Disk Drill for Windows has been a reliable solution for data loss situations for years. The software has recently been updated to version 4.0 with the addition of new functionality and an enhanced interface. Disk Drill’s developers have continued to make it easier for users to recover accidentally deleted or lost files and folders. This article will walk you through the features of this robust data recovery tool with the intention of helping you determine if it’s right for you.
Here is a table that summarizes our take on some of Disk Drill’s characteristics.
Parameter | Score (10 points) |
|---|---|
Features | 9.5 |
User Friendliness | 9.5 |
Recovery Process | 9.0 |
Support | 8.5 |
Pricing | 9.0 |
#1 Claimed Features
The features of a software application define its level of value and functionality to its user base. Let’s investigate what the developers of Disk Drill for Windows 4.0 have packed into this comprehensive data recovery program.
1.1 Recovery capabilities
The most important feature of a data recovery tool is its ability to restore lost and deleted data. Disk Drill addresses this issue with advanced scanning algorithms that will identify and restore any recoverable data on a disk-based storage device. If you have accidentally formatted a drive or partition, have a corrupt memory card, or need to restore files for an emptied Recycle Bin, Disk Drill has you covered.
The recovery process is aided by the ability to pause or save a scan and restart it at a later time. A great feature of Disk Drill is the potential to mount the results of a scan as a virtual disk to easily relocate the recovered data. Users can control the level of scanning that the tool performs. A quick scan can be run to find your files and you can let the tool run all the scanning methods in an optimal order to provide the best data recovery results.
1.2 User-Interface
Even the most powerful software tool can be useless if it is too difficult for the average user to operate. This is certainly not the case with Disk Drill. It offers users an intuitive user interface that provides easy access to all of its impressive features. The main window lets you choose between data recovery, backup or protection and displays recent scans that you can reload.
Options in the menu bar allow disks to be viewed in a detailed or tree format. You can select logical volumes or physical disks as the focus of a scan. Results of the scan are displayed in the app’s main window and can be paused or restarted with a single click.
Choosing Data Protection displays the current configuration of Recovery Vault, enabling you to make any desired changes. Disk Drill guides you through the process of making a byte-level backup that can be instrumental in recovering from a failing disk.
1.3 Additional data protection tools
The additional data protection tools that come with all of Disk Drill’s versions make it even more valuable. These features are designed to help you keep your data safe and streamline the recovery process in the event of a failing disk. Recovery Vault works like an extended Recycle Bin that protects important files and folders from accidental deletion and enables you to get them back without performing full data recovery.
Failing disks can pose difficulties when attempting to recover their data. Instead of running a full scan which may involve multiple reads and further degrade the device, you can create a byte-level backup. This only subjects your disk to a single read operation and gives you an opportunity to save the data before the device completely fails.
Feature | Disk Drill |
|---|---|
User-friendly interface | Yes |
Intuitive recovery process | Yes |
Recover deleted files | Yes |
Recover data from formatted disks or partitions | Yes |
Find lost partitions | Yes |
Recover deleted files from an emptied Recycle Bin | Yes |
Windows and macOS support | Yes |
Linux support | No |
Display scan results as a virtual disk | Yes |
Over 400 file formats supported for recovery | Yes |
Data loss prevention tools | Yes |
Recover data from any disk-based device | Yes |
Repair damaged partitions | No |
Filter recovery files for faster scanning | No |
1.4 Unique & Strong Sides
Some of the unique features that make Disk Drill stand out from its competitors are:
- Its user-friendly interface;
- Data protection tools;
- Mount scan results as a virtual disk;
- S.M.A.R.T. monitoring system;
- The ability to recover data from any disk-based storage device.
1.5 Areas for Improvement
All software can be tweaked to provide more utility to its users. Some areas for Disk Drill’s developers to consider for version 5.0 are:
- Adding support for Linux systems;
- Add the capacity to repair damaged partitions;
- Improve filtering to reduce scanning time.
#2 User Experience
Disk Drill provides a simple recovery method that will be appreciated by individuals needing to perform data recovery. The last thing you need to add to the stress of a data loss scenario is to wrestle with a complicated recovery tool. Let’s take a look at a typical data recovery using Disk Drill.
2.1 Testing Setup
For this test, we are using an HP Laptop running Windows 10. The machine has an Intel CPU running at 1.8 GHz and 8 GB of RAM. The main disk is 1 TB. Data recovery was performed on a 16 GB Wilk USB 3.0 drive attached to the machine. A few files were copied to the USB drive and then deleted prior to beginning the recovery procedure.
2.2 Recovery Process
Here are the steps we used to perform the recovery.
To recover deleted files using Disk Drill, you need to:
- Download and install Disk Drill on your Windows computer.
If you are recovering data from your machine’s main hard drive, you should perform the download and install on a removable USB flash drive to protect the recovery media. In our test case, the program is installed on the machine’s main disk.
- We connected the USB drive to the computer.
- Then we launched Disk Drill and selected the USB device from the list of available disks.
- Click the Search for lost data button to start scanning the media for recoverable files. We used the default which executes all recovery methods that are appropriate for the device. You can modify the scanning techniques used on a particular recovery.
- A window appears that displays a status bar which shows the scan’s progress. It identifies the number and type of files that Disk Drill has found and that can be recovered. Files can be previewed before starting the actual recovery. Just select the Show preview panel view from the View dropdown on the menu bar.
- The scan completed and found the files we had previously deleted. They were selected before proceeding with the next step, which was done by clicking the Recover button.
- At this point, we selected a storage location at which to save the recovered data. We avoided the original disk for the saved files as this can lead to corruption or overwriting during the recovery process.
- Once this is done, click the OK button to perform the recovery.
That’s all there is to it. Your files should now be in their new location and you can rest easy that the valuable data is not gone forever.
2.3 Performance
It took about 9 minutes to scan the USB drive with all scanning methods. Recovery performance is dependent on several moving parts that cannot be controlled by the recovery application. Different drive speeds and the type and size of the files to be recovered can impact the amount of time it takes to scan the disk.
The scanning timing display indicated it would take several hours to complete a scan of the main hard drive. We did not conduct the full scan of that drive at this time. A quick scan of the drive completed in about five minutes and reported a number of recoverable files that were recognizable as being previously deleted from the Recycle Bin.
2.4 Results
We were very pleased with the scan results. All of the files purposely deleted from the USB drive were successfully recovered. The quick scan of the main hard drive found files previously deleted and long forgotten. They were available for recovery if we wanted to get them back.
#3 Pricing & Licensing
There are several pricing options available that allow Disk Drill users to obtain exactly what they need from the tool.
Version | Price | Limitations or Perks | Primary usage scenario |
|---|---|---|---|
Basic Version | Free | 500 MB recovery; | Testing the application for small data recovery tasks. |
Pro Version | $89 | Unlimited recovery; | Best for a single user with large data recovery requirements. |
Enterprise Version | $499 | Unlimited recovery; | Appropriate for company-wide data recovery. |
Check out the CleverFiles download site where you may be able to take advantage of a discount when purchasing Disk Drill. The Pro and Enterprise versions of Disk Drill for Windows 4.0 include a license for Disk Drill for macOS. For the price of one application you can protect yourself from data loss on the two most popular home computing environments.
#4 Customer support
There is an extensive knowledge base and access to FAQs that will help you with most of the issues you may run into with Disk Drill. To access these documents, just click Help in the upper-right of the app’s main window. Email support is available at this link. Enterprise version owners can take advantage of enhanced, priority customer support.
Disk Drill for Windows & macOS Free Download
#5 Similar Products to Disk Drill
Here’s a quick overview of how Disk Drill stands up to some of its competitors in the world of data recovery software.
Parameter | Disk Drill | EaseUS Data Recovery | Stellar Data Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|
Recovery interface and usability | 9.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
Recovery capabilities | 9.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
Data protection tools | Yes | No | No |
Recovery file thumbnail preview | Yes | No | No |
File formats supported | Over 400 | Over 1000 | Over 200 |
Free macOS recovery with paid versions | Yes | No | No |
RAID recovery | No | No | Yes |
Pricing | Flexible pricing terms are available | Subscriptions are required. | Flexible pricing terms are available |
Support | Email and knowledge base | Email, knowledge base, and phone | Email, knowledge base, and phone |
FAQ
Yes. Disk Drill is safe and will not make any changes to your disks during data recovery. It is completely safe to simply scan your disk. One caution is to use a different disk for running Disk Drill and saving restored files than the disk with the lost files.
You can obtain that activation code for a full version of Disk Drill from within the app or by visiting the CleverFiles website.
Follow this procedure to uninstall Disk Drill for Windows.
- Open Control Panel.
- Go to “Programs and Features” or “Uninstall a program”, depending on the view selected.
- Locate Disk Drill, select it, and click Uninstall.
Conclusion
Based on our review of Disk Drill versus some of its competitors, we believe it is the best solution for Windows data recovery. It has advanced features that will recover all of your data and is designed to be used by anyone with its intuitive interface. It removes additional stress from the data recovery process.
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface for a simplified data recovery experience
- Powerful recovery capabilities for all disk-based storage devices
- Supports all Windows version
- Additional data protection and backup tools
- S.M.A.R.T. disk monitoring
Cons
- Does not support the Linux operating system
- Full scans using all available methods can be time-consuming
- No phone support
Disk Drill can be evaluated for free by downloading the trial version. This enables you to use the data protection tools and recover up to 500 MB of data before committing to a paid version. We recommend it for any Windows user who has fallen victim to data loss. It will get your data back effectively and efficiently.
