RecoverHelper vs TestDisk
RecoverHelper
recoverhelper.com
TestDisk
cgsecurity.orgSide by side
| Figure | RecoverHelper | TestDisk |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · Photo recovery software | 8.9 (#4) | 8.5 (#12) |
| Spec score · Data recovery software | 8.5 (#18) | 8.7 (#10) |
| Spec score · Photo Recovery Software | 8.4 (#10) | 7.9 (#23) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | The download page lists Windows 10/11 and macOS 64-bit desktop versions, plus an Android app for Android 8.0 or newer. | The maker lists Windows, Windows Server, Linux, Mac OS X, DOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and SunOS among supported systems. |
| Privacy | 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. | The maker says TestDisk does not connect to the internet or send information about the user, computer, or data. |
| Support | Support is provided by email and the site publishes numerous step-by-step recovery guides. | Users can request support through the forum by posting a problem description, the testdisk.log file, and information about previous partitions. |
Plans
In their own words
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.
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.