Disk Drill vs Recuva

Disk Drill offers a free edition that scans and previews, plus PRO licences, lifetime or yearly, covering three devices on macOS and Windows. Recuva is a Windows-only tool with a free version and a Professional licence listed at EUR 24,95. The gap is reach against price: Disk Drill covers two operating systems and has Recovery Vault backup, but shows no PRO price and refuses refunds. Recuva is cheap and simple but does not list RAID, NAS or Mac recovery, and it belongs to the Gen Digital family, so check the cart.

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Both are reviewed in full in our data recovery software ranking: Disk Drill and Recuva.

1. 01

   EUR 24,95 against a missing PRO price

   Recuva Professional is listed at EUR 24,95, shown as previously EUR 0, and adds virtual hard drive support, automatic updates and priority support. Disk Drill's page offers Disk Drill Free and Disk Drill PRO but only shows Upgrade to PRO buttons, with no price, billing basis or limits. We can say what the Recuva upgrade costs and cannot say the same for Disk Drill, so a buyer comparing prices on the product pages alone sees a number for one tool only.

   Edge: Recuva

2. 02

   Previewing before you pay

   The free Disk Drill app can scan and recover data and entire lost partitions from almost any storage device, and its free edition shows recoverable files before purchase. The page says a PRO upgrade is needed to recover all deleted files, though recovery of protected files is free when data protection is on. Recuva also offers a free version with an advanced feature set, but its page does not describe a preview. That makes Disk Drill's try-first route easier to judge.

   Edge: Disk Drill

3. 03

   One key for macOS, Windows and three devices

   The Disk Drill PRO key covers macOS and Windows and three devices, sold as a lifetime or a yearly licence, which suits a household with a laptop of each kind. Recuva is described as a Windows file recovery tool, and no Mac or Linux version is listed. Recuva does reach recycle bins, memory cards, external drives, USB sticks and MP3 players. For mixed households the single cross-platform licence from Disk Drill is the clearer answer.

   Edge: Disk Drill

4. 04

   Refund terms and automatic renewal

   Disk Drill PRO purchases are non-refundable except where consumer law requires a refund, and the yearly plan renews automatically unless cancelled. The page does not mention a trial period. Recuva's pages show a global End User License Agreement and a Lost License Key lookup, but the text we read gives no refund wording or renewal terms at all. Without a stated policy on one side and a strict one on the other, we cannot call a winner.

   Depends on the buyer

5. 05

   RAID arrays, NAS boxes and Mac disks

   Recuva sits at the shallow end of this market. It is aimed at a lost folder on a Windows laptop or a camera card, with a deep scan mode and secure overwrite, and its product page lists no RAID or NAS recovery. Disk Drill adds disk health monitoring, cleanup, a duplicate finder, a recovery drive and backup tools even in the free edition, though it is not for Linux workstations. For anything beyond a plain PC, Disk Drill has the broader toolset.

   Edge: Disk Drill

6. 06

   CleverFiles Inc. and Gen Digital Inc.

   Disk Drill comes from CleverFiles Inc., whose footer gives an address on Delaware Street in New Castle, Delaware, USA. Recuva is a registered trademark of Gen Digital Inc., which also owns CCleaner and Speccy, and is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona with a Prague office. The Recuva product is sold next to CCleaner bundles, so read the cart before paying. Both are United States vendors by the pack, so neither gets an edge on location, and the legal entity is clear for both.

   Depends on the buyer

Will the free edition of Disk Drill actually restore my deleted photos?

It scans and previews, and the page says a PRO upgrade is needed to recover all deleted files. Recovery of protected files is free if data protection was switched on beforehand. Test the scan first, since PRO is non-refundable.

What do I get for the extra on Recuva Professional?

The page lists virtual hard drive support, automatic updates and priority support at EUR 24,95. It does not list a different scan for the paid tier. A home user undeleting a file may find the free version enough.

Does Recovery Vault protect files I deleted yesterday?

No, it only protects files you enable it for, so it helps with the next loss rather than the last one. Switch it on for important folders. It cannot restore files that were never covered.

• Disk Drill product page: Free and PRO editions, no listed PRO price, free-edition tools, no trial mention.
• CleverFiles home page: CleverFiles Inc. footer and New Castle, Delaware address.
• Recuva product page: EUR 24,95 Professional price, Windows-only scope, scan modes, Gen Digital trademark line.
• CCleaner legal page: global EULA and Lost License Key lookup.