If you want to avoid losing important files, you need to have up-to-date backups and verify them from time to time to ensure that they are recoverable. But experience tells us that no matter how much effort users put into backups, that dreaded anxiety of losing something important as a result of an unfortunate user error or devastating malware attack doesn’t want to go away.
Disk Drill 3 for Mac is the latest version of a popular data recovery software solution that can help you get rid of the stress associated with data loss by providing professional data recovery capabilities in a package that’s accessible to everyone.
Disk Drill 3 for Mac Review Summary
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What is Disk Drill for Mac?
Disk Drill 3 for Mac is a data recovery software solution developed by CleverFiles, a software company that’s also responsible for the Windows version of Disk Drill. If you’re not familiar with data recovery software, all you really need to know is that Disk Drill 3 for Mac can undelete even those files that the macOS operating system can no longer see.
For example, you can use Disk Drill 3 for Mac to recover files after emptying the Trash, accidentally formatting your USB flash drive, or downloading a malicious file from the internet and becoming infected with malware. The latest version of Disk Drill for Mac requires Mac OS X 10.8.5+ to work, but other versions are available for older Macs.
Disk Drill for Mac Main Features
Even though Disk Drill 3 for Mac is a feature-packed data recovery software solution, it remains easy to use and accessible to everyone. It successfully proves that data recovery can be performed at home and with great results.
Fresh User Interface
If you have experience with a previous version of Disk Drill for Mac, the first thing you’ll notice when you launch Disk Drill 3 for Mac is the brand-new user interface, which is now cleaner, sleeker, and more modern. By default, the new user interface hides system partitions to reduce clutter and avoid confusing users who don’t know what partitions are.
Design has always been an important part of the data recovery experience provided by Disk Drill, and we’re happy to see that its developers continue being able to improve it. We also appreciate that more experienced users can customize the main view to fit their preferences.
Support for iOS & Android Devices
Before the release of Disk Drill 3 for Mac, many long-term Disk Drill users were longing for the ability to recover data from iOS devices like the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Disk Drill 3 for Mac added this ability, and it works great. You simply launch Disk Drill, connect your iOS devices to your Mac, click Recover, and select what you want to restore.
Android devices are supported as well, but only when rooted or in USB mass storage mode.
A suite of Data Recovery Tools
One of many things that set Disk Drill 3 for Mac apart from other data recovery solutions are the extra free data recovery tools that come bundled with it. They include a disk health monitor, data backup and recovery utilities, duplicate finder, and more.
Even without them, Disk Drill 3 for Mac would provide excellent value for money, but their presence increases its value tenfold. To access them, all you need to do is click on any of the four buttons that appear at the top of Disk Drill’s main window.
Multiple Recovery Methods
The developers of Disk Drill keep adding support for more and more file formats, such as Evernote XML notes and rich text documents, and the latest version supports over 300 of them. Also supported are all major devices and file systems, including ExFAT and EXT4. Depending on what data recovery scenario you’re dealing with, you can choose either the Quick Scan recovery method or the Deep Scan recovery method. As their names suggest, Quick Scan is fast, while Deep Scan is slower but more comprehensive.
User Experience
The user experience provided by Disk Drill has always been characterized by its one-click approach to recovery, and this hasn’t changed. Disk Drill 3 for Mac remains accessible even to complete beginners who have absolutely no previous experience with data recovery. What’s more, the same one-click approach has now been applied to iOS and Android recovery, making Disk Drill one of the most comprehensive data recovery solutions on the market.
Performance
Performance shouldn’t be your priority when evaluating a data recovery solution, but Disk Drill 3 for Mac doesn’t disappoint even in this regard. Because it offers two distinct data recovery methods—Quick Scan and Deep Scan—you can always choose the right recovery approach for the job and dig deeper into your storage device only when needed.
With a 500 GB hard drive, expect Disk Drill 3 for Mac to take roughly 1 hour with the Deep Scan data recovery method and around 10 minutes with the Quick Scan recovery method. iOS and Android recovery take longer, which is likely caused by the inherent performance limitations of performing data recovery over USB.
How to Download Disk Drill?
Anyone can download Disk Drill 3 for Mac from its official website for free.
- App Store: The App Store version of Disk Drill costs $39.99, but it doesn’t include some of the most attractive features Disk Drill has to offer, including S.M.A.R.T. monitoring, iOS and Android recovery, Recovery Vault, and a few others.
- Pro: A single pro license costs $89, and it can be used by one user on up to three Macs. It includes all features mentioned in our review and is arguably the best choice for regular home users who would like to better manage their data.
- Enterprise: The third paid version is aimed at enterprises, and it costs $399. This version is limited to 10 users and can be installed on an unlimited number of Macs. It also comes with top-level support and a couple of enterprise-oriented features.
How to Use Disk Drill for Mac?
Data recovery with Disk Drill 3 for Mac is simple:
- Connect the storage device from which you want to recover deleted files to your computer.
- Open Disk Drill 3 for Mac and find your device.
- Click ‘Recover’ next to the device.
- Choose which data you want to recover.
- Click ‘Recover’ again.
Depending on the size of your storage device and the scope of the data recovery task, you should be done in just a couple of minutes.
Conclusion
Everything you do on your Mac involves data in some way. As such, it’s paramount to have a good data recovery strategy ready in case something goes wrong and you lose valuable files. After thoroughly testing the latest version of Disk Drill, we wouldn’t go back to lesser data recovery software solutions, and you shouldn’t either.
Disk Drill 3 for Mac is a must-have app that can turn even the most hopeless situation around by effortlessly recovering data macOS can no longer see.
