If you’ve lost a file, time is of the essence. As new information is saved to a hard drive, flash drive or memory card, old information gets overwritten.
If you didn’t realize that your file was lost right away, don’t panic — there is still a chance your file can be recovered. (You can learn more about the variables that impact file recovery here). The scanning features of Disk Drill Basic are free, so it’s always worth checking to see if it is still there.
You will want to preview the files in Disk Drill before deciding to upgrade to Disk Drill PRO. Previewing is the only way to make sure the file is actually recoverable.
Disk Drill has three preview options, you can use either of them as you find it convenient:
After a brief pause, a view of the file in question should appear. There are three possibilities for the preview:
If the file looks as you expect it to, this is good news! The file should be recoverable.
⚠️ Important! Be sure to preview the entire file — view all the pages of a document, listen to the whole audio file, or watch the entire video file. Sometimes the beginning looks good, but other parts are lost or corrupted.
If the preview is black or appears garbled (with strange characters or symbols) or the audio/video is scratchy or only part of it plays, then it probably isn’t recoverable. You might be able to get some bits and pieces of it, but it won’t be perfect. If you recover it, you may not be able to open it at all.
If just the file name, date and size appears, then you may need a Quick Look plugin. Disk Drill previews files using your Mac’s Quick Look function. To test, use Quick Look on a healthy (non-lost) file of the same type on your Mac. Does it look the same as the one you are previewing in Disk Drill? If yes, you probably need a plugin. If no, the file is probably corrupted. To find a plugin, visit QuickLookPlugins.com and do a search for the file type you are trying to view. Install the plug-in using these instructions and then try previewing the files again.
💡 Note: Disk Drill PRO does not require you to use Quick Look. Once you upgrade you can preview files with their native applications.
There are a few file types that do not have plugins. If you cannot find a plugin, then you will have to decide if you want to gamble and upgrade to Disk Drill PRO to find out if it’s recoverable.
If you have identified files that you wish to recover, it’s time to upgrade to Disk Drill PRO. Follow our Upgrade Tutorial and then move on to How to Recover Files with Disk Drill PRO.
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