internet
  • Portable Version
  • Multi-Pass Disk Imaging
  • Runtime imaging
  • Sector Map
  • Drive Copy Wizard
  • Virtual Object (RAID, custom regions) Mounting
  • Symbolic Links Management
  • Data Recovery Hardware Support
  • DataRecovery Hardware Included

Developer — R-Tools Technology Inc.

R-Studio is developed by a Canadian software company, called R-Tools Technology Inc. The company has been around since 2000, so it’s safe to say that it doesn’t lack the experience necessary to develop leading data recovery software.

1% 17.3% than avg

Online market share

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).

900 66.8% than avg

Brand name popularity

Based on the number of brand-related search queries on Google US according to ahrefs.com.

R-Tools Technology is one of the most reputable companies in the data recovery industry, and it is rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau

Developer website r-studio.com
Support email joanna@r-tt.com
Founded

2000 • 24 years on the market

HQ location

10520 Yonge Street, Unit 35B, Suite 232 Richmond Hill, ON, L4C 3C7, CANADA

Phone 1-888-978-8266
Social media YouTube

It has become a common practice for data recovery companies to spend a lot of time, effort, and money on the creation of helpful recovery guides and various how-to articles. R-Tools Technology doesn’t focus on this form of content marketing. That’s probably because its target customers are data recovery professionals who have little to no use for step-by-step data recovery guides that explain different use cases individually. 

How to Use R-Studio for Windows

Tested on: Windows 11 (version 21H2)

Using R-Studio Data Recovery to perform a basic data recovery job isn’t difficult and we will show the process in detail below. We tested the Windows version of R-Studio on Windows 11 (version 21H2). As always, we followed our methodical testing process, which is described in detail here.

Step 1

Installation

R-Studio relies on a standard installation process that all experienced Windows users are guaranteed to find instantly familiar.

The screenshots above show the individual steps you have to go through, so we won't bore you with them here. Just keep in mind that you need to have administrator privileges to install R-Studio, but that goes for all data recovery software that's installed in the Program Files directory. 

Step 2

Source selection

The moment you launch R-Studio for the first time, it instantly becomes clear that you're dealing with professional data recovery software.

The application lays down all options right on the main screen, and it displays an almost overwhelming amount of information about available storage devices. Needless to say, selecting the storage device you want to recover can be somewhat difficult. 

Step 3

Scanning process

Things don't become any easier when you initiate scanning by clicking the Scan button. That's because R-Studio always gives the user the opportunity to configure the area they want to scan and specify which file system is present on the scanned storage device.

If you want to look only for specific file types, then you can tell R-Studio to look only for them and nothing else. The good news is that the default settings work fine in most situations, so you can usually just click the Scan button to proceed. 

Step 4

Managing found files

You would be hard-pressed to find a faster data recovery software application than R-Studio. Even large storage devices can be scanned quickly. Unfortunataly, it takes some time for the software to load data recovery results and let you browse them.

The scan results browser is definitely capable and packed with advanced features, such as a hex editor, but it lacks polish. For example, files can only be previewed in a separate window, which isn't convenient when previewing a large number of files one by one.

Step 5

Recovery and post-processing

Recovering files with R-Studio isn't a matter of a simple click. Well, it can be, but you would have to ignore the plethora of available recovery options.

Besides specifying the output folder, you can tell R-Studio to restore or not restore the original folder structure, metafiles, alternative data stream, extended attributes, and more. The software is ready to handle multiple partial data recovery attempts to the same output folder, allowing you to do when you stumble upon a file that already exists.

Once you begin moving files to their new destination, R-Studio keeps you informed by telling you which file is being recovered. 

Is R-Studio safe?

94%

Avg score R-Studio is one of the safest data recovery applications around

Safe and Trustworthy
👾 Malware
10/10

R-Studio doesn't contain any malware nor does it exhibit any malicious behavior. 

🔒 Privacy
9/10

Your data and personal information is in good hands with R-Studio, and you don't need to worry about it being shared with various third-parties.

📊 Data Integrity
9/10

R-Studio is a highly reliable and safe data recovery software even though it doesn't rely exclusively on non-intrusive algorithms. 

👨‍💻 Developer
10/10

The company responsible for R-Studio was founded in 2000, and it's now one of the most respected players in the industry. 

SUMMARY

R-Studio demonstrates a strong commitment to safety and security. We have independently verified it to be free of malware. Additionally, it employs ethical practices that prioritize user privacy. The software's high reliability is further reinforced by its developer, a respected industry player with a long-standing reputation. The only area that could potentially be improved is the software's reliance on intrusive algorithms, as it doesn't exclusively utilize non-intrusive methods for data recovery. However, this does not detract from the overall security and trustworthiness of R-Studio as a reliable data recovery solution.

R-Studio - Full Review and Analysis

So far, we’ve established that R-Studio isn’t the most intuitive data recovery software on the market because it’s geared toward advanced users. As a professional data recovery application, it should be able to deliver excellent results, and this section is here to tell you if it really does and much more. 

63%

Karma

12 rating criteria

R-Studio is a highly reputable product from a software company with a long history. Paying users receive customer support via phone and helpdesk, and they can also visit the company’s extensive knowledge base, which explains many commonly encountered problems in great detail. While R-Studio is updated on a regular basis, it usually takes around 6 months for a new update to be released. Not many regular home users have heard about R-Studio, but data recovery professionals often recognize the software. 

#FeatureResult
1Update frequency Every 6 months
2Updated recently Yes
3Changelog available Available (View full update history)
4Latest Windows release supported Yes, all good
5Genuine or clone? Genuine
6Brand name popularity Unpopular
7Online market share Poor
8Maturity Mature
9Extensive knowledge base Available
10Helpdesk support Available
11Live chat Not available
12Phone support Yes
76%

Bang for the buck

8 rating criteria

R-Studio delivers above-average value for two main reasons. First, the free trial version lets you recover an unlimited number of files as long as the files are up to 256 KB large. Second, you can choose from multiple different licenses depending on your needs and budget. If you want to perform a single recovery job and would like access to everything R-Studio has to offer, than you can pay $80 a day for R-Studio T80+, which is much better than spending $899 on the most expensive version of R-Studio just to use it once.

#FeatureResult
1Competitive pricing Yes
2Price-quality ratio Great
3Free trial Yes (files that are up to 256 KB large)
4Is it free? No
5Pricing policy Subscription and lifetime licenses available
6Unlimited recovery in full version Yes
7Free upgrades Yes (for some time)
8Commercial rights in the cheapest license No
63%

Usability

18 rating criteria

When it comes to usability, R-Studio succeeds in some ways and fails in others. On the one hand, the software comes with all the quality-of-life features you would expect a data recovery application to come with, including the ability to sort scan results in several different ways, the option to search recoverable files by their names, and so on. The problem is that most of these features haven’t been designed with the average user in mind, so they can be rather unintuitive. 

#FeatureResult
1Modern user-friendly interface No
2Dark mode No
3Easy-to-locate features No
4Automatic implementation of multiple appropriate scanning methods without user interaction Yes
5Auto-resuming scans of failing drives No
6Auto-resuming backups of failing drives No
7Convenient source selection on start So-so
8Convenient file-by-file preview of recoverable items So-so
9Convenient thumbnail preview of recoverable items So-so
10Mount recoverable items as disk No
11Built-in updater Yes
12Multiple view modes in scan results Yes
13Hex view for recoverable items Yes
14Filter recoverable items by type Yes
15Search recoverable items by file names Yes
16Sort results Yes
17Multilingual UI Yes
18Simple deployment Yes
64%

Recovery performance

122 rating criteria

The overall recovery performance of R-Studio for Windows is decisively above average, but there are several important areas where it leaves a lot to be desired, such as raw image file recovery and document file recovery in signature scanning mode. If these areas matter to you a lot, then this data recovery software will likely not be able to meet your needs.

#FeatureResultDescription
1Quick scan GoodQuickly recovering recently deleted files isn't a problem for R-Studio, and the default scan options are usually the way to go.
2Deep scan GoodYou can expect R-Studio to restore the data upon reformatting regardless of which file system you decide to scan.
3Signature scan FineSignature scan results can be a hit or miss, especially when attempting to recover raw photo formats. Fortunately, R-Studio supports custom file signatures.
4Additional scan features GoodThe scan customization options offered by R-Studio can be almost overwhelming, which is good if you know how to take advantage of them.
5Device support GoodR-Studio can't recover data from mobile devices, but all other internal and external storage devices are no problem for the software.
6Other notable recovery features GoodWe recommend R-Studio as an excellent RAID data recovery software application. It also handles bad sectors well and lets you create a byte-to-byte backup of any storage device, among other things.

Scan results

Summary of our scan results

This table presents a quick summary of the scan results we gathered when testing the data recovery software

#FeatureQuick ScanRecovery of recently deleted filesDeep ScanThe ability to restore data upon file system reformatting or loss
1FAT32 partitions33
2exFAT partitions33
3NTFS partitions55
4EXT4 partitions55
5HFS+ partitions55
6APFS partitions55
82%

Quick Scan is designed to find recently deleted files on a device. This score reflects the overall software's effectiveness of recovering permanently deleted files across various file systems

Average Score

82%

Deep Scan is primarily designed to recover data from formatted devices, and lost partitions. This score reflects the overall software's effectiveness of recovering data from various file systems after reformatting

Average Score

#SignatureDescriptionScan Score
13FR

Hasselblad 3F RAW Image File

3
2ARW

Sony Alpha RAW File

4
3BMP

Bitmap Image File

5
4CR2

Canon RAW Version 2 File

4
5CR3

Canon RAW Version 3 File

4
6CRW

Canon RAW CIFF Image File

0
7DCR

Kodak Digital Camera RAW File

0
8DNG

Digital Negative Lossless RAW Image File

4
9CinemaDNG

Adobe Industry-wide Standard File Format for Digital Video Files

2
10ERF

Epson RAW File

5
11EXR

High Dynamic-range File Format

0
12FFF

Hasselblad RAW Image File

0
13GPR

GoPro RAW Format File

4
14HEIC

High Efficiency Image File Format

4
15IIQ

Intelligent Image Quality RAW File

0
16INSP

Panoramic Image Insta360 File

0
17JP2

Bitmap Image Format JPEG 2000 File

2
18JPG

Joint Photographic Experts Group Compressed Image File

5
19KDC

Kodak Digital Camera RAW Image File

0
20MEF

Mamiya RAW Image File

5
21MOS

Leaf and Mamiya RAW Image File

5
22MPO

Multi Picture Stereoscopic Object File

0
23MRW

Konica Minolta RAW Image Format File

5
24NEF

Nikon RAW Image File

4
25NRW

Nikon RAW Image File

4
26ORF

Olympus RAW Format File

5
27PEF

Pentax RAW Image File

3
28RAF

Fujifilm RAW Image File

2
29RAW

Native Digital Camera File

0
30RW2

Panasonic Lumix RAW Image File

3
31RWL

Leica RAW Image Format File

3
32SR2

Sony RAW 2 Image File

2
33SRF

Sony RAW File

0
34SRW

Samsung RAW Image File

3
35TIFF

Tag Image File Format

3
36X3F

Sigma Camera RAW Picture File

0
37X3I

Sigma Super Fine Detail Picture File

0
54%

Most modern digital cameras and an increasing number of mobile devices allow their users to capture raw image data in a variety of raw file formats. This score reflects the software's ability to recover photos in these formats using their unique signatures

Average Score

#SignatureDescriptionScan Score
1360

GoPRO 360 Degree Video File

4
2ARI

ARRI Professional Digital Video Camera File

0
3ARX

ARRI Professional Digital Video Camera File

0
4AVI

Audio Video Interleave Multimedia Container with GoPRO CineForm Intermediate Codec

5
5AVI

Audio Video Interleave Multimedia Container with MJPG, H.264, MSMPEG4 v2 Codecs

4
6BRAW

Blackmagic RAW Video File

0
7INSV

Insta360 Panoramic H.264 Video File

2
8INSV

Insta360 Panoramic HEVC or HVC1 Video File

2
9MOV

QuickTime File Format with Apple ProRes 422 Proxy, LT or HQ Codec

3
10MOV

QuickTime File Format with Apple ProRes 4444 Raw or HQ Codec

4
11MOV

QuickTime File Format with H.264 Codec

4
12MOV

QuickTime File Format with CineForm HD Codec

0
13MOV

QuickTime File Format with HEVC or HVC1 Codec

5
14MP4

Digital Multimedia Container Format with H.264 Codec

4
15MP4

Digital Multimedia Container Format with HEVC, HVC1 or Apple ProRes Codec

5
16MXF

Material Exchange Format for Professional Digital Video and Audio Media with H.264 Codec

2
17MXF

Material Exchange Format for Professional Digital Video and Audio Media with DVCPRO HD Codec

5
18MXF

Material Exchange Format for Professional Digital Video and Audio Media with ARRI RAW or Apple ProRes Codec

3
19MXF

Material Exchange Format for Professional Digital Video and Audio Media with XDCAM HD422 or HD35 MPEG2 Codec

3
20R3D

Red Digital Camera Company RAW Video File

0
21WMV

Windows Media Video Image with Pro RAW 9 Codec

5
55%

Video file formats have undergone significant evolution during the past decade. This rating assesses the software's effectiveness in recovering various video files using its signature scanner

Average Score

#SignatureDescriptionScan Score
1ACCDB

Microsoft Access 2007+ Database File

3
2DJVU

Scanned Document File Format Intended For Scanned Images

0
3DOC

Microsoft Word 97 – 2003 Document File

5
4DOCX

Microsoft Word 2007+ Document File

3
5FB2

FictionBook 2.0 eBook File

5
6KEY

Apple Keynote Office Application File

1
7MDB

Microsoft Access 97 - 2003 Database File

4
8NUMBERS

Apple Numbers Office Application File

3
9ODP

OpenDocument Presentation File Format

5
10ODS

OpenDocument Spreadsheet File Format

3
11ODT

OpenDocument Text Document File Format

3
12PAGES

Apple Pages Office Application File

3
13PDF

Portable Document Format File

4
14PPT

Microsoft Powerpoint 97 - 2003 Presentation File

3
15PPTX

Microsoft Powerpoint 2007+ Presentation File

4
16RTF

Rich Text Format File

5
17XLS

Microsoft Excel 97 - 2003 Spreadsheet File

5
18XLSX

Microsoft Excel 2007+ Spreadsheet File

4
67%

Documents are among the most commonly recovered file formats because their importance can be tremendous, especially when they're related to work or school. This score indicates the software's proficiency in recovering different document types based on their signatures

Average Score

Attention

Feeling puzzled by terms like "Quick scan" and "Deep scan"? This link explains the different scan modes and their specific purposes.

R-Studio demonstrates a solid recovery performance, with results that are above average in many areas. It supports all major operating systems and is compatible with a wide range of file systems, including NTFS, EXT4, HFS+, and APFS partitions, although the recovery performance for FAT32 and exFAT partitions is slightly weaker. 

The software struggles the most with the recovery of raw photo and video file formats, including those used by popular digital cameras such as Canon, Sony, and Sigma. Additionally, R-Studio has difficulty recovering document file formats like .DOCX, .KEY, or .ODT, although it can still deliver decent results with a bit of luck.

The lack of out-of-the-box support for certain file formats is somewhat easy to overlook, thought, because R-Studio allows users to add their own custom file types, enabling the recovery of even obscure file formats that are not supported by any other data recovery software. 

Despite some challenges, R-Studio’s array of additional features—like network data recovery, byte-to-byte device backups, and the capacity to handle professional data recovery hardware—solidifies its status as a tool of choice for data recovery professionals.

Additional scan features

Other notable scanning features and their performance These advanced scanning features expand the software's capabilities, adding flexibility to scanning process and allowing it to recover data from a wider range of data loss scenarios
87%
Average Score
#FeatureScore
1The number of file types supported by signature scan5
2BitLocker support3
3Windows shadow copies scanning0
4Scan for lost partitions5
5Recovered files' labeling5
6Partial file recovery5
7Disk images: scan and recovery5

When you use R-Studio to recover lost data, you can choose exactly how you want to proceed, making it easier to solve complicated data loss situations, even those that involve encrypted storage devices. 

Device Support

Supported internal and external storage devices Ideally, data recovery software applications should be able to recover from internal and external hard drives, external USB flash drives, memory cards, smartphones, and other commonly used storage devices
65%
Average Score
#FeatureScore
1Internal and external HDD5
2Internal and external SSD5
3USB thumb drives / Classic iPods (non-iOS) / FireWire devices5
4Memory cards5
5iOS devices0
6Android devices0
7Recovery from RAID1, 0, JBOD5
8Unmountable partitions5
9NAS (Network-attached storage) RAID devices0
10Remote SSH (secure shell protocol) Linux based devices recovery0

Except for mobile devices, R-Studio can handle just about any internal or external storage device you can possibly throw at it. The software really shines when it comes to the recovery of lost data from RAID arrays because it can work even with damaged arrays that other comparable applications are unable to read. 

Other notable recovery features

Additional recovery features and their performance These additional recovery features are what often separates average data recovery software solutions from those that can satisfy the needs of professionals and power users
66%
Average Score
#FeatureScore
1Overall non-intrusive read-only algorithms0
2Network recovery5
3Effectively filters out corrupted scan results3
4Byte-to-byte device backups5
5Bootable recovery drive creation5
6Convenient scan session management2
7Bad sector management5
8Recovery chance prediction5
9RAID reconstructor5
10Disk vitals monitoring and tracking during scan3
11Data protection0
12Links to in-lab recovery service for physically damaged devices5
13Scan speed5
14Scan free space only0
15Start file recovery without interrupting the scan0
16Preview recoverable items without interrupting the scan0
17Forensic features5

R-Studio supports many additional features, such as the ability to recover data over network, reconstruct damaged RAID arrays, or create byte-to-byte device backups. However, there are also several notable omissions that prevent us from giving it a higher score, such as the inability to being browsing recoverable files while scanning is still in progress. 

40%

Extras

10 rating criteria

Data recovery software applications that are geared toward regular home users frequently include various extra features to increase their overall value. 

#FeatureResultDescription
1Disk space mapping NoNot supported
2Disk clean up NoNot supported
3Corrupted video repair tool NoNot supported
4Corrupted photo repair tool NoNot supported
5S.M.A.R.T. YesYou can use R-Studio to display S.M.A.R.T. data of most storage devices that support the technology.
6Duplicate finder NoNot supported
7Built-in disk space secure eraser NoNot supported
8Disk cloning NoNot supported
9Disk surface test NoNot supported
10Secure data shredding YesSupported

R-Studio focuses exclusively on data recovery, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it can’t find duplicate files or help you clean your storage devices. Still, it would be nice if the software could at least repair corrupted video and photo files. 

What Users Say about R-Studio for Windows

This is the worst data "recovery" "product" on the market. It can't even recover a simple delete immediately after the file was deleted (no, the disk was NOT used in the meantime). Neither "basic" nor "advanced" work and "advanced" took hours. There is a freebie product that is excellent; the UI is terrible but the data recovery is impeccable. Like another, R-TT refused a refund even though proof and a request was made within hours of discovering it's incompetence. Save your money.

I.G. Romov (community.spiceworks.com)

R-Studio Data Recovery the gold standard in software-based, sector-by-sector data recovery. It’s pricey, but it’s a big-dog tool, and it’s especially handy if you’re working in a multi-platform environment. If the data still exists somewhere on the drive, R-Studio Data Recovery should recover it.

Jon L. Jacobi (pcworld.com)

The ability to image seemingly dead hard-drives and restore data is powerful. Also the ability to connect to remote systems is another great feature.

Doug E. (capterra.com)

I Installed the trial and it scan the disk just fine. As i wanted to export the found files, bought the software and it just freezes exporting the files. Support was no help and refound isn't available. 79$ to the trash. Since it didn't work, i've tried "Diskdigger" that just saved all my information, for free...

Rui Camelo (community.spiceworks.com)

Video Resources for R-Studio: Tutorials and Helpful Guides

Would you like to see how R-Studio works in practice? Then watch the tutorials and other videos below. 

Emergency data recovery software R-STUDIO

R-Studio Emergency is the powerful tool to recover files from a computer that doesn't start. The start up version of the software is run from a removable media disregarding OS installed on the computer.

Data Recovery Software R-Studio

R-Studio is a comprehensive data recovery and undelete program renowned for its ability to recover mission-critical data lost to viruses, malicious attacks, and hardware failures or operating system crashes.

Bottom line

R-Studio for Windows is a respectable data recovery software application that deserves the attention of all data recovery professionals and advanced Windows users. 

Recommending it to regular home users who just want to recover lost data as quickly and painlessly as possible is a bit more difficult because R-Studio is plagued with major usability issues that make it anything but intuitive. 

The good news is that the free trial version lets you test most of what this data recovery software has to offer, and we encourage you give it a go if you’re intrigued by it. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Let’s answer some questions users frequently ask about the Windows version of R-Studio. 

You can recover data using R-Studio is a few simple steps:

  1. Download and install the application on your Windows computer.
  2. Launch R-Studio and scan your storage device.
  3. Go through scan results and recover all missing files to a safe destination.

Resuming the recovery process in R-Studio is fairly straightforward. Simply select the storage device you want to resume scanning and click the Scan button. R-Studio will present you with a Scan dialog and give you the option to scan only unscanned areas.

R-Studio Data Recovery is free to try, but you’re required to purchase a license in order to actually recover your data—the free version can only show you what’s recoverable.

You can download R-Studio Data Recovery directly from its official website. In fact, you should avoid downloading the software from other websites to avoid downloading a malicious copy that has been tampered with.

You can purchase a full version of R-Studio Data Recovery online, on the official website.

Yes, R-Studio can recover RAID data, and it even comes with an advanced RAID reconstruction module that can recover data from arrays that can’t be recognized by the operating system.

Yes, R-Studio Data Recovery is a multi-platform data recovery software application that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

It’s possible to create a portable version of R-Studio and place it, for example, on a USB flash drive, simply by copying the R-Studio installation directory. There’s also the so-called Emergency Version of R-Studio, which is designed specifically to run from USB flash drives and CDs to make the recovery of unbootable computers easier.

🏅 Highly recommended

R-Studio Review: Great Option for Professionals
3.88

Out of 5 Total score

No. 3 Among all Windows solutions

This data recovery software offers a broad range of features to meet the needs of demanding data recovery professionals. 

Visit developer's website
R-Studio Logo
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David Morelo
Author

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
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.

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