Retrova vs Disk Drill: an honest comparison
Retrova is free with no recovery limit and focuses on reading drives that will not open; Disk Drill is a paid, polished product that can undelete files with their names. When we checked in October 2026, Disk Drill’s free tier allowed 100 MB of recovery on Windows and none on Mac.
Choose Disk Drill if you need undelete with names on more file systems, wider encrypted-drive support or a signed installer, and you are happy to pay. Choose Retrova if you need to copy a lot of data off a drive that will not mount, want it free with proof the copy is exact, or prefer open source.
Retrova is my project, so read this with that in mind. I have tried to state Disk Drill’s strengths plainly, and Retrova’s gaps just as plainly.
At a glance
| Retrova 1.1.1 | Disk Drill (Oct 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, AGPL-3.0 open source | Free scan; paid Pro licence (about $90 one-time at our check; yearly and enterprise options) |
| Free recovery limit | None | 100 MB on Windows; none on Mac |
| Platforms | macOS 11+, Windows 10/11 | macOS and Windows |
| File systems read | APFS, Mac OS Extended (HFS+), NTFS, FAT12/16/32, exFAT, ext2/3/4, XFS, Btrfs | Broad, including HFS+ and Linux file systems on some tiers |
| Undelete with original names | Yes on NTFS, FAT12/16/32 and exFAT, each file marked Good, Possibly overwritten or May be incomplete; Deep scan elsewhere | Yes on supported file systems |
| File types in deep scan | 72, contiguous files only | Hundreds |
| HFS+ | Read-only browsing; journal not replayed | Supported |
| BitLocker / LUKS / FileVault | Opens with your password or key (BitLocker password or 48-digit recovery key, LUKS passphrase, FileVault password); not .bek or TPM-only; about 100 MB/s | Partial support |
| RAID | No | Yes in some editions |
| Imaging a failing drive | ddrescue-style phases (healthy data first, then trim, scrape, retry); resumable; ddrescue-compatible map file | Byte-to-byte backup |
| Verify copies | Byte-for-byte, SHA-256 manifests, repair | No |
| Signed installer | Not yet; first-launch warning | Yes |
| Account and telemetry | No account, no telemetry | Licence account |
| Extra tools | Space map, Duplicates, Cleanup, Find Text (OCR) | Cleanup |
Check Disk Drill’s current terms on CleverFiles’ site. Features differ by edition and platform.
Where Disk Drill is better
If you deleted a file and want it back under its original name and folder, Disk Drill will often manage this on more file systems than Retrova, which does it only on NTFS, FAT and exFAT. Disk Drill supports more signatures, handles more kinds of encrypted volume, and is signed and notarised, so installation is less alarming. It also has years of polish, support channels and documentation. For many people with one small deletion on a Windows PC, that is worth paying for.
Where Retrova is better
- No cap. Copying 200 GB off a drive costs the same as copying 2 MB: nothing. A camera shoot or a project archive is not a 100 MB problem.
- Reading drives that will not open. It reads the file system directly and keeps original names, dates and folders for APFS, HFS+, NTFS, exFAT, FAT and Linux drives, even damaged ones, on either operating system. Encrypted drives open when you have the key.
- Proof. Verify compares each copied file against the original and offers one-click repair for mismatches. The fear behind many bad reviews of paid tools is “I paid and the files are broken”; this speaks to it.
- Read-only by design. All reads go through one read-only path; copies are written as
.partfiles and never overwrite anything. - Open source and private. No account, no telemetry, source on GitHub.
For how reading a drive works in practice, see recover files from an APFS drive macOS won’t mount and copy files off an NTFS drive on a Mac.
What Retrova cannot do
The honest list of Retrova’s gaps, in case any apply to you:
- Undelete with names outside NTFS, FAT and exFAT. Retrova lists deleted files with their names and folders on NTFS, FAT12/16/32 and exFAT only. On APFS, ext and other file systems it falls back to deep scan, so names and folders are lost and fragmented files may come back damaged. On NTFS, compressed or encrypted deleted files, and ones whose details span several records, are not listed.
- Encrypted drives without the key. Retrova opens BitLocker (password or 48-digit recovery key), LUKS 1/2 (passphrase) and FileVault or encrypted APFS volumes (password) only when you have the key. It cannot open BitLocker startup-key (.bek) or TPM-only drives, or the startup disk of a T2 or Apple silicon Mac away from that Mac. Decryption runs at about 100 MB/s.
- RAID and NAS volumes, APFS snapshots, bootable media and phones. Not supported.
- Code signing. Builds are not signed or notarised yet, hence the first-launch warning.
- Fragmented file carving. Deep scan finds contiguous files of 72 types, which is fewer than the 400 to 1,000 types some paid tools claim. Names are lost, and files stored in pieces may come back damaged or not at all.
Using both
These are not mutually exclusive. A sensible approach is to use Retrova first when the problem is a drive that will not open, because it costs nothing and does not write to the disk. If you then find that the files you need were deleted rather than hidden, Disk Drill’s free scan will show whether it can see them by name before you decide to pay. Also compare against other free options in free Disk Drill alternatives.
The first-launch warning
Retrova’s builds are not signed or notarised with a paid Apple or Microsoft certificate yet, so the first time you open it you will see a warning. On a Mac, open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, click Open Anyway and confirm (on macOS 14 or earlier, right-click the app and choose Open). On Windows, when SmartScreen says “Windows protected your PC”, click More info, then Run anyway. You only do this once. The source code is public if you would rather build it yourself or read what it does.
How we checked
Disk Drill details come from CleverFiles’ published pages and reviews in October 2026; Retrova details come from version 1.1.1. We did not benchmark recovery rates. The author builds Retrova. Competitor details were checked in October 2026 and are dated in the text. Vendor prices and free limits change often and many run permanent sales, so treat every figure here as approximate and confirm on the vendor’s own page before you buy.
Get Retrova
Free and open source for macOS 11+ and Windows 10/11. No account, no recovery limit, and it never writes to the drive you’re rescuing.
Download RetrovaFree for Mac and WindowsQuestions
Is Retrova a replacement for Disk Drill?
For reading drives that will not mount and copying large amounts for free, yes. For undeleting files with their names beyond NTFS, FAT and exFAT, or for encrypted drives you have no key for, no. Retrova does read HFS+ and opens encrypted drives when you have the key.
Is Disk Drill free?
Disk Drill is free to scan. In October 2026 the free edition allowed up to 100 MB of recovery on Windows and none on Mac. Check CleverFiles for current terms.
Is Retrova really free?
Yes. It is open source under AGPL-3.0, with no trial, no account and no recovery limit.
Which is safer for my data?
Both aim to read without writing. Retrova’s code is public so you can check; Disk Drill is signed and widely used. In either case save to a different drive.