So I am in the search for a very good file recovery program, however it needs to work with Linux (Fedora 20). I did hear of test disk and have it installed. I just want peoples input on how successful it is at recovering files. Thanks
ddrescue to copy retrievable data fragments from a corrupted drive to an image, and continue working with the image
exundelete to recover deleted files from ext3 & ext4
foremost to search an image for data structures & formats
photorec can retrieve a bunch of common file-formats
testdisk the one you mentioned already
Success depends mostly on your luck if your damaged storage device has eaten just the partition table you'll probably get your files back, if the corruption eat your files, their gone, no program will recover from that.
The most successful way of getting your files back from a damaged storage device is to just forgo the hole rescue operation and retrieve it from your backup
There is No substitute for a Backup.
Depends on what kind of file recovery?
Everything is available in free and open source on linux. From simple recovery tools for garden and kitchen use to advanced carving tools to recover data from for instance wilfully destroyed storage devices.
Easy thing to do is to get the meta packages with tools from Fedora's (community but discontinued because RedHat) "Fedora Security" distro. An alternative is to download Fedora Security and use it the way it's supposed to be used, as a live distro. You could also get Kali Linux as a live distro and have the same tools at your disposal, which is what I would recommend because Kali is more user friendly than Fedora Security.
if you are looking for a HDD fixing software, try SpinRite. it doesn't run in linux but has it's own FreeDOS boot and is stand alone.
it is a drive fixing and maintenance tool. it keeps the Disk platters fresh, and inline with the head tracks.
how good it works, i haven't had platter/sector issues with any of my drives, just a few hard drive failures that no software can fix.
https://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm