Losing important files on a Mac can be frustrating, whether due to accidental deletion, system crashes, or hardware failures. While macOS has built-in tools like Time Machine, they may not always be enough to recover lost data. This is where data recovery software becomes essential. A good recovery tool can restore deleted files, recover lost partitions, and retrieve data from corrupted drives. Whether you’re a student, professional, or casual user, having reliable recovery software can save you from losing valuable documents, photos, or work projects. In an era where digital data is crucial, a Mac data recovery solution ensures peace of mind by helping you get back what matters most. For this, we are here to review Stellar Data Recovery.
What Is Stellar Data Recovery?
Stellar Data Recovery is a well-known tool in the data recovery industry. Previously called Stellar Phoenix, Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery, or Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery, it was rebranded to Stellar Data Recovery a few years ago.
This article review will cover various aspects of this software, focusing on its ability to retrieve lost or inaccessible files like documents, images, and videos. Overall, it’s a reliable tool with well-designed features that work smoothly.
Stellar Data Recovery is a powerful tool for Mac users, offering support for both HFS+ and APFS volume formats. It installs easily, and once granted full disk access, it’s ready to recover lost files.
One of its biggest strengths is its robust data recovery engine, which supports hundreds of file formats. With advanced filters, users can search for specific file types (documents, images, etc.) or recover data based on file headers and attributes, making complex recoveries easier. The scan management feature lets users save previous scans for future use, while the image creation tool allows for a full byte-for-byte backup of a volume—though this requires significant disk space. These features make Stellar Data Recovery a versatile choice for retrieving lost files on a Mac.
Stellar Data Recovery is a versatile tool available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, offering powerful file recovery across multiple storage devices. While many reviews focus only on its main function, we’ll explore everything this software has to offer.
Stellar Data Recovery and The User-Friendly Interface
Stellar Data Recovery features a clean and intuitive home screen with seven main tabs for different file types:
- Office Documents
- Folders
- Emails
- Photos
- Audio
- Videos
- All Data
Navigating the interface is straightforward, and everything is well-organized, making it easy to use even for those who aren’t tech-savvy. While the recovery process involves technical steps, the software presents them in a way that’s simple to follow.
Stellar Data Recovery Supports Multiple File Formats
Whether your device is physically damaged or files were accidentally deleted, Stellar can recover a wide range of file types, including documents, photos, and videos.
Bootable Recovery Media
If your operating system crashes, Stellar’s bootable USB recovery media can restore lost files. This feature is available in paid versions like Stellar Data Recovery Professional.
Repair Corrupted Photos & Videos
The Mac Data Recovery Toolkit can fix distorted, blurry, pixelated, or grayed-out images. It also repairs corrupted video files from major camera brands, even in 4K, 8K, and VR formats.
Recover Lost or Corrupt Partitions
Stellar can retrieve data from damaged partitions before you reformat them. It supports recovery from APFS, NTFS, FAT, exFAT, HFS, Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4 partitions. Its “Can’t Find Drive” option locates missing partitions, while Deep Scan ensures thorough recovery.
Recover Data From Crashed Systems
Even if your PC or Mac won’t boot, Stellar can create bootable media to access and recover files from your hard drive.
Encrypted Drive Recovery
Stellar Data Recovery supports file recovery from BitLocker-encrypted drives on Windows and Mac.
Disk Cloning
This feature lets you clone a failing drive onto a healthy one, preventing data loss before the drive deteriorates further.
Additional Features
- Virtual Drive Recovery – Restore lost files from virtual storage.
- 4K Drive Support – Recover data from modern high-capacity drives.
- Dual Monitor Support – Work more efficiently with multiple screens.
With a strong mix of recovery, repair, and cloning tools, Stellar Data Recovery is a reliable solution for handling lost or damaged files.
Recover non-booting Mac
One of the standout features of Stellar Data Recovery is the Recover Non-Booting Mac module. This allows users to access their Mac’s recovery partition, launch Terminal, and execute a command to open a remote version of Stellar Data Recovery.
Even when the system won’t boot, this feature provides a last-resort solution—though users must enter their license key to unlock the full functionality.
Other modules, such as Search Large Files and Search Duplicate Files, perform well, offering a thorough scan of your drive.
Stellar successfully retrieves lost files! This means users may need to manually browse and open files to identify them, especially when dealing with reconstructed data.
This is, in fact, one of the greatest features that have been added to Stellar Recovery. With the app, it’s easy to recover a Mac that isn’t booting without needing to go through complex methods.
Using a bootable media drive is one of the safest ways to recover data from a non-working Mac. Software like Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac lets you create a recovery drive, giving you access to your files even when macOS won’t boot.
How to Recover Data Using a Bootable Drive:
- Prepare the Bootable Drive (on another working Mac)
- Download and install Stellar Data Recovery Professional.
- Connect a USB drive (at least 8GB).
- Use the software to create a bootable recovery drive.
- Boot the Non-Working Mac
- Insert the bootable USB into the Mac that won’t start.
- Turn it on while holding Option (⌥) to access the Startup Manager.
- Select the USB drive and boot into Stellar’s recovery environment.
- Recover Your Data
- Scan the Macintosh HD for recoverable files.
- Select and save them to an external drive.
This method works even if macOS is completely unresponsive.
Customer Support
Stellar Data Recovery has a strong reputation for its customer support, backed by many positive reviews. The software offers a comprehensive knowledge base that answers most common questions.
For more complex issues, you can reach out to their 24/5 help desk, which is available around the clock on business days. When we contacted them about partition recovery and deep scan features, a representative responded in under 4 minutes. They followed up via email with detailed step-by-step instructions to resolve our issue.
Stellar Data Recovery Review – Verdict
The latest version of Stellar Data Recovery is a massive improvement with fast scans and recovery processes. With this update, users can confidently recover lost files from any disk.
I’ve been using it for quite some time on my Mac and even used it to try and locate some lost files or files that I have deleted by accident. Surprisingly, it did well and helped me to recover some of these lost files. It’s a legit software that provides and solid experience. I can rate it 9.3 out of 10, and definitively worth the purchase of a Professional License for long-term usage.
