Software:Disk Drill Basic

Disk Drill Basic

Developer(s)	CleverFiles
Stable release	4.0.123 (Mac), 4.0.537 (Windows)
Operating system	macOS and Windows
Type	Data recovery
License	Free (up to 500MB)
Website	cleverfiles.com

Disk Drill Basic is a freeware version of Disk Drill, a data recovery utility for Windows and macOS, developed by Cleverfiles. Disk Drill Basic was introduced in 2010 and was primarily designed to recover deleted or lost files from hard disk drives, USB flash drives and SSD drives with the help of Recovery Vault technology. In 2015 CleverFiles released Disk Drill for Windows.

Recovery vault

The core of Disk Drill Basic is a Recovery Vault technology which allows to recover data from a medium that was secured by Recovery Vault beforehand. Recovery Vault runs as a background service and remembers all metadata and properties of the deleted data. Thus making it possible to restore deleted files with their original file names and location.

Supported file systems

The Mac version of Disk Drill Basic provides recovery from HFS/HFS+ and FAT disks/partitions (only the paid Pro version can actually recover files, the Free version will only allow Previewing files).

In August 2016, Disk Drill 3 announces support of macOS Sierra.

Data backup

Disk Drill Basic can be also used as a backup utility for creating copies of the disk or partition in DMG images format.

Version for Windows

In February 2015, CleverFiles have launched a Windows version of its data recovery software for macOS. While in beta, Disk Drill for Windows is licensed as a freeware and allows to recover the deleted files from storage devices that can be accessed from Windows PC. Disk Drill for Windows also includes the Recovery Vault technology and works on any Windows XP system or newer (Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10). The software is compatible with FAT and NTFS, as well as HFS+ and EXT2/3/4 file systems.

In September 2016, CleverFiles have announced the immediate availability of Disk Drill 2 for Windows, the new version of the expert-level data recovery app.

Release history

Version	Platform	Release date	Notes and significant changes
1.0.47 Beta	Macintosh	September 2010	First Beta.
1.0.52 Beta	Macintosh	September 2010	The first public release
1.0.62	Macintosh	November 2010	In-app navigation. New uninstaller. Better support of the disks used for Time Machine backups
1.1	Macintosh	February 2011	Totally new Deep Scan algorithm Recovery and scanning sessions management S.M.A.R.T. disk diagnostics added Portable Mode introduced Interactive scanning and recovery dialogs
1.4	Macintosh	August 2011	Guaranteed Recovery algorithm introduced
1.7	Macintosh	February 2012	Thunderbolt support Full support of new Growl's features
1.8	Macintosh	May 2012	New file signatures were added to Deep Scan's database The speed of Quick Scan was significantly improved Integration with OS X Mountain Lion Notification Center
2.0	Macintosh	May 2013	Completely Redesigned UI HFS+ Catalog file rebuild function Universal Partition Search function Scan for Lost HFS+ Partition method Mount Scanning Results As Disk function Better Deep Scan file naming
2.1	Macintosh	December 2013	updated Directory Rebuild recovery algorithm additional disk image formats can now be attached in Disk Drill: .raw, .dd and .img extended disk health monitoring for I/O errors new file signatures: EMF (Enhanced Windows Metafile), LNK (MS Windows Link), DPX (Cineon image file) 64-bit ready internal daemon (responsible for Recovery Vault, S.M.A.R.T. stats and Guaranteed Recovery)
2.2	Macintosh	March 2014	More file type signatures added to Deep Scan Completely redesigned HFS+ Catalog File Rebuild recovery algorithm
2.3	Macintosh	August 2014	More file type signatures added to Deep Scan Disk Drill interface is retina-ready New drive blocks reading indication Support of EXFAT within Deep Scan
2.4	Macintosh	August 2014	New disk space visualization module Recoverable files can now be previewed with hex view Mounted disks and disk images can now be ejected right from Disk Drill “Allocate Existing File System Data” scan method is now available for free in Disk Drill Basic Support the recovery of stereo images in MPO format
2.4.437	Macintosh	December 2015	Deep Scan: DNG (Adobe Lightroom Raw images) recovery with Deep Scan Damaged drives: bad sectors management improvements File systems: Quick Scan internal procedures updated Internal: software protection and activation improved Fixed: occasional exceptions on Mac OS X 10.6.8
1.0	Windows	February 2015	Disk Drill version for Windows released
1.0.188	Windows	June 2015	new: multi-format byte-to-byte disk backups (ISO, IMG) improved: search in found items after scanning for recoverable data improved: smoother scrolling in scanning results improved: disks and partitions visibility status in the main screen improved: FAT and NTFS systems low-level reading
2.0.253	Windows	August 2016	Completely free data recovery up to 2GB ExFAT, EXT4 support New file signature for Deep Scan Faster byte-to-byte disk backups Improved standard preview of found files UI improvements Fixes and improvements in Windows 10.x
3.0.756	Macintosh	September 2016	iOS data recovery for iPhone and iPad Android recovery Bootable disk creation for data recovery Improved preview Totally new UI Support of macOS Sierra 10.12 Extra features: duplicate file finder module, faster byte-to-byte disk backups and much more
4.0.0	Windows	August 2019	Improved data protection New image file formats File labeling added Expanded Disk Image support Bitlocker support New UI Improved file previewing module
4.0.123	macOS	October 2020	macOS Big Sur support iOS 14 support Updated FAT32, NTFS, HFS+, and APFS recovery algorithms Data extraction from devices with the T2 encryption chip RAW file formats recovery New UI with a Dark Mode supported Free Data Shredder feature

See also

• Data recovery
• Data remanence
• File deletion
• List of data recovery software
• Undeletion