Disk Drill Review: A Complete Data Recovery Solution

Losing data can be troublesome, especially when you don’t have a backup of the lost files. In such a scenario, people generally turn towards data recovery software as they seem to be the only feasible solution to recover deleted data without backup. If you too have lost your important files and now looking for good data recovery software for Windows or Mac then you are at the right place. In this article, I bring to you the review of Disk Drill, a premium data recovery software that provides a complete data recovery solution including data recovery, protection, and backup. So let’s start the review, shall we?

Disk Drill is available for both Windows and Mac. However, for the purpose of this review, we have tested Disk Drill for Windows on our Windows 10 PC. 

Disk Drill Review

Quick links to specific parts of the article:

• Disk Drill Overview
• System Requirements And Compatibility
• Disk Drill Installation
• Dashboard
• How To Use Disk Drill
• Disk Drill Features
• Performance
• Disk Drill Pricing 
• Final Verdict
• FAQs

Disk Drill Overview

Disk Drill is an advanced data recovery software that not just recovers deleted data of all types but also provides you a solution to protect and backup your important files. The software has an exclusive Recovery Vault feature that works as a recycle bin and stores your important files in it. In case of data loss, you can recover the files from the vault in just one click without even running the scan.

Besides that, the software also provides a backup opportunity using which you can create a byte to byte backup image of your drive. It is helpful in case your hard drive gets damaged or you don’t have physical access to your drive anymore. Overall, Disk Drill is a one-stop-shop for all issues related to data loss and you must give it a try before moving on to some other data recovery software.

System Requirements And Compatibility

In terms of system requirements, the software does not have a huge list of requirements and can easily run on any computer that has at least 128 MB of RAM and 30 MB of free space in the hard disk for installation. Also, it is compatible with both Windows and macOS so you don’t need to worry about whether it will support your operating system or not. It works on all Windows PCs that are running on Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, or XP. While the Macbook should be running on version 10.11 or above for the software to be functional on it. Put simply, Disk Drill works smoothly on all computers and has no compatibility issues as such.

Disk Drill Installation

Installing this software on your computer is as simple as it gets. You just have to visit the official website of CleverFiles and download the Disk Drill software from there. You can either download the free trial which lets you recover up to 500 MB of data for free of cost or you can select the Upgrade to Pro option to buy the software. Once the software is downloaded, you just have to follow the basic software installation procedure to install Disk Drill on your device.

Dashboard

The dashboard of Disk Drill is divided into three parts, left, center, and right-side panel. The left panel consists of different features of the software including Data Recovery, Data Protection, and Drive Backup. You also get to see the recently scanned drives and the option to load previously saved scan sessions on the left side. On the other hand, the central part of the dashboard displays hard drives and externally connected devices to your computer. From here you have to select the memory location you want to scan for data recovery.

Lastly, the right side of the dashboard shows info about the selected drive and allows you to select the recovery method i.e. quick scan or deep scan. Once you have selected the drive and are ready to scan it you can click on the Search for lost data button on the bottom right side of the dashboard. Overall, the dashboard of the software is well thought off and is easy to use and understand.

How To Use Disk Drill

Disk Drill is a simple yet robust software that can recover any of your lost data in just three simple steps. Here’s a step-by-step working of Disk Drill and how it restores the deleted files.

Step 1: Select The Drive

The first thing you need to do in order to recover the lost data is to select the location from where it was lost. If the data was lost from any of your external devices then you need to connect the device to your computer first. Once you have selected the location, you will see all the information related to it on the right side of the dashboard. From here you can select recovery methods like Quick Scan, Deep Scan, etc. After selecting the recovery method click on the Search for lost data button to start the scanning process.

Step 2: Locate The Recovered Files

Once the scanning process completes you need to locate the files you want to recover. Since there will be thousands of unwanted files recovered along with your desired files you need to apply filters in order to locate your files in quick time. You can also search for the file by its name if you remember it.

Step 3: Restore The Files To Your Computer

Once you have located the file you can see its preview on the right-side panel. If the file does not show a preview then it means that it may not have recovered properly. Nonetheless, after you have found the files that you want to recover, you can select all of them and click on the Recover button. With this, all the selected files will be restored on your computer under the folder of your choice.

Overall, recovering the lost and deleted data using Disk Drill is just three steps away. It’s quick, easy, and effective all at the same time.

Disk Drill Features

1. Recover All Types Of Data And From All Devices

Using Disk Drill you can retrieve deleted files from almost every type of storage or media device. It can recover data from your PC’s internal hard drive or externally connected devices such as Pendrive, SD cards, SSD’s and more. However, the Windows version of this software cannot recover data from your phone’s internal storage. So if you have lost data from your smartphone then Disk Drill for Windows is not meant for you. In such a case, you can make use of data recovery software for smartphones such as EaseUS MobiSaver for Android and Stellar Data Recovery For iPhone. However, if you are a Mac user then you are in luck as you can recover data straight from your phone’s local storage in Disk Drill For Mac.

Besides recovery from multiple devices, Disk Drill also empowers you to recover multiple file types which include videos, photos, audios, documents, etc. Bottom line is, with Disk Drill on your side you can recover any type of data that may have been deleted from any kind of storage device.

2. Recovery Vault

The Recovery Vault is an exclusive feature of Disk Drill that you hardly get to see on any other data recovery software. With this feature, you can safeguard the most important files and folders available on your PC from accidental deletion. You can consider it like a bank vault where you store your most valuable assets.

In case of deletion, the Recovery Vault enables you to quickly restore the deleted files (stored in the vault) without even running the scan. It saves a lot of time and also eliminates the risk of not being able to recover the deleted files due to overwriting.

3. Byte To Byte Backup

The Byte To Byte Backup feature of Disk Drill allows you to create a byte-level image of your hard disk. You can use this image to recover data from it in case you lose your drive or it gets damaged beyond scanning. As mechanical hard drives or SSDs both are at equal risk of getting damaged,  it’s important that you keep an image of the disk on your computer so that you can later recover data from it.

4. Preview And Filters

Preview and filter options are available on almost every data recovery software which helps you to locate and validate the recovered data. However, the preview function on Disk Drill is the best I have seen on any software yet. It shows you a clear preview of photos, audio, video, and documents so that you can verify whether the files are properly recovered or not.

The filter option on the other hand makes it easy for you to find or locate the desired files for quick recovery. On Disk Drill you can search for your file by its name or can sort the files by their size or time of deletion.

5. Save And Load Scan Sessions

Data recovery is a complex procedure hence it may take several hours before you can actually recover all your lost data using data recovery software. Therefore you get a Save and Load Scan feature on Disk Drill using which you can stop an ongoing scan in the middle and then start the scan from the same point later.

This feature has two benefits: the first, you don’t have to complete the entire scan in one sitting as you can complete the scan in multiple sessions. The second is you can pause an ongoing scan in the middle and recover the files if you have already found the data you were looking for. This way you don’t have to wait for the entire scan to complete in order to retrieve the recovered files.

6. Reconstructs The Files

Disk Drill has this amazing feature where it tries to reconstruct or repair files that are partially overwritten or has incomplete metadata. If you cannot find your desired data under found files, you can search for them under the Reconstructed labels of Disk Drill. Overall, it’s a great feature but not that effective, there’s only a 50 % chance that it can properly reconstruct corrupted or overwritten files.

Performance

In terms of performance, the software worked really well and has stood up to all its promises. I have tried it on a formatted hard drive that used to be the main hard disk of one of my old PC.

So basically the hard drive had all types of data stored on it prior to deletion like operating system, photos, audios, videos, software, documents, and more. All of this data was stored on separate partitions on the hard drive and surprisingly Disk Drill recovered most of it( almost 80% to 85% of all lost files). However, this number can go up or down in your case as there is no surety of the same results in everyone’s case.

From my test, I have concluded that Disk Drill supports the recovery of deleted photos, audios, videos, and other file types from all memory devices. It can even recover data from deleted partitions and corrupted drives that may have got corrupted due to a virus attack. Overall, Disk Drill is a perfect data recovery tool that provides great performance and recovers all the data for you. It does take longer to recover all the data, but then every data recovery software does.

Disk Drill Pricing

Unlike other data recovery software that allows you to choose between monthly, yearly, and lifetime plans, Disk Drill only comes with a lifetime plan that costs $89 for the Pro version and $499 for the Enterprise version for both Mac and Windows operating systems. The Pro version is aimed towards the normal users while the enterprise version of the software helps large enterprises meet their data recovery needs. You can also pay an extra $29 and $99 for the Pro and Enterprise version respectively to get lifetime updates.

Out of both, the Pro version is the best value for money and should fulfill all your requirements if you are a single user. However, if you run a business where data loss is unavoidable then the Enterprise version is what you should get. Irrespective of which version of the software you choose make sure you start with the trial version of the software that allows you to recover up to 500 MB of data for free. Once you are sure about buying this software then you can upgrade to any plan of your choice.

Final Verdict

So with this, I have come to an end of this Disk Drill review. I personally liked Disk Drill very much and it’s not because I am promoting it but it really deserves to be liked. It does very well at recovering lost files of all formats be it video, audio, document, and more. However, the best part about this software that makes it different from other data recovery software is its data protection and backup functionality. Using these added features you don’t just recover lost files but also protect them from losing in the future. Overall, Disk Drill is a fantastic data recovery solution that should be on top of your priority list.

FAQs

1. Is Disk Drill Free?

No, it’s not completely free, it only provides free data recovery up to 500 MB.

2. Is Disk Drill Safe To Use?

Yes, Disk Drill is completely safe to use.

3. Is Disk Drill Any Good?

Yes, it’s a really good data recovery software with a recovery rate of up to 90 %.