Disk Drill (Windows & Mac) Review: Is Disk Drill Reliable, Safe, and Free
Last Updated on July 27, 2022 by Robert Jackson

Every day there are people losing their data on digital devices like a phone, computers, USB drives, or SD cards. An accidental deletion, system corruption, and format/reset without backup are those to be blamed.
Luckily, we can easily recover those data at home with a data recovery program like Disk Drill. It can help us easily get the deleted data back to our PC, phone, drive, and SD card. A repair center is no longer a must for us.
However, a lot of problems are popping up as more people use Disk Drill instead of going to a recovery center. The complaints of the program destroying data instead of recovering it, the high cost, and leaking data can be viewed on Reddit and Quora.
For those who plan to pick it up or pay for the recovery on Disk Drill, those complaints definitely scare you away. To help you find out whether Disk Drill is truly worth a try, we manage to test the program thoroughly and come up with the following review. Read on and you can make your decision soon.
Is Disk Drill Worth It:
- Question 1: Is Disk Drill Reliable
- Question 2: Is Disk Drill Safe
- Question 3: Is Disk Drill Free
- Question 4: Are There Any Good Alternatives for Disk Drill
Question 1: Is Disk Drill Reliable
First of all, let’s solve this question: is Disk Drill reliable? As for us, the answer is yes.
The program supports all kinds of data storage devices and file systems::
- Computers: Mac, Windows(Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, Lenovo) desktop and laptop;
- Hard Drives: Internal & External, HDD, SSD;
- Mobile devices: Android phone and tablet, iPhone and iPad;
- Cards: SD and CF cards, digital cameras, microSD, miniSD;
- USB Drives: Sandisk, Samsung, Kingston, PNY, etc;
- File Systems: NTFS, HFS, FAT, exFAT, EXT3/4, etc.
According to this, as long as your computer recognizes the connected storage device, Disk Drill is able to detect and recover data on it.

Supported Data Types of Disk Drill
After clicking that Search for Lost Data button on the initial screen, you will see all the supported data formats of Disk Drill. Files like Pictures, Videos, Audio, Documents, Archivers, and a lot of other files are included.
You can then click on one icon and preview the scanned data. Check the original location of the deleted files, the file size, and the changes for recovery.
Indeed, Disk Drill will show you the possibility of it to recover every single file. So, you will know whether you can really get the data back before you make the payment.

Indeed, Disk Drill will show you the possibility of it to recover every single file. So, you will know whether you can really get the data back before you make the payment.
Hot Discussion: Can Disk Drill recover data from formatted devices?
Yes, for a newly formatted device, you can sync it to Disk Drill. The program is able to show you all the data that is stored previously on the device. You can recover the data eventually.
However, if the formatting has and it’s filled with new data, I think Disk Drill is not helpful.
Well, if you format a device, the data on it will not be gone because there are still some remaining traces there. You can still recover it before its traces are rewritten by new data.
Summary: Is Disk Drill really that good
Undoubtedly, Disk Drill is so powerful that it can get almost all your deleted and lost data back from the devices. However, we still find something that turns the experience into suffering.
One thing is its extremely time-consuming scanning process.
If you forget to choose Quick Scan instead of the default All recovery method option before you start the scan, Disk Drill will actually detect and display all the data for you, including those that you don’t need.

Take our test as example:
- A computer hard drive with 102.2GB of files: 1 hour and 20 more minutes;
- A Kingston SD card with 17.8GB of files: More than 30 minutes.
The other thing is you have to wait for the completion of the scan. Only after it’s completed can you recover data. During the scan, even if you find the target data from the list and you click the Stop button to pause the process, you can’t recover the data. It will prompt you to finish the scan first. Not considerate enough.
All in all, if the data you need is so important, use Disk Drill to recover it. It won’t let you down. But if you hate waiting, you can apply to a more flexible program that has the same power.

echoshare Data Recovery (Win/Mac)
Recover deleted, corrupted, or lost data from data storage device
Supports Video, Audio, Document, Image, Email, Archive
Covers USB drives, hard drive, Android & Camera SD Card
Compatible with NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, EXT
Question 2: Is Disk Drill Safe
After the analysis of its ability, let’s solve the safety concern now. Based on the result of our test and all the reviews we browsed online, Disk Drill is safe in general.
We didn’t find any malware, virus, or bug installed or attacked on our devices during the whole process. We’ve kept our antivirus program – McAfee on all the time.
Also, rumors say that Disk Drill will steal your data and privacy. We didn’t find the evidence to prove that. McAfee detects the internet usage of every program on the computer. From its report, we think Disk Drill will not steal your data.
After all, it has scanned more than 100 GB of data. If it wants to steal the data and transfer all back to its server, that’s going to be a huge internal usage. And McAfee or any other internet monitoring programs will never let go of that.
Question 3: Is Disk Drill Free
Disk Drill offers a free version that lets you recover up to 500MB of data. So, before you pay any penny, use the program to recover some data. You can then make the decision.
To recover more data, a subscription to the higher version is required.
Disk Drill Pro Version:
The Pro version of Disk Drill starts at $89 monthly but at that price, you’re actually paying for a lot of other features that you may not use for your whole life.
- After paying $89, you will be able to recover data on both Mac and Windows computers. This sounds perfect if you have multiple computers.
- Also, you can enjoy upgraded recovery methods: Deep Scan, Rebuild HFS+, Lost Partition Search & others.
- More than that, data loss prevention and data backup are also available ever since. Both of them will make data loss nearly impossible.
To have access to all the benefits forever, you will have to pay an extra of $29. To add up, a lifetime Pro upgrade will cost $118.

Disk Drill Enterprise Version:
Pay $499 a month, you upgrade your Disk Drill to the Enterprise version.
Being able to use Disk Drill without restriction on countless computers, this version is perfect for big companies. After subscription, all the users can enjoy all the benefits of the Pro version. Besides, you can get high-priority technical support.
With a $99 payment, you can make the subscription for a lifetime.

echoshare Data Recovery (Win/Mac)
Recover deleted, corrupted, or lost data from data storage device
Supports Video, Audio, Document, Image, Email, Archive
Covers USB drives, hard drive, Android & Camera SD Card
Compatible with NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, EXT
Question 4: Are There Any Good Alternatives for Disk Drill
Besides Disk Drill, there’re so many data recovery programs online. You have more than just one option. So, if you think Disk Drill is not the right one for you, select one from the following alternatives and start to recover your data.
Disk Drill Alternative 1: echoshare Data Recovery for Windows & Mac
First of all, let’s take a look at this lightweight data recovery kit, echoshare.
Unlike Disk Drill that’s packed with so many different features, echoshare Data Recovery features only in recovering all kinds of data from your devices. Computer hard drives for Mac and Windows, external hard drives, USB drives, and SD cards are all supported! Also, both programs support almost the same data types for data recovery.

Time-saving Data Recovery
Equipped with multiple scanning options, you’re available to decide: How does the file(s) lost and file types. As a result, the program will only scan for one or several types of data that you need. You won’t need to wait for a complete and time-consuming scan before recovering your data. A quick and flexible scanning and recovery is what it contributes!
Money-saving Data Recovery
While the least cost of the Disk Drill is $89, you only need to spend less than $24 (discount now) for echoshare’s data recovery service. You can save more than half a hundred bucks!

echoshare Data Recovery (Win/Mac)
Recover deleted, corrupted, or lost data from data storage device
Supports Video, Audio, Document, Image, Email, Archive
Covers USB drives, hard drive, Android & Camera SD Card
Compatible with NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, EXT
Disk Drill Alternative 2: EaseUS Partition Master Suite
EaseUS is another famous icon for the data recovery industry. Same as Disk Drill, it’s a program packed with multiple functions, including:
- Partition Master: To manage, resize, move, create, format, and delete partitions;
- PC Cleaner: To erase all the junk files on the PC;
- Backup & Restore: Back up all the data, system, and partitions, and restore them later;
- Data Recovery: Recover deleted and lost data;
- Remove Duplicates: Find and delete duplicate files and folders;
- PC Transfer: Transfer data, apps, and accounts.

However, it’s more considerate.
To use any features of EaseUS, you can find the access on the initial screen. Click on Data Recovery and you can start to scan for lost data and get them back in minutes.
Also, you only need to pay for the selected feature(s) only. If you want data recovery, just pay for it separately. Though a bundle purchase will come with a 20% or 30% discount.