Stellar Data Recovery Review: Scan Results, Pros, Cons & Our Verdict

If you’ve been researching data recovery software, you’ve probably stumbled across Stellar Data Recovery, also called Stellar Phoenix. This recovery tool was first released in 2000, and it quickly became one of the most popular applications of its kind for Windows and Mac.

We take a close look to see if it still gets the job done. For this review, we looked at its features, supported file systems and formats, interface, scan speed, recovery results, pricing, and differences between the Windows and Mac versions. Most importantly, we tested it ourselves with common data loss scenarios, including deleted files and a formatted drive, and checked how many recovered files were actually usable.

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Stellar Data Recovery Features

On its site, Stellar Data Recovery claims it can recover lost or deleted data from any Windows device. The company also highlights an impressive milestone—over 130 million downloads. With numbers like that, it’s clear this tool has caught the attention of users worldwide. Let’s break down the main features to see what makes it so popular.

File System and File Type Support

According to the developer, Stellar Data Recovery supports major Windows, macOS, and Linux file systems, including NTFS, FAT/FAT16/FAT32, exFAT, APFS, HFS/HFS+, and Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, although exact file system support depends on the platform and edition.

Stellar currently advertises support for 300+ file types, including photos, videos, audio files, documents, archives, emails, and other common formats. You can find their complete list on their website.

If a format is not included by default, Stellar also provides an Add File Type feature that can create a new file signature from sample files. This expands the range of formats the software can identify during signature-based scans, although it is a fairly specialized feature that most regular users are unlikely to need.

User Interface

If there’s one thing users almost universality like about this data recovery software, then it has to be its user interface. While not particularly modern, its simple layout and clearly described options make it obvious which action the user is supposed to take next.

The recovery process itself, which we describe in detail in the next chapter.

Extra Features

The extra features you get with Stellar Data Recovery depend heavily on the edition. Professional adds several useful tools for more difficult recovery cases, including lost partition recovery, recovery from unbootable systems, disk image creation, drive cloning, and S.M.A.R.T. drive monitoring. On Windows, it can also recover data from damaged optical media such as CDs and DVDs.

The Premium edition adds photo and video repair. It can attempt to repair corrupted formats such as JPEG, CR2, TIFF, MOV, MP4, AVI, and MKV, including multiple damaged files at once. This can be useful when a recovery tool restores a photo or video but the resulting file is corrupted or does not open correctly.

Higher editions expand the feature set further. Technician targets professional use and adds more advanced recovery options, while the Windows-only Toolkit extends support to additional file systems and more complex storage configurations.

Customer Support

When Stellar Data Recovery users need help, they can contact one of the several provided customer support numbers or submit a ticket. There’s also an extensive knowledge base with data recovery-related articles and step-by-step solutions to common problems.

Unfortunately, it’s possible to find many negative online reviews that detail how unwilling Stellar is to resolve issues with refunds. Some reviews also criticize the technical skills of the India-based customer support staff.

Unfortunately, it’s possible to find many negative online reviews that detail how unwilling Stellar is to resolve issues with refunds. Some reviews also criticize the technical skills of the India-based customer support staff.

Is Stellar Data Recovery Safe?

Like any software we test, we ran the Stellar Data Recovery installer through a malware scan with VirusTotal. The latest result was clean: none of the 59 security vendors that analyzed the installer flagged it as malicious.

This is a much stronger result than what we saw in our previous test, where a few antivirus engines produced warnings. With the current installer returning 0/59 detections, we found no indication of malware or other obvious security threats during our check.

We also looked beyond the malware scan. Stellar has been developing data recovery and related software for decades, and the company publishes a detailed privacy policy. User feedback is also widely available through platforms such as Trustpilot.

How We Tested Stellar Data Recovery

To evaluate Stellar Data Recovery fairly, we tested it under controlled but realistic data loss scenarios that reflect how people actually lose files. Instead of relying on vendor claims, we focused on measurable recovery results, usability, and performance consistency.

We performed all tests on a Windows 11 laptop using external storage devices to avoid system-level interference. The test devices included:

• 32 GB SanDisk USB flash drive (exFAT)
• 500 GB Seagate external hard drive (NTFS)

Each device contained the same structured dataset of 60 mixed files, including:

• JPG, PNG, and BMP photos, including RAW formats such as CR2 and HEIC
• MP4 and MOV video files, as well as AVI and WMV (including H.264 and CineForm HD variants)
• DOC and DOCX documents, plus PDF and PPTX files
• ZIP archives
• MP3 audio files
• TIFF image files

This allowed us to evaluate both general file recovery and media-specific performance. We ran Stellar through multiple recovery situations:

• Simple deletion (USB drive). This test measures how well the software handles standard accidental deletions.
• Quick format (USB drive). After loading the same 120-file dataset, we performed a quick format of the exFAT drive. This scenario tests metadata-based recovery and RAW signature scanning behavior.
• Deletion on large external HDD. We repeated a standard deletion test on the 500 GB NTFS external drive to measure scan speed, file preview reliability, and performance on larger storage.

During each test, we evaluated not just how many files Stellar detected, but how many were fully usable after recovery. We checked whether original file names and folder structure were preserved, tested video integrity for larger MP4 and MOV files, and measured scan time and system responsiveness. We also observed stability and assessed interface clarity.

How to Use Stellar Data Recovery

Stellar Data Recovery features a streamlined recovery process that boils down to three simple steps:

Step 1: Select the type of data you want to recover.

Step 2: Select the storage device you want to scan.

Step 3: Save recovered data.

But before you can get started, you first need to download the application from its website and install it on your computer. Stellar Data Recovery is compatible with Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7 (Service Pack 1), as well as macOS.

Remember, when you install recovery software, always do so on a different drive, or at least a separate partition, from the one where you lost your files. This way you don’t overwrite the very data you’re trying to recover.

After installing Stellar Data Recovery on, we launched it and landed on the “What To Recover” screen. The interface is clean and straightforward, with recovery categories clearly grouped and selectable before the scan begins.

Here’s how the options are organized:

• All Data, select this if you want the software to search for all supported file types without narrowing the scope.
• Office Documents targets common document formats such as Word, Excel, and other office-related files.
• Emails focuses on email data files, including Outlook mail archives.
• Audio scans specifically for music and other sound files.
• Photos searches for image formats, including common photo file types.
• Videos designed to locate video files across supported formats.

Once the desired categories are selected, you simply click Next to proceed to drive selection and start the recovery process.

Since all file types are selected by default, we simply clicked Next and proceeded to the next step, choosing our storage device. If you don’t want to scan the entire storage device, you can choose a specific location, such as the Documents folder.

Before we clicked the Scan button, we made sure to activate the Deep Scan option located in the bottom-right corner because we wanted to perform a scan based on file signatures and find as many lost and deleted files as possible.

The scan itself took a while, around 10 minutes for a 32 GB drive, but that’s to be expected when performing a Deep Scan. What was somewhat unexpected was the fact that Stellar Data Recovery found 53 out of 60 files. After the scan completed, the software displayed a detailed results window with multiple navigation tabs at the top: Classic List, File List, and Deleted List.

Here’s how they work based on the interface shown:

• In the Classic List view, Stellar displays the recovered data in a tree-style folder structure that mirrors the original drive layout. The left panel shows directories such as SYSTEM, Android, DCIM, Documents, and others under the selected disk, while the right panel lists the contents of the selected folder with detailed columns.
• In the File List view, Stellar organizes results by file type instead of the original folder structure. The left panel shows categories such as Archive, Document, Photos, Video, and Others under the selected drive. When you choose a category, the right panel displays the files in a sortable table with details like file name, type, size, and dates.
• Deleted List filters the results to display only files marked as deleted. In this view, deleted entries are clearly labeled (e.g., “Deleted File”), which helps isolate recoverable items without sorting through existing data.

Selected files are marked with checkboxes, and the total selected size appears at the bottom before you proceed by clicking Recover.

We switched to the Deleted List tab in the preview window and were quickly able to find our test images. Unfortunately, the preview feature didn’t work correctly, so we had to select them blindly.

Overall, the data recovery process is straightforward enough so that even users with no previous data recovery experience should be able to complete it without any trouble.

Stellar Data Recovery Recovery Performance

To be honest, we were not impressed with Stellar Data Recovery’s performance. While the navigation and interface are adequate (though not the best among its peers), the recovery results can only be described as average at best. Here’s what we found during testing:

• During simple deletion tests on our 32 GB SanDisk exFAT USB drive with a structured dataset of 60 mixed files (JPG, PNG, MP4, MOV, DOCX, PDF, ZIP, MP3), Stellar recovered 53 of recently deleted files. While the software recovered many recently deleted files, the success rate was inconsistent. Files deleted using Shift+Delete were restored with proper names and folder structures in most cases, but some recovered files were corrupted or incomplete.
• The differences became more noticeable after we performed a quick format on the same USB drive. Quick Scan finished quickly but recovered very little beyond surface-level results, 34 files.
• On the 500 GB Seagate NTFS external hard drive, scan time and responsiveness became even more noticeable factors. Deep scanning large storage volumes required patience, and processing results caused visible slowdowns in the interface. Standard documents and smaller images recovered reliably, but performance did not stand out compared to similarly priced competitors.
• As to its claimed broad file support, Stellar Data Recovery performed relatively well with common file types such as BMP, CR2, JPG, AVI, MOV (H.264 Codec), WMV, DOC, and DOCX. However, it struggled with widely-used formats such as PPTX, MP4, and HEIC, as well as others like TIFF and MOV (CineForm HD Codec). These types are far from uncommon. This inconsistency suggests that its signature scan could benefit from some improvements.

In the end, Stellar Data Recovery might be fine for basic recovery tasks, but its scan results and speed honestly left us underwhelmed.

Stellar Data Recovery for Mac

Mac users aren’t left out. Stellar Data Recovery for Mac has essentially the same core recovery workflow as the Windows version, but it is adapted to macOS storage and hardware. It supports APFS and HFS/HFS+, as well as NTFS and exFAT drives, and can recover files from internal Mac storage, external HDDs and SSDs, USB drives, SD cards, emptied Trash, Time Machine backups, and encrypted Mac volumes. It also runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

The feature set depends on the edition. Professional adds lost partition and non-booting Mac recovery along with disk image creation. Premium adds photo and video repair, while Technician goes further with virtual machine recovery, EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 support, and online and offline NAS recovery. One notable difference from Windows is that the highest-end Toolkit is Windows-only; on Mac, Technician is the top edition.

We also tested the Mac version, and the overall recovery results were similar to what we saw on Windows. The interface and workflow differ slightly, but we didn’t find a major difference in recovery quality that would change our overall opinion of Stellar.

Stellar Data Recovery Pricing (Windows and Mac)

There are several different editions of Stellar Data Recovery, each offering a different set of features at a different price point:

As you can see, you can get started with Stellar Data Recovery without paying a single dollar, but if you need to unlock all of its features, it is far from affordable.

Stellar offers only 1-year licenses or lifetime licenses. There are no monthly or short-term plans, which can feel limiting since most people need data recovery software for a one-time emergency rather than ongoing use. The “lifetime” option significantly increases the upfront cost compared to the annual license, especially in higher-tier editions. Almost every edition is displayed as discounted, often with a crossed-out original price.

How Stellar Compares to Other Data Recovery Tools

To give proper context, it is always better to compare Stellar Data Recovery with competing tools rather than reviewing it in isolation. On its own, Stellar looks well-marketed and capable of handling basic recovery tasks. But once you place it next to other leading solutions, the differences become clearer.

The first noticeable gap appears in recovery consistency. In straightforward deletion cases, Stellar performs adequately. However, in more demanding scenarios such as formatted drives, partially corrupted file systems, fragmented video files, or RAW partitions, some alternatives demonstrate stronger and more predictable results. Tools like Disk Drill, R-Studio, or DiskGenius often recover a higher percentage of usable files when metadata is damaged or the drive structure is unstable.

Another difference lies in how advanced features are structured. Stellar splits capabilities like RAID recovery, disk imaging, and media repair across multiple paid tiers. Several competitors integrate these tools directly into one application, which simplifies workflow and reduces the need for additional upgrades.

Stellar Data Recovery Reviews

Stellar Data Recovery has been available for many years, so there’s no shortage of real user reviews published on various review sites, such as G2, Trustpilot, and Capterra.

The vast majority of Stellar Data Recovery users praise its graphical user interface, finding it intuitive and well-designed. The user-friendly nature of Stellar Data Recovery is especially appealing to people with little to no previous experience with data recovery, who enjoy the step-by-step data recovery process, which makes it possible to recover lost files with just a few simple clicks.

On the other hand, Stellar Data Recovery users are less than thrilled with its pricing. As we’ve already explained, this data recovery software uses the subscription model to drive revenue, and users are required to renew their licenses on a yearly basis. Since renewals are not discounted, their cost quickly adds up and exceeds that of many other data recovery applications.

In addition to its steep price, Stellar Data Recovery users also criticize the quality of customer support they receive. Apparently, Stellar is less than willing to adhere to its own terms and conditions and issue refunds to users who have purchased the software by mistake or changed their mind and decided to ask for a refund.

Our Verdict on Stellar Data Recovery

Stellar Data Recovery is a decent tool for basic file loss. It is easy to use and works fine for simple deletions. But once things get more serious, such as formatted drives, RAW partitions, or larger video files, the cracks start to show. Deep Scan takes a long time without delivering clearly better results; recovery can be inconsistent, and many advanced features sit behind higher-priced tiers. The pricing model also feels geared toward yearly renewals, even though most people only need recovery software once.

If you want stronger results and fewer limitations, Disk Drill is the better choice. In our tests, it delivered more consistent recovery, handled fragmented video better, included built-in disk imaging, and offered clearer long-term value. Overall, it simply feels more reliable across different recovery scenarios.

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