Basics
Speed Up Your Mac
People rarely talk about this, but Macs do slow down over time. Your Mac may have started its life as a beautiful, fast Apple box, but it will collect files and corrupted data like a sponge as it ages. This […]
FAQ: Can’t See Recovery Results Mounted in Finder on OS X 10.8
As you know, Disk Drill lets you mount your scanning results as a separate disk for faster and more convenient preview and recovery of found data. However, it seems that on older Mac OS X versions (specifically on 10.8.x), the mounted […]
Are Disk Drill for Mac and Windows Identical?
How are Disk Drill for Mac and Disk Drill for Windows different? Are they the same app for different platforms? Or how do they compare feature-wise? Do Disk Drill for Mac and Windows have the same price? Will they find […]
Can I recover deleted email from my iPhone or iPad?
It probably happened to all of us. Trashing an important email takes a tap, and it takes a second to realize it was that very email you might need for tomorrow’s demo, or what not… you may want to recover this […]
Managing Bad Sectors in Disk Drill for macOS — Bad Blocks & Slow Read Blocks Explained
During a scan, Disk Drill’s data‑recovery power engine may temporarily flag certain sectors as bad (also called bad blocks) when repeated read attempts fail. This helps keep the scan fast by skipping unstable areas that would otherwise stall progress. These […]
Why Do Icons for Disks Differ From Icons for Logical Drives?
Key Definitions (Quick Primer) Hardware (physical) disk / device. The actual storage hardware you can hold in your hand: internal SSD/HDD, external USB drive, NVMe, SATA SSD, memory card, etc. It exposes blocks/sectors (typically 512B or 4096B logical sectors). Partition […]
Disk Drill – Update and Upgrade Policy
Is my upgrade to Disk Drill 6 free? 👋 Free Upgrade – Grace Period If you purchased Disk Drill (for Windows or Mac) on or after December 1st, 2024, the upgrade to Disk Drill 6 is free for you. Starting […]
How to Change Disk Drill’s UI Locale
How to Change Disk Drill’s UI Locale on Mac Without Modifying Your macOS System Locale Yep, that’s totally possible. Starting with macOS Catalina (10.15) you can change the UI language of individual apps natively. Disk Drill is available in more than […]
How to Transfer Your Disk Drill Installation & License to a New Mac or PC
Just recently got a question from one of our clients: “I have been using Disk Drill on a MacBook Pro. What files do I need to copy over to another Mac in order to keep the scans I have already done?” […]
How Can I Rebuild a Corrupted HFS+ Catalog Directory?
If your Mac shows errors like “Invalid node structure”, “Keys out of order”, or “Invalid sibling link”, your HFS+ catalog directory (the on-disk index of every file and folder) is likely damaged. Disk Drill can often fix this by rebuilding […]
What Types of Drives or Disks Can I Recover Files From?
If your operating system can see the device as a block storage device (locally or via Disk Drill’s NAS connector), Disk Drill can usually scan it. Below is a practical, vendor‑verified breakdown with the right caveats so you know what’s […]
What Do All the Symbols Mean Next To the Disk Names?
On the main Disk Drill screen, you will see a list of all the available disks and partitions. Here is an explanation for some of the symbols you might see. Information Button (i) The small “i” in a circle under […]
What Is a CFB File?
CFB files are created when Disk Drill can’t determine for sure if the recovered item is XLS, XLSX, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX or other MS Office file after a Deep Scan. CFB stands for “Microsoft Compound File Binary”. If you […]
Could I Use Disk Drill to Permanently Erase Recovered Data?
We sometimes get asked if it’s possible to permanently delete the files found by Disk Drill. The answer at the moment is no. But we are planning on adding this functionality to an upcoming release. We think it would make […]
Can You Guarantee That I Can Recover A Specific File with Disk Drill?
Short answer: No software can guarantee recovery of a specific file. Practical answer: you can verify your chances in advance—for free—by scanning with Disk Drill Basic and using the built-in Preview. If the exact file opens in Preview, you can […]
Can I Really Scan for My Lost Files for Free with Disk Drill?
Yes—you can use Disk Drill Basic to scan for lost files at no cost. Disk Drill Basic offers the same powerful scanning engine as the paid version, so you won’t sacrifice scan quality when you choose the free option. Simply […]
How Can Disk Drill Help Prevent My Files from Being Lost In the Future?
Disk Drill has three great data protection features that will make it much easier for you to prevent and recover lost files in the future. All of these features are completely free with Disk Drill Basic: Guaranteed Recovery: This feature allows […]
What File Formats Can Disk Drill Recover?
To answer this question, we need to start with explaining how data recovery actually works. There are so many file formats supported by Disk Drill, but in many cases, the format (or binary signature) of a specific file is not […]
What Are the Differences Between Disk Drill Basic, PRO, Expert and Enterprise?
Overview of Disk Drill License Types We offer four different licenses to suit the needs of various users. Here is an overview of each type: Basic — The Basic version is free. It gives you all the functions of data […]
What Are the Disk Drill System Requirements?
Thanks for visiting our knowledge base to learn more about the system requirements for Disk Drill. As you can see, the software needs regular updates to stay compatible with modern computers. We are doing our best to keep up with […]