Disk Drill and Wondershare Recoverit are two of the leading data recovery tools in the market. But which of them is the better choice? Let’s find out.
Comparisons aside, there is nothing stopping you from trying out the applications, so we encourage you to go ahead and install the free versions of both apps and decide which one you like the best.
Disk Drill | Wondershare Recoverit | |
⚙️ Requirements | Windows 10-11 (x64 only) | Windows 8-11 (x64 only) |
🚫 Trial Version Limit | Recover up to 500MB for free | Recover up to 100MB for free |
💸 Starting Price | $89/Lifetime | $69.99/Year |
🦾 Recovery Quality | Great | Good |
👨💻 Usability | Easy | Easy |
🌐 Website | ||
⬇️ Download |
Disk Drill
Disk Drill ranks consistently as the top data recovery application in our software tests, which makes it the clear favorite in this comparison. And it isn’t hard to see why – from better features to an incredibly cost-efficient pricing scheme, there is little reason to choose Wondershare Recoverit over Disk Drill.
While Recoverit is certainly easy to use, Disk Drill’s UI is very user-friendly as well. Its recovery results are actually organized better, since Wondershare Recoverit often lists the same file multiple times, confusing people. Disk Drill is also safe to use, with no viruses or malware that can inject your computer.
Get a better look at Disk Drill’s features and performance in our dedicated review.
Pros
- Generous free version with 500MB data limit
- Lifetime license on purchase
- Recover 360+ file types
- Simple user interface
- Protect data against future loss
- Recover RAID arrays
Cons
- No phone support
- Lacks the option to create bootable disks
- Cannot run on Linux
Wondershare Recoverit
Wondershare Recoverit is a great data recovery tool for Windows and Mac. Its specialty lies in its ease of use, promising to recover your data in just three steps. And refreshingly, this is not just hyperbole.
Recoverit is actually a very well-designed application that makes it easy for even a complete beginner to restore their missing files. Performance-wise, it works quite well too, recovering a variety of file types lost for many different reasons. The only problems are the rather expensive pricing and poor support of non-Windows file systems.
Pros
- Excellent user interface
- Video repair functionality
- Recover multiple file types from Windows and Mac
- Can create bootable discs
Cons
- Struggles with Bitlocker-encrypted devices
- Expensive annual pricing scheme
- Only 100MB of data can be recovered for free
- Needs internet access to work
Disk Drill vs Recoverit: Pricing Comparison
Disk Drill | Wondershare Recoverit | |
Distributed as | Freemium | Freemium |
Trial version available | Yes | Yes |
Trial version limitations | Recover up to 500MB for free | Recover up to 100MB for free |
Number of devices per license |
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Starting price | $89/Lifetime | $69.99/Year |
License model | Lifetime | Annual |
No credit card to try | Yes | Yes |
Money back guarantee | Yes | Yes |
The pricing is the biggest difference between the two applications, and perhaps the most important. For many users, this will be the deciding factor.
This is because Disk Drill offers a lifetime license. Basically, a buy once, use forever deal we wish more software developers opted for.
Instead, Wondershare Recoverit – like most data recovery tools out there – charges you an annual subscription fee, which can cost you quite a bit in the long run. Especially considering how little you will actually end up using the data recovery tool on a daily basis.
And if you think you can get by with just the free version, think again. Wondershare Recoverit’s trial only lets you recover 100MB of data, which is hardly enough to even try it out.
Disk Drill is a bit better in this regard, with a 500MB free data recovery limit, but that still requires you to be careful with what you choose to recover. Buying a license is the easiest way to get unlimited recovery, and Disk Drill makes it worth your while by making it last a lifetime.
Recoverit vs Disk Drill: Data Recovery Performance Comparison
File System | Disk Drill | Wondershare Recoverit |
FAT32 partitions | ✅ | ⚠️ |
exFAT partitions | ✅ | ⚠️ |
NTFS partitions | ✅ | ⚠️ |
EXT4 partitions | ✅ | ⛔️ |
HFS+ partitions | ✅ | ⚠️ |
APFS partitions | ✅ | ⚠️ |
BitLocker support | ✅ | ⚠️ |
Windows shadow copies scanning | ⛔️ | ⛔️ |
Data recovery works by scanning the underlying data of a file system and looking for file signatures that might not be recorded by its main table. This requires an in-depth understanding fo the files system being scanned.
On paper, Wondershare Recoverit can recover files from a variety of file systems. In practice, however, its performance leaves much to be desired. While it works well enough with the most common file systems like FAT32, NTFS (used in most Windows computers), and HFS+ (found in Mac PCs), a scan reveals fewer files than in Disk Drill.
Disk Drill, in contrast, has excellent performance across the board, only unable to scan Windows shadow copies properly. It can successfully retrieve files from file systems used in Windows, Mac, Android SD cards, and even some Linux distros.
So if you want to maximize the chances of recovering your lost files, Disk Drill is the way to go.
Disk Drill vs Wondershare Recoverit: Feature Comparison
Feature | Disk Drill | Wondershare Recoverit |
Update frequency | ✅ | ✅ |
Changelog available | ✅ | ⛔️ |
Online market share | ✅ | ⛔️ |
Sort results | ✅ | ⛔️ |
Recovery from RAID1, 0, JBOD | ✅ | ⛔️ |
Real-life recovery challenge | ✅ | ⚠️ |
Raw photo recovery | ✅ | ⚠️ |
Video formats recovery | ✅ | ⚠️ |
Document formats recovery | ✅ | ⚠️ |
Convenient scan session management | ✅ | ⛔️ |
Scan free space only | ✅ | ✅ |
Corrupted video repair tool | ⛔️ | ✅ |
Every data recovery tool can perform basic data recovery, but that’s not always enough. What if you want to recover RAW photos from a video camera or restore obscure document formats? What if you want to restore data from a RAID or JBOD configuration?
Well, Disk Drill has you covered. It has a more extensive list of supported formats than Recoverit and can scan RAID configurations as well. Disk Drill also comes with a bunch of quality-of-life features like sorting the recovery results and saving scan sessions.
The only area in which Wondershare Recoverit beats Disk Drill is the ability to repair corrupted videos. Recoverit features a built-in video repair tool that can sometimes fix an unplayable or corrupted video, while Disk Drill lacks any such feature as of now.
Verdict
Wondershare Recoverit might be an above-average data recovery tool, but it fails to stand up to the incredible performance and features of Disk Drill. Whether it is the file systems supported or the pricing scheme, Disk Drill beats Recoverit handily.
Not only is Disk Drill cheaper on your pocket due to its lifetime license (compared to the annual billing of Wondershare Recoverit), but it is also more likely to find your deleted files, whether on Windows or Mac. Even the free version of Disk Drill triumphs over Recoverit by allowing you to recover 500MB of data instead of a paltry 100MB offered by the latter.
This article was written by Levin Roy, a Contributing Writer at Handy Recovery Advisor. It was also verified for technical accuracy by Andrey Vasilyev, our editorial advisor.
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