Is Disk Drill Safe & What’s the Best Disk Drill Alternative?

Is Disk Drill safe? This article tells you the answer. Moreover, there’s Disk Drill alternative software and related Disk Drill tips for your reference.

Penny

By Penny / Updated on April 3, 2024

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Disk Drill’s effectiveness and user-friendliness make it attract lots of Windows and Mac users. However, several users are concerned about potential malware during installation, which is a valid concern because certain malware like Cerber ransomware might result in significant data loss.

So is Disk Drill safe to use or it contains dangerous malware? Please read further to get the right answers.

Is it safe to use Disk Drill?

To check whether there is malware or viruses in Disk Drill, please refer to the following steps to confirm.

Step 1. Download Disk Drill

You’re supposed to download the latest Disk Drill version from the official CleverFiles website.

It’s risky to get it from other places because not all third-party sites are trustworthy. For example, some claim to offer illegal versions of Disk Drill, which often come with malware.

download-disk-drill-on-windows

Its official website provides two installers: one is for the regular installer (about 20MB), and another is for the extended installer (over 100MB).

The latter saves all the software nuts and bolts needed to get Disk Drill 5 up and running on Windows computers.

Step 2. Scan the Disk Drill program

Let’s scan the Disk Drill Standard installer since most users use it. In this case, we used VirusTotal, a reputable malware scanner owned by Google’s subsidiary Chronicle, which aggregates scans from various trusted security companies.

After uploading the Disk Drill standard installer, VirusTotal quickly begins the scanning process. The outcomes were definitive: No security vendors and no sandboxes out of 58 flagged the file as malicious.

virustotal-scan-disk-drill-standard

The same goes for the Disk Drill extended installer, except VirusTotal scanned this installer with more scanners (61 instead of 58).

virustotal-scan-disk-drill-extended

Step 3. Install Disk Drill

Since both the Disk Drill standard and extended installers are safe, you can install one version on your Windows directly.

❌ Warning:

For optimal functionality, Disk Drill necessitates access to specific components of your Windows OS.

Step 4. Run a Full Scan to detect viruses on your PC

But how safe is Disk Drill? Let’s test it now! Please launch Disk Drill and keep scanning to detect potential RAM-concealed malware. Then you can make good use of Microsoft Defender to remove ransomware viruses or detected malware.

In recent tests by AV-Comparatives, Microsoft Defender scored an impressive 99.5% detection rate with only 7 false alarms, highlighting its reliability.

🌟Tips:

This feature also can prevent files from being automatically deleted from desktops.

Step 1. Press Win + I to open Windows Settings > click Update > Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection.

windows-security-virus-and-threat-protection

Step 2. Click the “Scan options” button.

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Step 3. Select Full scan > click Scan now.

full-scan-scan-now

So is Disk Drill safe?

Based on our assessment, it is easy to see that both the Disk Drill standard/extended installers and the installed application are free from viruses and other forms of malware.

Nevertheless, the safety of data recovery tools like Disk Drill extends beyond malware considerations. There also exist additional counting factors as follows.

🔐 Privacy:

A necessary aspect of a secure data recovery program involves the safeguarding of user privacy. Precisely, it should prioritize the confidentiality of both the recovered data and any accompanying metadata.

Without explicit user consent, it automatically refrains from collecting any information like sending anonymous feedback to developers.

✅ Data integrity:

A hallmark of safe data recovery software is its non-destructive nature. In essence, this implies that these tools refrain from altering or overwriting the original data during the recovery process.

Simultaneously, they diligently preserve the integrity of the recovered data, ensuring it remains whole, precise, and readily usable.

💪 Developer:

When picking a data recovery tool, it’s vital to check the developer’s reputation.

A reliable company is less likely to deny a legitimate refund, please be cautious of less reputable developers.

But does Disk Drill collect data?

Yes, it does.

Upon installation, Disk Drill initiates the automatic collection of anonymous in-app usage data. This data is a valuable resource for developers to enhance the performance of this data recovery software.

You can also close this data collection by changing the Disk Drill’s settings.

untick-disk-drill-general-privacy-setting

If you’re bothered by data collection and high prices, why not consider adopting another Disk Drill alternative?

Top 1 Disk Drill alternative software

myrecover-recover-photos.png (1120×740)

★★★★★ Overview:

Among these Wondershare alternatives, MyRecover could be the top choice because of its comprehensiveness, convenience, and compatibility.

It can recover deleted and missing files from HDDs, USB drives, SD cards, etc.

👍 Unique features:

Recover 200+ file formats, including 42 kinds of images.

Non-overwritten files can retain their original formats, filenames, directories, and size after recovery.

Filter and preview specific files during scanning.

👎 Shortcomings:

Cannot support Mac and Linux OS.

💲 Prices & versions:

  Free Version MyRecover Pro MyRecover Technician Availability
Monthly $0.00 $39.95 $99.00 Upgrade now >>
Yearly $59.95 $199.00
Lifetime $69.95 $99.95 $299.00 $399.00
Differences Recover data up to 500MB freely Recover unlimited data on 1 computer/license Recover unlimited data on unlimited computers/licenses

How to recover deleted files from hard drives without backups? If you’ve deleted files from your local hard drive, you can utilize MyRecover to retrieve them, especially for users without regular backups.

MyRecover
Top 1 TestDisk Alternative Windows Software
  • Recover 200+ file formats: images (JPG, PNG, DNG, NEF, etc.), videos (MP4, MOV, AVI, etc.), MS Office files, WPS files, folders, compressed files, websites, etc.
  • Advanced scanning method: During scanning, you can filter and preview your wanted files according to filename, file format, saved path, storage size, deleted date, etc.
  • Keep the original file format: MyRecover will not change deleted files’ file format.
  • Excellent compatibility: Support Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Server PC and 4 file systems (NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS).

Please don’t hesitate to download MyRecover on your Windows to recover deleted files from hard drives!

Step 1. Install and launch MyRecover > Hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.

select-location-to-scan

Step 2. After clicking Start Scan, MyRecover automatically runs Quick Scan and Deep Scan to detect all the retrievable files on your chosen drive.

During scanning, you can filter and preview your desired files according to Filename, Document Type, Path, Size, Date, etc.

  • Name: Enter the relevant filename of your needed files to quickly locate them.
  • Date modified: Set the date (today, yesterday, last 7/30 days, etc.)
  • Size: Set the file size (<128KB, 128KB~1MB, 1MB~512MB, etc.)

scanning-drive

Step 3. Under the Deleted Files/Recycle Bin/Other Missing Files folder, select the files you intend to retrieve > click Recover x files.

select-deleted-word-files-click-recover

Related Q&A about Disk Drill

Is Disk Drill safe? And how safe is Disk Drill? Please find the answer on this page. Moreover, this article also lists the best Disk Drill alternative for your reference.

If you want to recover deleted files from hard drives, the above Disk Drill alternative, MyRecover is right for you.

MyRecover

Top 1 Disk Drill Alternative Software

Penny
Penny · Editor
Penny works as an editor at AOMEI Technology, while she's a tester and editor for AOMEI Data Recovery Tools. She enjoys helping users with data recovery issues on Windows and iPhones using simple and practical solutions. Outside of work, she has a strong affection for pets, particularly giant pandas.