Disk Drill For Mac, Or How To Recover Deleted Files And Folders On MacOS

Thanks to utilities such as Time Machine or Arq, Mac users never face the problem of data loss, because a file can be restored at any time. But there is another category of users who believe that OS X is much more reliable than Windows, and they are insured against unexpected data loss. So it is, in principle, it is, but now the user himself is responsible for all deleted files, who could accidentally delete important information. And if such a case has come, Disk Drill will be able to recover deleted data.

Download Disk Drill Media Recovery for Mac (Mac App Store).

Start

At the first launch, you will be prompted to customize the program to suit your needs. Maximum data recovery results are guaranteed by all Disk Drill modules until data loss occurs. More detailed work on their purpose and functioning can be found by tapping on the icons with a question mark.

And there will also be an offer to study the manual. The main problem is that the local guide is not translated into Russian at all, and when using the program, you may notice flaws in localization.

Interface

In recent versions, the interface has been greatly redesigned and is significantly different from what you can see in outdated reviews and videos. The design has become more minimalistic, and when you launch the application, your eyes no longer run all over the window in search of the right button, and there were quite a few of them.

Find and recover data on Mac OS X

Now everything is simple - select the system drive (external, USB flash drive, SD card, and so on) and press the search button, after which a long scan occurs (120 GB SSD on a MacBook 13 was scanned in 15 minutes).

Disk Drill supports all not only up-to-date, but also quite outdated file systems. HFS / HFS +, FAT16 / FAT32, NTFS, EXT3, EXT4 and other formats are not scary for the program.

After the scan is finished, the utility will show all existing and reconstructed files. The recovered files will be presented not in the folders in which they were before deletion, but in categories depending on the file type: images, documents, videos, and so on.

But the whole situation is saved by the built-in search with a filter:

keywords;
data type;
approximate size;
the period in which the file was deleted.

Disk Drill works with all popular data formats, from simple video files (AVI, M4V, MKV, MOV) or Final Cut Pro files to contact databases (ABCDDB), disc images (XML, DMG) and more.

We select the files you are interested in and save to disk or mount them as a disk in the system. It's that simple! The scanning session will be saved and later the file search will be faster.

We gave an example of deep scanning, but this is far from the only mode of data retrieval:

A quick scan is an ideal tool for identifying recently deleted data. Scanning takes 10-20 seconds

Deep Scan - allows you to search not only for individual partitions, but also scan the entire disk. The procedure is quite long and you can't get off with brewing tea. The method is used if a quick scan did not give any results.
Universal search for partitions - allows you to find and recover a partition of a deleted disk.

Search for a lost HFS partition

To increase the efficiency of data search and recovery, it will not be superfluous to refer to the "Types" and "List" tabs in Disk Drill's settings.

In them, you can configure exclusions for search and display, so you can cut off the lion's share of unnecessary information.

Data protection

It's great when you can recover accidentally deleted data, but it's much better to take care of protecting your information in advance. Information will be guarded by two protection modes:

Recovery Vault - thanks to this mode, all attributes of deleted data will be stored in a special section of Disk Drill. It is possible to restore any deleted file, provided that no system data is written in its place (it is advisable to restore it immediately after the information is lost). The uniqueness of the mode lies in the fact that it is not a file backup and disk space will not be mercilessly consumed. The function is relevant for MacBooks with a small amount of onboard memory

Guaranteed recovery is a classic mode in which deleted files are backed up to a separate location. There are many attributes for more detailed customization (exclusion masks, minimum file size, storage time and space size). Ideal for those who have a large enough hard drive

Versions and cost

There are several versions of Disk Drill available at different prices and with different functionality:

Drill Disk Basic (free) - no way to recover files. The demo version of the product allows testing the functionality of the program in a limited amount.
Disk Drill Pro ($ 89 / $ 44.5) is a fully functional version of the program. It costs $ 89, but there is a 50% discount for residents of the post-Soviet space. Both amounts are sky-high, but when it comes to missing files (and some of them can be priceless), you can give the money without hesitation.
Drill Disk Enterprise ($ 399) - Enterprise edition for unlimited users and computers. Ideal for startups and large campaigns.
Disk Drill Media Recovery ($ 39.99) - Limited edition available through the Mac App Store. Due to the strict Apple policy, the program cannot get full access to the hard drive partitions and, as a result, the Recovery Vault system does not work. Files and folders are restored without problems.

conclusions

Disk Drill is one of the best data recovery utilities that can recover a huge amount of information and protect existing data from most emergency situations. The disadvantages include only the price, but this parameter is subjective. It all depends on how valuable the files are at stake.

Download Disk Drill for Mac (developer's official site).

Download Disk Drill Media Recovery for Mac (Mac App Store).

PS: You must uninstall Disk Drill directly from the program window (Settings → General → Uninstall Disk Drill).