Need suggestion for a good Recovery Software

[Shah]

My external HDD stopped working all of a sudden. Whenever I plug it in to my computer, It shows "Unreadable or Corrupted". I know formatting the HDD will make it usable again. But, I need to recover the data in it. I don't care if I can't recover the Music and Video files.
But, I DO want to recover the rest. Can you suggest some recovery software, preferably freeware?

BTW, I haven't formatted the HDD yet.

 

[whitestar_999]

before trying recovery try connecting hdd to back 2 usb ports of a pc using Y-usb cable or of a laptop usb2.0 ports.

 

[bssunilreddy]

Link: 15 Free Data Recovery Software Tools (Free File Recovery Software)

15 best recovery softwares.I think Recuva was good.

 

[DVJex]

Just FYI, some software can recover files after formatting. The only problem is that they're mostly paid versions and not free.
From bavusani's link, EaseUS's one is good,but it has a 2GB recovery limitation.

 

[harshilsharma63]

^ try what whitestar_999 suggested. Probability of recovering data after formatting is dependent on the formatting method used. If you perform a quick format, data can be recovered. If you perform a low-level format, there is no or very low change of getting you data back.

 

[lana1123]

Here are some freeware:Five Best Free Data Recovery Tools. Among them, recuva work very well. Also if you have lost some important office file, you can use a software call office regenerator to undelete MS excel file, word doc or ppt.