Disk Drill vs TestDisk
Disk Drill
cleverfiles.com
TestDisk
cgsecurity.orgSide by side
| Figure | Disk Drill | TestDisk |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $7.42/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 1 |
| Spec score · Data recovery software | 9.1 (#2) | 8.7 (#10) |
| Spec score · Photo recovery software | 9.2 (#2) | 8.5 (#12) |
| Spec score · Photo Recovery Software | 9.1 (#2) | 7.9 (#23) |
| Spec score · SD Card Recovery Software | 9.0 (#3) | 7.8 (#27) |
| Spec score · Partition Recovery Software | 9.1 (#2) | 7.8 (#18) |
| Spec score · Partition recovery software | 9.2 (#2) | 8.5 (#5) |
| Spec score · RAID Data Recovery Software | 9.1 (#2) | 7.8 (#12) |
| Spec score · SD card recovery software | 9.1 (#4) | 8.5 (#12) |
| Bootable recovery | Yes | Yes |
| Founded | 2011 | 1998 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Memory card recovery | Yes | Yes |
| Operating systems | macOS 10.15+; Windows 10+ | Windows; macOS; Linux; DOS; FreeBSD; NetBSD; OpenBSD; SunOS |
| File preview | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | Disk Drill scans storage devices to find and recover deleted, lost, or damaged files. | TestDisk helps recover lost partitions and make non-booting disks bootable again when the cause is faulty software or human error. |
| RAID recovery | Yes | Yes |
| Recovery sources | Internal and external hard drives,SSDs,USB flash drives,SD/CF cards,memory cards,digital cameras,virtual hard drives,RAID arrays,disk images | hard drives; USB drives; memory cards; disk images; DAS; SAN; Linux RAID devices |
| Support | CleverFiles says its technical support team operates in CES and EST time zones and provides do-it-yourself recovery support worldwide. | Users can request support through the forum by posting a problem description, the testdisk.log file, and information about previous partitions. |
Plans
Disk Drill
- BasicFree
- PRO Subscription$89 a year
- PRO Lifetime License$149, paid once
- EnterprisePrice not published
- Disk Drill BasicFree
- Disk Drill EnterprisePriced on request
- Disk Drill PRO Lifetime LicensePrice not published
- Disk Drill PRO One-Year SubscriptionPrice not published
In their own words
Disk Drill
Disk Drill scans storage devices to find and recover deleted, lost, or damaged files. It runs on macOS 10.15 or later and Windows 10 or later, and supports internal and external drives, SSDs, USB drives, memory cards, cameras, RAID arrays, virtual disks, and disk images. The free Basic edition scans storage and previews recoverable files; Windows users can recover up to 100 MB without upgrading. PRO provides unlimited data recovery and recovery methods including Quick & Deep Scan and Lost Partition Search. It also covers both supported operating systems under one license, with activation on up to three devices by one user. The free edition includes Recovery Vault metadata protection and byte-level backups. PRO costs $89 a year for an annual subscription or $149 as a one-time purchase for a lifetime license. PRO is for personal use, while Enterprise is listed for multiple users and includes priority technical support and forensic data export. PRO purchases are non-refundable except where consumer protection laws require refunds.
TestDisk
TestDisk is free, open-source software for recovering lost partitions and helping disks boot again when faulty software or human error causes the problem. It can repair partition tables, recover deleted partitions, rebuild or restore FAT and NTFS boot sectors, fix FAT tables, and repair an MFT using its mirror. For file recovery, it can undelete files from FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2, or copy files from deleted FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2/ext3/ext4 partitions. Listed partition-recovery formats also include APFS, HFS+, XFS and ZFS. It works with hard drives, USB drives, memory cards, disk images, DAS, SAN and Linux RAID devices. The portable application is used by extracting its files; no installer is required. Listed operating systems include Windows, macOS, Linux, DOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and SunOS. TestDisk is licensed under GNU GPL v2 or later. The maker says it does not connect to the internet or send information about the user, computer or data. The download page lists version 7.2 dated February 22, 2024, and 7.3-WIP as beta.