Disk Drill for Mac Full Review: What Is It, How It Works, Versions Differences
As any Mac user knows, losing critical data can be devastating. If you don't want to start working again, then you can only get them back with the help of Mac data recovery software. This is where Disk Drill for Mac comes in. Despite its effectiveness, many are still curious about the specifics – what kind of data can be recovered by Disk Drill, how long it takes, or what security measures it offers. To ease your worries, we've scouted out the most common questions about the Disk Drill Mac to help you understand it better. We've also conducted an in-depth review of Disk Drill for Mac so you can make an informed choice about it and take full advantage of its features.
- Quick Navigation
- Part 1. What is Disk Drill?
- Part 2. Does Disk Drill work on Mac?
- Part 3. Key Features of Disk Drill for Mac
- Part 4. How Do I Download Disk Drill for Mac?
- Part 5. Disk Drill Media Recovery VS. Non-App-Store Edition
- Part 6. What’s the difference between Disk Drill and Disk Drill Pro?
- Part 7. Does Disk Drill for Mac Work for Free?
- Part 8. How Do I Use Disk Drill Media Recovery?
- Part 9. Disk Drill for Mac price is high? Where can I get a cheap one? Or is there any alternative?
- Part 10. Frequently asked questions about using Disk Drill for Mac
What is Disk Drill?
From its official introduction, Disk Drill is a powerful tool that can scan, recover and protect data on virtually any storage device, such as computer internal and external hard drives, cameras, iPods, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. It can recover lost pictures, music, documents, applications, videos, and other data. Disk Drill comes with two scanning modes to scan data on storage devices.
- 🔍 "Quick Scan" and "Search Lost Partition" can recover previously deleted data if their metadata is still stored in the file system.
- 🩺 "Deep Scan" operates at a low level and analyzes the disk as a binary entity. It can retrieve data based on the signature of the file. However, the original file name, location, and attributes may not be recovered.
Does Disk Drill work on Mac?
If you’re a Mac user, you're in luck! Disk Drill provides an excellent solution for data recovery on Mac computers. With it, you can resume lost files from any storage device. On top of this, Disk Drill for Mac can provide data protection, backup, cleaning, and other additional functions. With it, Mac users never have to worry about permanently losing their valuable data again. If you’re a Windows user, please check Disk Drill for Windows to learn the corresponding information.
Key Features of Disk Drill for Mac
Disk Drill is an excellent option for Mac users looking for an effective and reliable file recovery tool. This powerful yet straightforward program makes restoring lost files incredibly easy. However, it's not perfect. Here are the results of our hands-on testing of it:
- 🗂️ File Types: It can recover almost all file types like photos, videos, documents, audio, archives, executables, etc.
- ⚙️ Storage Devices: It can recognize most storage devices except RAID disks, network hard drives, and encrypted volumes.
- 💽 File system: Can work on drives based on APFS, HFS/HFS+, exFAT, NTFS, FAT, EXT3/4, and other file systems. But the resiliency against APFS volumes is less than others.
- 🏷️ Applicable scenarios: accidental deletion, emptying the Trash, formatting the drive, macOS reset/upgrade, drive logic error, virus attack, partition table loss, volume deletion, etc.
- 📈 Scanning speed: Data extraction can be completed very quickly, and the scanning speed is as high as 2.67Gb/s. This is better than other software in the same category.
- 📊 Recovery rate: We tested different scenarios, and the final recovery rate is as high as 95.74%. But, the recovery success rate for video files is low.
- 😀 Ease of use: Very simple user interface. You only need a few clicks to complete the recovery work. Especially the found files are classified to find the target files faster.
Overall, with Disk Drill, you can avoid any data loss nightmare by restoring most items safely and efficiently.
How Do I Download Disk Drill for Mac?
With more than 10-year brand history and successful marketing strategy, like acquiring Pandora Data Recovery and 7 Data Recovery, Disk Drill for Mac appears everywhere over the internet. You can see different versions of Disk Drill for Mac on download sites, IT review sites and individual websites.
However, locating and downloading the correct software version for Mac is a guessing game. Thankfully, when looking for Disk Drill for Mac, you can always trust two options to guarantee that you're getting the most up-to-date edition: cleverfiles.com (official website) or from the Mac App Store itself. By accessing these reliable sources, you can successfully download and use Disk Drill without concerns over accuracy or safety.
Tip: There are big differences between the App Store version and the official version.
Disk Drill Media Recovery VS. Non-App-Store Edition
You can save time by downloading Disk Drill for Mac from Mac App Store. Before getting down to it, you should know that Disk Drill for Mac on App Store is named Disk Drill Media Recovery. There are many differences between it and the non-App-Store edition. From the chart below, you can see the differences. In a word, Disk Drill Media Recovery is sandboxed and has fewer features to meet Apple's MAS guidelines.
- Disk Drill Media Recovery
- Disk Drill for Mac (Normal Edition)
- iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Android data recovery
- Recover Files from Mac Internal Hard Drive
- Creating bootable recovery drives
- Better damaged drive recovery
- Recovery vault
- Disk health monitoring
- Mac clean up
- Duplicate file finder
- Private data eraser
- Latest macOS 13 Ventura
- Price
- $39.99
- Pro $89.00, Enterprise $499.00
- Available to be downloaded from
- Mac App Store
- Official website
Disk Drill Media Recovery has been updated to support macOS 12 Monterey. Disk Drill officially suggests people download the non-App-Store edition.
What’s the difference between Disk Drill and Disk Drill Pro?
Disk Drill's basic version, also named the free version, lets users recover up to 500MB of data. If users want to get unlimited files or over 500MB, they must subscribe to Disk Drill Pro or Disk Drill for Enterprise. It means Disk Drill Pro unlocks the full features of Disk Drill's basic free version.
For other features, like data backup, duplicate file finder, disk cleanup, and data shredder, it's free to use in Disk Drill.
Does Disk Drill for Mac Work for Free?
No, Disk Drill doesn’t work for free. Though the basic version of Disk Drill for macOS is claimed to be data recovery freeware, it only recovers up to 500MB of files. It scans hard disk, displaying recoverable files for you, letting you know which files you can recover by upgrading to Disk Drill Pro or Disk Drill Enterprise.
How Do I Use Disk Drill Media Recovery?
Compared with the non-App-Store edition, Disk Drill Media Recovery lacks features. However, the process of recovering data is the same. If you're using Disk Drill for macOS edition for iPhone data recovery, iPad data recovery, or Android data recovery, you should connect the device to Mac first. After that, follow the steps below.
- Download and install the Disk Drill on your Mac. While installing the software, you might be asked to enter the administrator's password. Do it and confirm you have installed Disk Drill for Mac successfully.
- Launch Disk Drill for Mac and select the disk from where you have lost files. After locating the disk, click the "Search for lost data" button to start the drive scanning process.
- After a while, you will see a list of recoverable files. Click them to preview.
- Choose the specific ones you wish to restore and click the "Recover" button for the second time. This will recover and restore your files on the disk.
Disk Drill for Mac price is high? Where can I get a cheap one? Or is there any alternative?
Disk Drill for macOS is a comprehensive tool containing data recovery, Mac cleanup, duplicate finder, and file shredder. The price of $89 is the highest one among data recovery tools. If you just want to restore the lost files, you can choose the following Disk Drill for Mac alternatives. Some are free data recovery tools, and some are shareware. You can choose what suits you.
- iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac
- Pros:
- Supports data recovery from over 2000+ devices.
- Recovers more than 1000+ file types.
- Rescue data was lost in 500 scenarios.
- Very friendly to individuals.
- Recover up to 500MB of files for free.
- Cons:
- It has fewer features than Disk Drill for Mac (Only data recovery and data repair features are available).
- TestDisk for Mac
- Pros:
- It is multiple-platform software supporting macOS, Windows, and Linux.
- It can rebuild the boot sector, such as FAT32.
- Restores files from devices in different file systems, like exFAT, FAT, NTFS, etc.
- Cons:
- It has no UI, not friendly to novices.
- PhotoRec
- Pros:
- Freeware, no charge.
- The read-only data recovery process protects privacy.
- A perfect photo recovery software tool.
- Cons:
- Only experts can use it, and it is not friendly to ordinary people.
- No data preview before data recovery.
- Data Rescue for Mac
- Pros:
- Easy to use
- It can clone drives for faster scanning.
- Cons:
- Slow scan
- It cannot display scan results by file type.
- Exif Untrasher
- Pros:
- High photo recovery success rate.
- It's free to use.
- It’s updated to support the latest macOS.
- Cons:
- It only supports JPEG photo recovery
- Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac
- Pros:
- Very simple user interface for individuals.
- Great technical support.
- High data recovery speed.
- Cons:
- For the trial version, not all data can be previewed.
- Users have to buy the full version to recover data.
iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac is a professional tool focusing on data rescue and repair. It is developed with the most advanced algorithm to detect lost and deleted data in 2 scanning modes: Quick Scan and Deep Scan. It can repair corrupted videos, pictures, and documents while scanning them by collecting and matching the data information. Compared with other shareware data recovery software, this one is easy to operate and comes at a lower price.
TestDisk is a powerful alternative to Disk Drill for macOS. It is open-source software, not require any purchase. It is developed for an expert who knows computer techniques very well. It allows the recovery of data from lost partitions and the reboot of unbootable disks. It is a perfect solution for partition recovery.
PhotoRec is the companion of TestDisk. It is also a free alternative to Disk Drill for macOS. More than photos, it can recover a wide variety of file types, including multimedia, documents, archives, and more. It is a perfect solution for digital camera photo recovery by supporting various branded digital cameras, like Canon, Olympus, and Nikon.
Like most data recovery software, Data Rescue for Mac only provides a free demo version that allows users to scan and preview lost/deleted files on Mac internal or external hard drives. After that, users must purchase the full version to recover the needed data.
Exif Untrasher for macOS, a file Mac recovery tool, can recover deleted JPEG photos from your devices. Compared with other data recovery software, Exif Untrasher is extremely useful for recovering .jpeg files, even when the camera's memory card has been formatted. A must-have tool for people who like to take photos daily.
Cisdem Data Recovery is a powerful alternative to Disk Drill for macOS. It supports various files recovering from Mac internal and external hard drives. It scans hard drives with high speed, quickly letting people know the scanning result.
Frequently asked questions about using Disk Drill for Mac
When starting with new software, it's normal to have questions, and Disk Drill for Mac is no exception. That's why we've compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions about it, so you can quickly find answers that pertain to your usage.
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A: Yes, Disk Drill is safe. Disk Drill has been developed for more than ten years. The developer has spent a long time fixing the errors and making them stable. It functions very well and is safe. However, you're still suggested to get the version from the official place. After ten years of brand marketing, Disk Drill for macOS is available to download everywhere. Nobody can ensure you've gotten the right one on the internet except its official places.
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A: It charges $89 if you want a lifetime upgrade, an extra $29 is needed, namely $118 in total.
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A: The license is not a lifetime. If you haven't paid $29 for the Lifetime upgrade guarantee of any version of Disk Drill, you will not be able to upgrade to the new versions when they’re available.
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A: It is a reliable and intuitive data recovery software that helps to restore accidentally deleted files, recover lost data from corrupt or damaged storage devices, and more.
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A: It offers users powerful features such as data protection, disk health monitoring, data backups, and much more.
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A: For those wishing to install the Disk Drill data recovery software for Mac devices, rest assured, knowing that the system requirements are relatively low. It only requires a 64-bit Intel processor, 10.6 or a higher macOS version, and 500 MB of free storage space.
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A: It is a read-only software and will not collect any information from you. But when restoring data, please do not save it in the original drive. This effectively avoids data overwriting.
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A: You did not find the lost files after completing the scan. At this point, you need to contact the client and detail your situation. Then Disk Drill will arrange for a technician to help you. If the target data still cannot be found, then it may be overwritten by other files, and the recovery fails.
Conclusion
Disk Drill is a good choice if you're looking for a comprehensive solution to data recovery on macOS. It can help recover deleted files on Mac or format recovery. However, It is not the best, and there are still alternatives to Disk Drill, which can help you rescue data if you are willing to spend some time knowing them. Technology has changed our lives, and we can have a better life if we get the right tools for help.