Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery 7, the most efficient file recovery tool for OS X

When the software starts, we are prompted for the administrator password and, after a few moments, comes with its initial screen consisting of two single icons.

With the ” Start a new scan ” function, we will be taken to the next screen, which will allow us to select the disk or volume, while clicking on ” resume saved scan ” we will be able to analyze the recoverable data on an already analyzed volume. Before you see how it works, you list the main features of this software:Recover data from the Mac disk.

• Recover deleted files from the Mac (even with secure deletion) while retaining the original file names.
• RAW Recovery, that is, attempts to rebuild the files from the analysis of individual sectors on disk, slow and potentially useful when the two previous methods do not work.
• Recovery of deleted volumes, which attempts to rebuild an entire volume with all the most common Mac and PC File System.
• Create Image, you can create a mountable image of the disc, or a portion or volume.
• Recovery an encrypted disk for those password-protected.
• Recovering CDs / DVDs.
• Time Machine Volume Recovery.

Let’s look at the recovery functions.

Selecting a disk will have the ability to create an image, search erased or errored volumes, or recover the photos or all files with the RAW method, and if we select a volume, we can also recover the deleted files, which is usually faster and more useful operation. I’ve been testing some SD and CF cards I use in my cameras. Selecting Recover Data or Deleted Recovery will have a second option in either method, ie Quick Scan or Advanced Scan.

Quick control is really fast, less than 5 seconds for an 8GB card, and it has found 4.31GB of RAW and JPG format, keeping the original name in almost all cases, while in others, it used the X letter for missing letters (look at the XCIM folder, which is clearly the DCIM folder).

On the recovery screen, we have the ability to select individual files or folders to recovery, and for common file types we can also activate Quick Look to identify the file that we want to recover on fly. Here is a negative side for a software written for Mac OS X, because we are used to having Quick Look functionality by pressing the spacebar, while in this software, we can use the button in the top of the eye or click on the button Right-click and choose Quick Look, by pressing the Spacebar, you can check / uncheck the file from the list (a behavior more similar to the software written for Windows).

Once you have selected the files you can press the bottom right button ” Recover “, which will ask us where to save the selection. A small note: The software will save the files in the root, in a folder named Principale, which I was trying to find on the desktop; In addition, this folder is protected by the deletion, if it is moved to the trash bin, the finder will ask for the administrator password to perform the operation.

If I wanted to ” Scan ” deeply in memory, I tried to perform Advanced Scan, which reads clusters and analyzes in depth the various file allocation tables. Here I had to wait twenty minutes for the same CF card of the first test. Advanced Scan has been able to rebuild many more files and folders than Fast Scan, and there are also files related to the previous formatting of the card. In many cases, it has been able to keep the original names of files and folders in other states replaced with a series of progressive numbers.

This scanning provides wider results, going beyond the actual capacity of the card, but not all data is recoverable, some JPGs will only be partially legible, while incomplete characters may be found in text documents, but this is a limit to which all data recovery software must surrender: physically, there can be no more data than the actual space available in the memory.

The last two options available are RAW Recovery (understood as low-level, not photos) and Create Image. They are a bit extreme, to be used only when the other two fail. The Create Image command, as it is easy to guess, creates a DMG file with the exact copy of the analyzed memory areas, in addition, in the advanced options (which are activated by clicking on the gear in the Create Image) you can specify the area in areas) to be copied. Once you’ve created the image, you can recover the recovery with the Recover Data command without continuing to stress the physical support.

RAW Recovery, carries out an in-depth analysis to try to rebuild as many data as possible. It’s a very slow operation, but sometimes it may prove to be crucial as the last beach on devices that are no longer accessible. In advanced options, we will be able to indicate the type of files to be rebuilt to focus the software on a specific category. For example, in camera memories, we can select exactly the kind of file.

Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery is one of the best software – if not the best – for recover Mac data. This new one has been completely redesigned, with a much more curious design and similar to that of OS X. It is certainly a secondary detail of efficiency, but since we were already doing it well, we put our hands on the UI making it a clear jump quality and practicality.

Obviously, we all hope that you never need such a program, but you put that name in your memory, because in case you need it, you might have a bad day. Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery has many advanced Data Retrieval features and is slim and fast, probably the fastest I’ve ever tested. The graphic interface does not yet have El Capitan’s Look and Feel, but has already made giant steps and functionality is certainly more important. The $99 price is more than adequate to the functionality of the product.