Stellar Photo Recovery put to the test

[Joep]

Luke, if these reviews aren't meant to be here, let me know or delete.

https://www.disktuna.com/stellar-photo- ... -the-test/, goes with this video: https://youtu.be/pHCecE8tVRk.

[lcoughey]

Not a problem at all. Post away!

[ddrecovery]

No offence Joep, but you are the owner of Disktuna (great product by the way) posting a review about Stella Photo Recovery??
Is that ethical?

[Joep]

Yeah, personally I don't have problems with it. It's bloody obvious I am comparing to something I make, so not too shady IMO.

Edit:

I'd like to add t that a little. So, the way I see this, is that what I present is a test and everyone can see I test against my own software. One of the disk images I used is even publicly available. It is as transparent as can be. The opposite side of the story is that I have the strong impression that Stellar's software is spammed all over the place by pretended end users. Which I think is a lot less transparent.

The opposite side of what I am doing is 'professional' reviewers and review sites that either have nothing to report other then that the interface looks so nice because they lack the knowledge to really weigh how good a piece of software is. I get emails from bloggers and review sites every week telling me that if I pay up $150 - $650 they will write me a nice review. Sites like TopTenReviews, it's worth nothing IMO (go ask R-Studio: https://www.r-tt.com/r-studioreview_toptenreviews/) but I am convinced that they influence people looking for a solution to recover their data. And even IF they put some effort into it, it is either unrealistic or super basic scenarios (deleted file, formatted volume). I ran both my own tool and Stellar's against pretty complex cases as I receive them and allow software to really show what it's worth.

The risk is that if an end user ends up using Stellar's tool because of all positive reviews and recommendations from supposedly fellow end users comes to the conclusion his/her data is beyond recovery while there may be better options around. I am not making these spam tactics up. It happens in this forum, it happened in the forum I ran for years, it happens all over the place.

So, I can see how you can question me comparing my software against that of a competitor. But I think it is one of the few ways available to me to fight back against what I see as very dishonest practices. If the 3rd and 1st example wouldn't have ignored the 'wisdom of the crowd' which may very well be shills they wouldn't have their data (partial or not). I see public forums where tools like Stellar's or Disk Drill are presented as God's gift to mankind. It is too far from the truth to ignore.

This piece of text describes my emotion towards the subject so well: "R-Tools Technology, Inc. is an independent company of software developers. That's all we do. It's all we know how to do and it's all we want to do. We got to where we are today by developing the best software we can and facing the facts when competitors give us a run for our money. When the competition heats up, we hit the lab. We build, we test, we improve. Being one of the best at this has allowed us to become highly respected in the field of data recovery. Frankly, building better and better software is the only trick we have up our sleeve. It frustrates and saddens us that this strategy might not be good enough anymore."

Now I don't consider myself an exceptionally good software writer at all. In fact I struggle translating ideas into software but I try to do it as best as I can to fix the real life issues I encounter. I accept I am just a small player and I am happy with that even. But the business of data recovery software is sick, and it is because of players like Stellar. If they proclaim their products to be 'the best' while I think they're not, I will try to show that.

My 2 cents. Keep the change (joke: no offence taken or intended. I do see what you mean).

[lcoughey]

If the review were twisted, as done with Top Ten Reviews, or done in a way to exaggerate the abilities of his software over those he tests, I'd be concerned. But an honest test showing how an app like Stellar is nowhere near as good as their spam makes them out to be, I'm okay with that.

[ddrecovery]

Joep, please don't take this the wrong way. Your product is fantastic, this post is just about a manufacturer reviewing his own product against another. It is not about your product. This is the way I see it. When choosing the 'data dump' to use for recovery, you have the option to choose the dump of your choice. Some dumps will favor your product because of layout, file systems, file type etc, some dumps will favor other software and they may give a better result.

Do you see where I am coming from? I could never believe a review from one manufactures comparing competitive products. Your review may well be 100% accurate (and I am sure it is), but if this were Stella comparing themselves against CNW, they would inevitably come out on top in their own reviews.

So your review may seems as dishonest as the other reviews you are talking about in the above post. Hope you understand this is just my opinion of a manufacturer reviewing his own product and how the outside world may perceive that review.

[Joep]

No problem and I see your point of view. I understand it.

It's not a review, it's a test. I personally think it is different from the Stellar dishonest practices because I do not pretend not to be the author of one of the 2 tools tested in 3 very specific scenarios.

Again, I see your point, no hard feelings as far as I am concerned and thanks for you honest opinion. I like that.

[ddrecovery]

Keep up the great work Joep.