Free Hard Drive Recovery Software

Your first reaction may be to panic when you find you have accidentally deleted files from your hard drive. There’s no need to worry if you have effective hard drive recovery software like Disk Drill. This comprehensive application lets you recover files from a hard drive on your Windows system with a few simple clicks. So relax and read on to find out how to quickly and easily recover deleted files.

Free Download

You can also recover deleted files on Mac

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We are going to show you how Disk Drill can help you get back deleted files from your hard drive for free. This software tool is filled with features that make data recovery easy and help protect your important files. We will talk about what Disk Drill can and can’t do as well as the devices and file formats the app supports. Read on to see how this data recovery solution can help you restore your lost data.

Disk Drill - Powerful Yet Simple Hard Drive
Recovery Software

Disk Drill is the creation of the technical team at CleverFiles and has been helping users with hard drive recovery for over ten years. The application combines sophisticated recovery algorithms wrapped in a user-friendly interface that enables any user to recover data that was lost or accidentally deleted.

Disk Drill is packed with features that make it an excellent tool for recovering and protecting your valuable data. Some highlights include:

Intuitive user interface designed for easy recovery;
Fast scanning capabilities that enable you to quickly recover recently deleted files;
Advanced deep scanning algorithms that can identify and reconstruct over 400 different file formats;
Support for a wide variety of storage devices in addition to your computer’s main hard drive;
Data protection tools that allow you to secure important files and folders from accidental deletion;
The ability to create byte-level backups that can be used for data recovery for additional protection.

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Disk Drill for Windows offers users a free trial period during which they can recover up to 500 MB of hard drive data before upgrading to the paid version of the application. This allows prospective customers to discover how the app can help them without any financial investment. The free trial includes the ability to use the data protection tools that are part of this excellent hard disk recovery software.

Disk Drill is also available for Mac computers and offers the same high-quality recovery capabilities. It has a slightly different user interface and the free trial allows users to preview recoverable data before purchasing the Pro version of the tool.

Recover Data From a Variety of Devices

Disk Drill can successfully recover data from virtually any type of disk-based storage device, including:

Internal Hard Drives

Seagate®, Western Digital®,
Toshiba®
External Hard Drives

Adata®, LaCie®, Transcend®, Maxone®
SSDs

Kingston®, Samsung®, PNY®, SanDisk®, Crucial®

See also: Examine our full-fledged guide on how to recover data from a dead external hard drive.

Supported File Formats

Disk Drill can recover files in over 400 different formats. Here’s a sampling of the file types that the tool can restore.

Video

AVI, FLV (Flash video), WMV (Windows Media Video), MOV (Apple QuickTime movie), MP4 (MPEG-4 video), WebM, MKV (Matroska Video)
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3G2 / 3GPP2 / 3GP / 3GPP (Videos for 3G UMTS services), CRM (Canon raw movie file), DIR (Adobe Director Movie), DV (Digital Video), DXR (Protected Adobe Director Movie), FCP (Final Cut Pro), FLA (Editable Adobe Flash movie), MOV (Apple QuickTime movie), MPA (MPEG-2 Audio File), MXF (Material Exchange Format), R3D (Redcode Raw video image), SWF (Flash movie), TS (Video Transport Stream File), WEBM (HTML5 WebM Videos) and more
Audio

MP3 (MPEG Audio Stream, Layer III), OGG, AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), WMA (Windows Media audio files), FLAC
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AA (Audible Audio Book), CDA (CD Audio Track), FLP (FruityLoops Project), M4A (Apple Lossless Audio), MID (MIDI), MP2 (Audio file format used with MPEG Audio Stream; recovered as MPA), MPA (Audio file compressed with MPEG Layer II compression), MPC (Musepack Compressed Audio File), OGA (audio extracted from OGG; recovered as OGG), PTF (Pro Tools Session File), RA (Real Audio), RNS (Reason Song File), SIB (Sibelius Score), VOC (Creative Labs Voice), WAV (DTS-WAV), ZRV (Philips Voice Traver) and more
Images

JPG/JPEG, PNG (Portable Network Graphic), BMP, TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), PSD, EPS, AI (Adobe Illustrator), RAW

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DJVU, TGA, PGM, DNG, PNG, HEIC, WMF, APM, DPX, JNB, JPG, KEY, WEBP, PCX, MPO, AFPHOTO, ALBM, ANI, DXF. Fujifilm: RAF. GoPro: GPR. Leica/Panasonic: RW2, RAW, RWL. Sony: ARW, SRF, SR2. Samsung: SRW. Canon: CR2, CR3. Epson: ERF. Kodak: DCR, KDC. Nikon: NEF, NRW. Olympus: ORF. After Effects Project: AEP. CorelDRAW: CDR. Windows Icon: ICO. ArchiCAD Project: PLA, PLN, TPL. SketchUp: SKP. Scalable Vector Graphics: SVG. Visio Drawing file: VSD and more
Document

DOCX (Microsoft Word), PDF (Portable Document Format), PPTX (Microsoft PowerPoint), XLSX (Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet)
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APK (Android Package), BKF (Windows Backup Utility File), CS (Visual C# Source Code File), CST (Adobe Director External Cast File), DB3 (SQLite3 Database), DGN (MicroStation Design file), DWG (AutoCAD), H (C/C++ Header File), iCash files, JKS (Java KeyStore), LNK (MS Windows Link), MDB (Microsoft Access Database), MSG (Outlook Mail Message), ODG (OpenDocument Graphics), WPS (Microsoft Works Word Processor Document), XML, XMP (Adobe Extensible Metadata Platform) and more
Archive

ZIP (Extended Zip File), RAR (WinRAR Compressed Archive), DMG (Mac OS X Disk Image), 7Z (7-Zip Compressed), CAB (Windows Cabinet File)
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ARJ (ARJ Compressed File Archive), ISO (ISO-9660 CD Disc Image), JAR (Java Archive), MBX (Apple Mail mailbox file), PST (Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders), RDB (Retrospect Backup Set), TAR.XZ (XZ Compressed Tar Archive) and more
Other Files

ACCDB (Microsoft Database), DB (Paradox), SQL (bundled SQL queries), MYO (MYOB Limited Windows File), OTF (OpenType Font)
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RAW (Raw disk images), DD (Forensic DD images), IMG (Sector-by-sector disk images), ISO (Uncompressed disk images), DSK (Byte-to-byte disk images), BIN (Generic disk images), DAT (Legacy binary images), VMDK (Virtual VMWare disks) and more

What Types of Recoveries Does Disk Drill Support?

Disk Drill recovers data in many, but not all situations.

Supported

Recovery from formatted hard drives
Lost partitions
Corrupt file systems
Files deleted from the hard drive
Files from an emptied Recycle Bin
Not Supported

Physically damaged disks
Overwritten files
RAID arrays

5 Easy Steps

How to Recover Deleted Files From Hard Drive

Here’s a guide on how you can use Disk Drill for Windows to recover deleted data from your hard drive.

Step 1

Download & Install Disk Drill Hard Drive Recovery Software

If the deleted data is on your main hard disk, avoid using it for the download and installation to minimize the chance of files being overwritten. Use a removable storage device instead.

Step 2

Launch the App & Select the Drive From the List

Launch the app and select the disk for recovery from the list provided by the application. If the deleted data was on a removable storage device, you should connect it to the machine before launching the program.

Step 3

Select the Scan Mode & Start Scanning

Choose the scanning mode to be used for the recovery. A quick scan may be sufficient for restoring your data and should usually be tried first. If a quick scan is unsuccessful, Disk Drill’s deep scanning capability can be used for a more complete data recovery. Deep scanning interrogates your drive on a sector-by-sector basis to reconstruct and restore deleted files and file fragments.

Step 4

Preview the Results & Select the Files

Preview the scan results and select the files that you want to recover. Do not save recovered files to the same device from which they were deleted to prevent accidental file corruption or overwriting the files you wish to save.

Step 5

Choose the Location & Recover Your Files

Select a safe location to store the recovered data and then perform the recovery of your selected files to their new storage locations. After the process completes, you should verify that the files have been recovered and are usable by the applications that created them in the first place.

Key Points for Successful Hard Drive File Recovery

There are several ways you can increase the probability of successful data recovery with Disk Drill. Following these recommendations gives you a great chance of recovering lost data from your hard drive.

Stop using the hard drive

As soon as you realize that data loss has occurred, you should stop using the hard drive. When the Windows operating system deletes a file or folder, it does not physically remove it from your hard drive. It simply marks the space occupied by the item as available for future use by the system. Until the OS reuses this space, the deleted data can be restored with file recovery software.
Use a different drive

If the file deletion occurs on your main hard drive, you should download, install and run Disk Drill from a connected USB or thumb drive to preserve the deleted data. In cases where the problem is with a removable drive, you should immediately disconnect it from your computer until you are ready to perform the recovery. These tactics are designed to prevent overwriting or corrupting the data that you wish to recover.
Use a reliable recovery tool

You might only get one chance to recover your lost data. Don’t risk it with an inferior recovery application. Disk Drill has a proven track record of successful data recovery and should be your first choice when faced with restoring your valuable information.
Create a byte-level backup

The byte-level backups that can be generated with Disk Drill include deleted files that are not visible to the operating system. Therefore, they can be used by Disk Drill to recover the lost data.
Backup your files

You should follow best practices and regularly perform backups of your hard drive for use in the event of data loss. In addition to any other backup tools you use, consider taking advantage of the byte-level backups that can be made with Disk Drill. They offer extra protection and can be used to recover files that were deleted at the time the backup was taken.
Recover your data to a new location

Don’t try to recover your data to the same disk or device that experienced the data loss. Doing this runs the risk of overwriting or corrupting files as they are being recovered, making them permanently unrecoverable. It the issue is with your main hard drive, consider using a removable USB drive to ensure a successful recovery.

Protect

Don’t Just Recover Files - Protect Them

File Recover is for when files have been deleted or erased by accident. Far better is to protect files in the first place. Disk Drill comes with Recovery Vault, which goes further than Recycle Bin ever has. It monitors important files to protect them from erasure, and files that are deleted get tracked so even if the Recycle Bin is emptied, they can be brought back without delay.

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated on May 26, 2020 by Disk Drill Team

Why do hard drives fail?

Hard drives can fail for a variety of reasons. Some of the most common include exposure to excessive heat or moisture, electrical power surges, faulty firmware, and mechanical errors. A hard drive can also fail due to a corrupted file system which can result from a malware or virus attack.

How much does it cost to recover data from a hard drive?

There is no cost to recover data from a hard drive if you are using your own backups. Data recovery software is often required to successfully restore the disk and can be obtained at various prices. Tools like Disk Drill offer Windows users the ability to recover 500MB of data for free.

How does data recovery software work?

Data recovery software takes advantage of the methods that modern operating systems use to delete data. They logically remove access to the data but leave it physically intact until it is overwritten. This fact allows the recovery application to scan a disk and restore access to the deleted data.

Can you recover data from a broken hard drive?

The broken hard drive must be readable in order to recover its data. If it cannot be read you can’t use data recovery software to restore your lost data. In cases where you cannot achieve access to the drive, you may be forced to send it to a professional hardware recovery service.

How do you know if your hard drive crashed?

You will know if your hard drive has crashed or is about to crash if:

Your computer will not start.
You are experiencing inordinately long wait times when opening files.
Files are missing or corrupt and unusable.
Strange sounds are emanating from your hard drive.

What is the best data recovery software?

The best data recovery software applications for Windows are:

Disk Drill for Windows;
Recuva;
TestDisk and PhotoRec;
MiniTool Power Data Recovery;
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard;
UnDeleteMyFiles Pro;
Wise Data Recovery;
PC Inspector File Recovery;
Stellar Data Recovery Software.

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