Data Rescue 4 Review

Data Rescue 4 is a long-awaited update; Prosoft’s heavyweight tool has long offered one of the best shots at recovering data from your hard drive. It’s capable of reading and copying data from physically failing drives as well as the relatively simple task of recovering lost or deleted files. As long as the drive is still visible to OS X, Data Rescue can help.

Version 4’s main new feature is BootWell, which works outside of OS X to recover data from your main drive. This technology requires a USB flash drive — you can supply your own, or buy one pre-loaded for $15 plus shipping.

The latest version also implements NTFS support for recovering data from BootCamp-partitioned drives and makes fewer demands on your Mac, so won’t tie it up during lengthy recovery sessions. It may not be the quickest, but Data Rescue remains the best tool for maximizing your chances of rescuing your data outside of an expensive recovery specialist’s lab.

The bottom line. Data Rescue 4 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but adds useful tools to make it a worthy investment.