What is included in Stellar Data Recovery Toolkit?

Cross-platform recovery – Restores Windows, Mac, Linux and NAS drives
RAID reconstruction – Rebuilds RAID 0, 5 and 6 arrays
Virtual disk recovery – Scans VMDK, VDI, VHD and VHDX images
Disk imaging – Clones failing drives before unbootable system recovery
Photo video repair – Fixes corrupt images and video files
Performance Metric – Deep Scans run up to 40% faster

What are the main benefits of Stellar Data Recovery Toolkit?

Stellar Data Recovery Toolkit is the technician-grade tier of Stellar's recovery range, retrieving data from physical drives, RAID arrays, virtual machines and Synology NAS in one Windows application. It targets the complex, multi-system failures that the lower Standard and Professional editions cannot handle.

One toolkit – Handles drives, RAID, NAS and VMs
Commercial use – Licensed for business and technician deployment
Server recovery – Recovers high-capacity server and array storage
Faster scans – Deep Scan engine improved up to 40%
Bootable recovery – Pulls data from unbootable, crashed Windows systems
Preview before recovery – Shows recoverable files before you save

Data loss is expensive: How backups help you avoid outages
For more background on backup planning, read our guide:

What does Stellar Data Recovery Toolkit do?

Stellar Data Recovery Toolkit recovers lost, deleted, formatted and inaccessible files from Windows, macOS, Linux and Synology NAS storage from a single Windows application. It scans hard drives, SSDs, memory cards and flash media, reading NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT as well as APFS, HFS+ and Ext2 to Ext4 file systems. Beyond ordinary drives it rebuilds RAID 0, 5 and 6 arrays and mounts virtual-machine images in VMDK, VDI, VHD and VHDX format to pull files out of failed virtual servers. Its Deep Scan reconstructs files by signature when the file table is gone, and the 2026 build runs that scan up to 40% faster.

How is the Toolkit different from the Professional and Technician editions?

The Toolkit is the top tier of the Stellar Data Recovery family and includes everything in the Technician edition plus native recovery from Mac (APFS, HFS, HFS+) and Linux (Ext2, Ext3, Ext4) storage. The Professional edition handles single Windows drives but does not recover RAID arrays or repair photos and videos; those capabilities begin at the Technician level. Only the Toolkit adds virtual-machine and Synology NAS recovery on top of RAID support. If you only ever recover from one Windows PC the Professional edition is enough, while the Toolkit earns its place across mixed Windows, Mac, Linux, RAID and virtual environments.

Can it recover data from RAID arrays, virtual machines and NAS devices?

Yes, and these are the features that separate the Toolkit from every lower Stellar edition. It reconstructs RAID 0, 5 and 6 arrays by detecting disk order, stripe size and parity, and when an array cannot be rebuilt it can create a virtual RAID and run a RAW signature scan against it. For virtualised systems it mounts VMDK, VDI, VHD and VHDX images and scans both visible and missing partitions inside them. NAS recovery covers Synology devices specifically, so other NAS brands are not officially supported.

What technical limitations should you know before buying?

The key limitation is that the application itself runs only on Windows; there is no native Mac or Linux build, so to recover Mac or Linux data you must connect that disk to a Windows machine running the Toolkit. NAS recovery is limited to Synology drives rather than every NAS brand. The Toolkit recovers and repairs files but is not a backup or continuous-protection tool, since it acts only after data is already lost. It also does not transfer mobile-phone data or provide remote access; it works strictly at the storage level.

Who should choose the Toolkit instead of a lower edition?

Choose the Toolkit if you regularly recover data across different operating systems and storage types rather than from a single Windows PC. Its technician license permits commercial and business deployment, which the personal Standard and Professional editions are not intended for, making it suited to IT service desks and recovery technicians. A typical case is a workshop that rebuilds a failed RAID 5 server one day and pulls photos from a client's reformatted Mac drive the next, both from the same install. A home user who only needs to undelete files from one Windows laptop is better served by a lower edition at far less cost.

Can the Toolkit recover data from a computer that will not boot?

Yes. The Toolkit can create bootable recovery media to start a crashed or unbootable Windows system and scan its drive for recoverable files. This lets you rescue data from a PC that no longer loads Windows, without first removing the disk.

Does it repair corrupt photos and videos as well as recover them?

Yes. From the Premium tier upward, including the Toolkit, it repairs corrupt photos and video files in addition to recovering deleted ones. The 2026 build widens video repair to more codec combinations, covering AVC1 and HVC1 video with several audio pairings on both Windows and macOS files.

Can it recover files larger than 4GB after formatting?

Yes. Both the regular and Deep Scan modules recover deleted files larger than 4GB from NTFS (Journaled) volumes and preserve the original folder structure after accidental or intentional formatting. This applies across FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, Linux EXT4 and HFS+ file systems.