{"id":327,"date":"2013-04-21T12:01:58","date_gmt":"2013-04-21T12:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/help.cleverfiles.com\/?p=327"},"modified":"2025-05-30T12:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T12:34:09","slug":"disk-drill-portable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/disk-drill-portable\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Install Disk Drill in Portable Mode"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"alert alert-primary\" role=\"alert\">\n  Starting with <a href=\"\/help\/disk-drill-6-1-fully-compatible-with-macos-tahoe.html\">Disk Drill version 6.1<\/a>, the app automatically runs in Portable Mode on macOS 14 and later, so no additional configuration is required. Simply copy the Disk Drill app from the DMG file to any external storage device (such as a USB flash drive) and launch it from there. <a href=\"#copy_disk_drill\">Continue to the next step<\/a> for more details.\n<\/div>\n<p>Like many other applications, Disk Drill can be installed directly on your Mac\u2019s internal drive or used from an external storage device\u2014a method known as Portable Mode. Portable Mode is particularly beneficial for data recovery tasks, as it helps prevent overwriting lost files and protects your internal drive. Here are some common scenarios where Portable Mode proves especially useful:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b><a href=\"\/help\/how-to-recover-lost-files-from-your-mac-internal-hard-drive\/\">Data loss on the internal drive<\/a><\/b>: If you\u2019ve lost data on your Mac\u2019s main system drive, you might not want to risk overwriting important files by installing a new program.<\/li>\n<li><b>Internal drive issues<\/b>: If your internal drive isn\u2019t functioning properly and you can\u2019t complete the usual installation\u2014or if you already have Disk Drill installed but can\u2019t open it\u2014running Disk Drill in portable mode can help.<\/li>\n<li><b>Recovery on another computer<\/b>: If you need to recover data on someone else\u2019s Mac (or your second machine) but don\u2019t want to install Disk Drill directly on it, portable mode is an easy solution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"post-relative post-download\">\r\n<i class=\"box-60x36 icons icon-winmac-xs  \"><\/i>\r\nDownload Disk Drill data recovery app\r\n<a class=\"btn btn-primary btn-xs-block pull-right\" href=\"\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/dl.html\">Download now<\/a>\r\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\r\n<\/div><p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_does_portable_mode_work\"><\/span><b><strong>How Does Portable Mode Work?<\/strong><\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To use Disk Drill Portable Mode on macOS, first <a href=\"\/dl.html\">download<\/a> the official Disk Drill DMG file from the CleverFiles website. After downloading, mount the DMG file and copy its contents onto any external storage device. Once copied, launch Disk Drill directly from your external drive, press and hold the Option (\u2325) key, and then click the &#8220;Run in Portable Mode&#8221; button (macOS 13 and Earlier). This method enables you to use Disk Drill without installing it directly onto your Mac, providing safer, hassle-free data recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Please note that the following modules and features won\u2019t work when Disk Drill is run in this mode:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/help\/how-to-use-recovery-vault-and-guaranteed-recovery\/\">Data Protection<\/a>;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/help\/monitor-smart-status-disk-health\/\">S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring<\/a>;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/help\/disk-drill-system-extension.html\">Kernel Extension (kext)<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"copy_disk_drill\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"step_1_copy_the_disk_drill_app_to_an_external_drive\"><\/span><b>Step 1: Copy the Disk Drill App to an External Drive<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"alert alert-danger\" role=\"alert\">&#x26a0;&#xfe0f; <b>Important<\/b>: We do not recommend launching Disk Drill directly from the downloaded DMG file. Doing so may cause instability or even result in the app crashing.<\/div>\n<ol>\n<li><b>Use another Mac<\/b>. If your own Mac isn\u2019t working, borrow or use a different, fully functional Mac.<\/li>\n<li><b>Connect your external drive<\/b>. Plug in a USB flash drive or an external hard drive to the working Mac. (Disk Drill doesn\u2019t take up much space, so most drives will work.)<\/li>\n<li><b>Download Disk Drill<\/b>. Visit the <a href=\"\/download.html\">official Disk Drill download page<\/a> to get the app. By default, it will save to your Downloads folder. If your browser asks where to save the file, choose any folder you prefer. The download may take a few minutes.<\/li>\n<li><b>Mount the Disk Drill DMG<\/b>. Go to your Downloads folder and double-click the Disk Drill DMG file. You\u2019ll see the Disk Drill icon and the Applications folder icon.<\/li>\n<li><b>Install to the external drive<\/b>. Instead of dragging Disk Drill to your Applications folder, drag it directly to your external drive icon on the Desktop. Release the mouse when you see the green plus (+) sign. This installs Disk Drill onto the external drive.<\/li>\n<li><b>Verify installation<\/b>. When it\u2019s done, open your external drive and check that the Disk Drill icon is there.<\/li>\n<li><b>Eject the external drive and DMG<\/b>. You can safely eject both by clicking the Eject button (the small triangle) next to their names in any Finder window, or by right-clicking the icons and selecting Eject.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img src=\"\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/copy-disk-drill-to-flash-drive.gif\" alt=\"copy disk drill to flash drive\" width=\"800\" height=\"521\" class=\"border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-18436 size-full colorbox-327\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"step_2_running_disk_drill_directly_from_the_external_drive\"><\/span><b>Step 2: Running Disk Drill Directly From the External Drive<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Double-click the Disk Drill icon that you&#8217;ve previously copied to your external drive to launch the application. If prompted about opening an app downloaded from the internet, click Open.<img src=\"\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step1.jpg\" alt=\"disk drill portable mode from dmg step 1\" width=\"1700\" height=\"1100\" class=\"border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-18434 size-full colorbox-327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step1.jpg 1700w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step1-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step1-500x324.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step1-768x497.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step1-1536x994.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1700px) 100vw, 1700px\" \/><\/li>\n<li><kbd><b><u>ONLY FOR MACOS 13 AND OLDER!<\/u><\/b><\/kbd><br \/>\nTo run Disk Drill in portable mode (without installation), press and hold the <kbd>Option (\u2325)<\/kbd> key and click Run in Portable Mode. Enter your account password to grant Disk Drill administrative privileges.<img src=\"\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step2.jpg\" alt=\"disk drill portable mode from dmg step 2\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" class=\"border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-18435 size-full colorbox-327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step2.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step2-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/disk-drill-portable-mode-from-dmg-step2-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Grant Full Disk Access so Disk Drill can scan your drives at a low level.<img src=\"\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/installing-disk-drill-macos-step4.jpg\" alt=\"disk drill portable mode from dmg step 3\" width=\"1900\" height=\"1200\" class=\"border-radius-10 aligncenter wp-image-18409 size-full colorbox-327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/installing-disk-drill-macos-step4.jpg 1900w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/installing-disk-drill-macos-step4-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/installing-disk-drill-macos-step4-500x316.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/installing-disk-drill-macos-step4-768x485.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cleverfiles.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/installing-disk-drill-macos-step4-1536x970.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"alert alert-info\" role=\"alert\"><b>&#x1f4a1; Note<\/b>: portable mode still needs a Mac OS to run properly. If you need to recover files on a Mac that won\u2019t start up properly, you\u2019ll have to run <a href=\"\/help\/disk-drill-recovery-mode.html\">Disk Drill in macOS recovery mode<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starting with Disk Drill version 6.1, the app automatically runs in Portable Mode on macOS 14 and later, so no additional configuration is required. Simply copy the Disk Drill app from the DMG file to any external storage device (such [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3493],"class_list":{"0":"post-327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tutorials","7":"tag-user-manual"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Install Disk Drill in Portable Mode<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to install Disk Drill in Portable Mode for easy on-the-go data recovery. 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