Foremost vs PhotoRec
Foremost
github.com
PhotoRec
cgsecurity.orgSide by side
| Figure | Foremost | PhotoRec |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Photo Recovery Software | 7.5 (#32) | 8.3 (#12) |
| Spec score · Photo recovery software | 7.1 (#39) | 8.6 (#8) |
| Spec score · Data recovery software | 6.9 (#119) | 8.7 (#11) |
| Founded | 2001 | 1998 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Operating systems | Linux | Windows; Linux; macOS; DOS; FreeBSD; NetBSD; OpenBSD; Solaris; other Unix systems |
| Platforms | The README gives build instructions for Linux, BSD, Solaris, and OSX. | The maker lists Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Sun Solaris, and Mac OS X, and says PhotoRec can be compiled on almost every Unix system. |
| Recovery sources | raw data,disk image files | hard disks; CD-ROMs; memory cards; USB memory drives; DD raw images; EnCase E01 images |
| Support | The repository README asks users to report bugs with a description, how they found the bug, and contact information. | Users can seek help on the PhotoRec forum, send suggestions to the developer, or submit a bug report. |
Plans
In their own words
PhotoRec
PhotoRec is a free file recovery program for retrieving lost videos, documents, archives, and pictures from storage media and disk images. It searches the underlying data instead of relying on the file system, which can help after file-system damage or reformatting. It recognizes more than 480 file extensions across about 300 file families, and listed file systems include FAT, NTFS, exFAT, ext2/ext3/ext4, and HFS+.
Supported sources include hard disks, CD-ROMs, memory cards, USB drives, raw disk images, and EnCase E01 images. PhotoRec runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, DOS, several BSD systems, Solaris, and other Unix systems. It accesses the recovery drive or card in read-only mode; recovered files should go to a different partition. The portable download runs after extracting its archive, without an installer. QPhotoRec provides a graphical interface, while PhotoRec can also run from scripts or batch files with command-line options. The maker says it usually cannot recover original filenames and does not work well with ReiserFS.