DiskDigger vs RecoverHelper
DiskDigger
diskdigger.org
RecoverHelper
recoverhelper.comSide by side
| Figure | DiskDigger | RecoverHelper |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $19.99/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 3 |
| Spec score · Photo Recovery Software | 8.5 (#7) | 8.4 (#10) |
| Spec score · Data recovery software | 8.4 (#22) | 8.5 (#18) |
| Spec score · Photo recovery software | 8.1 (#22) | 8.9 (#4) |
| File systems | The maker lists FAT, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ReFS, ext4, and HFS+ among supported file systems. | The site lists NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, exFAT, APFS and HFS+ support, with MBR and GPT partition tables. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Headquarters | Waltham, Massachusetts, United States | Seoul, Republic of Korea |
| Privacy | The maker says DiskDigger sends no analytics or telemetry and connects to the internet only for optional license verification or when the user checks for updates. | The maker says the desktop app sends no scan results, file contents, filenames, or metadata to its servers; pairing sends a token and hashed machine ID. |
| Recovery methods | Its unified scan combines filesystem-based recovery with free-space scanning, also called carving. | It offers Quick Scan, Deep Scan, and Carving Only modes for different recovery scenarios. |
Plans
DiskDigger
- Personal license$19.99 a month
- DiskDigger personal license$14.99, paid once
In their own words
DiskDigger
DiskDigger recovers deleted files from computer-readable media, including hard drives, USB drives, memory cards, optical discs and floppy disks. It combines filesystem-based recovery with free-space scanning, and supports file systems including FAT, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ReFS, ext4 and HFS+. Recoverable items can be viewed in lists or thumbnails; previews are available for images, documents, some audio files and ZIP archives. Advanced scanning covers E01/EWF, VMDK, VHD/VHDX, VDI, QCOW2 and raw binary disk images.
The product is available for Windows, Linux, macOS and Android. Windows users can scan and preview without paying, but must purchase a personal license to save recovered files; commercial use requires a commercial license. Linux use is free, while Linux and macOS builds are described as experimental beta versions. Android's free version recovers photos and videos, with video recovery requiring root; other file types and FTP uploads are available in Pro, and non-photo recovery requires root. DiskDigger says it sends no analytics or telemetry. Recovery may fail if deleted contents have been overwritten or files are fragmented.
RecoverHelper
RecoverHelper restores deleted photos, videos and other files from computer drives and removable storage. It offers Quick Scan, Deep Scan and Carving Only modes, and lists support for more than 30 formats across photos, camera RAW, video, audio, documents and archives. Supported sources include internal and external disks, SD and microSD cards, USB drives and digital cameras. On NTFS, it rebuilds original filenames and folders; on APFS, HFS+ and raw volumes, recovery is by signature without original names. The desktop app opens the source drive read-only and requires recovered files to be saved to another drive. Each scan produces a SHA-256 manifest, an HTML report with per-format statistics and a live hex visualizer. The maker says scan results, file contents, filenames and metadata are not sent to its servers; pairing sends a token and hashed machine ID. The software is free, with no paid tiers, subscriptions or license fees. JPG and PNG recover immediately; pairing the free mobile app unlocks other formats.