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How to Recover Deleted Files with Disk Drill
Edited 2 months ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team
Disk DrillFile RecoveryData RestorationMacWindowsSoftwareComputerPCBackupTroubleshooting
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In today's digital age, losing important files can be a nightmare. Whether it's a document, photo, video, or project, this loss can be upsetting and costly. Fortunately, with tools like Disk Drill, recovering these lost files has become quite easy. This guide will walk you through the process of recovering deleted files using Disk Drill in a comprehensive manner.
What is Disk Drill?
Disk Drill is a powerful data recovery software designed to recover lost and deleted files on various storage devices. It supports multiple file types and is available for both Windows and macOS. Disk Drill works by scanning your storage device and recovering deleted or corrupted files. What makes Disk Drill popular is its user-friendly interface coupled with advanced recovery capabilities.
Preparing for recovery
Before you start recovering files with Disk Drill, take a few preliminary steps to ensure a smooth recovery process:
- Stop using the device: As soon as you discover that files are missing or deleted, stop using the device immediately. This helps prevent deleted files from being overwritten.
- Install Disk Drill: Download and install Disk Drill on a different drive than the one on which the files are missing. This ensures that the installation process does not overwrite deleted files.
A step-by-step guide to using Disk Drill
Step 1: Launch Disk Drill
After installing Disk Drill, open the application. You will be greeted by a user-friendly interface. This interface will list all the storage devices connected to your system.
Step 2: Select the storage device
From the main dashboard, choose the storage device you want to recover files from. This can be your computer's internal drive or an external USB stick, hard drive, or memory card. Disk Drill supports various file systems including NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, HFS+, and more.
Step 3: Scan for deleted files
Click the "Search for lost data" button after selecting the desired drive. Disk Drill will start a quick scan to locate recently deleted files. For more detailed results, you can choose to run an in-depth scan. The in-depth scan takes more time because it checks your drive byte by byte to find recoverable traces of your lost files.
Step 4: Preview and select files to recover
After the scan is complete, Disk Drill will list all recoverable files. You can use the preview feature to view the files and verify their integrity. Disk Drill categorizes files by type, making it easier for you to find the specific files you are looking for.
Step 5: Recover selected files
After selecting the files you want to recover, click the "Recover" button. Disk Drill will prompt you to choose a recovery destination. Make sure to save the recovered files to a different location than the original to avoid further data corruption.
Advanced features of Disk Drill
Recovery Vault
Disk Drill comes with a Recovery Vault feature, which acts as an extra layer of protection for your files. By keeping a record of files and their metadata, Recovery Vault makes it easier to recover files in the future.
Guaranteed recovery
Another valuable feature is Guaranteed Recovery, which works by saving copies of files sent to your Recycle Bin. This ensures that you can recover them later, even if they are otherwise permanently deleted.
Resume recovery session
Sometimes, scanning a large drive can take hours. Disk Drill allows you to pause and save your recovery session, so you can resume later without losing your progress. This feature is especially useful for those who manage recovery on hard drives containing significant amounts of data.
Troubleshooting common recovery issues
Insufficient disk space
Make sure you have enough free space on another storage device to store the recovered files. If space is limited, consider recovering only the most important data first.
Corrupted files
Although Disk Drill works in many cases, some files that are partially overwritten or heavily corrupted cannot be recovered. To minimize such risks, it is always advisable to keep regular backups.
Unsupported devices
Make sure your storage device is supported by Disk Drill. Some devices may require additional drivers or be damaged beyond mechanical repair, making recovery impossible.
Best practices for data recovery
- Regular backup: Periodically back up your important files to cloud storage or external hard drive to avoid data loss.
- Maintain storage devices: Take care of physical storage devices by protecting them from extreme temperatures, magnetic fields, and potential physical damage.
- Update software: Keep your data recovery software, such as Disk Drill, updated to take advantage of the latest recovery algorithms and features.
Conclusion
Losing files can be frustrating, but with Disk Drill, recovering deleted files is straightforward. By following the steps outlined above, you can increase your chances of successfully recovering lost data. Remember, while recovery tools are powerful, prevention through backups and careful file management is always the best strategy. Be proactive about your data security and use Disk Drill's features to protect yourself from data loss in the future.
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