Photos or pictures are like time portals that replay memories in your head. This is probably why we meticulously archive and cautiously save pictures in multiple locations including external hard drives.
No matter what measures you take to keep your pictures safe, losing them is quite common and heartbreaking.
If you have accidentally deleted photos or if the folder itself is missing due to hardware failure, viruses, or corruption, Yodot Photo Recovery Software may be the photo recovery solution you are looking for.
Yodot Photo Recovery Software was built to recover deleted and lost photos. In this review, we will test the software to see if it can actually recover lost photos from your hard drive.
Understanding Photo Loss Scenarios
Before we start we need to outline some scenarios where you might lose photos so we can test them.
Common reasons for photo loss include accidental deletion, unintentional formatting of an external hard drive, interrupted photo transfer that corrupts the file, file system failures, memory card errors, and internal hardware failure.
Testing The Software
We have tested the software in three different phases depending on the complexity of photo recovery.
Phase 1: Recovering accidentally deleted photos and emptied recycle bin
First, we permanently deleted a few photos to test the basic functionality. The files were deleted from the D: drive. As recommended, we have installed the software on the C: drive to reduce the chances of photo recovery.
We opened the application and selected “Deleted Photo Recovery” from the main screen. Then we chose the “D” drive from the list of displayed drives. The following screen had a bunch of file formats categorized as pictures, music and video, and digital raw pictures that we could choose from. We choose “skip” to see what else we could recover from the computer.
A lot of files that we previously had on our system were not available. It took us some time but we managed to find the three files that we deleted.
Now we verified what existed in our recycle bin and followed the same procedure, while some files were unrecognizable the other recovered pictures were definitely the images we had in recycle bin.
This concludes the first phase of testing and Yodot Photo Recovery Software has passed the test so far.
Phase 2: Photo recovery after formatting the storage device and file system failure
Formatting a hard drive involves wiping the file system and information and preparing it to install a new file system. This is a really destructive operation and we weren’t sure we would be able to recover anything from the hard drive.
We put a few photos on a flash drive and then reformatted it.
As recommended we chose lost photo recovery after choosing photo recovery and then chose the formatted drive. In addition to photos, some of our previous data on the flash drive was also retrieved.
One of the videos that we saved on the flash drive was also recovered, but the video file seemed to be corrupt so we’ll have to try to repair it some other time.
But we were confident that our tests proved that deleted or damaged files can be retrieved by Yodot Photo Recovery software.
Phase 3: Recovering photos after memory card or hardware failure
With an SD card from our old camera plugged into our computer we wanted to experiment with the recovery process of Yodot Photo Recovery software.
The memory card got locked after extensive use and even after multiple formats, the card was not recognized by the computer.
With the memory card and an old damaged hard drive from our IT partner, we wanted to put the software to a final round of testing. So we plugged the hard drive and the memory card into a computer to start the recovery process.
It comes as no surprise that neither of the storage formats was actually showing up in the application. This concludes that this recovery software comes in handy as long as the storage device is recognized by the computer.
Sadly the software was of not much use in this phase.
Features
Economical
We would strongly recommend this software as it is functional and is priced fairly low when compared to its competitors.
Filter and recover Raw image formats
The digital raw picture filter that you can apply before recovery can be very beneficial when looking for specific raw image formats which give this photo recovery software an added advantage.
Speed of recovery
With regard to recovery speed, the scan time depends completely on the amount of data you are trying to recover. However, in terms of scan algorithm influencing the recovery speed, this software falls in the runner-up category compared to its rivals. If you are only concerned about getting your hands on your lost photos then it’s not all a bad option.
Try before you buy
Even with the best odds photo recovery still remains a probability. This tool lets you download the demo and check to see if you can recover the photos.
File support and storage media
The software is built to support a wide range of image formats. Also, Yodot Photo recovery software lets you filter the recovered raw image formats from memory cards, flash drives, and other storage media.
This feature may be handy to Photoshop editors and designers who deal with different kinds of file formats every day.
Resume recovery at your convenience
A noteworthy feature of Yodot Photo Recovery software is the “Scan Recovery Session”.
This option allows the user to save the recovery progress and resume the recovery at a later point in time. This session can be very advantageous when there are a lot of pictures to recover and you are short on time.
Conclusion
On a final note, the software pretty much does what it claims to do. With a mediocre user interface that’s self-explanatory, an average computer user with beginner computer skills can easily recover photos.