How reliable and safe is Disk Drill compared to other tools?

#1 · February 9, 2026, 4:13 pm

Hi everyone. I’m trying to recover a few files from an SD card right now, so I’ve been looking for software that can actually do the job. While searching around, Disk Drill keeps coming up over and over as one of the best options for data recovery.

At the same time, I’ve also run into a lot of opposite opinions. On Reddit especially, there are plenty of threads claiming Disk Drill is a scam, overpriced junk, or even unsafe. So I wanted to ask here instead of trusting random comments. Has anyone here actually used Disk Drill themselves? Is it worth paying for the license if the files matter? And most importantly, is Disk Drill safe to use, or are there any real risks involved?

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this and reply.

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#2 · February 9, 2026, 5:09 pm

What do you mean by safe exactly? I often encounter questions is Disk Drill safe, but safe in what sense? (i mean for your files, for the SD card itself, or for your computer) If you download Disk Drill from the official site and not from some random mirror or sketchy link, I don’t really see why it wouldn’t be safe.

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#3 · February 9, 2026, 7:54 pm

I’m thinking about all of that. On Reddit there are a lot of claims saying it asks for admin privileges, which in theory could mess with data, others say it’s basically a virus, and some people just call it completely useless. I don’t really believe that this many complaints appear out of nowhere and at the same time, I keep wondering why it’s still so widely recommended if it’s really that bad ( that contradiction is what made me stop and ask here.)

So what I’m really trying to figure out:

- Is Disk Drill safe to download?

- Does Disk Drill contain malware or anything shady?

- Will it realistically recover my data or not?

- Can Disk Drill do anything to my files while the disk scan process?

- And in the end, is Disk Drill worth it if I have to pay for the license?

#4 · February 9, 2026, 8:39 pm

I’m not even that deep into data recovery stuff, to be honest. I usually stick to free Disk Drill alternatives like TestDisk together with PhotoRec for partition and data recovery, mostly because I’m cheap and those tools get the job done if you’re patient.

That said, it literally took me a few minutes to find an official statement from the developers saying Disk Drill does not contain malware with a relatively recent test confirming that. As for how well it actually works, just look up independent tests and comparisons. Here’s one of the first decent ones I found and it look fine to me. No tool recovers miracles, but I think this one clearly isn’t fake.

*sometimes I read threads like this and wonder did the internet get taken away from people or what? Why does everyone expect others to google everything for you?

#5 · February 9, 2026, 10:14 pm

I’ve been using Disk Drill on and off for about two years whenever I need to recover something, and I can say it’s definitely not a scam (if recovery is actually possible in your case, it usually finds what you’re looking for, so the key part here is having realistic expectations) -you can’t fully format a drive, overwrite it, and then say the software is trash because nothing came back. That’s not how data recovery works, and that’s on the user, not the tool. But one thing people often leave out is the recovery limit in the free version. For real use, Disk Drill Pro is necessary and a paid license is required if you want to recover more than a tiny amount of data (once you accept that, it’s a solid tool0

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#6 · February 10, 2026, 12:28 am

About access to your storage device, this is completely normal behavior for any data recovery software. Disk Drill isn’t doing anything special here. Tools like DMDE, DiskWarrior, or EaseUS Data Recovery all need similar access, otherwise deep scan and recovery simply won’t work. They all need low-level access to the disk to read raw blocks, not just files that the operating system already sees.

On Windows, that usually means running the app as administrator and allowing access to the physical drive (\.\PhysicalDriveX), not just a logical D: or E: volume. In practice, you click Yes on the UAC prompt, and your antivirus or Defender should not block low-level disk access or the app’s driver.
On macOS, the system is stricter by design. You need to give the app Full Disk Access in System Settings, enter an administrator password on first launch, and allow kernel/system extensions. For external drives, macOS must show the disk in Disk Utility (APFS and HFS+ scan without issues, NTFS is usually read-only, which is still fine for recovery).
On Linux, you run tools as root or with sudo and give direct access to /dev/sdX ( a similar logic applies to command-line recovery tools).

As for Disk Drill specifically, I’m on macOS, so I can only speak from that side. These two guides explain very clearly why the app asks for those permissions and what they’re used for

None of this affects your files directly. Disk Drill works in read-only mode during scans, so it reads data but doesn’t modify it.

#7 · February 10, 2026, 10:12 am

Kind of awkward to admit this, but I’m actually one of those people who used to write on Reddit that Disk Drill is complete garbage. Turns out the problem wasn’t the software. I tried to recover deleted files from an SSD that was also my system drive and completely ignored the fact that TRIM exists and at the time I didn’t even realize how brutal that is for recovery. Later I stumbled across a proper guide explaining how TRIM works, and that’s when it clicked that I was asking the tool to do something that’s basically impossible.

#8 · February 10, 2026, 12:26 pm

I’m pretty confident that Disk Drill by CleverFiles is safe to download and use as I’ve never seen any real evidence suggesting otherwise. I think that most of the 'it’s a scam' claims make a lot more sense once you look at the free version limitations, as people see Disk Drill mentioned in some best free data recovery software lists and assume it’s fully free, then they install it, run a scan, and realize a Pro version is required to actually recover files. Maybe years ago it worked differently, I’m not sure but as far as I know today, Disk Drill is clearly a paid tool, and that’s not unusual as any recovery software that actually does its job has some kind of cost attached to it.

If we’re talking truly free options, PhotoRec is the only one I’d call solid but it comes with its own quirks and a very specific way of using it and not everyone wants to deal with that.

#9 · February 10, 2026, 2:27 pm

We see that this thread has already turned into a pretty active discussion, so we wanted to add a few words from our side as well.

Disk Drill is developed by CleverFiles, a US-registered company that has been operating in the data recovery space for over 10 years. They are one of the more established players in this market. The company has a publicly available Privacy Policy that anyone can review to understand how data is handled and to verify that recovered files are not collected, transmitted, or shared. This is regulated under US law, and violating it would have serious legal consequences for them.

From our own perspective, Disk Drill is a tool we genuinely like and often recommend in our best recovery tools lists for different devices and scenarios. Before we recommend any software to users, we test it ourselves across multiple cases. Disk Drill has consistently proven to be reliable within the limits of software-based recovery.

#10 · February 10, 2026, 2:45 pm

If you really want to figure out whether a piece of software is legit, there are trusted platforms for that like Trustpilot, Capterra, G2, and similar sites exist for a reason. Personally, I don’t rely on Reddit much for questions like this. It is great for anecdotes, but it’s also a place where people love to throw stuff at the wall and call it a personal opinion. You never really know who’s behind a comment - could be a frustrated user, could be someone paid to trash a product, or just a bot farming karma. Of course, reviews on dedicated platforms aren’t perfect either, but at least there’s some moderation and accountability.

#11 · February 10, 2026, 5:02 pm

I’ll be honest, I personally really like Disk Drill. It basically saved me once when my USB flash drive suddenly showed up as RAW after I unplugged it from my PC the wrong way. I had used Recuva before and tried it again, but it didn’t help at all in that situation. Disk Drill, on the other hand, was able to scan the drive properly and even show me file previews, which was a huge relief because I could immediately see that my files were actually still there. So I genuinely don’t understand all the claims and doubts about its safety or legitimacy.

#12 · February 10, 2026, 6:08 pm

Why are you all turning this into such a big argument? Seriously.

I’ve recovered so many photos from SD cards over the years that I probably stopped counting - hundreds, maybe thousands at this point. At some point you can read reviews and Reddit threads forever, or you can just try the software yourself and see how it behaves on your data. That’s the only way you’ll actually know if it works for your case. So instead of overthinking it, just test it