Recommended Best Free Linux Data Recovery Software for 2024 - Suited for EXT2/EXT3 File Systems

EXT2, EXT3, and EXT4 are the most common Linux file systems. When you lose crucial data in Linux and want to recover it, you should find a reliable Linux data recovery tool. After testing 11 tools, I've listed the top 5 free Linux data recovery software along with their pros and cons. You can choose any of them based on your needs. Here's a quick overview of the Linux data recovery software test stats.

Part 1: What Are the Best File Recovery Tools for Linux?

It's safe to say that most of us have lost important data on our computers due to virus attacks, accidental deletion, formatting, and whatnot. Most people would feel hopeless, thinking that those files are gone forever. In this article, we will discuss some of the best data recovery tools for Linux that can save your Linux hard drive data.

• Data Recovery Wizard
• R-Linux
• TestDisk
• Ddrescue
• PhotoRec

Tool #1: Data Recovery Wizard (Free and Easy)

We recommend using the Data Recovery Wizard Pro tool. It effortlessly recovers formatted files and performs partition recovery to save your data. You can easily restore all deleted and lost files.

Advantages

• Recover data after reinstalling the OS. • Restore deleted/formatted/damaged files from Linux volumes. • Recovery after data deletion using "Shift + Delete" keys. • Supports EXT2/EXT3 Linux hard drive data recovery. • Free data recovery software tool allows recovery of up to 2 GB of data for free.

Disadvantages

The tool "Data Recovery Wizard" cannot run on a Linux computer. You need to remove the EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 HDD and connect it to a Windows computer. You can also create a bootable disk on a Windows PC. Then, you can recover data without an operating system.

Second Place: R-Linux – Linux File Recovery Software

R-Linux is a free file recovery tool for the Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 file systems used in Linux and various Unix systems. It helps recover data lost due to virus attacks, power failures, or system crashes. It is available in both Linux and Windows versions. You can run this Linux data recovery software on both Windows and Linux computers.

Advantages

• Supports only the Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 file systems (Linux).
• Displays the S.M.A.R.T. attributes of your hard drive to gauge its health.
• Recovers Linux data after it has been reformatted, damaged, or deleted.

Disadvantages

R-Linux cannot recover data over a network, rebuild a RAID array, or provide image copies.

Third Place: TestDisk – Open Source

[TestDisk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDisk) is an open-source data recovery tool designed to help recover lost partitions. It's a command-line utility, but it's pretty easy to use. If you've lost data on Linux due to malware, viruses, or even accidental deletion, give this a shot.

Advantages

• Restore lost partitions on Windows/Mac and Linux.
• Create partition backups for EFI GPT partitions.
• Recover various types of files from Linux partitions.

Disadvantages

You need to be familiar with common file commands in Linux. If you're not very tech-savvy, it's recommended to use data recovery software and the R-Linux tool.

4th: Ddrescue – A Data Recovery Utility

Ddrescue is another command-line utility developed by GNU. You can run this data recovery software when read errors occur. Additionally, it highlights bad sectors on the disk, enabling you to recover Linux data from a drive with bad sectors.

Advantages

• Effectively recovers essential data in case of disk errors and bad sectors.
• Allows users to pause the ongoing process and resume it at any time.
• Efficiently salvages data by reading only the necessary data blocks.

Disadvantages

You need to be familiar with common command-line options for working with files in Linux.

Top 5: PhotoRec

PhotoRec is a free and open-source data recovery utility with a command-line interface. It's specifically designed to recover deleted photos and other graphic media files from SD cards and hard disks.

Advantages

• Recovers files even from severely damaged hard drives.
• Supports various file formats.
• Discovers unseen or unexplored data to recover photos.

Disadvantage

• Sometimes, not all types of files can be retrieved.
• You need to be familiar with common file command options in Linux.

Part 2: How to Use Linux Data Recovery Software to Retrieve Files

Tools offers the best solution for Linux data recovery from Ext2/Ext3 file systems. You can download the data recovery software and follow this guide to save your lost files.

Step 1: Launch the file recovery software on your Windows computer. Select the exact location where you lost your files, and then click the “Scan” button.

Step 2: The software will immediately start scanning the drive and will soon display the deleted files. If you spot the required file during the scan, you can stop the scanning process. To quickly locate the target file, use the file type filter.

Step 3: Choose the files you want to recover, such as Word, Excel, PDF, photos, videos, or emails, and click the "Restore" button. You can browse and select a different location to save your recovered files.

Part 3: How to Protect Your Data on Linux

To prevent data loss from your computer, the best thing to do is to back up your data beforehand. You can simply copy it to another location. Alternatively, you can use a file backup software like Todo Backup. It allows you to easily back up your system, files, and folders and restore them with no hassle. This is an application for Windows, but you can create a WinPE disk. That way, you can back up data without an operating system. Boot from the emergency disk and follow these steps:

Step 1: When you first use Todo Backup to back up your files, click Create Backup on the main screen, and then click the big question-mark icon to choose what to Back Up.

Step 2: Since you're backing up files and folders on your computer, choose the “Files” backup mode. In this mode, you can select photos, videos, documents, and other types of files for backup.

Step 3: Browse and select the files, folders, or directories you wish to back up, then click OK.

Step 4: You will now need to choose a backup location to save and keep your backups.

Step 5: Todo Backup allows users to save backup files to any convenient device, such as a local hard drive, external USB drive, SD card, network drive, or NAS drive, as well as to the brand's cloud drive. We recommend saving important backups to a cloud drive for easier, more flexible, and secure access.

To use Tool Cloud, you simply register and log in with an e-mail account.

Upload backup files to the cloud

Step 6: If you wish to set an automatic and intelligent backup schedule for your next file backup task, proceed with the 'Options' settings. Here, you can encrypt the backup of confidential files, compress the backup image size or customize the backup scheme to specify when the software should start the next backup.

Create a sophisticated and automated backup task right here.

Step 7: Click “Back Up Now” to start the backup process. The completed backup will appear as a card in the left pane.

Conclusion

You just got familiar with five free Linux data recovery tools that can easily restore data from EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 formatted partitions. Among these recommendations, my top pick is the Data Recovery Software. It not only helps you recover data from Linux partitions but also retrieves lost files on Windows and Mac systems. If you found this article helpful, share it with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.