Disk Drill 6.3.2326 Mac download

IT folks, home users, and anyone who has ever deleted the wrong folder reach for Disk Drill when the data has to come back. It scans internal drives, external disks, and even iPhones and Androids, then recovers what it finds.

Does Disk Drill work on damaged or unreadable drives?

Yes. Disk Drill can recover files from damaged partitions and unreadable storage devices, as long as the drive still responds at some level.

Can I preview files before recovering them?

Yes. You can preview files before committing to recovery, which saves time when you are hunting for one specific document.

Which formats does the current version support?

Version 6.3.2326 adds .rwl, .p8, .pfx, and .m4a support, plus better handling of encrypted APFS partitions and detection of lost BitLocker partitions. That covers a wider range of scenarios than previous builds.

What macOS versions are supported?

Disk Drill runs on macOS 10.15.7 or later, on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. The interface is available in 17 languages, including English, German, Spanish, and Japanese.

Uses system resources during scans

Disk Drill is a full-disk scanning tool, so it will use system resources during a scan. On a modern Intel or Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 10.15.7 or later, the app installs from a disk image and takes up a reasonable amount of space in your Applications folder. Expect the scan phase to have the application window open and actively reading the drive—it is not a background utility that runs silently. The recovery process is driven by the interface, which follows standard macOS conventions for file browsing and selection.

The app supports both ARM and 64-bit Intel Macs, so there is no split between platforms. Once launched, you pick a drive or device from the list, start a scan, and then browse the results. The interface shows file names, sizes, and recovery status. For many file types you can preview the content before you choose to recover it. That preview step is the one that uses the most system attention, but it keeps you from recovering junk files.

Because Disk Drill works with internal drives, external drives, cameras, iPhones, iPads, iPods, Androids, USB flash drives, Kindles, and memory cards, you may find it scanning several different device types in a single session. The app does not distinguish between a local drive and a removable card—both show up in the same device list.

Don't write new data to the same drive

A few common errors show up repeatedly with first-time users.

• Writing new data to the same drive. If you are scanning a drive for deleted files, do not save anything new to that same drive until recovery is complete. New writes can overwrite the data you are trying to recover. If possible, recover to a separate drive.
• Stopping a scan early. Disk Drill scans in passes. If you cancel a scan halfway through because you see some files listed, you may miss files found in later passes. Let the scan finish, then filter results.
• Recovering everything at once. Beginners sometimes select every file in the scan results and try to recover them all to the same drive. That fills up storage quickly and makes it hard to find the one file you actually need. Preview first, then recover only what matters.
• Ignoring the preview step. Many file names come back generic or truncated after deletion. The preview lets you see the content before you commit. Skipping that step can leave you with a pile of damaged or wrong files.
• Using a slow or full destination drive. If the drive you save recovered files to is nearly full, the recovery will fail partway through. Pick a destination with enough free space before you start.

Workflow: recovering a lost BitLocker partition from an external drive

Version 6.3.2326 added detection and recovery of lost BitLocker partitions. If you have an external drive that once had a BitLocker-encrypted partition and now shows as unallocated or empty, here is the process.

1. Connect the external drive. Plug it in directly to your Mac.
2. Open Disk Drill. The main window shows a list of connected storage devices. Your external drive should appear with its detected capacity and model name.
3. Select the drive and choose a scan type. For a lost partition, you want a deep scan rather than a quick search. The scan will read sectors on the drive looking for partition structures.
4. Let the scan finish. This can take a while depending on drive size. The app shows progress and an estimated time. Do not disconnect the drive or put the Mac to sleep during this step.
5. Browse the results. Once the scan completes, Disk Drill displays recoverable files and partitions it found. Look for the BitLocker partition entry. Version 6.3.2326 specifically handles these partitions, so it should appear in the list if the partition metadata is recoverable.
6. Preview if available. Some files within a recovered BitLocker partition may be previewable. For encrypted volumes you may only see the partition container itself, not individual files.
7. Recover to a separate drive. Choose a destination that is not the external drive you are scanning. Select the BitLocker partition entry and start recovery.
8. Mount the recovered partition. After recovery, you can mount the partition using Disk Drill or your system. If the BitLocker password is known, you will be able to access the data normally.

This same workflow applies to recovering any lost partition—the BitLocker handling is new in this version, but the steps are the same for APFS, NTFS, or ReFS partitions with sparse files, which version 6.3.2326 also handles better than earlier builds.