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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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