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Stellar Data Recovery for Mac Review – Popular but Not Flawless
Out of 5 Total Score
No. 7 Among all macOS solutions
You would be hard-pressed to find any list of the best data recovery software applications that doesn’t include Stellar Data Recovery for Mac. But is the software recommended so often because of its capabilities or because of Stellar’s ongoing marketing efforts?
Top Pros
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S.M.A.R.T. There is a built-in S.M.A.R.T. module. Unfortunately, it only supports internal drives.
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Preview in safe mode. There is an option to preview files in safe mode in order to prevent crashes cause by corrupted data being opened.
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Backup creation. When making a byte-by-byte copy of a drive, you can specify the range you want to copy.
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Learning new signatures. The application can learn new signatures for scanning based on provided sample files.
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Search settings. Both at application startup and in the preferences, there is an option to disable individual file signatures, allowing you to search for only certain file types.
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Scanning of disk surfaces. The program has an option that makes it possible to scan the disk surface for bad sectors.
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Disk cloning. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac can create byte-to-byte clones of storage devices.
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Fast scanning speed. The data reading speed is very fast, but the analysis of the obtained data is slow.
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Scanning screen. The scanning screen is quite informative and uniquely designed.
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Icons mode. Icons mode making it possible to disable the generation of icons, forcing the program to show the associated application for a given file type.
Top Cons
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Long disk refreshes. When a new disk is connected, the program completely refreshes the entire list of connected devices, causing a long hang.
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Automatic updates in the free version. Only the paid version of the software can automatically check for updates. The free version can’t.
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Loses license information. License information becomes invalid after every update and must be entered again.
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Slow previews. Previews take a lot of time to generate.
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Preview limits. The preview feature only works for files under 100 megabytes, and only some file formats are supported.
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Bootdrive. The feature doesn't work on macOS 11 and 12.
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Scan speed. Although the scan speed is very fast, it takes a long time to analyze the data, which leads to long delays until scan results are displayed.
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Recovery speed. Recovery speed is very slow.
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General convenience. There’s no way to preview and recover files while scanning is still in progress.
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Scanning of disks without a file system. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac can’t scan disks without a file system. Such disks are simply not listed. To scan a disk that doesn’t have a file system, you have to format it first, which may lead to data loss.
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Crashes during a scan. The application failed to scan all 10 provided test disk sets provided, crashing each time.
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Dark mode only. The application always start in dark mode and there’s no way to switch to light mode.
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Launch without password. The app ask for the admin password every time it launches.
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М1. Doesn't work without Rosetta on M1 devices.
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T2 deep scan. Deep scan of system disks on T2 devices displays only existing files, not deleted ones.
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Loading sessions. The session download menu is hidden and very uncomfortable to open.
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Signatures. Very few signatures (118) are recognized.
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Extra features. Additional tools (image burning, boot disk creation, photo and video repair) are hidden deep in the interface of the program, and it takes some effort to find them.
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Scan entire disk. The program does not let you scan the whole disk if it has partitions. You have to scan each partition separately.
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Hidden disk names. By default, Stellar Data Recovery for Mac only displays Volumes during device selection, and you have to enter an advanced source selection screen to see hardware disks.
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Search for lost partitions. Search for lost partitions is not part of general drive scanning. You need to invoke it separately.
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Recovery quality. The overall recovery quality is low in relation to the price of the product.
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Changelog. Changelogs are not available for previous versions of the product. The site only says what's changed in the current version and there is a one-month delay before the information appears on the site.
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Auto rescanning. If the connection to a disk is lost during scanning/recovery/backup, the program won't react and will silently act as if it the scan is still in progress.
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Bad sectors. If a disk has bad sectors, the application will not inform about it and will continue working as if everything was fine, which can cause more damage to the disk and data.
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Hex. A hex file viewer isn’t present.
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Language support. The app is translated into only 6 languages.
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Full screen application. It is not possible to enter full screen mode.
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End of recovery. When the program finishes writing the recovered files, there is no end to the process of recovering the files. The copying process just silently closes.
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Found tree. The found tree feature is very slow when used with large data set, but the last item in the tree is always cut off by the bottom scroll bar.
Top Competitors
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac – Overview
#The fact that there have been 11 major releases of Stellar Data Recovery for Mac should tell you a lot about the application’s maturity and its developers’ ongoing commitment to making it better. Here are some of the most important facts about this data recovery software that you should know before diving deep into our detailed review.
Pricing
| Distributed as | Freemium Some features are provided free of charge, but money is required to unlock the rest |
| Trial version available | |
| Trial version limitations | With trial version you can:
|
| Paid plans |
|
| Price range | $69.99...$399.00 |
| License model | Subscription + Lifetime |
| No credit card to try | |
| Money back guarantee |
The free version of Stellar Data Recovery for Mac can recover up to 1 GB of data, but it lacks some of the best features the software has to offer. Multiple premium plans are available for those who want to unlock all capabilities, but only the most expensive plans are actually feature-complete.
Pricing details
| 1 | 1 Year License | $69.99 |
| 2 | Lifetime License | $129.00 |
| 3 | Details |
|
| 1 | 1 Year License | $89.99 |
| 2 | Lifetime License | $149.00 |
| 3 | Details | Everything in Stellar Standard Data Recovery plus:
|
| 1 | 1 Year License | $99.99 |
| 2 | Lifetime License | $199.00 |
| 3 | Details | Everything in Stellar Professional Data Recovery plus:
|
| 1 | 1 Year License | $149.00 |
| 2 | Lifetime License | $399.00 |
| 3 | Details | Everything in Stellar Premium Data Recovery plus:
|
Discounts and coupons
| -20% | Stellar Data Recovery for Mac 20% Discount Coupon code - ColormangoStellarPST25. | Get the Deal |
| -24% | 24% Discount on Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac Coupon code - JANDELIGHT. | Get the Deal |
Developer — Stellar Information Technology Pvt. Ltd.
The developers of Stellar Data Recovery for Mac, Stellar Information Technology Pvt. Ltd., are headquartered in India, and they’ve been around for almost three decades now, focusing mainly on the development of data recovery software. The company also runs a data recovery business in the Netherlands, and they have what seems to be a virtual office in the United States.
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).
2800 554.8% than avg
Based on the number of brand-related search queries on Google US according to ahrefs.com.
Even though Stellar is based in India, their marketing largely targets western customers, which is evident from the affiliate program they run and their numerous partnerships with English-speaking websites.
| Developer website | stellarinfo.com |
| Support email | support@stellarinfo.com |
| Founded | 1993 • 30 years on market |
| HQ location | D16, Sector-33, Infocity Phase II, Gurugram-122001, India |
| Phone | +1-732-584-2700 |
| Social media |
Stellar clearly puts a lot of hard work into its social media presence, which spans multiple major social media sites. The good news for its customers is that the company also understands the importance of providing great customer support across multiple channels.
Data Recovery with Stellar Data Recovery for Mac
Tested on: macOS 12.3 (21E230)
Unlike many other sites that claim to publish trustworthy reviews, we actually comprehensively test the software we talk about, and Stellar Data Recovery for Mac is no exception.
How We Test
Our data recovery software tests are guided by our well-thought-out testing methodology, which is intended to reveal all strengths and weaknesses of the tested software, some of which become apparent only after extensive testing.
| # | Step | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Installation | Not all data recovery software is equally easy to install. That's why our tests start with the installation process. |
| 2 | Source selection | Because we want the results of our tests to be objective, we always prepare the same virtual hard drives containing carefully selected data samples. |
| 3 | Scanning process | We simulate data loss scenarios to see how the tested data recovery software application can handle them. |
| 4 | Managing found data | Being able to easily find and select the right files is almost as important as the application's ability to recover them. |
| 5 | Recovery and post-processing | Critical mistakes can be made even during the last stage of the recovery process, and the best data recovery software should help the user avoid them. |
The best data recovery software usually supports multiple recovery methods, and we always strive to test all supported methods to see how they handle different data loss scenarios.
Installation
Our test of Stellar Data Recovery for Mac began on its official website. There, you can either download the free version, which offers limited functionality and can recover only up to 1 GB of data, or you can choose between several different premium subscription plans.
Regardless of which option you choose, you will end up with a disk image containing the application file. To install Stellar Data Recovery for Mac, you simply need to drag the application icon to the Applications folder.
When you launch the data recovery software for the first time, you will be asked to give it Full Disk Access and permission to access removable volumes. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac requests these permissions only once, but it does require you to enter the admin password every time the application starts.
Source selection
Selecting the right storage device is fairly easy, but you need to know how the volume on which the deleted files were stored is called. If you only know the name of the storage device itself, you can switch to an advance source selection screen (see the screenshot on the right).
The reason why Stellar Data Recovery for Mac displays volumes by default is simple: the data recovery software can't recover entire storage devices in one go, forcing you to complete the recovery of lost data one volume at a time.
Scanning process
To start scanning for lost data, all you have to do is click the Scan button. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac will then display a scanning progress screen, showing a wealth of information so that you always have a good idea of how well the scan is progressing.
If you want to, you can turn on real-time previews, but you should know that the feature can slow down the scanning process. Since individual previews are gone in the blink of an eye, we don't think keeping the preview feature turned on makes much sense.
Overall, Stellar Data Recovery for Mac is a fast data recovery software application when it comes to scanning, but the analysis of found files takes much longer than it should.
Managing found files
Once Stellar Data Recovery for Mac is done scanning, the application takes a while to generate file previews so that you can conveniently browse recoverable files and select those you want to get back.
Plenty of sorting and filtering options are available, so finding the files you're looking for shouldn't feel like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Unfortunately, there are a few annoying limitations that complicate the management of found files a bit, such as the fact that the preview feature only works for files under 100 megabytes, and only some file formats are supported.
Recovery and post-processing
Assuming you've successfully found the deleted files and added them to your recovery queue by checking the checkboxes next to them, you can retrieve them to a safe location by clicking the Recover button.
When you do that, Stellar Data Recovery for Mac will prompt you to select a suitable destination and click the Save button to save the selected files. If you pick the same destination as the source volume, you won't be allowed to recover your files at all. Instead, the software will simply inform you that recovering to the same volume could lead to data loss.
While it's admirable that Stellar wants to protect its users from data loss caused by their ignorance, we don't like that there's no option to continue anyway, which might come in handy in certain desperate situations.
Tutorials
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac – Tutorials and Other Videos
To help you better understand how Stellar Data Recovery for Mac works, we’ve put together a collection of useful tutorials and other video resources.
Stellar Photo Recovery for Mac is the best DIY software. It recovers Photos, Videos & Audio files from MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, etc.
Stellar Data Recovery Premium for Mac is an exclusive data recovery software that recovers lost, deleted files from Mac, retrieves data from formatted or corrupt storage media, and performs data recovery on crashed Mac systems.
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac – Full Review
Now that you’ve seen Stellar Data Recovery for Mac in action, it’s time to analyze what a single data recovery test can’t possibly reveal to learn how good the software really is.
67%
Karma
13 rating criteria
Partly thanks to its impressive marketing efforts, Stellar is a well-known developer of data recovery software applications, and finding both professional and user reviews that describe the pros and cons of its products, including Stellar Data Recovery for Mac, is easy.
Just be careful which reviews you read because Stellar runs an affiliate program that allows people to earn money by promoting the software on their blogs, social media sites, forums, and other online places.
Despite being based in India, Stellar provides phone support to customers from around the world, with live chat and helpdesk options also available.
| # | Feature | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Update frequency | Every 6 months |
| 2 | Updated recently | Yes |
| 3 | Changelog available | Available (View full update history) |
| 4 | Latest macOS supported | Yes, all good |
| 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 | Available |
| 11 | Helpdesk support | Available |
| 12 | Live chat | Available |
| 13 | Phone support | Yes |
59%
Bang for the buck
8 rating criteria
Because Stellar Data Recovery for Mac can recover up to 1 GB of data free of charge, the software is often recommended to people who want to recover a small amount of data while paying as little money as possible (ideally nothing at all).
The only problem with the free version is the fact that it doesn’t support most features that are included in the paid versions. For example, the free version can’t recover data from lost volumes, create a bootable recovery drive, or repair corrupted videos and photos.
To unlock these and other capabilities, an annual subscription is required. Just be careful which one you choose because only the most expensive subscription plans are feature-complete.
| # | Feature | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Competitive pricing | Yes |
| 2 | Price-quality ratio | Good |
| 3 | Free trial | Yes (unlimited time but limited features and amount of data) |
| 4 | Is it free? | The trial version can recover up to 1 GB of data |
| 5 | Pricing policy | Multiple subscription plans |
| 6 | Unlimited recovery in full version | Yes |
| 7 | Free upgrades | With an annual subscription plan |
| 8 | Commercial rights in the cheapest license | No |
70%
Usability
18 rating criteria
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac scores a lot of points for its above-average usability. The application has a modern user interface that makes it easy to locate most main features and begin the data recovery process.
By default, Stellar Data Recovery for Mac uses the Quick scan mode to locate recently deleted data. When the mode fails to deliver any results, the software automatically suggests the user to perform a Deep scan.
Data recovery results are conveniently organized in folders, and it’s possible to narrow them down using scan results filters. Convenient thumbnail previews are displayed for supported file formats.
| # | Feature | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Modern user-friendly interface | Yes |
| 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 | Yes |
| 9 | Convenient thumbnail preview of recoverable items | Yes |
| 10 | Mount recoverable items as disk | No |
| 11 | Built-in updater | Yes |
| 12 | Multiple view modes in scan results | Yes |
| 13 | Hex view for recoverable items | No |
| 14 | Filter recoverable items by type | Yes |
| 15 | Search recoverable items by file names | Yes |
| 16 | Sort results | Yes |
| 17 | Multilingual UI | Yes |
| 18 | Simple deployment | Yes |
39%
Recovery performance
126 rating criteria
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac has a lot of potential, but all this potential is undermined by its lackluster data recovery performance. The Quick scan feature seems to be particularly useless, forcing the user to perform a Deep scan virtually every single time.
Perhaps the best recovery feature Stellar Data Recovery for Mac has to offer is the ability to learn new file types from provided samples, but this feature isn’t something most regular users would ever need. What regular users would definitely appreciate is the ability to recover corrupted photos and videos. Unfortunately, photo and video repair capabilities are limited to the premium versions of the software.
| # | Feature | Result | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deep scan | Bad | Failed to deliver any results. |
| 2 | Quick scan | Bad | Failed to deliver any results. |
| 3 | Other types of scan | Fine | Stellar Data Recovery for Mac has a Deep scan feature that delivers acceptable results. |
| 4 | Device support | Fine | Mobile devices and encrypted storage devices are not supported. |
| 5 | Real-life recovery challenge | Fine | Stellar Data Recovery for Mac delivered average results during our real-life recovery challenges. |
| 6 | Other notable recovery features | Bad | The software can learn to recover new file formats from provided samples. |
Clever scan
| # | Feature | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HFS+ partitions | Application crashed  | |
| 2 | APFS partitions | Application crashed | |
| 3 | FAT32 partitions | Application crashed | |
| 4 | exFAT partitions | Application crashed | |
| 5 | NTFS partitions | Application crashed | |
| 6 | EXT4 partitions | Application crashed |
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac has the ability to restore original folder structure and file names, but our experience with the feature was greatly disappointing.
Quick scan
| # | Feature | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HFS+ partitions | Application crashed | |
| 2 | APFS partitions | Application crashed | |
| 3 | FAT32 partitions | Application crashed | |
| 4 | exFAT partitions | Application crashed | |
| 5 | NTFS partitions | Application crashed | |
| 6 | EXT4 partitions | Application crashed |
Unfortunately, the Quick scan feature failed to deliver any positive results at all, regardless of which file system it analyzed.
Other scan types
| # | Feature | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The number of formats supported by deep scan | |
| 2 | Native deep scan of system drives on M1-powered Macs | |
| 3 | Native deep scan of system drives on T2-encrypted Macs | |
| 4 | Native data recovery from local Time Machine snapshots | |
| 5 | Scan for lost partitions | |
| 6 | HFS+ directory rebuild | |
| 7 | Recovered files' labeling | |
| 8 | Partial file recovery | |
| 9 | Disk images: scan and recovery |
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac can scan disk image, correctly label recovered files, and scan specific file formats. The software can also learn to recognize new file formats from provided samples.
Device Support
| # | Feature | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Internal and external HDD | |
| 2 | Internal and external SSD | |
| 3 | USB thumb drives / Classic iPods (non-iOS) / FireWire devices | |
| 4 | Memory cards | |
| 5 | iOS devices | |
| 6 | iOS backups | |
| 7 | iCloud | |
| 8 | Android devices | |
| 9 | Recovery from RAID1, 0, JBOD | |
| 10 | Encrypted device support | |
| 11 | Unmountable partitions |
Stellar offers a dedicated iPhone data recovery software tool, so it’s no wonder that mobile devices are not supported by Stellar Data Recovery for Mac. Unfortunately, encrypted storage devices are not supported either.
Real-life recovery challenges
| # | Feature | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raw photo recovery | |
| 2 | Video formats recovery | |
| 3 | Document formats recovery |
Raw photo recovery
| # | Feature | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3fr (Hasselblad 3F raw image) | |
| 2 | arw (Sony alpha raw) | |
| 3 | bmp (bitmap image file) | |
| 4 | cr2 (Canon raw version 2) | |
| 5 | cr3 (Canon raw version 3) | |
| 6 | crw (Canon raw CIFF image file) | |
| 7 | dcr (Kodak digital camera raw) | |
| 8 | dng (digital negative lossless raw image) | |
| 9 | CinemaDNG (Blackmagic, Penelope, Pocket) | |
| 10 | erf (Epson raw file) | |
| 11 | exr (high dynamic-range file format) | |
| 12 | fff (Hasselblad raw image) | |
| 13 | gpr (GoPro raw format) | |
| 14 | heic (high efficiency image file format) | |
| 15 | iiq (intelligent image quality raw Leaf, Phase One) | |
| 16 | insp (panoramic image Insta360) | |
| 17 | jp2 (bitmap image format JPEG 2000) | |
| 18 | jpg (joint photographic experts group compressed image) | |
| 19 | kdc (Kodak digital camera raw image) | |
| 20 | mef (Mamiya raw image file) | |
| 21 | mos (Leaf and Mamiya raw image file) | |
| 22 | mpo (multi picture stereoscopic object file) | |
| 23 | mrw (Konica Minolta raw image format) | |
| 24 | nef (Nikon raw image file) | |
| 25 | nrw (Nikon raw image file) | |
| 26 | orf (Olympus raw format) | |
| 27 | pef (Pentax raw image file) | |
| 28 | raf (Fujifilm raw image file) | |
| 29 | raw (native digital camera file) | |
| 30 | rw2 (Panasonic LUMIX raw image file) | |
| 31 | rwl (Leica raw image format) | |
| 32 | sr2 (Sony raw 2 image file) | |
| 33 | srf (Sony raw file) | |
| 34 | srw (Samsung raw image file) | |
| 35 | tiff (tag image file format) | |
| 36 | x3f (Sigma camera raw picture file) | |
| 37 | x3i (Sigma super fine detail picture file) |
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac can recover supported photo file formats just fine, but the problem is that not many raw photo formats are supported to begin with. When the software encounters a corrupted photo, it can attempt to fix the corruption and resolve issues such as stuttering. This feature is available only in Premium and Technician editions of the tool.
Video formats recovery
| # | Feature | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 360 (GoPRO 360 degree videos) | |
| 2 | ari (ARRI professional digital video camera) | |
| 3 | arx (ARRI professional digital video camera) | |
| 4 | avi (GoPRO CineForm intermediate codec) | |
| 5 | avi (MJPG, H.264, MSMPEG4 v2 codecs) | |
| 6 | braw (Blackmagic raw video file) | |
| 7 | insv (Insta360 panoramic AVC H.264 video file) | |
| 8 | insv (Insta360 panoramic HEVC HVC1 video file) | |
| 9 | mov (Apple ProRes 422 Proxy/LT/HQ) | |
| 10 | mov (Apple ProRes 4444 Raw/HQ) | |
| 11 | mov (advanced video coding H.264) | |
| 12 | mov (CineForm HD codec) | |
| 13 | mov (HEVC, HVC1 codecs) | |
| 14 | mp4 (advanced video coding H.264) | |
| 15 | mp4 (HEVC, HVC1, Apple ProRes codecs) | |
| 16 | mxf (advanced video coding H.264) | |
| 17 | mxf (DVCPRO HD codec) | |
| 18 | mxf (ARRI raw, Apple ProRes codecs) | |
| 19 | mxf (XDCAM HD422, HD35 MPEG2 codecs) | |
| 20 | r3d (Red digital camera company raw video file) | |
| 21 | wmv (pro raw 9 codec) |
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac offers middle-of-the-road video recovery performance. When the software encounters a corrupted video, it can attempt to fix the corruption and resolve issues such as stuttering. This feature is available only in Premium and Technician editions of the tool.
Document formats recovery
| # | Feature | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | accdb (Microsoft Access 2007+ database file) | |
| 2 | key (Apple Keynote) | |
| 3 | pages (Apple Pages) | |
| 4 | numbers (Apple Numbers) | |
| 5 | djvu (compressed image format) | |
| 6 | doc (Microsoft Word 97 – 2003 document file) | |
| 7 | docx (Microsoft Word 2007+ document file) | |
| 8 | fb2 (FictionBook 2.0 File) | |
| 9 | mdb (Microsoft Access 97 - 2003 database file) | |
| 10 | odp (OpenOffice presentation file format) | |
| 11 | ods (OpenDocument spreadsheet file format) | |
| 12 | odt (OpenDocument text document file format) | |
| 13 | pdf (portable document format) | |
| 14 | ppt (Microsoft Powerpoint 97 - 2003 presentation file) | |
| 15 | pptx (Microsoft Powerpoint 2007+ presentation file) | |
| 16 | rtf (rich text format) | |
| 17 | xls (Microsoft Excel 97 - 2003 spreadsheet file) | |
| 18 | xlsx (Microsoft Excel 2007+ spreadsheet file) |
You can expect an average performance when recovering document file formats, such as DOC/DOCX and XLS/XLSX files.
Other notable recovery features
| # | Feature | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Overall non-intrusive read-only algorithms | |
| 2 | Network recovery | |
| 3 | Effectively filters out corrupted scan results | |
| 4 | Byte-to-byte device backups | |
| 5 | Bootable recovery drive creation | |
| 6 | Runs in macOS native recovery mode | |
| 7 | Convenient scan session management | |
| 8 | Bad sector management | |
| 9 | Recovery chance prediction | |
| 10 | RAID reconstructor | |
| 11 | Disk vitals monitoring and tracking during scan | |
| 12 | Data protection | |
| 13 | Links to in-lab recovery service for physically damaged devices | |
| 14 | Scan speed | |
| 15 | Scan free space only | |
| 16 | Start file recovery without interrupting the scan | |
| 17 | Preview recoverable items without interrupting the scan | |
| 18 | Forensic features |
Paid editions of Stellar Data Recovery for Mac can create a bootable recovery drive, monitor S.M.A.R.T. data, and clone storage devices. The free version, unfortunately, lacks these critical capabilities.
40%
Extras
12 rating criteria
Extra features can greatly increase the value of data recovery software by addressing the core causes of data loss and helping prevent future data loss events.
| # | Feature | Result | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disk space mapping | No | Not supported. |
| 2 | Disk clean up | No | Not supported. |
| 3 | Corrupted video repair tool | Good | Stellar Data Recovery for Mac is known for its great video repair capabilities. |
| 4 | Corrupted photo repair tool | Good | Stellar Data Recovery for Mac is known for its great photo repair capabilities. |
| 5 | Time Machine backups parser | No | Not supported. |
| 6 | S.M.A.R.T. | Partial | There is a built-in S.M.A.R.T. module, but it only works for internal drives. |
| 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 | Yes | You can use Stellar Data Recovery for Mac to clone any storage device. |
| 11 | Disk surface test | Yes | You can use Stellar Data Recovery for Mac to scan and test disk surface. |
| 12 | Secure data shredding | No | Not supported. |
It’s nice that Stellar Data Recovery for Mac can clone any storage device and repair corrupted videos/photos, but there are several data recovery software applications that can do a lot more than that.
Best customer support. though the software didn't recover data as expected however I am satisfied with their support.
The first person I spoke with kept telling me to "google" what to do. It was very frustrating. The second person was helpful but they could not move forward until the received the forwarded emails of my purchase from me 🙄
The recovery software did not recover the calendar or contacts folders. There were about hundreds of email folders with the name MS-ALK-BGP created which were empty and had to be manually (per Stellar email) removed (not a lot of fun).
Bottom line
There’s no shortage of positive reviews of Stellar Data Recovery for Mac, but such reviews don’t change anything about the fact that much more polished and feature-packed data recovery software applications exist.
Indeed, the user experience and data recovery performance provided by Stellar leave a lot to be desired. It also doesn’t help that the software doesn’t natively support Apple Silicon Macs, which may explain why it’s sometimes so sluggish.
Still, the rather generous free data recovery limit of 1 GB deserves at least some praise considering that many competition products only let users preview recoverable files without paying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to several frequently asked questions about Stellar Data Recovery for Mac.
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac is a data recovery software application that can recover deleted documents, photos, videos, and other file formats.
Yes, Stellar Data Recovery is compatible with macOS and M1 & T2 chip-enabled Macs.
There’s nothing difficult about using Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery. Simply download & install the software so that you can use it to scan any storage device.
Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery needs to change your settings so that it can access your storage devices and recover data from them.
The trial version of Stellar Mac Data Recovery doesn’t require any activation, and you can easily use it to recover up to 1 GB of data just like you would with the unlimited version of the software.
That depends largely on the size and speed of the drive, as well as the number of files stored on it.
To recover the main Mac recycle bin, better known as the Trash folder, you need to scan your system drive, which is where the folder is located.
To get back deleted videos on Mac using Stellar Data Recovery, you need to scan the storage devices on which they were located. We recommend using the most expensive version of the software because it has video repair capabilities.
You should always recover data to any storage except for the one where the data was located to avoid overwriting partially recovered files.
Using the Stellar Mac Recovery app, you can recover up to 1 GB of data for free. To recover more, you need to purchase one of the premium subscriptions.
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac is a fairly reliable data recovery application, but it did crash several times during our testing.
You can download a free trial version of Stellar Data Recovery for Mac from its official website and use it to recover up to 1 GB of data.
To get Activation Key for Stellar Mac Data Recovery, click the “Get it now” button on the application’s “Activation” dialog box and purchase a license.
You can uninstall Stellar Phoenix for Mac by dragging the application from the Applications folder to Trash.
👍 Worth a try
Out of 5 Total score
No. 7 Among all macOS solutions
Stellar Data Recovery for Mac may be one of the most popular data recovery software applications for Mac, but it’s certainly not one of the best.
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Disk Drill for Mac combines ease of use with excellent data recovery capabilities and many extra features that greatly increase its overall value.
Thanks to its generous free data recovery limit, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is worth trying despite its shortcomings.
Cisdem Data Recovery is a white label copy of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard that shares all of its shortcomings without making any improvements.
There’s a good reason why R-Studio for Mac is loved by professionals, but regular home users have different priorities.
Even though the software doesn’t look like it, it’s actually a one-trick pony that can be recommended mainly to those who want to recover damaged video files.
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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Houston, Texas, United States
Nikolay Lankevich has over 15 years of strong experience in various fields and platform includes Disaster Recovery, Windows XP/7. System analysis, design, application (Inter/Intranet) development, and testing. Provided technical supports on desktop and laptops on Win-XP and Macintosh for about 2000 employees.
What Users Say about Stellar Data Recovery for Mac