Best free/paid for data recovery software?

Hello everyone. How's everyone on my favourite forum?

This is probably a pretty straightforward question for you clever guys and gals on here, but one that's perplexed for a while..

I have in the past, when losing data, just shrugged my shoulders and put up with it. I was wondering if there an easy to use data recovery program that's worth buying/trying? One that works with Mac as well, would be nice (I've lost some data on my mother-in-law's Mac I need to get back!)

Many thanks in advance ;-)

Thanks Ed. Is the Minitool software easy to use and intuitive? Does it serve Macs, as well?

The best way to deal with data loss is to restore the files from your backups. Data recovery software should be considered an emergency measure when you don't have a recent backup.

All files of any importance should have at least 1 backup copy, 2 or more backup copies if the files are of particular importance. Having no backups is asking for trouble. Unfortunately many people do not learn this until it is too late.

There are all kinds of situations where even the best recovery software will not work well, and in some cases not at all. Professional data recovery is very expensive and even that cannot be relied on.

That's indeed true LMiller. Just wondering if there's a reasonably effective way of recovering data at home, if you're an unprepared idiot like myself! ;-)

Thanks, James. Have you used the software? Your post almost seemed like an advert for the program! You must like it......