DiskInternals Partition Recovery vs PhotoRec
DiskInternals Partition Recovery
diskinternals.com
PhotoRec
cgsecurity.orgSide by side
| Figure | DiskInternals Partition Recovery | PhotoRec |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $219.95/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Spec score · Data recovery software | 8.7 (#13) | 8.7 (#11) |
| File systems | Supported file systems include NTFS, FAT, ReFS, Ext2/3/4, and others, with recovery modes varying by file-system type. | The page lists FAT, NTFS, exFAT, ext2/ext3/ext4, and HFS+ among file systems from which PhotoRec can recover files. |
| Founded | 2004 | 1998 |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Memory card recovery | Yes | Yes |
| Operating systems | Windows (application); Linux and macOS file systems supported as sources; application may run on Linux or macOS through Wine | Windows; Linux; macOS; DOS; FreeBSD; NetBSD; OpenBSD; Solaris; other Unix systems |
| Privacy | The privacy policy says the company does not disclose individual user information to third parties except for legal process or personal-safety reasons. | CGSecurity says TestDisk and PhotoRec do not connect to the Internet or send information about the user, computer, or data. |
| RAID recovery | Yes | Yes |
| Recovery sources | HDDs,SSDs,external drives,USB flash drives,memory cards,disk images and supported virtual/forensic containers; readable logical sources exposed from RAID,NAS,SAN,or Windows Dynamic Disks; remote Ext2/3/4 over SFTP | hard disks; CD-ROMs; memory cards; USB memory drives; DD raw images; EnCase E01 images |
Plans
DiskInternals Partition Recovery
- Business$219.95 a month
- Personal$39.95, paid once
- Business$219.95, paid once
- Are you a pro?Priced on request
In their own words
DiskInternals Partition Recovery
DiskInternals Partition Recovery scans readable storage for files on lost, deleted, formatted, RAW, inaccessible, corrupted, or damaged Windows partitions. Its recovery modes include Fast recovery, Reader mode, and Full recovery, which uses deep scanning and virtual file-system reconstruction. Sources include HDDs, SSDs, external and USB drives, memory cards, disk images, supported virtual or forensic containers, and readable logical storage exposed from RAID, NAS, SAN, or Windows Dynamic Disks. Remote Ext2/3/4 sources are accessible over SFTP.
Supported file systems include NTFS, FAT, ReFS, and Ext2/3/4, with recovery modes varying by type. The software supports MBR, GPT, and EFI layouts. Its evaluation version allows scanning, reviewing results, and previewing supported files, but saving or exporting recovered files requires a license. Source access is read-only: the software says it does not rewrite or repair the original partition. The application is for Windows; Linux and macOS file systems can be used as sources, and the application may run on those systems through Wine. Pricing starts at $39.95 one-time.
PhotoRec
PhotoRec is a free file recovery program for retrieving lost videos, documents, archives, and pictures from storage media and disk images. It searches the underlying data instead of relying on the file system, which can help after file-system damage or reformatting. It recognizes more than 480 file extensions across about 300 file families, and listed file systems include FAT, NTFS, exFAT, ext2/ext3/ext4, and HFS+.
Supported sources include hard disks, CD-ROMs, memory cards, USB drives, raw disk images, and EnCase E01 images. PhotoRec runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, DOS, several BSD systems, Solaris, and other Unix systems. It accesses the recovery drive or card in read-only mode; recovered files should go to a different partition. The portable download runs after extracting its archive, without an installer. QPhotoRec provides a graphical interface, while PhotoRec can also run from scripts or batch files with command-line options. The maker says it usually cannot recover original filenames and does not work well with ReiserFS.