CardRecovery review
A focused Windows tool for recovering photos, videos, and camera RAW files.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
CardRecovery is desktop photo and video recovery software for Windows. It is designed for photographers and camera owners who need to retrieve deleted, lost, formatted, corrupted, or damaged files from removable storage. Supported media includes SD, microSD, CompactFlash, Memory Stick, xD, XQD, USB flash drives, and mobile-phone memory cards. Camera RAW support includes NEF, CR2, CR3, RAF, ORF, and DNG, making the product relevant to workflows that depend on original image files rather than only common formats.
The published pricing shows one paid option: a CardRecovery single-user license priced at $39.95 USD as a one-time purchase. The license provides perpetual use, an unlimited number of recovered files, and free two-year upgrades. There is no free plan. An evaluation version can be downloaded to preview files, while the product itself is sold as paid software. This structure suits buyers who want a single purchase for occasional or repeated card recovery instead of an ongoing subscription.
Recovery is organized around a three-step wizard. SmartScan scans storage-media sectors for recoverable files, while read-only operations are intended to avoid writing changes to the media during recovery. Users can preview recoverable photos before saving them, and scanning retrieves EXIF metadata. The broad removable-media support and RAW handling are the main reasons to choose CardRecovery over a general-purpose option. It is a focused fit for Windows users working with camera cards and related removable storage. Buyers who need macOS support should choose a different product, since CardRecovery is documented for Windows.
CardRecovery pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Supports major camera cards, USB drives, and mobile-phone memory cards
- Recovers many RAW formats, including NEF, CR2, CR3, RAF, ORF, and DNG
- Read-only scans, photo previews, SmartScan, and EXIF retrieval
- Where it doesn't
- Windows only
- No free plan; the license costs $39.95 one time
- Focused on photos and videos rather than broad file recovery
CardRecovery fact sheet, pricing and score →
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